New Yorker

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FilmFanSea · #51 Post by **FilmFanSea** » Sun Jun 19, 2005 4:40 am

According to Amazon, New Yorker's release schedule will be quite ambitious over the summer (all are priced at $29.95):

June 14th
The City (La Ciudad) 1998/David Riker/USA
Crossover Dreams 1985/Leon Ichaso/USA

June 21st
ABC Africa 2001/Kiarostami/Iran
Yellow Asphalt (Asphalt Zahov) 2001/Dan Varete/Israel

June 28th
For Ever Mozart 1996/Godard/France

July 5th
Land of Silence and Darkness (Land des Schweigens und der Dunkelheit) 1971/Herzog/West Germany
Signs of Life (Lebenszeichen) 1968/Herzog/West Germany

July 19th
The Farewell (Abschied - Brechts letzter Sommer) 2000/Jan Schütte/Germany
A Moment of Innocence (Nun va Goldoon) 1996/Mohsen Makhmalbaf/Iran
The Silence (Sokout) 1998/Mohsen Makhmalbaf/Iran

July 26th
Gabbeh 1996/Mohsen Makhmalbaf/Iran
How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman (Como Era Gostoso o Meu FrancÃªs) 1971/Nelson Pereira dos Santos/Brazil

August 9th
The Crazy Stranger (Gadjo dilo) 1997/Tony Gatlif/Romania
The Stationmaster's Wife (Bolwieser) 1971/Fassbinder/West Germany

August 16th
Platform (Zhantai) 2000/Zhang Ke Jia/Hong Kong

August 23rd
After Sex (Post coïtum animal triste) 1997/Brigitte Roüan/France
Landscape in the Mist (Topio stin omichli) 1988/Theo Angelopoulos/France

September 6th
The Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach (Chronik der Anna Magdalena Bach) 1968/Danièle Huillet & Jean-Marie Straub/West Germany
Quilomabo 1984/Carlos Diegues/Brazil

TBA
Weekend 1967/Godard/Italy ***it appears that this one has been delayed***

TWENTY films?? Mon Dieu! They're really ramping up production to unprecedented levels. And there are quite a few marquee titles in that list.

Anyone care to hazard a guess how many of these 20 transfers will rely on NTSC masters? My guess is 2---but that may be WAY too high.

Michael Kerpan · #52 Post by **Michael Kerpan** » Sun Jun 19, 2005 11:22 am

Donald Trampoline wrote:I'd just like to say that New Yorker's VHS collection was excellent.

The selection was excellent -- the technical quality of their videos was pretty iffy (at least for those I've seen). For instance, their video of Ozu's "Equinox Flower" rates as one of the worst vidoe transfers of a color film I've ever seen -- and it also had the ugliest subtitles I've ever encountered.

unclehulot · #53 Post by **unclehulot** » Sun Jun 19, 2005 4:42 pm

Donald Trampoline wrote:
I'd just like to say that New Yorker's VHS collection was excellent. I really hope they figure out the technical aspects of the DVD format really, really, really soon and start releasing these important films with the Criterion level of quality they deserve.

In what sense was their VHS collection excellent? I thought they were consistently the worst looking pieces of crap ever released..... like they went out of their way to find the worst print of their stuff, horribly transfered, cropped whenever possible, overpriced to suit the rental market when first released, and with Macrovision copyguard often cropping up incorrectly in the dubbing chain, so that the "slave" copies had wavering picture geometry. To make matters worse, they NEVER released a single damned LaserDisc!! The fact that these idiots have LOST a number of their longtime titles to other companies is a cause to rejoice (as in a number of Ozu titles).

New Yorker, you suck.....past, present and future!

jorencain · #54 Post by **jorencain** » Sun Jun 19, 2005 7:54 pm

So, has anyone come across any reviews of "For Ever Mozart" yet? Is that going to suck also (the DVD I mean; not the film)?

BrightEyes23 · #55 Post by **BrightEyes23** » Sun Jun 19, 2005 10:28 pm

I've pre-ordered it anyway regardless, thats just how much of a sucker I am for Godard. If there aren't any reviews up by the time I get it, I'll post one.

