The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection

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domino harvey
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Re: The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection

#126 Post by domino harvey » Mon Apr 04, 2016 4:50 pm

I watched the four titles from the second Arrow box that I hadn't seen yet (already seen Ali) and thought all looked fine, if unspectacular. But keeping in mind I hadn't seen the standard def versions (and I really don't like any of the films in this box carried over from the first set to watch again anyways). I'm I think sixteen films into RWF and I still don't quite see the appeal other than his sheer perseverance, though they are all watchable, which helps my continued patience in delving through these. I'd say Fox and His Friends is pretty handily my favorite so far, followed by Berlin Alexanderplatz and the Niklashausen Journey. Beware a Holy Whore def ranks at the bottom, though I'm curious to hear Adrian Martin's take on the commentary

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Lost Highway
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Re: The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection

#127 Post by Lost Highway » Tue Apr 05, 2016 4:20 am

As to the "damning with faint praise" dismissal, I suppose Fassbinder travels less well than the other two major directors of the German New Cinema, Herzog and Wenders (both to my mind intellectually dubious) because he was the most political and distinctly German of the three. He attacked a very German type of complacency and materialism of the post-war/Wirtschaftswunder era and he did it with a queer "bad taste" sensibility which used the artificiality of Hollywood melodrama for a Brechtian purpose, as opposed to the pictorial high brow aesthetic/hetero-bullshit mysticism of Wenders and Herzog. Fassbinder is full of cultural signifiers, specifics in dialogue and details which are not that understandable outside of its country. (BTW I'm not making assumptions that you like either Wenders or Herzog, I'm just placing Fassbinder in context of his contemporaries and I'm not trying to make him like more, I'm just explaining that unlike with the other two, a lot more is lost in translation.)

If you grew up in Germany during that time, equally appalled as Fassbinder by how Germans at that point had not really dealt with the fallout of the 3rd Reich (which then was something not to be talked about at the dinner table, as not do upset grandma) then you may relate to what he was doing more, than if you did not. He treated fascism not as something safely relegated to the past, but as something which still had a grip on German society. I'd place him along Bunuel among the great political satirists of his time, with an equally distinctive, style which constantly draws attention to its own artifice and machinations, which is something that either appeals to you or it doesn't.

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Ashirg
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Re: The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection

#128 Post by Ashirg » Mon Apr 11, 2016 1:23 pm

Effi Briest and Fox and His Friends / Chinese Roulette are getting separate from box set releases on July 4.

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Rupert Pupkin
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Re: The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection

#129 Post by Rupert Pupkin » Mon Apr 11, 2016 11:49 pm

I've just received the single edition of "...Maria Braün" on Blu-Ray arrow. Clear case, nice photo for the inner artwork :oops: . But no booklet inside. Even not a leaflet. Even not a single page.
is it... normal? :?
I've ordered it at amazon.co.uk and the Blu-Ray case was "sealed" (plastic wrapped or whatever).
Perhaps there is only a big booklet for the big box set (aka The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection) ???

Now the HD transfer is superb (I already saw several months ago via Arte HD this restoration and it looked gorgeous). I really hope that in a not so distant future the 2 other movies from the BRD Trilogy will see the light of the day.
By the way, in the "The Fassbinder Family..." bonus, there are a lot of excerpts from movies (those available in the R.W Fassbinder box set) and I have to say that the excerpts/footage of "Effi Briest" looks absolutely stunning!!!
Last edited by Rupert Pupkin on Mon Apr 11, 2016 11:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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swo17
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Re: The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection

#130 Post by swo17 » Mon Apr 11, 2016 11:51 pm

None of the standalone editions will have booklets.

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Lowry_Sam
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Re: The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection

#131 Post by Lowry_Sam » Tue Apr 12, 2016 3:06 am

I'd place him along Bunuel among the great political satirists of his time
I don't consider most of RWFs films to really fit here. However, if there ever was a German filmmaker to follow in the footsteps of Brecht, it has to be Fassbinder, though his attempts to distance viewers from the story are usually for more intellectual reasons than humor. One that does, however, is also probably my favorite & his most Bunuelian is Mother Kusters Goes To Heaven. I'm not sure why this one is often ignored as it's probably the Fassbinder film most likely to appeal to a more mainstream audience.

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Lost Highway
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Re: The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection

#132 Post by Lost Highway » Tue Apr 12, 2016 3:52 am

Rupert Pupkin wrote:"...Maria Braün"
There is no Umlaut on top of the "u" ;)

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NABOB OF NOWHERE
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Re: The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection

#133 Post by NABOB OF NOWHERE » Tue Apr 12, 2016 5:30 am

Just a lout on top of Maria Braun.

