Haneke on DVD

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denti alligator
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#26 Post by denti alligator » Mon Jan 23, 2006 12:53 pm

Annie Mall wrote:denti, they do it all the time in France. They still eat horse meat there.
Yes, but there are "quick and humane" ways of killing an animal (remember how they kill the horse in Sang des betes), and slitting a throat is not one of them. These things DO bother me, unfortunately.

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Arn777
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#27 Post by Arn777 » Mon Jan 23, 2006 1:00 pm

Off topic, but only very old people eat horse meat in France anymore, and there are not many horse butchers left - snails are still popular though ;)

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The Invunche
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#28 Post by The Invunche » Mon Jan 23, 2006 1:01 pm

When there's no more human suffering in the world I'll start worrying about animals.

<-- member of PETA (People Eating Tasty Animals)

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denti alligator
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#29 Post by denti alligator » Sat Feb 18, 2006 1:26 pm

Can the French box set be had for cheaper than at amazon.fr?

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Lino
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#30 Post by Lino » Mon Mar 27, 2006 4:01 am

DVDTalk review of the R1 Funny Games:
How Does the DVD Look?

More than six months ago a massive boxset containing some of Michael Haneke's early films (including the now notorious Benny's Video) was released in France but unfortunately for those needing English subs the collection did not offer such. Shortly after KINO Video announced their plans to release the same films in R1 land. So, what I have in my hands is the first disc of the collection and I have to (regretfully) announce that this is indeed a direct, improperly converted, copy of the French release with added English subtitles. The transfers from the boxset for all of the Haneke upcoming R1 releases (which I will have reviews for shortly) are identical to the French versions which is not necessarily a bad thing, quite the opposite in fact, but in a well familiar fashion KINO have simply performed a direct PAL-NTSC port of Funny Games and as a result there is a good dose of "ghosting" to be seen. Aside from that from color gradation to contrast everything else in this release appears exactly the same as the French version of Funny Games. The print herein provided is in very good condition and there is simply no basis for comparison between the old Koch Lorber disc and this new French-ported version. Unfortunately no matter how good it looks it still remains a PAL-NTSC port and all of the issues that come with such a transfer are quite visibly represented here. Funny Games is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and enhanced for widescreen TV's.

kazantzakis
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#31 Post by kazantzakis » Mon Mar 27, 2006 5:50 am

I think I will stick to the bootlegs for now...Just out of curiosity, how much does KINO save by resorting to a PAL-to-NTSC port instead of a proper job? Anyone know?

Anonymous

#32 Post by Anonymous » Mon Mar 27, 2006 6:24 am

I emailed Artificial Eye about 7th Continent/Benny's Video/71 Fragments in the UK and they replied that Tartan will be putting them out this year...

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thomega
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#33 Post by thomega » Mon Mar 27, 2006 9:33 am

denti alligator wrote:Funny Games : Surprised there isn't a German DVD.
Actually, there is a German DVD (I haven't seen it, but according to DVD Palace it's 1:78 anamorphic, DTS and no subtitles at all). You won't find it at amazon.de, because the movie is rated unsuitable for minors and German law prohibits mail order sales in this case.

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denti alligator
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#34 Post by denti alligator » Mon Mar 27, 2006 10:15 am

thomega wrote:
denti alligator wrote:Funny Games : Surprised there isn't a German DVD.
Actually, there is a German DVD (I haven't seen it, but according to DVD Palace it's 1:78 anamorphic, DTS and no subtitles at all). You won't find it at amazon.de, because the movie is rated unsuitable for minors and German law prohibits mail order sales in this case.
You're kdding me! "Unsuitable for minors," maybe, but not any more than hundreds of titles (including porn) available at amazon.de.

spencerw
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#35 Post by spencerw » Tue Mar 28, 2006 7:04 am

DVDTalk wrote: More than six months ago a massive boxset containing some of Michael Haneke's early films (including the now notorious Benny's Video) was released in France but unfortunately for those needing English subs the collection did not offer such. Shortly after KINO Video announced their plans to release the same films in R1 land. So, what I have in my hands is the first disc of the collection
I am not sure this is correct. As fas as I am aware, the recent R1 Haneke box-set contained only three films: The Seventh Continent, Benny's Video and 71 Fragments Of A Chronology Of Chance (see, for example, this review. If so, the new DVD of Funny Games is not derived from the R1 set. That said, even if the PAL sources are entirely different, given that Kino have done a bad PAL-NTSC port on Funny Games, we can reasonably fear they will do the same when they get to the "glaciation trilogy". Kino do seem to regard them as part of the same project (see the press release).

