1215 Werckmeister Harmonies

[Roscoe]

I purchased the 4K WERCKMEISTER HARMONIES from Barnes & Noble, and found that there was no essay insert. I went back to B&N to exchange it, and found that their entire 4K inventory of the title had no insert (the insert was clearly visible through the transparent top of the regular Blu-Ray release of the title). Anyone else found this? I emailed Jon Mulvaney about it, so we'll see what happens.

[dwk]

I don't have this release, but I've seen other reports of it missing the insert. I assume Criterion will ship you one.

[PfR73]

I bought a copy yesterday that I haven't opened but now that I am looking through the plastic, I can see that there is no insert inside.

[John Cope]

Me too.

[ryannichols7]

wow so I wasn't alone. didn't get an insert at all either. definitely a new level of cost cutting!

will email Mulvaney

[nredding]

I purchased my copy from an online store in Canada and it has the insert.

[jbeall]

I purchased the 4K WERCKMEISTER HARMONIES from Barnes & Noble, and found that there was no essay insert. I went back to B&N to exchange it, and found that their entire 4K inventory of the title had no insert (the insert was clearly visible through the transparent top of the regular Blu-Ray release of the title). Anyone else found this? I emailed Jon Mulvaney about it, so we'll see what happens.

Not that it helps your situation, but I purchased it on Saturday from an BN in the metro ATL, and my copy has the insert.

[Roscoe]

I purchased the 4K WERCKMEISTER HARMONIES from Barnes & Noble, and found that there was no essay insert. I went back to B&N to exchange it, and found that their entire 4K inventory of the title had no insert (the insert was clearly visible through the transparent top of the regular Blu-Ray release of the title). Anyone else found this? I emailed Jon Mulvaney about it, so we'll see what happens.

Not that it helps your situation, but I purchased it on Saturday from an BN in the metro ATL, and my copy has the insert.

Looks like a lot of folks will be contacting Mulvaney for the insert. Mine should be coming in the next couple weeks. They handled the reply with their customary speed and civility.

[Glowingwabbit]

Decided to open my copy up that I got from Amazon. It has three inserts in it lol.

[therewillbeblus]

What a mess. Hopefully they didn't botch the encode too

[zedz]

That was a fascinating interview with Tregenza, but I've got to say that your new cinematographer arguing with you that you've picked the wrong title for your movie on their first day sounds incredibly obnoxious.

[nicolas]

What a mess. Hopefully they didn't botch the encode too

The encode on the 4K is exceptional and it’s one of Criterion’s best. The grayscale looks absolutely gorgeous in SDR. The BD is rather disappointing in comparison, showing Criterion’s usual blocking with longer films and more data on the disc. The bonus film is in another league of bad and looks worse than a YouTube stream. You’d be pretty much buying this for the UHD alone.

[Roscoe]

What a mess. Hopefully they didn't botch the encode too

The encode on the 4K is exceptional and it’s one of Criterion’s best. The grayscale looks absolutely gorgeous in SDR. The BD is rather disappointing in comparison, showing Criterion’s usual blocking with longer films and more data on the disc. The bonus film is in another league of bad and looks worse than a YouTube stream. You’d be pretty much buying this for the UHD alone.

Agreed -- the 4K looks sensational. Fascinating about the mess with the inserts.

[hearthesilence]

Decided to open my copy up that I got from Amazon. It has three inserts in it lol.

Guess whoever puts them in was like "I can get rid of these faster if I put in THREE at a time!" and just left the rest of the cases empty when they ran out.

[therewillbeblus]

I got my copy from B&N delivery and it has an insert, so maybe ordering online is the way to go

[ikms]

The bonus film is in another league of bad and looks worse than a YouTube stream. You’d be pretty much buying this for the UHD alone.

I thought I would start with the earlier film but it took me over five minutes to realize it was from an actual HD transfer. I can't believe that even free software like handbrake could output results this bad on default settings, for certain HD broadcasts of Hungarian films here in Japan (via mpeg2) at half this bitrate look superior! [-(

[andyli]

With Tarr gone and Krasznahorkai enjoying a small resurgence of interest where I live because of his Nobel Prize, watching this film at the beginning of 2026 gives me a bitter after-taste. A lot has changed but too much is still easily recognizable in the kind of world we live in today. The film looks gorgeous, music haunting, performance from the poor errand boy heartbreaking. Tarr's firm hand in welding the political and philosophical themes with his visual-audio techniques leaves me awestruck, groping for words...

Family Nest will have take a rain check, based on the reviews above. Criterion really owe it to us to do it properly, perhaps in a future Eclipse set of Tarr's early films once they are all remastered in HD.

[swo17]

Or get the Curzon set, where it looks great

[andyli]

The Carlotta would suit me better as it conveniently omitted Satantango. But there's the trouble of sideloading English subs, sigh...

[MichaelB]

My combo was the Carlotta set, the Curzon 4K Werckmeister Harmonies, the Arbelos Sátántangó and Damnation and the Artificial Eye The Turin Horse.

That’s not everything, but I’ve seen everything and it’s everything that I want to keep. And French subtitles hold no fears for me.