BD 72 Jerzy Skolimowski: Walkover, Barrier & Dialogue 20 40 60 + Short Films

[fiendishthingy]

It looks like the release date has been pushed back to December 18.

[Bikey]

Utterly frustrating that Amazon UK listing STILL isn't live for pre-orders, THREE WEEKS after appearing in the site!!
Please try and help us by asking / bombarding / haranguing X/Twitter @AmazonHelp why our Amazon UK listing for the SKOLIMOWSKI BOX SET is not working and to fix it because you want to buy it! Thank you!
(Amazon UK link: https://tinyurl.com/2p878h9f )

[hearthesilence]

Utterly frustrating that Amazon UK listing STILL isn't live for pre-orders, THREE WEEKS after appearing in the site!!
Please try and help us by asking / bombarding / haranguing X/Twitter @AmazonHelp why our Amazon UK listing for the SKOLIMOWSKI BOX SET is not working and to fix it because you want to buy it! Thank you!
(Amazon UK link: https://tinyurl.com/2p878h9f )

FWIW, I tried the "report incorrect product information," selected "other" and filed a grievance there - at least it might get in front of the right set of eyes ASAP.

Also, not sure if this works for the UK branch of Amazon, but surprisingly, Jeff Bezos (jeff AT amazon PERIOD com) of all people actually reads every email he gets, so people who have emailed him with grievances typically have it forwarded to the correct department and they deal with it ASAP. (At this point, I can see him using some kind of email sorting program to do it for him, but even at the height of his notoriety, it was confirmed that he read his emails, often forwarding them to the right people/department with a brief note like "can you look into this?" or "please handle this.") I can personally confirm that I tried it once regarding a Richard Hell release, and within 24 hours the appropriate department at Amazon emailed me for more information about it.

[Bikey]

Still no Amazon UK 'pre-order' live link - but full details are now on our website

[foe1942]

I did chat with an amazon representative about it and it seems that it was to no avail. Besides, who cares? Great price at the Arrow store. https://www.arrowfilms.com/jerzy-skolim ... 05523.html

[foe1942]

Finally received my box set! What about others? Just watched "Bariera" (basically for the first time) on a big screen (projector --> wall) and although I know this film by heart I'm yet again devastated by its majestic beauty and that fever-dream visual fluidity. And those little moments of dark, sardonic humour. Michal Oleszczyk's introduction I find simply blasphemous ("Deep End" as the best Skolimowski WTF) but for what Michael Brooke's conjured up in the audio commentary he deserves a Decoration of Honor Meritorious for Polish Culture ; -) Now it's time for "Walkover"

[MichaelB]

Thank you! I went into this one dreading that it would be even tougher than Walkover (which was right up there with Diamonds of the Night in terms of frequency of "OK, what the hell do I say at this point?" moments), but Barrier turned out to be a lot more straightforward than I'd feared, mainly because there's so much to explain in terms of Polish symbolism that that filled a fair bit of the track from the start. I'd Google vague things like "Polish anchor symbol" or "Polish sabre" and would then get led down numerous fascinating rabbit-holes with some surprising discoveries along the way - for instance, that's how I found out that the sabre dated from the time of the 1919-20 Polish-Bolshevik War, something that I hadn't actually set out to identify. (I had no prior idea that the handle design could date sabres to specific conflicts.)

And it's always nice doing really deep dives into films because there are constant surprises along the way - for instance, the fact that one of the tram driver's colleagues is played by the man who, before the end of the decade, would be immortalised as the legendary Grzegorz Brzęczyszczykiewicz, star of one of Polish cinema's all-time great comedy moments. I recently did a talk about Polish cinema and WWII, and while the clips were predictably grim, I deliberately included that one because I felt that the audience would probably fancy a laugh.

(This is in fact the second time that I've had to utter the name "Grzegorz Brzęczyszczykiewicz" out loud in a commentary track, the first time being courtesy of the fact that the man who plays the frustrated Gestapo interrogator, Emil Karewicz, was one of the lead actors in Wajda's Kanal. I usually nail it on the third or fourth take.)

[domino harvey]

Watched the shorts and 20 40 60 and Erotyk seems far and away the best of that lot, successfully marrying its desire to be cryptic with enough momentum to sustain it. The other shorts fail at this to varying degrees, and 20 is very much in the spirit of Le depart (not really a compliment)— though each subsequent entry in the film seems exponentially worse than the one that came before it, so it’s certainly still the highlight of the trio

[Bikey]

As many of you may have noticed, problems with Amazon persist with our JERZY SKOLIMOWSKI release with it STILL only being available from 3rd party sellers and at varying prices, so we would direct you to other reliable retailers - including our own website:

Arrow store: https://tinyurl.com/582yt7b3
HMV UK: https://tinyurl.com/3j5xchuz
BFI Filmstore: https://tinyurl.com/2wez2mew
Diabolik: https://tinyurl.com/mrzx3ek7

[Bikey]

"A special mention must go to Michael Brooke’s commentaries on both Walkover and Barrier, which he presents at such breakneck pace and with such density of information that they manage to mirror the experience of watching the films. Your head is spinning by the end [...]
These three features make for a strong reminder, or potential revelatory experience, of the brilliance of the early works of the European new wave’s true underused talents."

Nice words from FREQUENCY on our SKOLIMOWSKI set

[hearthesilence]

FWIW Deep Discount in the U.S. stocks this, but they also have what I'm guessing is a returned copy on sale via their eBay store. Currently $49.39 + $1.99 U.S. standard shipping (with faster, costlier options available), but if you buy some other things at their eBay store and get your order over $65, they will take 25% off your entire order before shipping and taxes. Discount's good until Feb. 4 but this is the only copy they're selling via their eBay store at the moment.

[domino harvey]

Makes more sense to buy it from Diabolik - 42.99 + 5 flat shipping

[hearthesilence]

If it's the only thing you buy, then yes. (I can see a few $16+ items in the eBay store that I'd get if I didn't already have this set.)

[charal]

Amazon.com have it listed last on their list of sellers (highest price). In Amazon Australia the US Amazon is the default seller.

[Bikey]

"Skolimowski’s work is a maze, one that any fan of European cinema will be delighted to lose themselves in. Thanks to this box set from Second Run, we can see a few more paths through it."
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