Recommendations for Second Run

Discuss releases by Second Run and the films on them.
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dda1996a
Joined: Tue Oct 27, 2015 6:14 am

Re: Recommendations for Second Run

#476 Post by dda1996a » Sun Jun 30, 2019 3:06 pm

Looks very digitally to my eyes...
But it's such a shame he barely gets the recognition he deserves

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rapta
Joined: Sun Jun 29, 2014 5:04 pm
Location: Hants, UK

Re: Recommendations for Second Run

#477 Post by rapta » Sat Jul 20, 2019 5:20 pm

So apparently Arbelos are helping restore Marcell Jankovics' Son of the White Mare, and I wondered if Second Run might be interested in licensing it for the UK?

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L.A.
Joined: Thu May 28, 2009 7:33 am
Location: Helsinki, Finland

Re: Recommendations for Second Run

#478 Post by L.A. » Wed Aug 07, 2019 3:43 pm

Any plans for a Blu-ray of Péter Bacsó’s The Witness? It was shown at this year’s Cannes Film Festival in 4K and in it’s intended original, uncensored version.

Calvin
Joined: Sun Apr 10, 2011 11:12 am

Re: Recommendations for Second Run

#479 Post by Calvin » Fri Feb 07, 2020 5:03 pm

A 4K restoration of Alfréd Radok's Distant Journey will premiere at the Berlin Film Festival. It's currently the only film on that classic 'top 10 Czech films' list that isn't available in the UK and with seven of the others having been released by Second Run, this seems like a good bet!

Trailer for the restoration

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senseabove
Joined: Wed Dec 02, 2015 3:07 am

Re: Recommendations for Second Run

#480 Post by senseabove » Sat Feb 08, 2020 4:10 am

Calvin wrote:
Tue Aug 09, 2011 5:46 pm
I'd love to see Brynych's A Paty Jezdec je Strach (The Fifth Horseman is Fear) released. As far as I know it's only been given a release by Facets in the US and it looks like a very interesting film indeed with an unusual perspective for a Holocaust movie - examining the psychological effects.
Just saw this thread bumped and searched for any mention of this title, so wanted to second this recommendation/request from nearly a decade ago... I wondered whether it was a title Second Run might have already released after seeing it last week, and was sad to see that its DVD releases are sub-par. Here's hoping it gets rescued and restored...

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MichaelB
Joined: Fri Aug 11, 2006 6:20 pm
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Re: Recommendations for Second Run

#481 Post by MichaelB » Sat Feb 08, 2020 9:11 am

Second Run has been after that title for over a decade - but, as you say, the materials simply aren't up to scratch right now, and they can't afford to restore it themselves.

Calvin
Joined: Sun Apr 10, 2011 11:12 am

Re: Recommendations for Second Run

#482 Post by Calvin » Sat Feb 08, 2020 3:48 pm

It was on the list of 200 films that the Czechs were planning to restore. I'm not sure what their planned timescale for that was, but they've only managed to do around 30 in just under a decade due to a combination of funding and what seems to be some controversy at home so who knows when they'll get round to it.

Of the ones that they have already done, I'm surprised that Second Run haven't taken the chance to upgrade Adelheid to get a Vláčil film out on Blu. Though it looks like that was a particularly controversial NFA restoration

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MichaelB
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Re: Recommendations for Second Run

#483 Post by MichaelB » Sat Feb 08, 2020 3:56 pm

Given that they're still upgrading much more commercially appealing titles like Ikarie XB-1, A Blonde in Love and Valerie and Her Week of Wonders and also releasing stuff like Black Peter and A Case for a Rookie Hangman that they haven't put out before, it's easy to see why a label that typically releases just one title a month hasn't got round to a niche title like Adelheid yet!

Orlac
Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2009 4:29 am

Re: Recommendations for Second Run

#484 Post by Orlac » Sat Feb 08, 2020 6:31 pm

I'd definetly be up for more Eastern bloc sci-fi such as The Silent Star and Planeta Bur.

