Film Movement

[malachi_lui]

Amazing news about The Hole, even if I’m in the minority who thinks it’s one of Tsai’s lesser films (I think The Wayward Cloud does much of the same stuff but far better). I didn’t even realise that it’d never had a proper New York theatrical run, and that old print that was kicking around last year (pretty sure it’s from Fox Lorber) is pretty beat.

Big World will surely release The Hole on disc through their Vinegar Syndrome partnership, as they did with Rebels of the Neon God.

[Kauno]

A complicating factor with Tsai's films is that Tsai hates home video and says if it were up to him his movies wouldn't be available for non-theatrical viewing.

I respect his opinion, but for some people home viewing is the only practical option. Due to health reasons, sitting through a film that lasts two hours without a piss break simply isn't possible. Being able to pause a movie at home makes it accessible in a way that a theatrical screening isn't. I also don't miss the 10–15 minutes of commercials before the film starts. Or are movies reserved only for youngsters and for those who don't suffer from prostate problems?

[MichaelB]

I suspect some filmmakers would gladly remove the option to pause a film! David Lynch infamously insisted on no chapter stops when he had contractual control over the presentation of home video releases.

Peter Kubelka is one of the most extreme cases, in that he has never sanctioned the transfer of any of his films to another medium, has made it clear that he never will, and that there's apparently a clause in his will that will prevent anyone from legally doing it after his death. He says that he's fully aware that this means that he'll lose out on potential revenue, but as far as he was concerned his work was conceived as films to be projected in a darkened room by a flickering projector beam, and that's that.

[denti alligator]

I understand Kubelka's position. His film's really are about the materiality of celluloid. The flicker effect, which is slightly noticeable in projections at less than 24fps, could presumably be approximated by encoding a file with black frames. The exact ration would have to be determined. Has anyone ever done this?

[tenia]

I don't think so, though maybe on some experimental movies whose video releases don't get as much visibility ?
I know about restorations made from original negatives but still replicating markers for roll changes (in Eastern Europe, notably, though I haven't seen this for some time), but flicker ?

[beamish14]

Amazing news about The Hole, even if I’m in the minority who thinks it’s one of Tsai’s lesser films (I think The Wayward Cloud does much of the same stuff but far better). I didn’t even realise that it’d never had a proper New York theatrical run, and that old print that was kicking around last year (pretty sure it’s from Fox Lorber) is pretty beat.

Big World will surely release The Hole on disc through their Vinegar Syndrome partnership, as they did with Rebels of the Neon God.

I really hope this new print screens in Los Angeles. UCLA’s archival print of it sold out very quickly during a retrospective of his work