DVD News

Martin Special Edition on region 2 in March [17 February 2006]

The deletion from Anchor Bay's catalogue of its US DVD release of George Romero's superb 1977 take on the vampire genre Martin was a blow for both Romero and genre fans everywhere. It featured a fine 4:3 transfer (the correct aspect ratio for this 16mm shot film and a very nice commentary track with Romero, effects wizard Tom Savini and actor John Amplas. When the film did appear on region 2 a couple of years back from Arrow Films it was featured a similar (though slightly inferior) transfer to the Anchor Bay disk but a couple of rather good (german) extras. Then up stepped Lion's Gate in the US and re-released the film with a new transfer, 5.1 sound, a making-of documentary, a gallery and a new commentary track with Romero and crew members (no sign of Amplas, though), but with the picture matted to 1.85:1. Anamorphically enhanced or not, this cropped the picture in a way the seriously harmed the framing of several shots and went against Romero's own preferred aspect ratio of 4:3.

Now Arrow are to have a second stab at the film with Freemantle Media, but before you get too excited about the prospect of a definitive edition, this looks to be a straight port of the already available Lion's Gate disk, complete with cropped picture and the Amplas-free commentary, which though very good, is still not up to the one on the Anchor Bay disk. It also pulls that old trick of spreading a single disk's worth of film and extras over two discs to better justify the Special Edition label. That said, the £15.99 price tag is rather good, even if die-hard fans will already have the Lion's Gate and Anchor Bay disks (if not, hand in your badge this minute). For the record, the extras are:

Commentary track with Romero, Tom Savini, director of photography Michael Gornick, producer Richard Rubenstein and composer Donald Rubenstein;
Documentary: Making Martin;
Notes on Martin by Romero;
Trailer and TV spots.

Release date is set for March 27 2006.

Kairo in March [15 February 2006]

Despite directing 24 films in 23 years, several of them held in very high regard in his native Japan, and the increased interest in Eastern horror films in the west, the work of Kiyoshi Kurosawa remains largely and criminally unseen in the UK. His 1997 film Kyua (Cure) is one of most disturbingly creepy films in the Japanese New Wave, and his unnerving and intelligent 2001 Kairo (The Curcuit) has already been picked up for a Hollywood remake under its western release title of Pulse, despite (or perhaps because of) the until now unavailability of the original on UK or US DVD.

Well, at bloody last, all that is about to change courtesy of Optimum Asia, but it looks to be a case of good news and bad news. The good news is that it's coming out at all, that it has an anamorphic widescreen transfer and a 40 minute 'making of' documentary. Potentially bad news is that the English subtitles are burned in, not usually a good sign (though not always bad - volume 1 of Warner's Luis Buñuel Collection had them and the picture quality sparkled), and some of us can actually speak Japanese and like the option to turn them off. But the real disappointment has to be the promise of a Dolby 2.0 stero track. I say this purely because the region 3 disc has a 5.1 track that REALLY put the wind up me - having a ghostly voice suddenly and loudly whisper "Tasukete!" ("Help!") right behind my head actually made me jump out of my seat and prompted my Japanese companion to say nervously after the third one, "I wish that would stop!"

Anyway, for those who haven't yet caught it (and you should), the release date is 27th March and the retail price a not too bad £15.99.

Howl, Totoro and Mononoke in March [14 February 2006]

With the success of Spirited Away and more recently Howl's Moving Castle, the glorious animated films of Hayao Miyazaki have moved out of the realm of cult and into the mainstream, at least in the west - in Japan his films have been packing them in for over two decades. In the UK, Optimum have taken up the cause with their Studio Ghibli Collection, releasing the studio's back catalogue in the form that they are available in Japan, with polished anamorphic transfers and storyboards for the entire film.

The latest three to join the release schedule are, inevitably, Howl's Moving Castle (Hauru no ugoku shiro), Miyazaki's gorgeous adaptation of the book by British author Dianna Wynne Jones, My Neighbour Totoro (Tonari no Totoro) and Princess Mononoke (Mononoke Hime), all set for a March 2006 release. Howl comes with both Dolby 2.0 and 5.1 soundtracks in both the original Japanese and English, but sadly not the gorgeous 6.1 track on the already available Japanese and Chinese discs. A couple of the extras from the Chinese disk are included, but otherwise its Pixar weighted:

Interview with Diana Wynne Jones;
Interview with Peter Docter of Pixar;
Hello Lassiter featurette;
CG featurette;
Japanese trailers and TV spots;
Text-free opening credits;
Storyboards;
Trailers.

Tonari no Totoro has to be the most welcome release of all. Regarded by many (myself included) as Miyazaki's finest film, yet it has taken an AGE to arrive on DVD in the UK. Released under the Optimum Asia banner, the film will have an anamorphic widescreen transfer and both Japanese and English soundtracks in Dolby 2.0, plus the following features:

Storyboards for the entire film;
The original Japanese trailer;
The opening and closing sequences without credits;
Studio Ghibli trailer reel.

