43 Blood

Discuss releases by Second Run and the films on them.
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AlexHansen
Joined: Wed Mar 19, 2008 10:39 pm
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Re: ?? The Blood

#26 Post by AlexHansen » Mon Sep 21, 2009 11:43 pm

I don't think it's ever been on the Second Run site. It sounded like things came together really fast (in order to time the release with the retrospective in London), so hopefully it's just a little hiccup in getting the discs out of the warehouse or whatnot.

Or, basically, what Guido said.

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MichaelB
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Re: ?? The Blood

#27 Post by MichaelB » Tue Sep 22, 2009 2:19 am

I have a shrinkwrapped copy of the final Second Run DVD sitting on my desk, so if it really had been cancelled, it's at an implausibly late stage!

Amazon's track record with announcements like these is less than stellar when it comes to accuracy, but we really need Bikey's input.

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Zazou dans le Metro
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Re: ?? The Blood

#28 Post by Zazou dans le Metro » Tue Sep 22, 2009 3:05 am

Despatch date from Moviemail 23rd Sept.

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Bikey
Joined: Wed Aug 17, 2005 4:09 am

Re: ?? The Blood

#29 Post by Bikey » Tue Sep 22, 2009 5:36 am

Cash Flagg wrote:Received this email from Amazon today:
We regret to report that the release of the following item has been cancelled:

Pedro Costa "The Blood [DVD] [1989]"
Bikey, say it ain't so!

EDIT: Just checked Amazon, and Blood is still available for pre-order. What's going on here?
Dear All - please don't worry at all. Amazon had listed our Pedro Costa release as two separate items - as BLOOD (correct title) and also as THE BLOOD (incorrect title). We pointed this out to Amazon and last weekend they finally removed the incorrect item THE BLOOD.
Thereafter, it seems that the wonders of technology meant that everyone who had ordered THE BLOOD received an automatic computerised reponse saying that their order was cancelled!

You can see BLOOD alive and well and living here at Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B002 ... d_i=468294" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I'm sorry for the hassle and everyone who ordered THE BLOOD though Amazon and had the cancellation email should simply now instead order BLOOD at the link above.

Also, the listing at our website will be up very soon. It's just that BLOOD was a (very) rush-release and, since we try to make the individual film listings on our website into a mini-resource too (with reviews, connections, etc), we haven't been able to put it up in time.

Thanks very much for alerting us to this Amazon problem and hope that now all's well that ends well. BLOOD is a fabulous film from a wonderful filmmaker.

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bigP
Joined: Thu Mar 20, 2008 10:59 am
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Re: ?? The Blood

#30 Post by bigP » Tue Sep 22, 2009 1:30 pm

Bikey wrote:Dear All - please don't worry at all.
Thanks for the update Bikey. I've just checked my email account and see that HMV have just sent me notice that my copy was shipped today. I've spent 3 years looking forward to my first Costa, so as you can imagine, I can't wait. Yis.

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Bikey
Joined: Wed Aug 17, 2005 4:09 am

Re: ?? The Blood

#31 Post by Bikey » Tue Sep 22, 2009 2:58 pm

bigP wrote:
Bikey wrote:Dear All - please don't worry at all.
Thanks for the update Bikey. I've just checked my email account and see that HMV have just sent me notice that my copy was shipped today. I've spent 3 years looking forward to my first Costa, so as you can imagine, I can't wait. Yis.
Thanks for letting us know, bigP. And, as MichaelB says, Amazon will sometimes also change the release date so it's good to know that BLOOD was released as originally notified (ie the 21st).

Hope it means that you will try and come to our screening event tomorrow (23rd) at the Curzon Soho. Having Pedro Costa there for a Q+A is a very rare thing and we hope everyone can give us their support by being at the screening.

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foggy eyes
Joined: Fri Sep 01, 2006 9:58 am
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Re: ?? The Blood

#32 Post by foggy eyes » Tue Sep 22, 2009 3:02 pm

bigP wrote:HMV have just sent me notice that my copy was shipped today.
Me too. I probably should have waited, Bikey, but impatience won out! Hopefully see you guys at the second part (6-11) of the retro. If last year's conversation at Ciné lumière (Costa w/ Simon Field) is anything to go by, tomorrow's Q&A should be great...

James
Joined: Wed Jun 04, 2008 4:11 pm

Re: ?? The Blood

#33 Post by James » Tue Sep 22, 2009 11:52 pm

Is this ever going to be put on on Blu-ray, say if Second Run starts releasing Blu-rays? I don't want to buy this if there's even a chance (although I should hope the Blu-ray would be region-free of course).

