257 Requiem for a Village

[MichaelB]

REQUIEM FOR A VILLAGE
(David Gladwell, 1975)
Release Date: 19 July 2022
Limited Edition Blu-ray

When an old man sees the dead rise from their graves in a rural English churchyard, the past and present are thrown together and a dialogue between the old and the new, tradition and progress, man and machine, is set in motion. Lyricism, violence and the uncanny collide to produce an extraordinary film of great power and potency.
Perhaps better known for work as the editor of Lindsay Anderson's If.... and O Lucky Man!, David Gladwell directs this visionary folk offering with an artist's eye. Exquisite slow-motion, no-holds-barred brutality, and weird alchemy are enriched by the astounding score from acclaimed composer David Fanshawe. Making its US Blu-ray debut, Requiem for a Village arrives complete with all-new director commentaries and a collection of Gladwell’s short films which foreshadow many of the themes and techniques of his remarkable debut.

INDICATOR LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES

• High Definition remaster
• Original mono audio
• Audio commentary with writer-director David Gladwell and film historian Sam Dunn, focusing on Requiem for a Village (2022)
• Audio commentary with writer-director David Gladwell and film historian Sam Dunn, focusing on Gladwell’s life and career (2022)
• A Summer Discord (1955): short, silent amateur film by Gladwell which pays homage to Jean Vigo
• Miss Thompson Goes Shopping (1958): short, lyrical film by Gladwell based on a poem by Martin Armstrong
• An Untitled Film (1964): experimental short film by Gladwell with electronic score by composer and choreographer Ernest Berk
• The Great Steam Fair (1964): documentary short, co-directed by Gladwell and Derrick Knight, focusing on the steam engines and traditional fairground rides at an event in Berkshire, England
• 28b Camden Street (1965): documentary short by Gladwell about a community of artists
• New Ways at Northgate (1969): Gladwell’s ground-breaking documentary, exploring the ‘re-humanising’ of disabled people
• Can Horses Sing? (1971): documentary short, directed by Elizabeth Sussex and edited by Gladwell, charting a day in the life of a village school in rural Scotland
• Can Horses Sing? audio commentary with film historian Thirza Wakefield (2022)
• Image gallery of Gladwell’s paintings
• English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for the feature and all six short films
• Limited edition exclusive booklet with a new essay by Ben Nicholson, archival articles, Adam Scovell on the short films, and film credits
• US premiere on Blu-ray
• Limited edition of 3,000 copies
All extras subject to change

#PUSLTD257
REGION FREE
EAN: 843501038550

Note that this is a US-only release, as this title is already out in the UK courtesy of the BFI.

[What A Disgrace]

Looks like there's enough material here to warrant a double dip, and I wouldn't mind if Indicator does more of that.

[swo17]

It's a very good BFI release, and I remembered it included a lot of Gladwell's short films, but this release adds three more!

[rapta]

May be tempted to import this, despite the fact the BFI edition is relatively cheap (and I've nearly bought it a few times, dunno why I've held off this long). Will see how much such a prospect would cost first, I suppose, but it is nice of them to cram this with more extras on top of the ones BFI already crammed in there.

[DeprongMori]

Damn! It looks like I may need to double-dip on this. The BFI release is already excellent, but lots of great new material here.

Is this using the same master as the BFI?

[MichaelB]

Damn! It looks like I may need to double-dip on this. The BFI release is already excellent, but lots of great new material here.

Is this using the same master as the BFI?

Yes - it wasn't broken so didn't need fixing. Although the encode this time round is courtesy of David Mackenzie, whose career had barely got started when the BFI Flipside release came out in 2011.

In addition to nearly 90 minutes' worth of additional short films (the 28-minute 28b Camden Street, the 35-minute New Way at Northgate, the 26-minute Can Horses Sing?), the two new David Gladwell commentaries (one a general career overview, the other about Requiem for a Village itself) and the Thirza Wakefield commentary on Can Horses Sing?, the SDH subtitles on the main feature have been substantially expanded (by half as much again), and SDH subtitles have been added to all the shorts where necessary (A Summer Discord is silent, An Untitled Film is untranscribable musique concrète throughout), and there are multiple themed image galleries covering such topics as written treatments, production/distribution correspondence and Gladwell's paintings. And the booklet takes advantage of post-2011 scholarship into "folk horror" and Requiem for a Village's place in that tradition.

[MichaelB]

Final specs:

[NABOB OF NOWHERE]

Anyone in the US received this? I ordered it from Diabolik who have no stock but show a July release date.

[swo17]

Mine arrived from Target a couple days ago

[Quote Perf Unquote]

Anyone in the US received this? I ordered it from Diabolik who have no stock but show a July release date.

Me too, not sure why Diabolik is late getting this

[BagheeraMcGee]

I just sent Diabolik an email asking about this. Kind of curious how they have Love On The Dole, but not this one.

[Quote Perf Unquote]

Well, the delay suits the nature of the film anyway

Great film. Many images and scenes haven't left my head for years. A film that will come to mind out of the blue and I'll tilt my head back and sigh, "Yes," like remembering a decades old dream.

Gladwell's "Memoirs of a Survivor" was also interesting, but didn't register with me as strongly, despite my preference for science fiction, which it, more than "Requiem," leans to. I think "Requiem" only gets more involving as it goes along, unfortunately I found myself drifting away the deeper I got into "Memoirs." I'll have to revisit. I know I won't be reading the source novel, as I hate Lessing. Perhaps that's the first problem.

[MichaelB]

Gladwell wasn't happy with how Memoirs of a Survivor turned out - he discusses this towards the end of the first commentary. (If I remember rightly, it had to be rushed into production to fit Julie Christie's schedule.)

[Quote Perf Unquote]

Well then, looking forward to listening.

The structural, thematic premise of "Memoirs" has great potential. I imagine reveries about the past are common among the population of a dying world. This is relatively common in science fiction lit, maybe less frequently seen in films, which is surprising considering film can almost inherently evoke simultaneous states at once. And Gladwell seems particularly adept at this technique, among others like Roeg, Malick, early Weir.

His work seems apiece of Alan Garner, John Crowley, that lot.

[What A Disgrace]

I just sent Diabolik an email asking about this. Kind of curious how they have Love On The Dole, but not this one.

It seems to have been added to their latest arrivals page. I pre-ordered my copy with the Second Sight edition of Dog Soldiers, so I'll have to wait a few weeks longer I guess.

[MichaelB]

Musique Machine:

Overall, this is a wonderful release for one of the finest underappreciated gems British cinema has to offer. It’s an amazing piece of work that highlights the brutality of man and the impact it has upon both rural and urban societies. It’s a downbeat masterpiece that is very British and I am very interested to see how the film is received by American audiences.