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Me four

domino harvey wrote:I'm with you. I'd love to see a massive Chabrol Blu-ray box. Now there's a huge box I'd gladly take a mortgage out for. I think the reason is obvious though-- these films all look like garbage in every home video release and would need some massive restoration

Nail on head. Presumably the French will get round to it at some point.

Is there any reason, beyond maybe just being poorly cared for overall, that so many of the Chabrols have appeared in such dire shape on home video?

Never ceases to amaze me the gap that can exist in terms of how much better/worse off a given set of films can be handled, even those otherwise emerging from the same country/time period. I guess there have been some shitty Godard and Truffaut releases as well (memories of Pox Lorber...), but most of those have long since been rectified.

I believe Chabrol has a lot broader appeal to filmgoers than say someone like Godard (named here only as one example). This is not to minimize Godard's achievements, but a large corpus of his work is mostly of interest to critics and serious film students, not ordinary public. Hence I am astonished that the people who allocate resources to restoring various films have neglected Chabrol. It makes neither artistic nor commercial sense. Time to recognize this and correct it!

I get the impression Chabrol has never been especially strong commercially, nor have any of his individual films really become these all-time classics from critics' spheres to provoke much more interest. Weirdly, Rivette's now much better represented on BD (and this will only grow what with the Cohen deal for most of his later stuff). I'm fairly surprised more hasn't happened with Chabrol given the CNF had enough money to do two separate HD restorations of all of Rohmer's films so you'd think they'd find room in their budget for these films that should have at least broadly similar appeal.

kekid wrote:I believe Chabrol has a lot broader appeal to filmgoers than say someone like Godard (named here only as one example). This is not to minimize Godard's achievements, but a large corpus of his work is mostly of interest to critics and serious film students, not ordinary public. Hence I am astonished that the people who allocate resources to restoring various films have neglected Chabrol. It makes neither artistic nor commercial sense. Time to recognize this and correct it!

You'll need to lobby French cultural bodies; it's very very unlikely that a label operating in an English-speaking territory would take on the job single-handed.

The overwhelming majority of Arrow's big Blu-ray boxes (and Eureka's, and the BFI's non-UK titles) have been derived from existing HD restorations carried out by others. Walerian Borowczyk is a significant exception because it was clear that he was falling between two stools (too Polish for French cultural organisations to back, and vice versa), but that obviously doesn't apply to Chabrol.

Also, a big arthouse title/name may well have more commercial appeal today than a more mainstream title from the same era, simply because they're more likely to catch the eye of people you describe as "critics and serious film students" in sufficient numbers to justify the investment. There may be "ordinary public" appeal for Chabrol's films in France, but all signs are that his UK appeal is to precisely the same "critics and serious film students" - but to a lesser degree, as befits Chabrol's lesser general reputation. (It also doesn't help that he was so prolific!)

I think Chabrol's middlebrow appeal with American art house patrons on the theatrical release circuit for most of his later career doesn't necessarily translate to boffo Blu-ray sales, especially now that he's no longer with us and no longer receiving constant exposure to these audiences every year

I suspect you're probably right. Or rather, I haven't seen any obvious sign that you're wrong.

This has already been pretty much confirmed anyways, what with Cinema Paradiso having been announced, but I just wanted to point out that the Hellraiser box has a big old Miramax logo on the outer cover. Let the speculation commence, as well as the hope that this might mean Criterion is back in play as well.

The thing that struck me about Chabrol when I was going through that Pathfinder set of his films a few years ago was that they're almost deceptively thriller-ish and more character studies. There can feel like a slightly disturbing lack of any imposed morality onto the actions occurring. And the relatively intense chamber dramas within each of the individual films really compliment each other and add up into one stunning body of work as a whole. The marketable hook that makes something like The Unfaithful Wife prime material for a one off 2002 Diane Lane and Richard Gere remake doesn't entirely get at the unshakeably unique atmosphere that Chabrol's films create. Their relationships are never neat and always leave the audience's sympathies torn between numerous characters in what I could imagine in other hands turning into a story with far too neatly delineated heroes and villains. It is the spectacular, psychological long take sequences and the almost flat affect towards tone (dialogue and murder are all treated the same) and culpability that linger far longer in the memory than even the plot in Chabrol's best films.

