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Farewell My Concubine (Criterion) Chris's review (EDIT: the review is currently for the Blu-Ray only)

EDIT 2: 4K review

Technically, it should be the Carlotta because of David's superior encoding (edit: LSP, not David MacKenzie) but it's not English friendly (likely for contractual reasons). Maybe nicholas can add the Carlotta to his best-looking foreign language 4Ks post?

I asked Ben Stoddart a few weeks ago if they would consider upgrading their BD and he said if a UK 4K is forthcoming for this film, it won't be from them, so Criterion may be the only English-friendly option.

Are we going by the blu-ray review, or waiting for the UHD one? The Criterion 4K does look outstanding though

Finch wrote: Tue Jul 30, 2024 7:20 pm Farewell My Concubine (Criterion) Chris's review

Technically, it should be the Carlotta because of David's superior encoding but it's not English friendly (likely for contractual reasons). Maybe nicholas can add the Carlotta to his best-looking foreign language 4Ks post?

I asked Ben Stoddart a few weeks ago if they would consider upgrading their BD and he said if a UK 4K is forthcoming for this film, it won't be from them, so Criterion may be the only English-friendly option.

I’ve already added the Carlotta when I posted my brief review and the caps back when it came out. LSP did the encoding but I doubt David could do better. It’s a stunning encode.

@TWBB I also believe that the Criterion 4K is just as excellent if their BD turned out good. The BD encoding already hints at the good and problematic spots that could be a problem in 4K. The Chris’s caps are solid and the 4K->1080p caps posted by Svet on the other forum also look great. I’d be surprised if this is anything less than very good. Also, SDR encoding is always easier for the middling authoring houses.

Oh yeah, and it is, just was curious since I know Chris often does blu-ray and UHD reviews and Finch linked the blu-ray. But the SDR is a good point and eyes alone should show it's a red release

therewillbeblus wrote: Tue Jul 30, 2024 7:43 pm Oh yeah, and it is, just was curious since I know Chris often does blu-ray and UHD reviews and Finch linked the blu-ray. But the SDR is a good point and eyes alone should show it's a red release

I’m sure Chris has his UHD reviews ready to go but the discs are probably still locked and therefore he can’t do caps yet. This is only a problem with UHDs and not BDs though.

My issue was I couldn't unlock the 4Ks for this month, but I was finally able to, so I'll have them up soon. I think Concubine looks pretty great!

Don’t buy Severin‘s new Opera UHD set (yet)!

People on the other forum reported that the new restoration and grade significantly altered the film compared to previous editions. The framing was “corrected” by the film‘s camera operator in collaboration with Brandon Cronenberg’s DP, Karim Hussain and there are mentions that some compositions feel a lot tighter now. I wouldn’t dismiss the release because of that and they likely did this with good reasons.

However they also did a new grade to match how the film is supposed to look like projected according to Hussain, which struck people as questionable due to desaturated colors that give the impression that there’s actually a color space error present on the UHD. This wouldn’t be the first error like that for Severin and them grading unconventionally wouldn’t surprise me either.

Their statement: “We are investigating to see if there is an issue. Currently, we don't think that there is one, but since this just came up for the first time over the weekend, we don't know yet.”

Kino’s Nightmare Beach SDR UHD is a solid upgrade to a mediocre BD according to this poster: https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php? ... stcount=17

Geoff D on Rocky Balboa (https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php? ... tcount=863) and Rocky V (https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.ph ... st22297169)

These films are cursed on 4K. It’s either good compression paired with middling masters (V and Balboa) or the other way around (I-IV).

nicolas wrote: Tue Jul 30, 2024 9:45 pm Don’t buy Severin‘s new Opera UHD set (yet)!

That's a shame, especially because the German was an LE and sold out, right?

therewillbeblus wrote: Tue Jul 30, 2024 9:59 pm

nicolas wrote: Tue Jul 30, 2024 9:45 pm Don’t buy Severin‘s new Opera UHD set (yet)!

That's a shame, especially because the German was an LE and sold out, right?

The Plaion LE is still available in their shop: https://shop.plaionpictures.com/opera-s ... exkl.-shop

Oh interesting, thanks!

