Kira Muratova

[Yakushima]

A new documentary about Kira Muratova Не хочу, щоб про мене розповідали інші (I don't want others to talk about me) by director Dmitro Tomashpolskij premiered last November in Ukraine, to commemorate Muratova's 90th anniversary. Here is a news snippet about the event.

[Yakushima]

I finally caught up with my personal White Whale of Kira Muratova's cinema, The Sentimental Policeman, at yesterday's screening at Walter Reade Theater in Lincoln Center, as a part of Muratova's retrospective Scenographies of Chaos.
The elusiveness of this particular film was explained in the introduction by a retrospection's co-curator, Ivan Kozlenko.
He mentioned that this is the only surviving copy of The Sentimental Policeman in the whole world, and sadly, no other copies or original negatives exist. This particular copy was kept at a French cinematheque (the movie was made with French money). This came as shocking news to me since this film is one of Muratova's very best.
The projected copy was somewhat beaten up and had burned-in French subtitles that were blacked out, so the English subs could be superimposed over them. It was perfectly watchable otherwise, but far from pristine.
The Sentimental Policeman is a curious case of Muratova's style in transition. While her previous film, The Asthenic Syndrome, was mostly a bleak horror about societal collapse and disintegration, sprinkled with flashes of absurdist comedy, in The Sentimental Policeman, a film about the birth of a new society, Muratova goes for comedy with just a few instances of toned-down horror. Those few instances do bring The Asthenic Syndrome to mind.
In this film, Muratova paid a playful homage to silent comedy and Jacques Tati (you can even see a plastic bag hanging in the policeman's apartment with the word TATI on it).
It is a wonderful, delightful film that deserves to be rescued and preserved on disc.
I hope you were able to catch it too!

[zedz]

I had no idea The Sentimental Cop ( the title I saw it under) was so hard to see. The print I saw way back when had Italian subtitles, so there was at least one other print kicking around back in the day. There may also have been an English subtitled print in circulation, because that’s what our festival was supposed to receive. The sales agent might have been fibbing, though.

With my shaky Italian and shakier Russian I was able to follow what was going on (French would have been much easier!). Fortunately, this film marked the beginning of Muratova’s technique of intensive repetition, so many lines of dialogue were repeated multiple times. There’s some of that in The Asthenic Syndrome, but this is where it really takes over, making it a key work. It’s also a sweet and funny film on its own terms!

[Yakushima]

I had no idea The Sentimental Cop ( the title I saw it under) was so hard to see. The print I saw way back when had Italian subtitles, so there was at least one other print kicking around back in the day. There may also have been an English subtitled print in circulation, because that’s what our festival was supposed to receive. The sales agent might have been fibbing, though.

With my shaky Italian and shakier Russian I was able to follow what was going on (French would have been much easier!). Fortunately, this film marked the beginning of Muratova’s technique of intensive repetition, so many lines of dialogue were repeated multiple times. There’s some of that in The Asthenic Syndrome, but this is where it really takes over, making it a key work. It’s also a sweet and funny film on its own terms!

Zedz, it's good to know there were other prints out there. Hopefully, more than one still exists, and Criterion or some other label will be able to restore and release this film on video - fingers crossed!
I too love how Muratova is using the repetition technique here to both emphasize the characters' inability to communicate and to achieve hilarious outcomes.

[Yakushima]

I was able to catch six screenings during the Kira Muratova retrospective at Lincoln Center, and it was a fantastic experience. This chance to watch many Muratova masterpieces on a big screen within a single week was truly god-sent. I was really surprised that more people did not take advantage of this opportunity. Most of the shows were very sparsely attended.
Brief Encounters and The Tuner were newly restored and played with the Janus logo. Both looked amazing, although I noticed a few instances where the soundtrack in The Tuner was slightly, but annoyingly, out of sync.
Two in One and Melody for a Street Organ looked excellent, and so much better than the DVD versions I was accustomed to.Two in One in particular looked absolutely gorgeous.
Screening of Minor People (one of Muratova's funniest and endlessly re-watchable) was marred by the lack of the original soundtrack. The copy was dubbed in Ukrainian, but not by the original cast, which greatly took away from my enjoyment of the film. The vocal idiosyncrasies of Muratova's actors are such a big part of her films' charm, which dubbing, no matter how well done, cannot substitute. The original Russian language version, by the way, is freely accessible on the Odessa Film Studio's own YouTube channel.
The copies of Three Stories and The Sentimental Policeman were quite old and beaten up, but serviceable. I wish the original elements could be found and restored for these wonderful films.
The two most glaring omissions were Passions and the sublime Getting to Know the Big, Wide World. My guess is they could not source those because of the war.
All in all, despite its shortcomings, this retrospective was a truly remarkable achievement by all involved, especially considering the Russian aggression and the neglect Muratova's films have suffered over the years.