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FilmFanSea
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#36 Post by FilmFanSea » Wed Mar 29, 2006 2:01 am

DVD Talk reviewer Svet Atanasov (aka "pro-bassoonist" at the DVD Talk Forum) asked me to post the following on his behalf:
Svet Atanasov wrote:I received an email from someone (name: Barry), I assume a member of the Criterion forum, stating that Funny Games was not part of the Haneke collection/boxset that was released in France. This is incorrect!! Funny Games and the rest of the films are bundled together with the actual box that carries the other 3 films: Benny's Video, The Seventh Continent, and 71 Fragments... Fnac had/has all 4 films together with a special clip with Haneke's name on it. That is how these films were sold in France and that is how my collection arrived: all four films together. All four films were released on the same day: October 5, 2006 and were advertised as the "Michael Haneke collection". So, I can certainly confirm that Kino have used exactly the same transfers for all of their upcoming Haneke releases the French distrib did. So, while the 3pack/set you refer to indeed has only Benny's Video, The Seventh Continent, and 71 Fragments...Funny Games also comes bundled together with them and !
that is how I described it in my review (I assume this is an exclussive for the Fnac stores cheap holder). So the total is: 4 films.

I attempted to log-in an respond to the thread at the Criterion forum that states the opposite but for whatever reason my account is no longer active.

Thank you for your kind note and for taking some time to look at my review.

Sincerely yours,
Svet
Svet can be emailed at this link from DVD Talk

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denti alligator
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#37 Post by denti alligator » Wed Mar 29, 2006 10:51 am

It's not this 'cus this doesn't have Funny Games as far as I can see.S o which is it?

The region 1 Cache is listed at amazon.com for 35% off, but no special features mentioned. Anyone know what they are?

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FilmFanSea
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#38 Post by FilmFanSea » Thu May 11, 2006 12:05 pm

denti alligator wrote:The region 1 Cache is listed at amazon.com for 35% off, but no special features mentioned. Anyone know what they are?
Not much.

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Jeff
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#39 Post by Jeff » Wed Jun 14, 2006 11:15 pm

Haneke has royally pissed off the Moscow International Film Festival.

neal
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#40 Post by neal » Thu Jun 15, 2006 12:12 am

Jeff wrote:Haneke has royally pissed off the Moscow International Film Festival.
Damn...

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justeleblanc
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#41 Post by justeleblanc » Thu Jun 15, 2006 12:55 am

neal wrote:
Jeff wrote:Haneke has royally pissed off the Moscow International Film Festival.
Damn...
I'm confused, the letter written by Haneke seems to say otherwise, and that was written a little before MIFF's letter.

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The Fanciful Norwegian
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#42 Post by The Fanciful Norwegian » Thu Jun 15, 2006 3:45 am

The letter is dated March 29th.

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Don Lope de Aguirre
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#43 Post by Don Lope de Aguirre » Thu Jun 15, 2006 6:02 am

Tout ca n'etait pas a prevoir et je suis vraiment desole de ne pas pouvoir venir au festival, mais vous comprenez surement que la realisation d'un nouveau film a la priorite.
:lol: :lol: I wonder if he'd have said the same thing to the Cannes festival organizers! :lol:

Seriously, though, I understand his position and I'd have done the same thing even though he's royally shafted the poor Russians, their country and all the other film makers represented in competition! :D

neal
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#44 Post by neal » Thu Jun 15, 2006 1:00 pm

justeleblanc wrote:
neal wrote:
Jeff wrote:Haneke has royally pissed off the Moscow International Film Festival.
Damn...
I'm confused, the letter written by Haneke seems to say otherwise, and that was written a little before MIFF's letter.
All three letters were posted to the website within the span of a day, but they were written over a much longer period.

spencerw
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#45 Post by spencerw » Thu Jun 15, 2006 1:16 pm

A curious piece of Haneke news from the new July issue of Sight and Sound magazine:
Sight and Sound wrote:"Michael Haneke is to make an English-language version of his film 'Funny Games'. He is currently discussing with Naomi Watts the possibility of her taking the lead role".

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Don Lope de Aguirre
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#46 Post by Don Lope de Aguirre » Thu Jun 15, 2006 2:27 pm


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Matt
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#47 Post by Matt » Thu Jun 15, 2006 5:15 pm

Don Lope de Aguirre wrote:Seriously, though, I understand his position and I'd have done the same thing....
Yes, and I think any filmmaker would. Sure, it leaves the film festival organizers in a lurch, but how can they reasonably demand that a filmmaker postpone or cancel a project just to sit on a festival jury, no matter how royal the treatment?

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htdm
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#48 Post by htdm » Thu Jun 15, 2006 6:41 pm

If these correspondences are correct, then I think this is nothing short of professional negligence on Haneke's part. Even in lieu of a formal contract, it would appear that the Russians proceeded in good faith only to find themselves placed in the absolute "worst-case" scenario for little apparent reason. Even if he was offered another film project, he committed himself professionally for the 9 day festival - projects can and are put on hold for reasons less than this. I find it amazing that the Russians don't send him a bill for the unnecessary (and expensive) work that he caused them. Having worked for years in distribution and exhibition, I seriously doubt that Haneke would be as forgiving with any exhibitor or distributor who might similarly reneg on exploiting one of his films by claiming that another one came along - as he is expecting the MIFF committee to be. I think it's a matter of professional integrity.

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tavernier
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#49 Post by tavernier » Thu Jun 15, 2006 8:22 pm

As much as I admire Haneke as an artist, he seems less than admirable as a human being.

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franco
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#50 Post by franco » Sun Jun 18, 2006 1:27 pm

On a more positive note, the R1 Sony edition of Caché gets an exuberant review at DVDTalk.

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