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zedz
Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:24 pm

Re: ?? The Blood

#34 Post by zedz » Wed Sep 23, 2009 12:16 am

I don't want to put words into Bikey's mouth, but the only company in the world releasing BluRays of material as commercially marginal (in a good way!) as this film is the BFI, so I wouldn't hold your breath.

And while I'm at it, kudos to Second Run for being the first company out of the gate with a UK or US Costa DVD, especially since we know both MoC and Criterion are also working on him.

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MichaelB
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Re: ?? The Blood

#35 Post by MichaelB » Wed Sep 23, 2009 2:36 am

Yes, where Second Run differs from the BFI, MoC, Optimum and Artificial Eye (who I'd say were the four companies who have made the biggest inroads into the UK arthouse Blu-ray market) is that they don't have a well-heeled parent or sister company who could potentially absorb any losses from an unexpected commercial flop.

If there's one thing I've learned about Second Run from my years of talking to them and even contributing to their releases, it's that they are ruthless when it comes to cost control - because with the margins in their market (a niche within a niche), they have to be.

They certainly don't have the resources to do their own HD telecines, and I'd be surprised if more than the tiniest fraction of their catalogue had existing HD masters. And that's quite aside from the substantial additional cost of authoring a Blu-ray alongside a DVD.

So I wouldn't hold your breath waiting for a Second Run Blu-ray - the user base has to grow to a far more viable size and manufacturing/authoring/licensing costs have to drop first. On a more upbeat note, though, if they do get into Blu-ray, their catalogue is so marginal that region coding hopefully won't be an issue - has any Second Run DVD been region-coded?

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Bikey
Joined: Wed Aug 17, 2005 4:09 am

Re: ?? The Blood

#36 Post by Bikey » Wed Sep 23, 2009 4:04 am

MichaelB wrote: So I wouldn't hold your breath waiting for a Second Run Blu-ray - the user base has to grow to a far more viable size and manufacturing/authoring/licensing costs have to drop first. On a more upbeat note, though, if they do get into Blu-ray, their catalogue is so marginal that region coding hopefully won't be an issue - has any Second Run DVD been region-coded?
Michael, we needed to accept region-coding on BLOOD! It's Region 2, 4.

And Gary Tooze has just posted his wonderful review at DVD Beaver. We're really happy to read what he says:
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film2/DVDRevie ... sangue.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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bigP
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Re: ?? The Blood

#37 Post by bigP » Wed Sep 23, 2009 6:34 am

Bikey wrote:Hope it means that you will try and come to our screening event tomorrow (23rd) at the Curzon Soho. Having Pedro Costa there for a Q+A is a very rare thing and we hope everyone can give us their support by being at the screening.
Unfortunately not :( I've got to work so can't get away, but i'm kicking myself for not noticing it sooner!! Good luck and I hope it goes well.

N.B. Gary's review, those incredible screen caps and the quote from Aquarello at Strictly Film School stating "Perhaps the most overtly Bressonian of Pedro Costa's body of work (albeit suffused with the brooding shadows of a Jacques Tourneur film)" has made me giddy!

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Cold Bishop
Joined: Tue May 30, 2006 9:45 pm
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Re: ?? The Blood

#38 Post by Cold Bishop » Wed Sep 23, 2009 7:23 am

I haven't seen this film, but looking at Casa de Lava and Tarrafal, its obvious that Tourneur is a major point of influence for Costa. Does this pop us elsewhere than these three?
Last edited by Cold Bishop on Wed Sep 23, 2009 3:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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What A Disgrace
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Re: ?? The Blood

#39 Post by What A Disgrace » Wed Sep 23, 2009 8:04 am

bigP wrote:
Bikey wrote:N.B. Gary's review, those incredible screen caps and the quote from Aquarello at Strictly Film School stating "Perhaps the most overtly Bressonian of Pedro Costa's body of work (albeit suffused with the brooding shadows of a Jacques Tourneur film)" has made me giddy!
You ain't alone.

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zedz
Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:24 pm

Re: ?? The Blood

#40 Post by zedz » Wed Sep 23, 2009 3:20 pm

Me too! Just those screencaps make this look like a lost 60s Bresson.