Donald Trampoline · #56 Post by **Donald Trampoline** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 4:42 am

unclehulot wrote:
Donald Trampoline wrote:
I'd just like to say that New Yorker's VHS collection was excellent. I really hope they figure out the technical aspects of the DVD format really, really, really soon and start releasing these important films with the Criterion level of quality they deserve.
In what sense was their VHS collection excellent? I thought they were consistently the worst looking pieces of crap ever released..... like they went out of their way to find the worst print of their stuff, horribly transfered, cropped whenever possible, overpriced to suit the rental market when first released, and with Macrovision copyguard often cropping up incorrectly in the dubbing chain, so that the "slave" copies had wavering picture geometry. To make matters worse, they NEVER released a single damned LaserDisc!! The fact that these idiots have LOST a number of their longtime titles to other companies is a cause to rejoice (as in a number of Ozu titles).

New Yorker, you suck.....past, present and future!

In response to both you and Kerpan, primarily I meant the selection, which was pretty masterful. In terms of the technical quality, considering that the range of differences in VHS quality was not that dramatic at the time most of their VHS's were released, theirs seemed adequate. (I've never noticed the wavering picture geometry you mentioned.) Their technical quality is absolutely not adequate now in the world of DVD.

But back to VHS. The subs varied with the film print. They were almost always from the film print, but that wasn't that strange at the time of most of their releases. For instance, it's only towards the tail end of VHS that Home Vision started to have "new electronic subtitles" as a regular part of their packaging. Maybe I'm wrong about how late that started happening. (As an aside, some of Home Vision's releases were good, but some weren't too hot actually, even amongst the later ones. Sisters of Gion I think looked pretty murky if I remember-- or maybe Osaka Elegy. But they did have plenty that I'm sure were as good or better than New Yorker.)

While I could tolerate the burned-in subs on VHS (and transferring raw subtitled projection prints directly onto VHS), the DVD medium demands more and is capable of more. That kind of shoddiness just is so much more apparent on DVD. If they would just put some effort into it and get some expert advice it would be so easy to just do a decent job.

I watched a VHS of New Yorker's not too long ago that wasn't too bad: Princess Yang Kwei Fei (or Empress Yang Kwei Fei or whatever.) Was I happy about a decent viewing copy being on VHS? Yes. Do I want to see it done up proper on DVD? Yes! And hopefully by someone less retarded than New Yorker!

Anyway, it's all relative. Compared to other VHS releases it might only be considered marginally worse. I mean, come on, it's VHS!! But the differences on DVD just seem so much wider and there are so many ways to fuck it up so much worse.

Anyway, why the hell are we talking about their VHS collection?!? That was just an offhand comment! We need to get on them about not destroying the history of cinema through inadequate and half-assed releases of some of the most important films in cinema history!!

solent · #57 Post by **solent** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 5:18 am

This discussion plus the delay of WEEKEND has prompted me to cancel my pre-prder & get the AE version instead. Who needs a yak track and a PAL-to-NTSC transfer anyway. I live in Pal-land & prefer the superior picture quality of the R2. Thanks for the bad New Yorker press fellas, you helped me to make up my mind. I might even jump the gun & get the bare-bones 2 OR 3 THINGS as well even though CC will put it out (one day).

Gregory · #58 Post by **Gregory** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 12:37 pm

Given their long history, it seems very unlikely that they're ever going to make significant improvements.
Hypothetically, if they went out of business, wouldn't their holdings have to be sold off to other companies such as Criterion? They're probably putting themselves in a vulnerable financial position by rushing out 20 releases this summer. There's so much widespread distaste for this company that I think a New Yorker boycott across the internet could be successful. Thoughts?

backstreetsbackalright · #59 Post by **backstreetsbackalright** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 1:42 pm

Gregory wrote:There's so much widespread distaste for this company that I think a New Yorker boycott across the internet could be successful. Thoughts?

That's a bit extreme, isn't it? Sure, I'd rather see a Criterion Weekend DVD (and that's provided that Criterion would pony up for NY's holdings, which is assumwing a lot). But not so much that I wanna put people out of work for it. We're talking sub-par transfers here, not third world child labor. If it looks like Articial Eye has produced a better product, buy that one. DVDBeaver will help others make their purchasing decisions. Our boycotting energies could certainly be better directed elsewhere.

Gregory · #60 Post by **Gregory** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 2:00 pm

I agree this is far from the most urgent situation in the world. But this is a film/DVD discussion forum. I endorse and observe many other boycotts that I wouldn't have occasion to mention here. Of course a boycott of New Yorker isn't one of the most pressing issues in the world, but it's appropriate within the boundaries of this forum, and it's something that people have been threatening for years, anyway.

About "putting people out of work," I mentioned the company going under hypthetically as one possible outcome. Another outcome may be that they respond to the boycott by hiring better people and developing a completely new commitment to quality. If they go under it's because they didn't respond to the wishes of their customers in a constructive way. Besides, someone is going to be employed to work on these releases; I'd rather it were someone competent.

