Béla Tarr | A Curzon Collection (1979-2011)

[MifuneFan]

Curzon Film have just announced a new Béla Tarr Blu-ray Collection, releasing on October 14th, and featuring 8 of his films.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/B%C3%83%C2%...s%2C106&sr=8-2

https://film.curzon.com/film/bela-ta...tion/#synopsis

"Are the hills going to march off? Will heaven fall upon us? Will the Earth open under us? We don't know. We don't know, for a total eclipse has come upon us... But... but no need to fear. It's not over."

Behold the profound, melancholic works of Hungarian maestro, Béla Tarr, with this comprehensive 8-disc Blu-ray collection of his complete filmography. This set also features posters, an extensive booklet, and new artwork by Paul West.

From his roots in the social realism of Hungary’s Communist era, to his later masterpieces like Sátántangó, Werckmeister Harmonies and The Turin Horse, Tarr has cemented his legacy as the dark magus of European 'slow cinema'.

Béla Tarr | A Curzon Collection - 8 Blu-Ray Limited Edition

• Digipak and hardcover slipcase in a canvas Curzon Collection slipcase
• 4 collectible posters, including the new artworks by Paul West
• 68-page booklet including new essays from Kelly Powell, Ian Haydn Smith and Nadin Mai, plus an interview with artist Paul West

FEATURE FILMS:

• Family Nest (1979) - HD, English Subtitles
• The Outsider (1981) - HD, English Subtitles
• The Prefab People * (1982) - SD, English Subtitles
• Macbeth ** (1982) - SD, English Subtitles
• Autumn Almanac** *(1984) - SD, English Subtitles
• Damnation (1988) - HD (from new 4K restoration), English Subtitles
• Sátántangó (1994) - HD (from 4K restoration), English Subtitles
• Werckmeister Harmonies (2000) - HD (from new 4K restoration), English & English SDH Subtitles
• The Man From London (2007) - HD, English Subtitles (for non-English dialogue)
• The Turin Horse (2011) - HD, English Subtitles

*Included in The Outsider disc

** Included in Damnation disc

*** Included in Werckmeister Harmonies disc

SPECIAL FEATURES:

• Hotel Magnezit (1978) - Short Film
• Cinemarxisme (1979) - Short Film
• Diplomafilm (1979) - Short Film
• Journey on the Plain (1995) - Short Film
• Prologue (2004) - Short Film (segment from ‘Visions of Europe’)
• Béla Tarr in Conversation with Howard Feinstein
• PLUS trailers and interviews with Béla Tarr, Mihály Víg, and Miklós Székely B.

Additionally, Curzon will also be doing a separate 4K release of Werckmeister Harmonies (2000) on the same day.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Werckmeiste...s%2C133&sr=8-1

[IntheMoodforTark]

Very glad to see The Prefab People and Autumn Almanac included. Now Curzon just need to give all of these films room to breath and competent encodes and we're good to go.

[T4ffer]

In the back of my mind I am really afraid that there could be a repeat of the Wim Wenders box kerfuffle, which I did also pre-order. This one is a bit less expensive with a lot less films, and I think I'm still going to pre-order despite that fear.

Even if they make sub-optimal encodes or other blunders, I'm not likely getting any better English-friendly Region-B compatible versions of these movies anyway in a suitable shape for me - I just really like the director based box set format, it goes well with the way I organize my shelves and I like to keep the number of items down if possible.

But I hope that doesn't signal I'm ok with them releasing crap. Hmm... but what will I do if I did pre-order and it was crap? I guess I will at least join the voices complaining about it on these forums. Hmm...

[chrismansell]

A bit annoying I already own five of these films from prior releases. I think I'll wait until they break them out individually and just pick up the remaining ones I'm interested in.

[Vidov]

So let me get this straight:
These are only Blu-Rays, no UHD included? If so, weird decision.

[Gacivory]

I jumped on this! I hope it turns out well! Holding off on ordering the 4K until I hear its earth shattering better than the Criterion.

[T4ffer]

Hmm I was hoping it would show up on Rarewaves before today's 10% off code ends, but it's 130€ there Might have to order from Amazon after all.

Edit: Hmm with -10% and free shipping still might come out ahead of Amazon with their expensive shipping

[MechaGodzilla]

Release of the year for me.

[Querelle]

Bummer that it doesn't include Macbeth

[Querelle]

Macbeth is included! https://film.curzon.com/film/bela-ta...on-collection/

[KamomeShokudo]

Their weird choice to not include the 4K discs in box sets but do separate standalone 4K releases is almost annoying as their insistence on slapping CURZON over everything.

[kmhofmann]

Originally Posted by KamomeShokudo

Their weird choice to not include the 4K discs in box sets but do separate standalone 4K releases is almost annoying as their insistence on slapping CURZON over everything.

Is there any concrete evidence that there will be more than one 4K UHD release spun out from this box?