Calvin
Joined: Sun Apr 10, 2011 11:12 am

Re: Recommendations for Second Run

#485 Post by Calvin » Wed Apr 22, 2020 10:27 am

I think I've suggested it before, but Lav Diaz's new short has reminded me how imperative it is that somebody licenses Ishmael Bernal's Himala for release. It was restored as part of the ABS-CBN Film Restoration Project back in 2012

Calvin
Joined: Sun Apr 10, 2011 11:12 am

Re: Recommendations for Second Run

#486 Post by Calvin » Tue May 05, 2020 8:57 am

It would be great if Second Run could bring the new 4K restoration of Lucian Pintilie's The Oak to our shores

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Orson Kane
Joined: Mon Jun 10, 2019 12:07 pm

Re: Recommendations for Second Run

#487 Post by Orson Kane » Tue May 12, 2020 5:17 pm

Would I be able to recommend to the Second Run guys to have a list of all the titles that are about to go OOP in a separate thread?

Similar to the Arrow and the Indicator releases, then you can see which DVDs/Blurays you should pull the trigger on if you have been buying from other labels during sales etc.

Thanks

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Telstar
Joined: Mon Apr 10, 2006 12:35 pm

Re: Recommendations for Second Run

#488 Post by Telstar » Mon May 18, 2020 1:33 pm

Just listened to the Projection Booth crew raving about The Fifth Horseman is Fear during their supplement on the excellent Case for a Rookie Hangman BD and I'm more interested than ever in seeing a worthwhile edition of this film in my lifetime.

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TMDaines
Joined: Wed Nov 11, 2009 1:01 pm
Location: Stretford, Manchester

Re: Recommendations for Second Run

#489 Post by TMDaines » Tue Aug 25, 2020 5:40 am

I think pretty much all of Zoltan Fabri's titles have had excellent restorations over in Hungary. Their film archive shared a lot of them to the public on Vimeo during the start of the pandemic. Unfortunately, they were all only released on DVD in Hungary though. I think they'd make a nice couple of boxsets for Second Run, even if they wouldn't attract enough attention as stand alone releases.

borisgodunov
Joined: Wed Nov 04, 2020 5:54 pm

Re: Recommendations for Second Run

#490 Post by borisgodunov » Wed Nov 04, 2020 6:29 pm

As a proud owner of the entire Hungarian Zoltán Fábri box set (17 DVDs w/ Engl. subtitle) I can absolutely subscribe to the proposal to make these films available for a broader public, most of his films are absolutely amazing. I fear, however, that The Fifth Seal (whose restored version is on Youtube right now) might be the only film able to attract enough customers to make a Blu-Ray release profitable. A three or five film box set edition would probably be a good solution. Besides The Fifth Seal (1976), the set should definitely include Two Half Times in Hell (1961), his second best. Other notable films would be Édes Anna (1958), The Boys of Paul Street (1968), The Tot Family (1969) and Requiem (1982), among others. A box set should also depict the broad variety of his work, ranging from Wes Anderson-like comedies (e.g. The Tot Family) to serious dramas (e.g. The Fifth Seal) to tender Resnais-like portrayals of sexuality and memory (e.g. Requiem, The Unfinished Sentence). Interestingly, all of his films are in some way "political".

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swo17
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Re: Recommendations for Second Run

#491 Post by swo17 » Wed Nov 04, 2020 7:09 pm

Oh wow, I didn't realize there were three separate Fábri sets--I only knew about the first one with the most recognizable titles. Is there also a set that compiles all three volumes?

borisgodunov
Joined: Wed Nov 04, 2020 5:54 pm

Re: Recommendations for Second Run

#492 Post by borisgodunov » Wed Nov 04, 2020 7:27 pm

swo17 wrote:
Wed Nov 04, 2020 7:09 pm
Oh wow, I didn't realize there were three separate Fábri sets--I only knew about the first one with the most recognizable titles. Is there also a set that compiles all three volumes?
Hmm I don't think so, I've bought them separately (here and here), alongside other Hungarian DVDs. If you buy them there, the price is quite decent (you even get bonus points which reduce the price of your next orders drastically, but you have to activate them yourself, which is not easy if you don't speak Hungarian – but with the help of Google Translate, everything is possible); even the shipping costs (to Germany, in my case) were okay.
There is also a brand new István Szábo box set, maybe I'll get this one as well.