Rupert Pupkin
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Re: The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection

#134 Post by Rupert Pupkin » Mon May 09, 2016 1:36 am

NABOB OF NOWHERE wrote:Just a lout on top of Maria Braun.
:oops: :oops: oh ok.... could I say that the picture quality was wünderbach ? :oops:

by the way, I'm looking desperately for what is the exact performance/disc which was used by R.W Fassbinder during the scene with the concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 23 (adagio) (W.A.Mozart) played when Maria Braun, Karl Oswald and Sendenberg have dinner together.
I've checked imdb.com but didn't find which recording Fassbinder used for this scene.

Fassbinder always very good taste for the soundtrack : I have in mind Song For Europe (Roxy Music/Bryan Ferry) (don't remember which movie, perhaps Fox...), Albatross (Fleetwood Mac-Peter Green) for World On A Wire, The Platters, etc...

charal
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Re: The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection

#135 Post by charal » Mon May 09, 2016 7:14 pm

Single release of EARLY WORKS is out on August 15. Mentioned on Cineoutsider.

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Ribs
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Eight Hours Don't Make a Day

#136 Post by Ribs » Mon Apr 24, 2017 10:31 am

Rainer Werner Fassbinder had been making feature films for three years – and already amassed a filmography that would satisfy most careers – when he decided to take on a bigger challenge. Teaming up with West German television channel WDR, he conceived of Eight Hours Don’t Make a Day, a series that would extend to five feature-length episodes to be broadcast at monthly intervals.

Centring on the Krüger family, as well as their lovers, in-laws, friends and co-workers, the series takes a sometimes comic, sometimes dramatic look at domestic relationships and labour relationships, with particular focus on skilled worker Jochen (Gottfried John, Berlin Alexanderplatz, Goldeneye) and his new girlfriend, Marion (Hanna Schygulla, The Marriage of Maria Braun).

Reminiscent of working-class soap operas such as Coronation Street and the family-based sitcoms of Carla Lane, Eight Hours Don’t Make a Day has been a one of the more difficult to find entries of Fassbinder’s extraordinarily prolific output, but is now presented here in full and newly restored by the Fassbinder Foundation.

LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS:

Brand new restoration of all five episodes by the Fassbinder Foundation
High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentations
Original German mono soundtracks
Optional English subtitles
Fassbinder, a feature-length 2015 documentary on the director featuring interviews with Margit Carstensen, Irm Hermann, Hanna Schygulla, Volker Schlöndorff and others
Brand-new retrospective featurette on Eight Hours Don’t Make a Day, featuring interviews with Schygulla, Hermann, Wolfgang Schenck, Hans Hirschmüller and others, and directed by Juliane Lorenz, head of the Fassbinder Foundation
60-page booklet featuring new writing on the film by David Jenkins and a new interview with Juliane Lorenz, plus archival essays by Manuel Alvarado and Christian Braad Thomsen

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July 24

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domino harvey
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Re: Eight Hours Don't Make a Day

#137 Post by domino harvey » Mon Apr 24, 2017 10:57 am

Cool, there was a lot of speculation Arrow would be putting this out, glad to see it panned out so quickly!

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TMDaines
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Re: The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection

#138 Post by TMDaines » Mon Apr 24, 2017 12:16 pm

Lovely old job

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How rude!
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Re: The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection

#139 Post by How rude! » Mon Apr 24, 2017 9:13 pm

domino harvey wrote:I watched the four titles from the second Arrow box that I hadn't seen yet (already seen Ali) and thought all looked fine, if unspectacular. But keeping in mind I hadn't seen the standard def versions (and I really don't like any of the films in this box carried over from the first set to watch again anyways). I'm I think sixteen films into RWF and I still don't quite see the appeal other than his sheer perseverance, though they are all watchable, which helps my continued patience in delving through these. I'd say Fox and His Friends is pretty handily my favorite so far, followed by Berlin Alexanderplatz and the Niklashausen Journey. Beware a Holy Whore def ranks at the bottom, though I'm curious to hear Adrian Martin's take on the commentary
Horses for courses. The Niklashausen Journey is for me the only complete failure filmed by Fassbinder. A truly awful, embarrassingly bad production. Fassbinder can alienate, and he can challenge you, but this was a pointless exercise for me. Fassbinder, for me, is one of the very great filmmakers, and I only have to compare it with the rest of his output to dismiss it outright.

Great news about Eight Hours. Not top tier, but he had such an outstanding, rotating ensemble cast ( can you have such a thing?) that I will watch it again in hi-def.

Kudos to Arrow once again. They are now the finest company releasing movies.