Finally, Mononoke Hime receives a re-release under a Special edition banner, which is pushing it a bit, as the extra features are limited to:

A behind-the-scenes featurette;
Alternative angle storyboards;
Original Japanese trailer;
Studio Ghibli trailer reel.

The transfer is anamorphic and the sound is 5.1, both English and Japanese. You're going to have to really want those extras, too, as the film is already available on UK region 2 DVD and can be picked up for about £6. The retail price of all three of the above is £19.99. Howl's Moving Castle will be released on 13 March 2006, while Tonari no Totoro and Mononoke Hime will be out on 27 March.

Double Life of Veronique in April [12 February 2006]

The film that first introduced me to the work of Polish master Krzysztof Kieslowski (yes, I had to back track a bit after that), his 1991 film The Double Life of Veronique is a spellbinding tale of two vitually identical women who have grown up in similar ways in different countries who start to become aware of the other's existence and may or may not ever meet. Georgously filmed and boasting a strong dual central performance from Irene Jacob, the film is set to be released on region 2 DVD in April by Artificial Eye as a two disc set. Details are to be confirmed, but at present the anamorphic widescreen transfer and 5.0 sound are set to be joined by the following features:

A conversation with Krzysztof Kieslowski;
An interview with Irene Jacob;
Kieslowski, Polish Filmmaker documentary
Kieslowski short films: The Musicians (1958), Factory (1970), Hospital (1976) and Railway Station (1980).

Release date is set for 24 April 2006, at the retail price of £22.99.

Elevator (or perhaps Lift) to the Gallows in April [6 February 2006]

It's one of those films whose title translation differs just a little depending on which side of the Atlantic you sit. Directed by Louis Malle in 1958 (his first feature make at the age of just 24), Ascenseur pour l'échafaud played in the UK as Lift to the Gallows, a trip that is taken in America in an Elevator. Either way, it's a damned fine thriller - a mistaken identity mystery that takes place over a single night in Paris, it stars the wonderful Jeanne Moreau and features a now legendary score by the great Miles Davis. To be released as part of the Criterion Collection, the disc will have the following features:

New, restored high-definition digital transfer;
New and archival interviews with Louis Malle, actors Jeanne Moreau and Maurice Ronet, and original soundtrack session pianist René Urtreger;
Footage of Miles Davis improvising the film's score;
New video discussion about the score with jazz critic Gary Giddins and musician Jon Faddis;
Theatrical trailers;
New and improved English subtitle translation;
Essays by critic Terrence Rafferty and producer Vincent Malle.

The disc will be released on April 25 2006 at the retail price of $39.95.

Fists in Pocket in April [6 February 2006]

A dark, perverse and shocking portrait of family dysfunction, Marco Bellocchio's feature debut Fists in Pocket [I Pugni in tasca] caught the Italian public unprepared back in 1965 and launched it's then 25-year-old-director's career with a bang. Now regarded as a classic of Italian cinema, the film is not as widely seen as it deserves to be, but that is set to be rectified in April, courtesy of Criterion, who are to release the film as a one of their single disk, light-on-extras editions, which at least benefit from a lower price tag than their more feature heavy disks. A restored, high-definition 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer and mono 1.0 soundtrack is joined by new video interviews with director Marco Bellocchio, actors Lou Castel and Paola Pitagora, and editor Silvano Agosti, the original theatrical trailer, and, apparently, more.

The disc will be released on April 25 2006 at the retail price of $29.95.

Come and See in April [31 January 2006]

Described by J.G. Ballard as "the greatest war film ever made" and Sean Penn as "a masterpiece not only of filmmaking but of humanity itself," Elem Klimov's 1985 Come and See (Idi i Smotri) is a rare case of a film that deserves every word of such lofty praise. It is tantalisingly described in the pre-release publicity as "the greatest war movie you've never seen," a description that may well be apt given the film's unavailability on DVD in the UK and the rarity of cinema screenings. I speak with some experience regarding the film's qualities, having seen it several times and organised one of those rare cinema screenings some years ago, a one-night-only event that drew an audience from distances of up to 80 miles. Yes, it's THAT good, but definitely not one for the faint hearted, as Klimov directly confronts the horrors of the reprisals taken by the German army against partisans in occupied Byelorussia in 1943. It is also one of the most brilliantly made and emotionally overpowering war films you'll ever see.

Joy of joys, a UK DVD release has been announced by Nouveaux Pictures, and better still it's a 2-disc special edition, remastered, we are assured, from a restored print, and with the following features:

5.1 sound in original Russian and dubbed English;
Preface by director Elem Klimov;
Interviews with star Alexei Kravchenko and production designer Victor Petrov;
Chronicles 1 and 2 featuring archive newsreel footage;
Filmographies;
Photo album.

Release date is set for 24 April at the retail price of £19.99. I can hardly wait.

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