If it looks like Articial Eye has produced a better product, buy that one. DVDBeaver will help others make their purchasing decisions.

In many cases, the New Yorker is the only available option. And in far more instances, New Yorker simply sits on the rights to a film and doesn't even work toward a release.

Our boycotting energies could certainly be better directed elsewhere.

True, but we're not talking about much energy. Many people have been avoiding their releases for years (I only own 2). This is just a way of organizing what many people are already doing to direct it toward some desirable outcome.

GringoTex · #61 Post by **GringoTex** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 3:08 pm

backstreetsbackalright wrote:But not so much that I wanna put people out of work for it.

I want to put those people out of work for it because they're bad at their jobs. I dealt with New Yorker's theatrical print division as a programmer. Their conduct is unconscionable. After two screenings in which I had to refund patrons' money because the prints were so bad and in which New Yorker refused to give me a refund or even aplogize, I stopped booking films from them. I urged others to as well, but it never really worked because their catalogue contains so many important titles. Most distribution houses at least care about quality control, but not New Yorker.

unclehulot · #62 Post by **unclehulot** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 4:56 pm

Langlois68 wrote:
backstreetsbackalright wrote:But not so much that I wanna put people out of work for it.
I want to put those people out of work for it because they're bad at their jobs. I dealt with New Yorker's theatrical print division as a programmer. Their conduct is unconscionable. After two screenings in which I had to refund patrons' money because the prints were so bad and in which New Yorker refused to give me a refund or even aplogize, I stopped booking films from them. I urged others to as well, but it never really worked because their catalogue contains so many important titles. Most distribution houses at least care about quality control, but not New Yorker.

Wow, I was just going to stick up for them because of the fact that they actually provide theatrical film prints, but this just confirms my opinion of them!

In general, I cut Kino and Milestone some slack because they DO provide invaluable theatrical prints, without which we'd be even further stuck in video-only hell, something that not even our heros, Criterion, is not in the business to do.

I hope MGM (under Sony) is able to maintain their healthy theatrical division, they've been the best of the majors recently, in stark contrast to Fox, which provides horrible prints, even whilst trying to captialize on various anniversaries of release dates, etc.

Donald Trampoline · #63 Post by **Donald Trampoline** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 6:31 pm

I'm not sure we could get enough muscle for a significant boycott, and as someone else mentioned, if some of the films aren't available anywhere else, we still at least want access.

But I think we just need to HAMMER them with e-mails when they do B.S. like on Xala and Mandabi. That kind of stuff should absolutely not be tolerated, and the information someone above mentioned about prints without subs (or optional subs) being available on other-region DVDs is good ammunition for bitching to them.

And then also e-mail about every single instance of that PAL-to-NTSC port business (that's what you call it, right?).

Other than just personally hammering them with e-mails ourselves, maybe we could set up one of those petition sites like people do when they want to bother a studio into releasing some cult film.

Once set up, a person could go to the site and click a thing to petition them (or instantly send a form e-mail with their name added to it) to ask them to stop releasing films with burned-in subs from their inferior prints and do a proper release instead.

Or it could also have a list of specific titles and their specific problems. "Click here to send e-mail complaining about Xala," or "Click here to complain about "L'Argent" being a port done incorrectly." And in the text of the e-mail it could explain how it is that the port is bad and what's wrong with it (and provide links to DVD Beaver perhaps) and provide useful information about how to do it right or who to contact to learn how to do it right.

I'd set up a petition page if I knew how. I'd prefer that to a boycott myself because the films are so important. I just want them to do it right.

If anyone likes this idea or knows how to do it, let's do it for Facets too.

backstreetsbackalright · #64 Post by **backstreetsbackalright** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 6:52 pm

Fundemantally I agree with what people are saying here. Really I'm just splitting semantic hairs.

How affective would a New Yorker boycott be? (I'm not casting a doubt; I'm posing a question, because I have no idea.) If, say, Weekend is a poor performer, will that send a message that consumers demand better prints? Or send a message that there isn't much of a market for Weekend? If the latter is likely, Donald's tactic might be a more precise measure. Also, my experience has been that NY is quick and specific in their responses to emails, so probably someone there will be listening.

Which is not to say we should buy their stuff in the meantime. Again, if the product is inferior, we simply shouldn't throw money at it.

And finally, there are two things we shouldn't overlook when responding to New Yorker. (And here I'm basically reprising my defense of Facets elsewhere on this Board.) (1) It's likely that some of the titles in NY's catalog would not get a DVD release if not for NY. (2) For all their faults, NY has done some pretty great things in their day. If memory serves me, they were the first to bring the films of Chris Marker and Chantal Akerman to the United States, which makes me somewhat more indulgant of their shortcomings.