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swo17
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Re: Recommendations for Second Run

#493 Post by swo17 » Thu Nov 05, 2020 12:13 am

That Szábo set would be great...if Kino hadn't just rendered half of it redundant (and I already have Apa from Second Run). Can anyone speak to the quality of Hanussen or Taking Sides?

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brundlefly
Joined: Fri Jun 13, 2014 12:55 pm

Re: Recommendations for Second Run

#494 Post by brundlefly » Thu Nov 05, 2020 4:04 pm

And they have the 3-disc "Gems of Hungarian Animation" set that was a finalist in the Il Cinema Ritrovato awards this year for a little less than $20 before shipping, half of what a Maryland-based Amazon seller charges (though their shipping is free).

borisgodunov
Joined: Wed Nov 04, 2020 5:54 pm

Re: Recommendations for Second Run

#495 Post by borisgodunov » Thu Nov 05, 2020 10:21 pm

Second Run's declared aim is it to release films "which, crucially, have never before been available anywhere in the world on DVD", as they say on their website. Against this background, I would like to suggest an entire country's filmography Second Run might want to tap into, since not a single of this country's national film classics has ever been released in an English-subtitled Blu-Ray edition, let alone on a DVD.

I am talking about Lithuania. If you take a look at the Website of the Lithuanian Film Centre, you will see that they have made enormous efforts to digitize and restore much of their national film heritage – yet, so far all of these classics remain more or less concealed from the general public. Given the fact that film restorations are both time consuming and expensive, it would be quite sad if it stays like this – especially since the the Lithuanian film heritage is certainly no less important than that of every other Central and Eastern European country. A specialised label such as Second Run might be a great help in making a whole country's film history internationally visible.

I have browsed a bit through the catalogue of films that the Lithuanian Film Centre has restored and would like to suggest a few that, in my opinion, would make highly intriguing Second Run releases:

(1) Films by Arūnas Žebriūnas. The films by Lithuanian director Žebriūnas would make an ideal box set – not only because he is one of the most famous, and best reviewed, directors of his native country and his films cover a wide range from medieval rock operas to serious dramas for children to romantic films, but also because all of them quite short. The films would be: The Girl and The Echo (1964, 66min), The Beauty (1969, 66min), The Devil's Bride (1974, 78min) and Walnut Bread (1978, 66min). There is also the anthology film The Living Heroes (1959, 80min), to which Žebriūnas has contributed one episode.

(2) Herkus Mantas aka Northern Crusades (1972, 148min). The Andrei Rublev- and Marketa Lazarová-like period drama set in the Middle Ages is one of the largest-scaled Lithuanian films.

(3) March, March! Tra-ta-ta! (1964, 78min). This is not only Lithuania's first colour film, but a highly experimental political satire, mixing genres like melodrama and comedy and innovative in its use of music and cinematography.

(4) Faktas (1980, 96min). This film is a dramatization of a Nazi massacre in a Lithuanian village during World War II, which might be interesting to compare to Elem Klimov's depiction of a similar event in his devastating Come and See.

(5) The Children from the Hotel "America" (1990, 89min). This film, one of the first produced in independent Lithuania, gives a vivid portrayal of the lives of teenagers in Soviet Lithuania who eventually become part of the 1972 anti-government protests (Kaunas' spring).

