397 Ivan's Childhood

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Rich Malloy · #51 Post by **Rich Malloy** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 10:05 am

I remember this as being one of the very first "Coming Soon" titles in those great full-color booklets that Criterion used to include in their releases (way back in the way early years). Since then, I've seen "Ivan's" at the MFA-Boston when that Tarkovsky retrospective came through about 5 years ago, and then taped a VHS dub off of TCM. The Ruscico titles were clearly pathetic - and I already knew of the second-rate quality from owning "Mirror", "Rublev", and "Stalker" - and I even managed to hold off purchasing the Mk2 in the hopes of an imminent Criterion.

So, you know... FINALLY! And it appears well worth the wait! =D>

tavernier · #52 Post by **tavernier** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 2:34 pm

As the Beaver screencaps show, the interviews with Yusov and Burlyaev cannot be played straight through: you have to access each chapter, which is annoying since each section is only a couple minutes long.

I know this is nitpicking, but I don't remember any other Criterion interview without a simple "play" option to watch the entire interview, instead of returning to the menu each time to access the next section.

Maybe it's just me, because I hate it when there's a list of deleted scenes or featurettes to watch on a disc and there's no "play all" option.

pmunger · #53 Post by **pmunger** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 2:45 pm

I believe the Gorin interview for La jetée is that way too.

tavernier · #54 Post by **tavernier** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 2:47 pm

pmunger wrote:I believe the Gorin interview for La jetée is that way too.

Haven't looked at that yet; thanks for the heads up.

Rich Malloy · #55 Post by **Rich Malloy** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 3:12 pm

But I thought the Gorin interviews were set up to approximate the look/navigation of Marker's "Immemory" DVD-ROM, and they certainly aren't simply about "La Jetee".

We actually see a bit of "Immemory" in the extras, at least a few screens, and it looks very much like the "Gorin map". It's described elsewhere as: "A haunting journey through memory, cinema, photography, war and literature, tracing an itinerary or map of an imaginary country. This voyage takes us from the "Madeleine" at the intersection of Proust and Hitchcock through an archive of image and text, and culminates as a self-portrait. Marker states that his object was to "present the 'guided tour' of a memory, while at the same time offering the visitor a chance for haphazard navigation."

In short, I think you're nitpicking an intentional decision, not some lazy disc authorship.

eez28 · #56 Post by **eez28** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 3:15 pm

So while there is a reason for La Jetee to be set up that way, what might the reason be for Ivan to have the interviews the same way?

Rich Malloy · #57 Post by **Rich Malloy** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 3:21 pm

From an email I received from Mulvaney, the thought was that the disc was so perfect as originally encoded that a decision was made to disable the "play all" option for two reasons: (1) to more closely approximate and evoke the overall discomfort and general lack of amenities that routinely confronted the arthouse viewer by requiring extra digital manipulation of the remote on the part of the home-viewer; (2) to expressly piss off tavernier.

tavernier · #58 Post by **tavernier** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 3:37 pm

That was a long, long way for such little payoff; anyway, only (2) sounds plausible.

Rich Malloy · #59 Post by **Rich Malloy** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 4:52 pm

Yeah, sorta like Dennis Miller - all wind-up and no delivery.

Here's another: "a haunting journey through menus, submenus, and selection options that trace the itinerary of an imaginary encoding whose object is to present a 'guided tour' of Yusov and Bulyaev's selective memories, while at the same time eschewing any preference for the "play all" option, offering instead a chance for haphazard navigation."

tavernier · #60 Post by **tavernier** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 7:41 pm

Rich Malloy wrote:Yeah, sorta like Dennis Miller - all wind-up and no delivery.

Here's another: "a haunting journey through menus, submenus, and selection options that trace the itinerary of an imaginary encoding whose object is to present a 'guided tour' of Yusov and Bulyaev's selective memories, while at the same time eschewing any preference for the "play all" option, offering instead a chance for haphazard navigation."

Exactly like Dennis Miller...unfunny.

blindside8zao · #61 Post by **blindside8zao** » Sat Jul 07, 2007 5:25 pm

Thank god, Criterion. Everyone be sure and pick this up, the higher the sales the better chances of us getting more Tarkovsky.

miless · #62 Post by **miless** » Sun Jul 08, 2007 5:05 am

blindside8zao wrote:Thank god, Criterion. Everyone be sure and pick this up, the higher the sales the better chances of us getting more Tarkovsky.

um... how's that? Criterion seems to be pretty dedicated to Tarkovsky (releasing nearly half his output). If they could, they would undoubtedly release all of them... but unfortunately KINO seems to own the rights to the other films... the only one in limbo seems to be Nostalghia (no-one seems to know who owns the rights to this title, after the Koch-Lorber disaster)

malcolm1980 · #63 Post by **malcolm1980** » Sun Jul 08, 2007 10:30 am

miless wrote:
blindside8zao wrote:Thank god, Criterion. Everyone be sure and pick this up, the higher the sales the better chances of us getting more Tarkovsky.
um... how's that? Criterion seems to be pretty dedicated to Tarkovsky (releasing nearly half his output). If they could, they would undoubtedly release all of them... but unfortunately KINO seems to own the rights to the other films... the only one in limbo seems to be Nostalghia (no-one seems to know who owns the rights to this title, after the Koch-Lorber disaster)

Oddly enough, Nostalghia is the only one of Tarkovsky's main features I have yet to see.

blindside8zao · #64 Post by **blindside8zao** » Sun Jul 08, 2007 12:57 pm

miless, I was just thinking back on the information given previously about the andrei rublev sales and how hard it was for them to make back their production costs. I don't think Criterion needs to be convinced of T's worth, but that there's at least a small crowd that will purchase.

Btw, definetly see Nostalghia. It was my favorite for a little while. It's beautiful and well worth your time.