Okay, I'm done. You may resume the hatin'-on unmolested....

Gregory · #65 Post by **Gregory** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 9:29 pm

Those are some good points. The best thing to do by far is combine the two strategies: withhold purchasing New Yorker DVDs, email them to tell them why, and encourage others to do likewise.
As has been said, without hearing from people, New Yorker might not understand why their sales have dropped. Boycotts only send a clear message if the company is aware of why they've lost people's business.
The purpose of declaring a boycott is just to spread the word about the problems with the company and to make people think twice about purchasing their products. All it would take is a few people to send out press releases and announcements explaining the purpose of the boycott and circulating New Yorker's email adress so that people can get in touch to let them know their DVDs aren't cutting it and that they're not going to buy any more of them until the company takes some drastic action.

Andre Jurieu · #66 Post by **Andre Jurieu** » Tue Jun 21, 2005 12:37 am

Just out of curiosity, has anyone actually contacted New Yorker to voice their displeasure and concern?

#67 Post by **Matt** » Tue Jun 21, 2005 8:32 am

I remember someone contacting them a couple of years ago who got a very snippy response along the lines of "there's nothing wrong with our discs and if there is we can't be bothered with your complaints, we also have a film distribution arm to run, dontcha know."

Andre Jurieu · #68 Post by **Andre Jurieu** » Tue Jun 21, 2005 9:56 am

matt wrote:I remember someone contacting them a couple of years ago who got a very snippy response along the lines of "there's nothing wrong with our discs and if there is we can't be bothered with your complaints, we also have a film distribution arm to run, dontcha know."

I contacted them a few years ago and received the same message, only they were much more polite about it. Unfortunately, lately they have been rather rude.

Kirkinson · #69 Post by **Kirkinson** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 2:10 am

Just to keep everyone up to date, according to New Yorker's web site, the new date for Week End AND For Ever Mozart is August 23.

DrewReiber · #70 Post by **DrewReiber** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 4:42 am

Kirkinson wrote:Just to keep everyone up to date, according to New Yorker's web site, the new date for Week End AND For Ever Mozart is August 23.

Man, I hate to admit it, but this might be one of those crappy discs that I just wind up buying anyway. I just hope that the inevitable DVDBeaver review and MSRP announcements convince me otherwise.

Kirkinson · #71 Post by **Kirkinson** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 4:51 am

DrewReiber wrote:this might be one of those...discs....

I can't quite tell from your post, but if you are inferring that I was inferring that they are being packaged together, then I must apologize for my accidental inference. They are separate discs. The purpose of my emphatic "AND" was to point out that For Ever Mozart was also being delayed, not just Week End as was previously posted.

So, sorry about the confusion, if indeed there was any. And if there wasn't, I'm sorry for assuming there was. (I'm done with all the apologies now.)

solent · #72 Post by **solent** » Wed Jun 29, 2005 12:19 am

Got my copy of the AE [R2] WEEKEND yesterday. Great cover. The Figges interview is interesting, offering some fresh insights, he doesn't say as much about WEEKEND as I would have expected. Figges claims that he only watches films once only but he made an exception with WEEKEND (watching it twice?). Coutard's interview reveals that he has not seen the film since he shot it. Watch for out-of-focus closeups: a strange thing for an interview with one of the world's greates DPs. Was the camerman nervous? I would have liked a yak track but I'll wait for the verdict on the R1. (I mentioned the interviews because I believe they will be on the NY version. Who knows?)

Oedipax · #73 Post by **Oedipax** » Wed Jun 29, 2005 9:28 pm

I think in the case of the Coutard interview, the camera's auto-focus setting was on. Seems like a review somewhere mentioned this (maybe DVD Beaver?)

rumz · #74 Post by **rumz** » Thu Jun 30, 2005 10:59 am

I haven't perused through this entire thread, but I've just received a press release from New Yorker that mentions the following titles on slate:

October 11:

Vidas Secas
Black Girl (with Borom Sarret

October 25:

Point of Order
Windhorse
The Great Ecstasy of the Sculptor Steiner, How Much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck?, and La Soufriere (all on one disc)

November 8:

Claire Dolan
El Super

KeystoneCop · #75 Post by **KeystoneCop** » Thu Jun 30, 2005 1:16 pm

Woah. Vidas Secas? Will this mark the first time it's ever been available for home viewing in the US?