[hearthesilence]

One of Lincoln Center's programmers also posted a reminder that in many cases beyond The Sentimental Policeman, there's only ONE exhibition print known to exist, so digital scans were done because they don't want to loan those prints out anymore. Who knows when they'll be able to strike new prints from the best elements, if ever.

I posted this in another thread, but it may be worth repeating here: I went to a screening of the American indie film Crossover Dreams and according to the producer, no 35mm print is known to circulate, so Lincoln Center had to show his personal 16mm print. Unfortunately, the sound kept cutting out, perhaps an issue with the print, perhaps with the playback method, but regardless, they had to stream it as a result from what looked like a digitized VHS dub. Very unfortunate and a reminder that 35mm prints are getting tougher and tougher to come by. (To my shock, even MoMI had difficulty tracking down a 35mm print for The Thin Red Line, showing what may have been the ONLY one circulating, and that was a high-profile major studio film that was screened everywhere in 35mm.)

[Yakushima]

It was already posted in another thread, and I'm posting it here so people don't miss it. Potemkine Films releases a Blu-ray box set of five Kira Muratova films in new restorations in September 2025, including:

Brief Encounters
Long Farewells
Among the Grey Stones
Change of Destiny
Asthenic Syndrome

Mysteriously, one of the recently restored (by Criterion) major Muratova titles - The Tuner - did not make it into this box. Hopefully, hinting at an additional box already in the works by Potemkine?

[tenia]

I doubt it. I think they are releasing those 5 titles specifically simply because they're available for licencing. In this case, all 5 titles were obtained from a single Ukrainian rightholder.

[Yakushima]

I doubt it. I think they are releasing those 5 titles specifically simply because they're available for licencing. In this case, all 5 titles were obtained from a single Ukrainian rightholder.

Too bad if true, but one can't complain too much with a five-film set coming!

[MichaelB]

And at a very reasonable price! So reasonable, in fact, that I don't mind already owning 40% of it thanks to the StudioCanal releases.

(French subtitles are never a deal-breaker for me - I can most likely replace them with English ones from somewhere else, and even if I can't I can still cope perfectly well with French.)

[Yakushima]

And at a very reasonable price! So reasonable, in fact, that I don't mind already owning 40% of it thanks to the StudioCanal releases.

(French subtitles are never a deal-breaker for me - I can most likely replace them with English ones from somewhere else, and even if I can't I can still cope perfectly well with French.)

Agreed, and already pre-ordered the French set (which makes an eventual Criterion announcement a virtual certainty :-" .) I've been egoistic here, since Russian is my native language, and my preference would be to watch these films without any subtitles on screen.

[zedz]

It was already posted in another thread, and I'm posting it here so people don't miss it. Potemkine Films releases a Blu-ray box set of five Kira Muratova films in new restorations in September 2025, including:

Brief Encounters
Long Farewells
Among the Grey Stones
Change of Destiny
Asthenic Syndrome

Mysteriously, one of the recently restored (by Criterion) major Muratova titles - The Tuner - did not make it into this box. Hopefully, hinting at an additional box already in the works by Potemkine?

Well, these are just five of her first six features, so I wouldn’t read too much into it. The Tuner would be way out of place if included (and make us all worry about the five features that were skipped!)

[Yakushima]

It was already posted in another thread, and I'm posting it here so people don't miss it. Potemkine Films releases a Blu-ray box set of five Kira Muratova films in new restorations in September 2025, including:

Brief Encounters
Long Farewells
Among the Grey Stones
Change of Destiny
Asthenic Syndrome

Mysteriously, one of the recently restored (by Criterion) major Muratova titles - The Tuner - did not make it into this box. Hopefully, hinting at an additional box already in the works by Potemkine?

Well, these are just five of her first six features, so I wouldn’t read too much into it. The Tuner would be way out of place if included (and make us all worry about the five features that were skipped!)

Zedz, fair enough. It would be a worry either way! #-o

[therewillbeblus]

Are there any films in a more humorous vein like The Tuner in Muratova's filmography? I'm finding myself kept at a distance from more tonally-defined tragic stuff like Melody for a Street Organ, and wondering if/where I should keep going

[Yakushima]

Are there any films in a more humorous vein like The Tuner in Muratova's filmography? I'm finding myself kept at a distance from more tonally-defined tragic stuff like Melody for a Street Organ, and wondering if/where I should keep going

I would recommend The Sentimental Policeman, Minor People (aka Second Class Citizens), Two in One, Chekhov's Motives, Doll, and Letter to America.

[therewillbeblus]

Thanks! Any particular order of preference?

[Yakushima]

Thanks! Any particular order of preference?

They are all superb, with Minor People being the funniest of the bunch.

