Zeitgeist Films

[Jean-Luc Garbo]

Irma Vep arrived today. My only problem is that the audio essays have no business being put over the film and the Making of Vep extra. It would have been easier to just have it play over a still much as Criterion has done. Otherwise, I'm very happy to finally have this gem! Also, Zeitgeist provided a Z20 booklet that notes that in 2009 they'll be releasing two Philippe Garrel shorts on DVD.

[ptmd]

I suspect the Garrel films are Le Revelateur (1968) and Le Dit de la Vierge (1968/69), the two short features that Re:Voir released on DVD recently. They would work quite well together as a set and, in any case, it will be great to have more of Garrel's work available in North America.

[foggy eyes]

I suspect the Garrel films are Le Revelateur (1968) and Le Lit de la Vierge (1968/69), the two short features that Re:Voir released on DVD recently.

Do Re:Voir actually license their transfers? It seems unlikely, and I can't recall them doing it before. It's a stretch to call Le Lit de la vierge 'short' too, so I wonder whether these could actually be new releases?

[ptmd]

Re:Voir doesn't usually license their transfers, you're right, so I guess the other possibility is Athanor (1972) and Voyage au jardin des morts (1978), the two Garrel films that are classified loosely as "shorts." I'll be grateful for any of these, of course.

[criterionsnob]

Careful (Remastered and Repressed)

Release Date: March 24/09

SPECIAL FEATURES
- Brand-new master, created from a new Hi-Def transfer
- New feature audio commentary by Guy Maddin and screenwriter George Toles
- Waiting for Twilight (1997, 60 mins): A vintage documentary by Noam Gonick on the early career of Maddin, narrated by Tom Waits
- Odilon Redon or The Eye Like a Strange Balloon Mounts Toward Infinity (1995): Maddin's short film about the great French Symbolist painter
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired

[MichaelB]

I'm curious about the "new" commentary by Maddin and Toles, because the original is one of my favourite DVD commentaries ever - assuming this isn't a mistake, why did they redo it?

On the other hand, that's excellent news about the new transfer, as Careful is the only disappointing one in the Maddin DVD oeuvre and clearly needed redoing - and they seem to have ported over all the extras of the Kino version and thrown in the Odilon Redon short (previously tucked away on the obscure Shorts 3: Dreams).

[mikebowes]

I just don't understand why they are going back and doing these remasters (Irma Vep, Carefull) and not taking these straight to Blu-ray...

[MichaelB]

I just don't understand why they are going back and doing these remasters (Irma Vep, Carefull) and not taking these straight to Blu-ray...

Presumably because Zeitgeist hasn't moved into Blu-ray yet, and niche-market Blu-rays almost certainly have insanely tight margins at present - which is why it's the better-heeled independents like Criterion, the BFI and Artificial Eye who have taken the plunge so far. I suspect they've done their sums and worked out that the cost of going into Blu-ray at present is too high when set against the likely returns.

Anyway, does Careful - a film shot on 16mm and replete with deliberate damage - really need Blu-ray? Criterion's Brand Upon The Brain! looked magnificent, and I really can't see how a hi-def transfer would have improved on it, given the extreme graininess of the source.

[HerrSchreck]

Anyone catch the German doc Into Great Silence (the native title is something like Grosse STille or thereabouts)? A doc about the lives and moment to moment existential fabric of monastic monks living high in the mountains. Normally receptive to this kind of stuff (i e the lack of editorialization requiring you to move in and inhabit "blankly presented" material), I found it more tiresome than watching a banana go brown and mushy. By the half hour mark I was so close to charging headfirst into the glass window nearby I hadta shut it off..

[LQ]

By the half hour mark I was asleep

[fiddlesticks]

I loved every empty minute of Into Great Silence. The peace overwhelms me, as does the beauty of the setting. To each his own, I guess.

[sidehacker]

I haven't seen Into Great Silence yet, but Phillip Grôning's previous film, L'Amour, L'argent, L'amour is fantastic. I'm pretty sure it's a lot different, though.

[Ovader]

Zeitgeist provided a Z20 booklet that notes that in 2009 they'll be releasing two Philippe Garrel shorts on DVD.

I just checked their online catalogue and the two films are not shorts but the feature length films I Can No Longer Hear The Guitar and Emergency Kisses.

[justeleblanc]

I believe both come from The Front Desk, a Rialto-like distribution company that spawned out of BAM Cinematek.

[Jean-Luc Garbo]

Matt mentioned this over on the NYer thread, but a question came to mind. Zeitgeist now has Fados by Carlos Saura. They mention that it's part of a trilogy, but they only have this one film. Does anyone know why they couldn't get the rights to the other two films? I'm guessing that it's a rights issue, but they could get the rights to this one somehow. I know that it's a new movie, but I was curious nontheless.

[Matt]

One of the films is Tango, which Sony owns. The other is Flamenco, which is New Yorker and which is probably tied up in the whole library auction business. Apparently, Dan Talbot paid for Fados with his own money, which is why it's not part of the assets seized by Technicolor.

