478 Last Year at Marienbad

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kaujot
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Re: 478 Last Year at Marienbad

#76 Post by kaujot » Fri Jun 05, 2009 4:14 pm

It is rather cold.

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Murdoch
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Re: 478 Last Year at Marienbad

#77 Post by Murdoch » Fri Jun 05, 2009 4:15 pm

kinjitsu wrote:
Murdoch wrote:Does anyone know where I can find a copy of the poster from the beaver review that shows only Delphine Seyrig standing on the square platform? That poster is gorgeous.
At the Polish Poster Gallery
Beautiful! Thank you!

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Noiretirc
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Re: 478 Last Year at Marienbad

#78 Post by Noiretirc » Fri Jun 05, 2009 7:41 pm

kaujot wrote:It is rather cold.
I hate hot films.

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Donald Brown
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Re: 478 Last Year at Marienbad

#79 Post by Donald Brown » Fri Jun 05, 2009 9:06 pm

nsps wrote:I don't necessarily see the black in the CC transfer as less black, but as…errr…having less black. The blackest parts of the CC screen look every bit as black as the blacks in the Optimum (just look at the ol' Lorber for real grey blacks). But there's a lot of detail you lose in the name of contrasty pictures. Look at the plant in the lower-left of the first capture or especially the dark side of the bush in the second-to-last one for examples. That's not meant to say that detail was visible or meant to be visible in the original presentation, but I don't quite understand the negative reaction to these captures.

They don't look hazy to me—if anything, you're getting more visual information. If you don't like it or it is in fact not loyal to the original film (anyone with a good memory see a print during the original release?), you can probably get fairly close just by pumping up your TV's contrast a little.
nsps is right, the Criterion isn't hazy at all, it simply has better tonality and contrast that's less harsh. It's a perfectly clear, lovely, lush image. The Optimum transfer isn't bad, but its blacks are crushed. The Criterion is more detailed, more natural. I have no difficulty believing this is Resnais's preferred vision.

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Fiery Angel
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Re: 478 Last Year at Marienbad

#80 Post by Fiery Angel » Fri Jun 05, 2009 10:35 pm

Tark wrote:Never seen this. Looking forward to it.

Odds are, I won't like it.
Just pretend they're in purgatory and it will all fall into place.

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domino harvey
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Re: 478 Last Year at Marienbad

#81 Post by domino harvey » Fri Jun 05, 2009 10:37 pm

Except I suspect he's Southern Baptist, not Catholic

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Fiery Angel
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Re: 478 Last Year at Marienbad

#82 Post by Fiery Angel » Fri Jun 05, 2009 10:55 pm

Then make it hell.

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cdnchris
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Re: 478 Last Year at Marienbad

#83 Post by cdnchris » Wed Jun 10, 2009 1:31 am


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Florinaldo
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Re: 478 Last Year at Marienbad

#84 Post by Florinaldo » Thu Jun 11, 2009 4:26 pm

DVDBeaver has reviewed the Blu-Ray Criterion, the edition I had chosen to pre-order, hoping to recapture the visual excellence I remember from my initial theater viewing in the 70s. Looks like it is indeed the one to get!

ETA: For Amazon.ca customers, the price has dropped nearly 3 $ since it was first listed. Since we are nearing the release date it might go back up unexpectedly, although they sometimes wait until after the item comes out to do so.

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eerik
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Re: 478 Last Year at Marienbad

#85 Post by eerik » Thu Jun 11, 2009 6:04 pm


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cdnchris
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Re: 478 Last Year at Marienbad

#86 Post by cdnchris » Sun Jun 14, 2009 3:22 am


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Florinaldo
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Re: 478 Last Year at Marienbad

#87 Post by Florinaldo » Sun Jun 14, 2009 9:23 am

Thanks for this review of the Blu-Ray cdnchris.

The more I look at various captures from this Blu-Ray edition, the more I feel it may indeed recapture the high quality of the original. Of particular interest will be to see it if is faithful to the subtle gradations and contrasts I remember from seeing it in the theater. For example, the sharply defined blacks and whites of the guests standing immobile in the alleys, where Resnais reportedly went so far as having the shadows painted on the ground to make sure he got the effect he wanted, in part as an hommage to Chester Gould's aesthetics in Dick Tracy; and on the other hand the night scene on the terrace for example, which I remember as subtly hazy, but of course it might be all those feathers on Seyrig and that vegetation fluttering in the wind.

Resnais' short films are always interesting. Le Chant du Styrène I don't think I have never seen and I know it only from the Queneau text which he included in one of his poetry collections. It is unfortunate there was no room for the beautiful Les Statues Meurent Aussi on a text by Chris Marker (or perhaps it is not available), which we were shown in high school in either a history or a French class.

Toute la Mémoire du Monde is of course the one most often remembered, along with Nuit et Brouillard; I always smile when Resnais includes shots of works from his private collection that were not (at least at that time) in the official collection of the Library, like the Harry Dickson serials he planned for a long time to adapt to the screen.

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Antoine Doinel
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Re: 478 Last Year at Marienbad

#88 Post by Antoine Doinel » Mon Jun 15, 2009 8:35 am


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nsps
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Re: 478 Last Year at Marienbad

#89 Post by nsps » Tue Jun 16, 2009 1:38 am

Antoine Doinel wrote:15 more minutes of fart jokes
Not only does is the picture awesome, but those fart jokes are hilarious. No decrease in quality compared to the material in the existing cut. I'm extremely happy with this release. (Haven't gone through the extras disc yet.)