Forrest Taft wrote: Sun Jul 28, 2024 5:05 pm

nicolas wrote: Sun Jul 28, 2024 12:05 am

M-A wrote: Sun Jul 28, 2024 12:03 am

The Lionsgate discs are different encodes than the StudioCanal ones but are equally terrible - just terrible in different spots, like here:

https://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?a=1&x=55 ... &i=18&go=1

Cliff from Lionsgate said they are working on a whole new Rambo set which should be the definitive release when it eventually comes out. I would wait for it.

Good God, that’s horrendous. I picked 5 random caps and they all looked good

Hopefully that new Rambo set is still on track as it’s been a while since we last heard about it.

If you want English subtitles, that would be another reason to avoid the Liongsate-releases. They do have English subs, but they are the most bizarre subs I know of, constantly rewriting the dialogue. "They drew first blood, not me" becomes "They shot first!", etc.

I watched the old Optimum Blu-ray of First Blood recently and the subtitles were like this on there. It does make it a bit harder to watch as it feels like you're decoding two different streams of information!

The later releases taken from the 4K scans/restoration look a bit teal-ed, but the early Blu-ray doesn't half show its age.

Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Pulse, Seven Samurai, Papillon, Paris Texas, The Impudent Girl, The Inquisitor, The Crimson Rivers 36th Precinct, Castle of Blood, Little Buddha, Shoot the Piano Player, The Soft Skin, Two English Girls, The Woman Next Door, Confidentally Yours, Cronenberg’s Spider and eXistenZ are all coming out from various labels in 4K in France over the course of this year.

That's huge news for Two English Girls, which some of us have been waiting to get a release at all for a decade+ from Criterion. Here's hoping

therewillbeblus wrote: Wed Jul 31, 2024 2:59 pm That's huge news for Two English Girls, which some of us have been waiting to get a release at all for a decade+ from Criterion. Here's hoping

I had no idea. Maybe there were rights issues that prevented a release or Criterion didn’t prioritize the film among their endless library. But now this seems certainly possible to change as all the above Truffaut films are with MK2. I’ve also read that they’re trying to get his films that were with MGM / UA as their rights expired recently. Let the dreams for an eventual box set begin…

Given how important Truffaut is to Criterion (they used to have a softball team named after him, the True Foes) it is odd how long they've gone without releasing any of his films (Day for Night in 2009 was the last one.) However I could see them holding off and doing a complete Truffaut set after mk2 gets the MGM/UA titles and restores them.

Truffaut 100th Anniversary 4K/BD boxset coming in 2032, which would make sense considering their backlog

If it takes awhile for mk2 to get to the restorations, you might not be wrong. Although that would be 23 years since the last Truffaut release (assuming they don't release anything between now and then.)

Day for Night came out in 2015, so it would be 17 years since the last Truffaut release (that is if this supposed boxset were to come out in 2032). I would be surprised if we don't see a Antoine Doinel box upgrade within a couple years, especially when Janus were touring the 4K restorations last year.

I'm curious to see if the Truffaut films that Radiance have will be OOP in a couple of years now that MGM's rights have lapsed.

yoloswegmaster wrote: Wed Jul 31, 2024 5:49 pm Truffaut 100th Anniversary 4K/BD boxset coming in 2032, which would make sense considering their backlog.

Speaking on 4K boxsets, has Criterion ever done a multi-film 4K UHD/Blu-Ray boxset? I wouldn't be surprised if they haven't done one yet.

The only one is the upcoming Araki trilogy, with 2 films on 4K + BD and one film BD only.

yoloswegmaster wrote: Wed Jul 31, 2024 7:12 pm The only one is the upcoming Araki trilogy, with 2 films on 4K + BD and one film BD only.

Don’t forget the Ranown westerns.

So I could see it being a thing usually done in the future, thought I expect Criterion to be selective with what box sets to release as 4K/Blu-Ray.

I think Captain Paranoia was asking if there were any boxsets that had a mix of titles that were on 4K and titles that weren't on 4K (unless I misread what they wrote). If they were talking about 4K sets that included 4K and BD for all the titles, then you can also include the Three Colors trilogy and the Apu Trilogy.

I know Carlotta will be releasing all those Truffaut films theatrically in new 4K restorations (The Soft Skin, Two English Girls, etc), but it’s probably up in the air whether they get UHD releases or not.

Carlotta will probably release Paris, Texas on UHD. At least I’m assuming it’s with Carlotta in France. And Seven Samurai seems to be coming from The Jokers. I’m not sure something like Confidentially Yours will make the UHD cut from a Euro boutique though.