After all who else could have ended a film like The Unfaithful Wife with that simple yet devastating retreating, obscuring tracking shot? Or bookend the otherwise low key divorce drama La Rupture with this harrowing opening and psychadelic drug-trip (if just as horrific in its implications for our heroine and her hospitalised child) ending?

UK availability, still no mention of Dekalog:

I get the impression there will be a separate newsletter for Academy from now on, considering it seems odd to not mention them whatsoever in the newsletter itself if that's not the case (hence all the omissions here)

I was thinking initially that Alfredo Garcia was Academy but I guess it isn't.

It isn't, and I can't spot any Academy titles on that list.

I don’t get the use of exclamation points here. “Sold Out!” makes sense, but “20% Old Out!”? I’m not ready to panic yet. But then “95% Sold Out” apparently doesn’t warrant my excitement, whereas “50% Sold Out!” apparently does.

Now that I think of it, “Sold Out!” doesn’t even need an exclamation point. Should just be a frowning emoji. It’s not like I need some incentive to rush to their online store to look for something that’s gone already.

Thinking of potential Miramax titles, Sonatine seems like a lock for either Arrow or Criterion. Many of the other early films are now spoken for by Film Movement or Third Window, and since Sonatine was what I understand to be Kitano's international breakthrough, a Blu SE seems very likely to me from Arrrow or Criterion.

Arrow let their DVD of Leos Carax's Les Amants du Pont-Neuf go OOP but I'd sorely like to see it come back into print, upgraded, if they now have access to Miramax's catalog in the States

Calvin, there is a Korean blu of Les Amants that appears to come from a fantastic restoration; you can import it stateside.

Here's a trailer I cut when I played for my college's cult screening series. Hopefully it gives you a good sense of the image quality.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgxUjVBj2ic" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Cronenfly wrote:... since Sonatine was what I understand to be Kitano's international breakthrough, a Blu SE seems very likely to me from Arrrow or Criterion.

Third Window have mentioned they've got more from Kitano coming by mid-2017, so it's still possible they're working on his earliest films too. Whoever releases them in the UK, at least they won't have Film Movement's cover art.

Jack M,

Watched the trailer you referenced - and it's available in the U.S. via a Korean transfer? Looks great. But can you provide a source for the said transfer? Thanks.

Hey isakorg2!

It's my understanding that it is from a South Korean label. It comes with a fold-out poster, a booklet with a really insightful interview w/Carax (provided in English!), and several post cards. It's conveniently REGION A and comes with English and Korean subtitles. The disc menu is in Korean as well but it is easily navigable.

Here are a few links with images of the packaging and technical stats. I ordered mine from a third party off of eBay, though you may be able to find it elsewhere. You might have to ship it overseas like I did, but it's worth every penny. Never thought I would the film looking so good.

-- http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Les-Amant ... ay/124435/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
-- https://www.amazon.com/Pont-Neuf-Blu-ra ... +pont-neuf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I would be happy to share more pics from my set as well. It's a great package.

It looks like Koch in Germany is planning a blu-ray of Mario Bava's Kill, Baby, Kill! with a March release date. The German version goes by the film's amazing title in that country, The Dead Eyes of Dr. Dracula. I wonder if this is a good indicator that Arrow is planning a release of the film in the near future?

Could anyone please direct me to a list of Arrow Video UK releases, if it exist. I keep stumbling upon the Arrow Video US thread. I am particularly interested on a listing of their Limited Editions, the old ones with a slipcover and 4 different cover arts, but would be happy to browse a master list of all Arrow Video UK releases (not the Academy).

Many thanks.

PianoMan88 wrote:Could anyone please direct me to a list of Arrow Video UK releases, if it exist.

One is maintained on the Arrow blog.