[Tuc0]

I don't like the Curzon text being everywhere in their sets but otherwise looks beautiful. Have to get it but why on earth not put the 4K discs in there??

[Lope de Aguirre]

I may bite on the box if "Satantango" has the correct aspect ratio...

[MifuneFan]

New picture of the set, and finalized details on extras.

"Are the hills going to march off? Will heaven fall upon us? Will the Earth open under us? We don't know. We don't know, for a total eclipse has come upon us... But... but no need to fear. It's not over."

Behold the profound, melancholic works of Hungarian maestro, Béla Tarr, with this comprehensive 8-disc Blu-ray collection of his complete filmography. This set also features posters, an extensive booklet, and new artwork by Paul West.

From his roots in the social realism of Hungary’s Communist era, to his later masterpieces like Sátántangó, Werckmeister Harmonies and The Turin Horse, Tarr has cemented his legacy as the dark magus of European 'slow cinema'.

Béla Tarr | A Curzon Collection - 8 Blu-Ray Limited Edition

• Digipak and hardcover slipcase in a canvas Curzon Collection slipcase
• 4 collectible posters, including the new artworks by Paul West
• 68-page booklet including new essays from Kelly Powell, Ian Haydn Smith and Nadin Mai, plus an interview with artist Paul West

FEATURE FILMS:

• Family Nest (1979) - HD, English Subtitles
• The Outsider (1981) - HD, English Subtitles
• The Prefab People * (1982) - SD, English Subtitles
• Macbeth ** (1982) - SD, English Subtitles
• Autumn Almanac** *(1984) - SD, English Subtitles
• Damnation (1988) - HD (from new 4K restoration), English Subtitles
• Sátántangó (1994) - HD (from 4K restoration), English Subtitles
• Werckmeister Harmonies (2000) - HD (from new 4K restoration), English & English SDH Subtitles
• The Man From London (2007) - HD, English Subtitles (for non-English dialogue)
• The Turin Horse (2011) - HD, English Subtitles

*Included in The Outsider disc

** Included in Damnation disc

*** Included in Werckmeister Harmonies disc

SPECIAL FEATURES:

• Hotel Magnezit (1978) - Short Film
• Cinemarxisme (1979) - Short Film
• Diplomafilm (1979) - Short Film
• Journey on the Plain (1995) - Short Film
• Prologue (2004) - Short Film (segment from ‘Visions of Europe’)
• Béla Tarr in Conversation with Howard Feinstein
• PLUS trailers and interviews with Béla Tarr, Mihály Víg, and Miklós Székely B.

[jmbe]

Surprised it hasn't been picked up on either here or in the Curzon thread (or indeed the actual site listing itself), but this has been delayed till November 18th.

[djerdap]

Any reviews or first impressions out there?

[Lope de Aguirre]

Has "Satantango" now the correct aspect ratio??

[nicwood]

Originally Posted by djerdap

Any reviews or first impressions out there?

Not that I’m aware of but I got mine today. This is as close to a home run as Curzon ever achieved with these directors’ sets. They’ve come a LONG way from the awful, awful Wenders set.

To make it short, apart from Sátántangó and The Turin Horse, which are both the old discs sadly, all the others are new VDMS (Visual Data Media Services) encodes and they’re fantastic.

The biggest surprise was that The Man from London also received a master that looks like it was sourced from a 4K restoration. I’ve never seen / owned the film before and am unaware of how it looked in the past but grain is tight and textures are 4K-like except for torched, blown-out highlights (which does suggest an older master as advertised by Curzon but 2007 masters of indie films generally don’t have such dense detail) and an early instance of heavy banding during the film’s opening. Blacks are also not always inky deep but that’s definitely not due to a gamma error but a grading decision. Maybe, just maybe, they did the grade for HDR and carried it into SDR less gently than necessary. The banding here is the only encoding "issue" I noticed across all the VDMS encodes.

What I also noticed on The Man of London is a strange staircase-effect on the upper border of the frame, as seen here:


Click on picture to get a better quality.

That should be present throughout the film but it’s not something I think is bothersome.

Werckmeister and Damnation in particular have 4K-quality textures. The Outsider and Family Nest also look fantastic and the latter is a GIGANTIC improvement to one of the most horrifying Criterion encodes after they negates this film to a bonus feature.

I’m very happy with this set and Curzon’s quality. They listened to our feedback and complaints and this is how all of their discs should look like. (But still, they should’ve gone the extra mile and updated their 2020 MPEG-2 Sátántangó encode to make it perfect).

[Nick100]

Originally Posted by IntheMoodforTark

Very glad to see The Prefab People and Autumn Almanac included.

Prefab People is included, as an extra on Disc 2, but it’s not the longest version as listed in the booklet at 102mins.

The version of Prefab People in this set is the shortest version, just over 70mins.