M Sanderson
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Re: The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection

#140 Post by M Sanderson » Sat May 06, 2017 2:57 am

Almost perfect set of mostly great films. However there is some bad macro blocking for a good few seconds in Effie Briest. Think it was during a candle lit, very dark scene at a dinner table. Otherwise it's an astonishing transfer of one of Fassbinder's best, and most visually impressive, films... And also, Chinese Roulette was not given the same level of restoration as all the other films in the set, looking very drab. Maria Braun, Merchant, Fox, Petra Von Kant etc all look spectacular. Amazing to have in HD the early films, which were only released on Eclipse DVD by Criterion.

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Ribs
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Re: The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection

#141 Post by Ribs » Sat May 06, 2017 11:10 am

I just happened to finish the set up the other day at long last too. It'll be interesting to see what happens with Chinese Roulette if/when Criterion gets around to putting it out. Mostly I was surprised by how pretty much the exact reception/legacy of each of these films were how I felt about them, seeing them all for the first time; the "great" ones are great, everything else is good, I didn't care for two of them. I think my only particularly controversial opinion may be that I really got a lot out of the first film, which at least in the tradition of Breathless take-offs had quite a bit of unique style of its own.

I've dipped my toes in and out of some of the extras but will look forward to really going through the absolutely ludicrous lineup of features soon (the book should not be skipped, either, incidentally; I'm a noted enthusiast of Arrow's written content but in general their Academy boxes have not had truly exceptional books altogether like this one)

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Ribs
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Re: The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection

#142 Post by Ribs » Fri Jun 23, 2017 1:53 pm

Eight Hours... has been delayed to August 28.

Full specs:
• Brand new restoration of all 5 episodes by the Rainer Werner Fassbinder Foundation
• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentations
• Original German mono soundtracks
• Optional English subtitles
• Fassbinder, a feature-length 2015 documentary on the director featuring interviews with Margit Carstensen, Irm Hermann, Hanna Schygulla, Volker Schlöndorff and others
• Eight Hours Don’t Make a Day: A Family Series Becomes a Family Occasion, a brand-new retrospective featurette featuring interviews with Schygulla, Hermann, Wolfgang Schenck, Hans Hirschmüller and others, and directed by Juliane Lorenz, head of the Fassbinder Foundation
• An appreciation by critic Tony Rayns, recorded exclusively for this release
• 60-page book featuring new writing on the film by David Jenkins and a new interview with Juliane Lorenz, plus archival essays by Manuel Alvarado and Christian Braad Thomsen

And a packshot.

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R0lf
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Re: The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection

#143 Post by R0lf » Fri Jun 23, 2017 7:03 pm

Packshot confirms continued terrible colour grading.

Why does the Fassbinder Foundation hate us?

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Oedipax
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Re: The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection

#144 Post by Oedipax » Fri Jun 23, 2017 11:04 pm

Oof. From those caps, it does look extremely orange/teal. It's like they just keep using the same LUTs over and over for these.

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jsteffe
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Re: The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection

#145 Post by jsteffe » Sat Jun 24, 2017 12:00 am

One question I have is what condition the original materials are in. Are some of the negatives (or best surviving materials) badly faded? If so, that could could limit what they are able to achieve, color-wise. Not that I wish to justify potentially unfaithful color timing...

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tenia
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Re: The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection

#146 Post by tenia » Sat Jun 24, 2017 6:46 am

It looks like the restorations Gaumont and Pathé often get from Eclair, but on the other hand, I wouldn't judge based on a FB packshot...

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Lost Highway
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Re: The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection

#147 Post by Lost Highway » Sat Jun 24, 2017 7:08 am

I have the German Blu-ray release of the restauration and the colors look faded and there is a slight pink hue. Personally I don't find it that problematic, it looks of its period and unlike later Fassbinder work, the lighting is rather flat and bright, consistent with German TV drama of the time. That works with the intent of this being Fassbinders take on the soap opera, alas a social realist one. I did actually see it on its original transmission. I was only nine then and while of course I have no concrete memory of how it looked, this is certainly the best it will ever have looked.

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Ribs
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Re: The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection

#148 Post by Ribs » Mon Aug 21, 2017 2:53 pm

Eight Hours Don't Make a Day delayed to September 25

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fdm
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Re: The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection

#149 Post by fdm » Tue Aug 22, 2017 1:50 am

Me and my Arrow box set pre-orders, when will I learn?

ozufils
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Re: The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection

#150 Post by ozufils » Mon Oct 09, 2017 11:04 pm

Did anyone here watch Eight Hours dont make a day ?

I am 75 % through it and it seems to be a very uncharacteristic Fassbinder film. In what seems to be largely panning out a family drama set against the backdrop of a blue-collar protagonist, the usual acerbic conflicts and ensuing drama that seem to engulf fassbinder's characters are largely missing. I am not however complaining since the overall tone seems to be much more in line with my tastego. Hanna Schygulla retains her ineffable beauty but Gottfried John smiles way too much.

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