[tenia]

It was already posted in another thread, and I'm posting it here so people don't miss it. Potemkine Films releases a Blu-ray box set of five Kira Muratova films in new restorations in September 2025, including:
Brief Encounters
Long Farewells
Among the Grey Stones
Change of Destiny
Asthenic Syndrome

I just received the Potemkine discs. Asthenic Syndrome has burnt-in French subs. Both this and Change of Destiny are barely HD presentations, with Asthenic being worse than Change of Destiny. Among the Grey Stones is barely above those 2. I doubt these 3 are new restorations.

EDIT : Brief Encounters look like the 4K restoration used by Studiocanal in the UK and then Criterion in the US. However, there is a surprising gap between this one and The Long Farewell, which doesn't look to be the case within the Criterion release, and the overall look of The Long Farewell isn't in line anyway with a new 4K restoration from a 35mm OCN. It looks closer to a 2K restoration (1) of an intermediate source (2), retaining quite a quantity of physical defects (scratches, dirt) and an unstable wobbly frame (which has become very rare over the years in digital restorations, and has become a tell-tale of the master being older). I hoped at least those 2 would be in line with what was released elsewhere, but in the end, only 1 is.

[Yakushima]

It was already posted in another thread, and I'm posting it here so people don't miss it. Potemkine Films releases a Blu-ray box set of five Kira Muratova films in new restorations in September 2025, including:
Brief Encounters
Long Farewells
Among the Grey Stones
Change of Destiny
Asthenic Syndrome

I just received the Potemkine discs. Asthenic Syndrome has burnt-in French subs. Both this and Change of Destiny are barely HD presentations, with Asthenic being worse than Change of Destiny. Among the Grey Stones is barely above those 2. I doubt these 3 are new restorations.

EDIT : Brief Encounters look like the 4K restoration used by Studiocanal in the UK and then Criterion in the US. However, there is a surprising gap between this one and The Long Farewell, which doesn't look to be the case within the Criterion release, and the overall look of The Long Farewell isn't in line anyway with a new 4K restoration from a 35mm OCN. It looks closer to a 2K restoration (1) of an intermediate source (2), retaining quite a quantity of physical defects (scratches, dirt) and an unstable wobbly frame (which has become very rare over the years in digital restorations, and has become a tell-tale of the master being older). I hoped at least those 2 would be in line with what was released elsewhere, but in the end, only 1 is.

Tenia, thank you for the review! This is very disappointing to say the least. I am tempted to cancel my pre-order... Hopefully, Criterion will come to the rescue eventually.

[tenia]

I think the main bother will be burnt in French subs, which is why I posted as soon as I saw this, and to me, the other bother is The Long Farewell seemingly being from an older presentation.

[hearthesilence]

IIRC not a lot of the Muratova retrospective that came to Lincoln Center was actually restored - DCP's were often scans of film prints that were considered too rare (or maybe too fragile) to loan out. I kind of wondered if some of those would be restored for the box set since they didn't appear that way at Lincoln Center, but now we know.

[Yakushima]

I think the main bother will be burnt in French subs, which is why I posted as soon as I saw this, and to me, the other bother is The Long Farewell seemingly being from an older presentation.

Yes, I agree, these two discs sound like the worst offenders from this sadly underwhelming release. Potemkine's decision to use unrestored versions of The Asthenic Syndrome and Long Farewell is particularly puzzling, since new restorations (by Criterion) exist. So why put the inferior versions on Blu-ray at all? Did they try to beat Criterion to it?

[tenia]

My guess would be they either couldn't licence the new restorations, or they weren't available yet when they bought the rights.

IIRC not a lot of the Muratova retrospective that came to Lincoln Center was actually restored - DCP's were often scans of film prints that were considered too rare (or maybe too fragile) to loan out. I kind of wondered if some of those would be restored for the box set since they didn't appear that way at Lincoln Center, but now we know.

I'll do a few screencaps once I can, but these don't particularly look like scans from prints. It just looks like old digitizations of intermediate elements, as in I thought Asthenic Syndrome was an upscale. I have seen BDs made from scanned prints because they were the only physical element left, and they still look like film, have fine grain, etc. This looks like a very soft barely-textured picture.

I do wonder what happened to The Long Farewell, though.

[Yakushima]

I'll do a few screencaps once I can, but these don't particularly look like scans from prints.

Tenia, the screencaps would be greatly appreciated if you have a chance to do it. I am still undecided about canceling my Amazon pre-order, and seeing what the image looks like would really help. Thanks!

[tenia]

Screencaps for :
Brèves rencontres
Les longs adieux
Parmi les pierres grises
Changement de destinée
Le syndrome asthénique

I kept them named after their timecodes, so anyone wanting to compare to existing discs will have an easier time finding the corresponding frames.