[Rich Malloy]

DVD TALK has up the first review I've come across for the new "CAREFUL" release: http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/36616/careful/

Rather high marks - and the reviewer notes that the video is from a new hd scan - but unfortunately no comparison to the previous disc on any notable element whatsoever: audio-video quality, the (supposedly) new commentary, or whether "Odilon Redon" is improved over its previous Short Cinema Journal release.

[MichaelB]

Well, I remember the original transfer being softer than I'd allow even for a 16mm source, and the colours artificially boosted to the point where they seemed almost solarised at one or two points - so if they've fixed those issues, it's probably well worth a punt.

But I also recall the original commentary being an utterly sublime laugh riot, so I certainly won't be getting rid of the Kino disc even if I upgrade.

[Rich Malloy]

I can only assume that Zeitgeist were barred from licensing the Kino commentary, which I agree is an absolute hoot in addition to being extraordinarily informative and brutally honest regarding the director's warped psyche. I'm tempted to assume this transfer will be superior to Kino's now-rather-ancient release, but you know... it's Zeitgeist we're talking about here.

[Tribe]

I can only assume that Zeitgeist were barred from licensing the Kino commentary, which I agree is an absolute hoot in addition to being extraordinarily informative and brutally honest regarding the director's warped psyche. I'm tempted to assume this transfer will be superior to Kino's now-rather-ancient release, but you know... it's Zeitgeist we're talking about here.

That may be true regarding the commentary...but Zeitgeist had a prominent logo on the Kino release (if I remember correctly), so Kino was licensing the entire package from Zeitgeist. The transfer has to be better than Kino's...it was always a pain for me to watch it it looked awful.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe at that time Zeitgeist had no video arm and licensed their video rights to other companies -- Kino ended up with some, Fox Lorber with others, and Criterion got Taste of Cherry. If Kino created the commentary then I imagine they would retain the rights, much as Criterion (usually) retains the rights to their specially-created extras. Of course it would depend on what kind of arrangement they had with Zeitgeist.

[Tribe]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe at that time Zeitgeist had no video arm and licensed their video rights to other companies -- Kino ended up with some, Fox Lorber with others, and Criterion got Taste of Cherry. If Kino created the commentary then I imagine they would retain the rights, much as Criterion (usually) retains the rights to their specially-created extras. Of course it would depend on what kind of arrangement they had with Zeitgeist.

I think you're right...for example, Umbrellas of Cherbourg is a Zeitgeist property...but they licensed the DVD rights to some other company I can't recall at the moment. Same with some of the Jan Svankmayer films, they also went to Kino...and I believe those have gone out of print also. So perhaps Zeitgeist may re-release those as well.

[Rich Malloy]

I still don't understand why Kino's commentary couldn't be licensed. It's not earning Kino any money at the moment, and it seems that recording and editing a new commentary would be more expensive. Or perhaps not. Certainly Madden and Toles are as willing participants as any, seemingly always baring their souls and psyches into any random open mic. They probably brought their own water and slept in Toles' rusty hatchback that they drove down in from Winnepeg.

I'm thrilled that Odilon Redon's included. I traded my Short Cinema Journal disc ages ago, and really miss that film. Ya know, it's not just an homage to that Symbolist guy; it's also an ADD-sufferer's remake of Gance's "La Roue".

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

I think you're right...for example, Umbrellas of Cherbourg is a Zeitgeist property...but they licensed the DVD rights to some other company I can't recall at the moment. Same with some of the Jan Svankmayer films, they also went to Kino...and I believe those have gone out of print also. So perhaps Zeitgeist may re-release those as well.

Actually I think The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is a weird exception -- Zeitgeist gave it a theatrical reissue in 2004, but the DVD that came out a few months later (from Koch Lorber) doesn't mention them anywhere on the packaging or on the disc. They probably just have the theatrical rights. But the OOP Kino Svankmajers are most definitely Zeitgeist properties (they have a huge Zeitgeist logo on the covers).

And I think Rick makes a good point about the commentary, but then he also has a good point about Maddin and Toles' willingness to discuss their work -- perhaps they were actually eager to record a new commentary? I think I'll fire off an e-mail to Zeitgeist about it.

[Tribe]

I think you're right...for example, Umbrellas of Cherbourg is a Zeitgeist property...but they licensed the DVD rights to some other company I can't recall at the moment. Same with some of the Jan Svankmayer films, they also went to Kino...and I believe those have gone out of print also. So perhaps Zeitgeist may re-release those as well.

Actually I think The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is a weird exception -- Zeitgeist gave it a theatrical reissue in 2004, but the DVD that came out a few months later (from Koch Lorber) doesn't mention them anywhere on the packaging or on the disc. They probably just have the theatrical rights. But the OOP Kino Svankmajers are most definitely Zeitgeist properties (they have a huge Zeitgeist logo on the covers).

I think you're right on this...I could have sworn there is some mention of Zeitgeist on the DVD packaging, but there isn't. I think the Zeitgeist website shows Zeitgeist having theatrical rights only. I'd love to see a big DVD release of Umbrellas though ala Criterion.