The current disc has bizarre colour grading so I don't see how it would be worse
I remember it was either in the booklet or on one of the documentaries someone talking about how the coloring was graded to give the impression it was almost like a black & white detective noir or an old samurai movie.
But I don't know if the commentator actually knew that was the director's intent or was just his own personal hypothesis for the color grading.
Reading some earlier posts about Le Cercle Rouge's questionable release, it reminds me that just because 4K is better resolution and quality than regular 1080p HD, it doesn't necessarily mean the transfer to 4K will be as good as older video releases.
It's sort of like obsolescence, where just because its old somehow means its not as good as something newer. That doesn't quite apply in the blu-ray world now, does it? This is a good example where a new 4K release is very subpar to its original 1080p release in terms of color grading.
I'm holding on to my OOP blu-ray of Le Cercle Rouge in the meantime. It's still one of the better releases of the film next to the StudioCanal 2010 blu-ray release. Let's hope there is a definitive release some day though.
I'm sharing this review I did of of Thampu (The Circus Tent) by Indian arthouse auteur G. Aravindan. He was one of the big names of the Indian New Wave of the late 70's-80's. This 1978 film had been recently restored in collaboration by Scorsese's WCP and Cineteca de Bologna, and the restoration was premiered at the 2022 Cannes festival in the Classics section. It is quite likely to turn up on a future compilation box of the WCP series. I saw this restored version at a local screening conducted as part of a film restoration workshop:
Quote:
The only films of G. Aravindan I'd previously seen are Chidambaram (repeatedly shown on national TV in the 80's) and Oridathu. From these films, it seemed to me that Aravindan as film-maker was most interested in the cinema verite element, of documenting, and in the process looking at the inner stories of the ignored sections of society. Even his mythology inspired features like Kanchana Seetha are known for a very grounded treatment. Aravindan was, along with Adoor Gopalakrishnan and Shyam Benegal one of the prime figures of the Indian New Wave film movement, and his films are definitely of the sort, which some people admiringly and others dismissively regard as "award-winning".
Thampu, which was an early feature in his career, is highly concerned with the documentary element. The film primarily observes the goings on in a traveling circus that sets up in a small town. We become privy to the behind-the-scenes of their routines and get hints of their personal lives: the painstaking rehearsals, the last-minute preparations, the wordless friendships, the drunken soirees. There is a beautiful resonance when an old clown putting on his make-up is juxtaposed with the primping up of the trained monkey. Another kind of resonance is achieved when the lure of the circus must compete against the attractions of the town's temple festival with its fireworks and drumbeats (ironically, the circus manager was previously steered into giving a donation for the festival).
There appears a larger "life is a circus" motif when the film looks at the life of the local industrialist and his family. Our man divides his life between furthering his business and guzzling drinks with friends while longingly looking back at his time in Malaysia and complaining about "this accursed country". His traditional wife sits ignored in the inner room, while his estranged son spends time imbibing Indian classical music from a local musician. I was not too taken with this side of the film. It moves away from the circus milieu without being very interesting in itself.
Thampu has all the hallmarks of the Indian parallel cinema style. It severely eschews the exaggerations and embellishments of mainstream films. The bulk of the casting is composed of non-professionals (including actual members of the Great Chitra Circus, which is featured here). Shaji Karun's photography is very naturalistic, not afraid to embrace darkness - Aravindan forbade him to use additional lights for the night scenes. The sound design is digetic, including all the music and songs heard in the film. Editors Rameshan and Selvanathan give a lot of time to capturing the rhythm and atmosphere of his settings, and this is where the film shines. Given the episodic non-dramatic nature, there is no elaborate climax or lead-out; when the circus packs it in (including a lovely night-time shot of the tent being taken down) and leaves for another place, the film wraps up as well.
With regards to the restoration, one thing to note is that Thampu was a low-budget arthouse film shot with natural light, and the restoration was sourced from a dupe negative. So the visuals are not ultra-crisp. There is softness and the blacks can appear somewhat diffuse (I can't say if the hall projection also had any limitations). But the most striking benefit is in how absolutely stable the image is. There is no flickering or warping or prominent scratches. The grayscale is not exceptional, but it is quite solid all the same; I imagine some of the night scenes are looking the best they did since the original release. Similarly, the sound is not absolutely pristine (there is a floor hum and some clipping), but it still sounds very lively when called for, especially in the scenes of the temple festival. Aravindan paid a lot of attention to developing a credible audio atmosphere to complement the scenes and the restoration does the best possible justice to his vision.
Thampu would not come in a favorite movies list for me, but it is an important contribution to the Indian arthouse and this restoration makes it doubly worthwhile for cinephiles to try and catch this when they can.
It's going to take Criterion about 19 months to edit together the 7 minute interview, and they won't start the art process until afterwards. That's another 2 years.
As a Chilly Scenes fan, I would be interested to see what they add. I would rather have After Hours, and if they’re gonna go for a Joan Micklin Silver movie, then go for Crossing Delancey!
Just rewatched Youth of the Beast for the nth time already. Would love a Blu-ray release next year for its 60th anniversary. Hell, I'd buy the older HD remaster that MoC did a decade ago if it was Region A.
Just rewatched Youth of the Beast for the nth time already. Would love a Blu-ray release next year for its 60th anniversary. Hell, I'd buy the older HD remaster that MoC did a decade ago if it was Region A.
Yeah, Youth of the Beast is one of, if not my favorite Nikkatsu film and my favorite Jô Shishido performance. I've been hoping this would get a Blu-ray for years here.
If you really want to see this get a release, I'd suggest sending them an e-mail here
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