Don Lope de Aguirre · #65 Post by **Don Lope de Aguirre** » Sun Jul 08, 2007 2:16 pm

In the meantime let's see what the Antipodeans make of their upcoming Stalker and Andrei Rublev DVDs...

Rich Malloy · #66 Post by **Rich Malloy** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 9:39 am

Don Lope de Aguirre wrote:In the meantime let's see what the Antipodeans make of their upcoming Stalker and Andrei Rublev DVDs...

Any additional info on this at all? Release date maybe?

Don Lope de Aguirre · #67 Post by **Don Lope de Aguirre** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 1:39 pm

(This isn't really the right thread for this but...)

Stalker is all ready out (no reviews as of yet that I know of)
Andrei Rublev is coming out at the very beginning of September (https://www.ezydvd.com.au/item.zml/794436)

Additionally, the Australian 'Mirror' is all ready out (and from the screencaps posted looks the best around)*...

* EDIT: to add it is supposedly a port of the AE

Greathinker · #68 Post by **Greathinker** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 2:32 pm

I didn't realize they were brining out Rublev too. And it's the director's cut? I'll have my eye on this. What's with the episodes from the Treasure Island films in the extras though?

Don Lope de Aguirre · #69 Post by **Don Lope de Aguirre** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 2:42 pm

What is an AE port? The distinction series Mirror looks fantastic; I didn't realize they were brining out Rublev too. And it's the director's cut? I'll have my eye on this. What's with the episodes from the Treasure Island films in the extras though?

I have ordered the R4 'Mirror' but it has not arrived yet. To my eye judging from the caps posted on here versus those on DVDBeaver the R4 looked infinitely superior to the other existing editions. However, a poster on the R4 thread claimed it was a 'direct port'...

As for the Treasure Islands 1937 ands 1982... I presume they are these films films respectively: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0029356/ & http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084452/ I am not sure why these are relevant but would be pleased to be enlightened...

Rich Malloy · #70 Post by **Rich Malloy** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 3:05 pm

I hate to contribute to the thread-drift, but until "Ivan's" starts shipping out, it seems a good interim topic...

I'm really interested to hear how "Mirror" ends up looking to you, Aguirre. I also suspect it's a direct Ruscico port, but I'd purchase it for even a minimal, encode-related improvement. And, "Treasure Island" aside, it seems the "Rublev" extras are all ported over from the Ruscico. I wish there was more context provided, but the "Icons", "Bells", and "Invasion" extras are quite interesting. But is it, in fact, the "director's cut"? It says 185 minutes, and I suddenly can't recall if that's the "Mosfilm" edit or the "Scorsese" print runtime (isn't the latter more like 204 minutes?).

Tommaso · #71 Post by **Tommaso** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 3:39 pm

185 min. is definitely the shorter edit. I hope that at least the wrong aspect ratio of the Ruscico will be corrected. It's around 2.10 instead of the original 2.35, and what's worse, everything is slightly stretched vertically on the Ruscico. You won't notice at first, but watching it for a longer time it cannot really be ignored. Otherwise the Ruscico PAL looks very good, but I would still hope that Criterion would re-do their "Rublev". Not much hope for the Australian "Mirror". Even if they use a higher bit-rate, I don't believe that they will correct the way too intense colours of the Ruscico transfer. But I would be glad if I was proved wrong.

Rich Malloy · #72 Post by **Rich Malloy** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 4:03 pm

I can wait for the Criterion re-release of "Rublev"... if in fact it's coming! Although interesting for comparison's sake, I really detest the Mosfilm edit. Interesting to see how prudish the film ministry was when it came to bawdy humor and nudity, but it's very hard to watch all those original long takes sliced and diced into myriad individual shots - not to mention that horrible 5.1 remix - all of which leaves me a little bit angry and a little bit sad everytime I watch it.

Jean-Luc Garbo · #73 Post by **Jean-Luc Garbo** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 5:33 pm

What was the Nostalghia Koch-Lorber disaster?

Daze73 · #74 Post by **Daze73** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 6:24 pm

Don Lope de Aguirre wrote:I have ordered the R4 'Mirror' but it has not arrived yet. To my eye judging from the caps posted on here versus those on DVDBeaver the R4 looked infinitely superior to the other existing editions. However, a poster on the R4 thread claimed it was a 'direct port'...

The R4 is a direct port as you can see in the screen captures I posted below. The only difference I can see is a VERY slight difference in color. By the way, the R2 AE captures are my own, not DVDBeaver's:

AE: 1 - 2
R4: 1 - 2
AE: 1 - 2
R4: 1 - 2

Greathinker · #75 Post by **Greathinker** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 7:32 pm

Rich Malloy wrote:I can wait for the Criterion re-release of "Rublev"... if in fact it's coming! Although interesting for comparison's sake, I really detest the Mosfilm edit. Interesting to see how prudish the film ministry was when it came to bawdy humor and nudity, but it's very hard to watch all those original long takes sliced and diced into myriad individual shots - not to mention that horrible 5.1 remix - all of which leaves me a little bit angry and a little bit sad everytime I watch it.

At risk of this being moved to the Rublev thread, nostalghia.com posted news about a new director's cut:

The Tarkovsky Institute (Florence, Paris and Moscow) is currently working on the production of the Director's Cut of the film Andrei Rublev. At the moment there are three versions of this film in existence in the world. With this new restored work, the version closest to what Tarkovsky himself wanted will at last be allowed to emerge. The work is being done in close collaboration with his Director of Photography, Vadim Yusov, and his First Assistant, Maria Chugunova. Martin Scorcese's World Film Foundation and the Cinémathèque franÃ§aise have been approached regarding this project. The premiere of this film could be envisaged for the â€˜Year of Russia in France' in 2010.