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L.A.
Joined: Thu May 28, 2009 7:33 am
Location: Helsinki, Finland

Re: Recommendations for Second Run

#496 Post by L.A. » Fri Nov 06, 2020 7:58 am

(6)
For those who like osterns (or easterns) then this is a must-see. Seeing this in a movie theater over a decade ago is one of my favorite experiences ever. Blu-ray would be wonderful.

Besides NWtD, the other Lithuanian film that I have seen is Herkus Mantas. If you like Knights of the Teutonic Order (1960) then HM won’t disappoint and the new restoration looks stunning.

borisgodunov
Joined: Wed Nov 04, 2020 5:54 pm

Re: Recommendations for Second Run

#497 Post by borisgodunov » Fri Nov 06, 2020 4:58 pm

We all know Masaki Kobayashi for his undisputed masterpieces such as The Human Condition, Harakiri and Kwaidan.

But only recently, one of his most fascinating, and much lesser known films has been restored:
the four-and-a-half hour documentary Tōkyō Saiban (1983). (Restoration Trailer)

Tōkyō Saiban, or Tokyo Trials in English, focuses on the International Military Tribunal for the Far East and can be considered to play in the same league as other giant documentary projects like Marcel Ophuls' The Sorrow and The Pity and Claude Lanzmann's Shoah, all of which constitute striking examples of critical assessments of different nation's responsibilities for their behaviour during World War II, raising questions about humanity, morality, and also accountability before the law.

After a production time of more than five years, and production costs that exceeded 400 million yen, Kobayashi presented his documentary which immediately won many awards in Japan and an International Critics Award at the Berlin Film Festival; and was praised to be both a riveting, meticulously researched reevaluation of Japanese military aggression and a requiem for the victims of war; masterfully put together by one of the most talented (and also most discomfiting) artists of all time, and consistently challenging preconceptions of justice and lawfulness. A deeply humane film, making very prudent use of music composed by Kobayashi's long-time collaborator Tōru Takemitsu, and, despite its running time, a tense and gripping experience nonetheless.

Since I think that this could be a film very fruitful to watch for basically everybody, from an artistic and political point of view alike, I am convinced that whichever label releases it internationally, with English subtitles, could make an utterly valuable contribution to society. Given, however, that the market for b&w 4,5hrs documentaries is arguably not very big, the only option to achieve this would be via a specialised label whose regular customers know the director very well and praise him for his earlier works.

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rapta
Joined: Sun Jun 29, 2014 5:04 pm
Location: Hants, UK

Re: Recommendations for Second Run

#498 Post by rapta » Fri Nov 06, 2020 7:22 pm

I for one would snap up any more Kobayashi, so the above sounds like a great idea.

Stefan Andersson
Joined: Thu Nov 15, 2007 1:02 am

Re: Recommendations for Second Run

#499 Post by Stefan Andersson » Sun Nov 08, 2020 2:15 pm

+1 vote for more Kobayashi, for example Kaseki (wasn´t there a longer TV version also?)

+1 vote for Fábri on Blu; reading borisgodunovs description, Requiem and The Sentence sound intriguing for their Resnais-like dimensions. Also, Körhinta.

Some other suggestions:
Tian Zhuangzhuang on Blu - the wonderful The Blue Kite, the restored Horse Thief with original soundtrack, On the Hunting Ground
Li Shaohong films - haven´t seen any, but from descriptions they sound intriguing; maybe someone would like to chime in with specific titles?
Swan Song, Zhang Zheming - https://www.timeout.com/movies/swan-song

Would Second Run like to release Colonel Redl on Blu? If so, info about the rumoured pre-release cuts, perhaps in a booklet, would be appreciated. I´ve never found any online info on the subject, though I remember pre-release cuts being mentioned when the film was released.

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Finch
Joined: Mon Jul 07, 2008 5:09 pm
Location: Edinburgh, UK

Re: Recommendations for Second Run

#500 Post by Finch » Mon Nov 23, 2020 10:35 pm

No idea if this has been restored or not but Zbyněk Brynych’s The Fifth Horseman Is Fear (1965) would be a great title to release.

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