I transcribed some of the added dialogue:
-I remember it clearly. It was in the gardens at Frederiksbad. I was sitting alone, beside a statue. I noticed you along the balustrade. You were alone, to one side. You came towards me now, but you didn't seem to see me. I told you you looked alive. Then you looked at me, turned around, spread your cheeks, stuck your ass in my face and let one rip.

-But I've never been to Frederiksbad.

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nsps
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Re: 478 Last Year at Marienbad

#90 Post by nsps » Thu Jun 18, 2009 2:30 am

Having long entangled myself in the black-and-white atmosphere of Marienbad, those color photos in "Unraveling" were surprising jarring.

I'd never seen either of the documentary shorts before, and found them both extremely enjoyable, artfully executed educational films.

I guess my own review will be out shortly, but I liked the release even more than Chris, partly because I don't believe this film can ever really be analyzed to a clear explanation of what it's about, and partly because I find the picture quality completely gorgeous and loyal to the original film. I agree that the "original" audio doesn't sound nearly as damaged or rough as I expected it might, given the option between the two tracks.

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cdnchris
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Re: 478 Last Year at Marienbad

#91 Post by cdnchris » Thu Jun 18, 2009 3:04 am

nsps wrote:Having long entangled myself in the black-and-white atmosphere of Marienbad, those color photos in "Unraveling" were surprising jarring.

I'd never seen either of the documentary shorts before, and found them both extremely enjoyable, artfully executed educational films.

I guess my own review will be out shortly, but I liked the release even more than Chris, partly because I don't believe this film can ever really be analyzed to a clear explanation of what it's about, and partly because I find the picture quality completely gorgeous and loyal to the original film. I agree that the "original" audio doesn't sound nearly as damaged or rough as I expected it might, given the option between the two tracks.
I have to agree on the colour photos. They were a bit of a surprise and quite "jarring" as you put it. They made me take a double take.

I guess considering the nature of the film I was expecting a little more of a scholarly set of supplements and was sort of let down the supplements were really of a more technical nature covering the actual production. I doubt there is a clear explanation to the film and wasn't expecting one but I thought it would be quite fun and interesting to get some different interpretations. Still a lovely release with a great transfer. And I also loved the two shorts.

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HerrSchreck
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Re: 478 Last Year at Marienbad

#92 Post by HerrSchreck » Thu Jun 18, 2009 12:38 pm

Antoine Doinel wrote:15 more minutes of fart jokes
I always wondered why the figures were standing so far away from each other in the poster..

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TheGodfather
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Re: 478 Last Year at Marienbad

#93 Post by TheGodfather » Sun Jun 21, 2009 4:41 pm

Watched the film again yesterday, my second viewing after having seen the UK Optimum disc about 2 years ago. I still think, as I did back then, it`s one of the most beautiful, strangest and gripping films I`ve ever seen. Brilliant

Except for the Resnais documentaries, I`ve watched the extra`s as well. I especially loved the Resnais audio interview and the Vincendeau piece. She talks about about a book on the French New Wave by Jefferson Klein (sp??). Has anyone here read that? and if so, is it recommended?

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Tark
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Re: 478 Last Year at Marienbad

#94 Post by Tark » Sun Jun 21, 2009 5:17 pm

Can someone mail me their blu-ray copy, I'd like to see it. I'll pay the shipping. Thanks.

-Tark

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Ovader
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Re: 478 Last Year at Marienbad

#95 Post by Ovader » Sun Jun 21, 2009 7:21 pm

TheGodfather wrote:I especially loved the Resnais audio interview and the Vincendeau piece. She talks about about a book on the French New Wave by Jefferson Klein (sp??). Has anyone here read that? and if so, is it recommended?
That book is called Screening the Text: Intertextuality in New Wave French Cinema by T. Jefferson Kline which I don't have but if anyone has read it can discuss the book at this thread.

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domino harvey
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Re: 478 Last Year at Marienbad

#96 Post by domino harvey » Sun Jun 21, 2009 7:56 pm

I bought it and read it several years ago and thought it wasn't anything special. If I remember correctly, the book also had a very limited scope

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Hopscotch
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Re: 478 Last Year at Marienbad

#97 Post by Hopscotch » Sun Jun 21, 2009 9:00 pm

domino harvey wrote:I bought it and read it several years ago and thought it wasn't anything special. If I remember correctly, the book also had a very limited scope
Hm. I only read the essay on Pierrot Le Fou, but I thought that was rather good.

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Florinaldo
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Re: 478 Last Year at Marienbad

#98 Post by Florinaldo » Sun Jun 21, 2009 9:47 pm

domino harvey wrote:I bought it and read it several years ago and thought it wasn't anything special. If I remember correctly, the book also had a very limited scope
My recollection is that, on the contrary, it had an interesting breadth. It did manage to efficiently skewer the accepted cliché that the New Wave directors did away with with the Cinéma de qualité tradition and brought in entirely new contents and forms. Which is true of course of only a handful of them like Resnais, Rivette or Eustache, and certainly not in the case of Truffaut for example. I can't remember if the author deals with the latest phase of Resnais' work, which does seem less radical that his earlier and most famous works, and where the manipulations of filmic forms is infused with more humorous playfulness that in the early masterpieces.

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Noiretirc
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Re: 478 Last Year at Marienbad

#99 Post by Noiretirc » Sun Jun 21, 2009 11:12 pm

domino harvey wrote:I bought it and read it several years ago and thought it wasn't anything special. If I remember correctly, the book also had a very limited scope
Yeah, but you love the Brody book on Godard too, so......

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nsps
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Re: 478 Last Year at Marienbad

#100 Post by nsps » Tue Jun 23, 2009 4:36 am

My glowing review is up at DVD talk. This is my favorite release of the year so far.

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