484, 1203 Chantal Akerman Masterpieces, 1968–1978

[colinr0380]

I found this on the BFI page of the forum:
https://www.screendaily.com/news/bfi-di ... 78.article

(I'm surprised that BFI or any other distributor didn't release at least Jeanne Dielman on DVD in the UK at some point, but I'm looking forward to what BFI would do with a Blu-Ray release).

I do remember that Artificial Eye (as it was known then before it turned into what is now Curzon Home Entertainment) put La captive out on DVD in the 2000s, which I think was more due to the Proust connection than the Akerman one, given that it was around the time they also released Raul Ruiz's Time Regained. And Film4 did show No Home Movie a couple of times. But I think that was about it.

[sidetracked]

Since they mention it's using the same restoration than the Criterion BD, it's logical it's also sharing the same AR.
I'm not sure if they're comparing the Capricci BD that favorably to the Criterion BD, though. They're mostly observing the movie has a higher AVB (28.2 Mbps vs 20.4 Mbps), but they don't say if that yields a noticeably better encode.

At the risk of seeming quite dumb... I assume the 2023 Capriccci is the same restoration as the 2017 Criterion, since the 2024 Criterion wasn't available when the review was written? (Though both the
old and new Criterion have the same 20.4 AVB per blu-ray.com, making it all the more confusing... the old and new Criterion BDs are different, no?)

[tenia]

Yes indeed, it's all the same restoration, the 2024 Criterion also reusing the 2017 restoration.

[nicolas]

Since they mention it's using the same restoration than the Criterion BD, it's logical it's also sharing the same AR.
I'm not sure if they're comparing the Capricci BD that favorably to the Criterion BD, though. They're mostly observing the movie has a higher AVB (28.2 Mbps vs 20.4 Mbps), but they don't say if that yields a noticeably better encode.

At the risk of seeming quite dumb... I assume the 2023 Capriccci is the same restoration as the 2017 Criterion, since the 2024 Criterion wasn't available when the review was written? (Though both the
old and new Criterion have the same 20.4 AVB per blu-ray.com, making it all the more confusing... the old and new Criterion BDs are different, no?)

The new Jeanne Dielman BD is significantly worse than the 2017 one according to Chris: "Compression is more of an issue this time, and the image appears noisier than the previous one, with macroblocking more evident in places. It is ultimately subtle, but where I thought the original Blu-ray only looked iffy here and there, the buzzy texture is present throughout the whole film now. (...) They also didn't bother to fix the framing, with a boom mic still visible on the right edge of one sequence." No one would have complained had they just ported over the old encode as is but this is just ridiculous and disappointing.

[sidetracked]

Thanks so much to you both for the quick helpful replies! I'm just trying to find the best available version, the film has always meant a lot to me since I first saw it a lifetime ago...
Haven't found anything comparing the Criterion and the Capriccci other then the DVDClassik review which - as tenia rightly points out - confirms the higher bit rate, but not actually better PQ. No luck finding posts here or elsewhere, no reviews, no caps-a-holic, etc.
So if anyone has seen both -- I bet I'm not the only admirer of the film who'd be very curious to hear.

[swo17]

Maybe wait and see what BFI do with it

[therewillbeblus]

Or the inevitable UHD upgrade

[sidetracked]

I am very curious about the BFI. I feel like their batting average for transfer quality is up towards the top of the list.
As for a UHD - I'd be delighted... but with Criterion not adding one in their set, and no talk (at least that I've I've seen) of one from BFI or Capricci - who are both actively working on Akerman releases - I fear UHD may be a long way off... if ever...

But I hope I'm wrong!

[therewillbeblus]

The UHD was a half-joke, like if they did paired releases of My Dinner with Andre in 4K, but I do appreciate the attention to detail and it's actually possible considering some of their rando picks + topping the Sight and Sound poll..

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

The stumbling block there is that the existing restoration is only 2K.