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JAP
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43 The Blood

#41 Post by JAP » Wed Sep 23, 2009 6:10 pm

It's number 43 on the Second Run catalogue.
Guess Bikey won't mind me mentioning here that the portuguese edition will be released October 1 by Midas Filmes and will have a couple more extras: "Orphans" a 10m. commentary by Phillipe Azoury and "Jeanne Balibar sings 2 songs" a short (8m.) by Costa (a wink to Ne Change Rien?). English and french subtitles are announced. The same day they will put out a new edition of the Où Gît Votre Sourire Enfoui?/Onde Jaz o Teu Sorriso? DVD.
Guess both editions of O Sangue/The Blood were sourced from the HD 2K master scanned from a newly restored print by the Portuguese Film Archive.
You may also be interested in Pedro Costa's site and the recent Sight&Sound articles (pdf file).
(end flag-waving mode :oops: )

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souvenir
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 12:20 pm

Re: ?? The Blood

#42 Post by souvenir » Wed Sep 23, 2009 11:05 pm

A note about the title of this thread is that the film is listed as just Blood, without any article. Also, the interview with Pedro Costa initially included in the list of special features didn't make the disc.

sharunasbresson
Joined: Sun Jul 05, 2009 4:43 am

Re: ?? The Blood

#43 Post by sharunasbresson » Thu Sep 24, 2009 1:09 am

What A Disgrace wrote:
bigP wrote:
Bikey wrote:N.B. Gary's review, those incredible screen caps and the quote from Aquarello at Strictly Film School stating "Perhaps the most overtly Bressonian of Pedro Costa's body of work (albeit suffused with the brooding shadows of a Jacques Tourneur film)" has made me giddy!
You ain't alone.
]

watching this film two years ago I left the hall telling myself that the bresson comparison was unavoidable, but... but being bressonian and dealing with a narrow and convoluted plot is an odd combination and this time it just doesn't work!
still, what i'm talking about is one of the most compelling and beautiful shipwreck you can witness.

and by the way that kind of feeling (not talking about bresson, talking about shipwreck) stayed with me also regarding Casa de Lava and to a certain extent Ossos.
I don't trust so much critics looking for a linear progression in a director body of work, but Pedro Costa is one of my favorite example of an artist growth. and even if the bressonian reference has become less and less apparent in his latest films, there is something essentially bressonian in his progressive refinement and restraint.

Jean Marie Straub and Daniele Huillet working obsessively at the edit table around two frames is a perfect living metaphor of this way of filmmaking.
And Colossal Youth (to me his best achievement, even more focused than No quarto da Vanda) is a great reinvention of a method, a style and a language learnt by filming those two teachers (and masters) at work.

I haven't seen Ne change Rien but the subject seems like a promising variations on a theme.
oh, and obviously I'm buying all the dvds coming out (there are many treasures on the bottom of the sea!!!), my only doubt is about No quarto da Vanda. Maybe the book wich goes with the dvd will lead me to buy the expensive french edition I discovered only yesterday.

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Guido
Joined: Sat May 31, 2008 11:31 pm

Re: ?? The Blood

#44 Post by Guido » Thu Sep 24, 2009 9:59 am

Maybe the book wich goes with the dvd will lead me to buy the expensive french edition I discovered only yesterday.
This probably should be placed in the Pedro Costa on DVD thread, but for the sake of linearity, I'll chime in here. For anyone even remotely interested in Costa's oeuvre, this Capricci Edition is the one to get. If this great filmmaker's progression is what interests you Sharunasbresson, you won't be disappointed; the interview included is one of the best (and most thorough) I've ever read.

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Bikey
Joined: Wed Aug 17, 2005 4:09 am

Re: ?? The Blood

#45 Post by Bikey » Thu Sep 24, 2009 12:46 pm

Full DVD details for BLOOD are now up at our website: http://www.secondrundvd.com/release_blood.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And from there, a click on 'more about the film' takes you to a further BLOOD page with links to reviews, etc. On that second page, there are also a host of 'connections' which are well worth reading.

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GaryC
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Re: ?? The Blood

#46 Post by GaryC » Thu Sep 24, 2009 3:32 pm

MichaelB wrote:has any Second Run DVD been region-coded?
Interrogation is also Region 2/4.

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Bikey
Joined: Wed Aug 17, 2005 4:09 am

Re: ?? The Blood

#47 Post by Bikey » Mon Sep 28, 2009 5:21 am

Just up, Clydefro Jones' review at DVD Times: http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content/id/71 ... angue.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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Bikey
Joined: Wed Aug 17, 2005 4:09 am

Re: ?? The Blood

#48 Post by Bikey » Wed Sep 30, 2009 8:17 am

Absolutely delighted to see and tell you that TIME OUT have given Blood a 5-star review and made it their DVD OF THE WEEK! The excellent review is by David Jenkins.
http://www.secondrundvd.com/release_more_blood_2.php#3" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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MichaelB
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Re: ?? The Blood

#49 Post by MichaelB » Wed Oct 07, 2009 4:02 pm

Another lengthy rave, this time courtesy of DVD Outsider's L.K. Weston.

rs98762001
Joined: Mon Jul 25, 2005 6:04 pm

Re: ?? The Blood

#50 Post by rs98762001 » Thu Oct 08, 2009 12:25 pm

Can't wait until mine arrives. This is looking like a candidate for the best DVD release of the year.

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