The Criterion Collection

[HD-Fanatic]

Originally Posted by SuperFlyHighGuy

Damn, that's too bad. Something's better than nothing, but those films deserve the Criterion treatment, not the Kino treatment.

I feel lucky just to have them get ANY "treatment".

[jedidarrick]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

I have to imagine Criterion has Ran. If Kino had it, they'd definitely mention a Kurosawa title upcoming. With that tweet from Janus, I'm confident CC will be releasing it next year.

If JanusFilms' Tweets can be taken seriously, and if they have both Ran and Paprika, then my wallet would tuck its head in and kiss its ass goodbye.

[Bates_Motel]

Originally Posted by StarDestroyer52

I would think that Kino will be using the restorations from the Studiocanal releases. What I want to know more about is Ran after that cryptic Tweet by Janus a few weeks ago.

If so, it would be Criterion's chance to fix the color, like Arrow did for Tree of Wooden Clogs. But presumably they'd just release the revisionist coloring on the StudioCanal master, with all the green/teal wood and black crush.

[Cremildo]

Ran done right would be an instant Release of the Year contender.

[HD-Fanatic]

Originally Posted by jedidarrick

If JanusFilms' Tweets can be taken seriously, and if they have both Ran and Paprika, then my wallet would tuck its head in and kiss its ass goodbye.

I see no reason for Janus not to be taken seriously.

So, if I were your wallet, I would get ready to start kissin' pal.

[Dailyan]

Originally Posted by HD-Fanatic

So, if I were your wallet, I would get ready to start kissin' pal.

[Show spoiler]

[Kyle15]

Originally Posted by jedidarrick

If JanusFilms' Tweets can be taken seriously, and if they have both Ran and Paprika, then my wallet would tuck its head in and kiss its ass goodbye.

Have they seriously tweeted about or teased Paprika? Man that'd be great and hopefully more anime on the way as well.

[ravenus]

Originally Posted by Bates_Motel

If so, it would be Criterion's chance to fix the color, like Arrow did for Tree of Wooden Clogs. But presumably they'd just release the revisionist coloring on the StudioCanal master, with all the green/teal wood and black crush.

Originally Posted by Cremildo

Ran done right would be an instant Release of the Year contender.

Ran's new color grading is approved by one of the DoP's who worked on the film. No way Criterion will meddle with it. Their history shows that they bow down to even blatant harmful revisionism, like Storaro's cropping of The Last Emperor to his 2:1 Univisium ratio.

[ravenus]

Originally Posted by jedidarrick

If JanusFilms' Tweets can be taken seriously, and if they have both Ran and Paprika, then my wallet would tuck its head in and kiss its ass goodbye.

Originally Posted by Kyle15

Have they seriously tweeted about or teased Paprika? Man that'd be great and hopefully more anime on the way as well.

Is Paprika the Satoshi Kon anime or the Tinto Brass movie? The latter would seem to be in greater need for a restoration.

[nitin]

Originally Posted by ravenus

Ran's new color grading is approved by one of the DoP's who worked on the film. No way Criterion will meddle with it. Their history shows that they bow down to even blatant harmful revisionism, like Storaro's cropping of The Last Emperor to his 2:1 Univisium ratio.

Yes but it has now been pretty much established that Ritrovata (and since about 2013, also Eclair) apply particular LUTs after the grading process. So the approved means little when the same LUT is applied on top.

[King Crimson]

Originally Posted by Bates_Motel

If so, it would be Criterion's chance to fix the color, like Arrow did for Tree of Wooden Clogs. But presumably they'd just release the revisionist coloring on the StudioCanal master, with all the green/teal wood and black crush.

The Japanese 4k transfer looks identical.

[ravenus]

Originally Posted by nitin

Yes but it has now been pretty much established that Ritrovata (and since about 2023, also Eclair) apply particular LUTs after the grading process. So the approved means little when the same LUT is applied on top.

Established how? Sure, there may be circumstantial evidence about how many transfers coming from a studio have common features but is there any specific instance of a person that approved a restoration saying, "Hey, this release does not look like what I approved."? Correcting the perceived errors of grading will then be as much a process of second-guessing unless they separately consult the person in question. I doubt Criterion would do that.

[liveandletmarblerye]

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

Thoroughly agree. Story of a Love Affair and Zabriskie Point are currently my two most wanted..

As for Il mistero di Oberwald, I'm down. Especially to see how many feathers will be rattled by NEW 0.5K RESTORATION in the announcement.

Wow, I had no idea Il mistero di Oberwald was shot on video. Has Criterion ever released a movie that was shot on video before? It could break new ground.

[dwk]

Originally Posted by liveandletmarblerye

Has Criterion ever released a movie that was shot on video before? It could break new ground.

Hoop Dreams.

[nitin]

Originally Posted by ravenus

Established how? Sure, there may be circumstantial evidence about how many transfers coming from a studio have common features but is there any specific instance of a person that approved a restoration saying, "Hey, this release does not look like what I approved."? Correcting the perceived errors of grading will then be as much a process of second-guessing unless they separately consult the person in question. I doubt Criterion would do that.

There are posts from the Camera Obscura insider on this forum (in the German subsection) and also from jsteffe on the Criterion forum (who contributed to the Colour of Pomegranates release). To be fair, jsteffe’s post is a bit more speculative but Camera Obscura’s is not. And correcting the LUT application is apparently very time (and money) consuming, which is presumably why not many labels do it (Arrow have done it a handful of times but now seem to do their own grading on their bigger Italian titles rather than have Ritrovata do it).

As for the people approving the restoration, if what they finally see is a 35mm projection of the restoration, that probably looks like what they approved. But the home video version looks different because of the LUT application.

[Camera Obscura]

Hi,

well, it's fairly obvious that said labs like to apply identical or mostly identical LUTs to their gradings. Some speculate it's to save time -- and it's of course much easier to apply a LUT than tweak every shot from scratch -- but I also heard someone state that a representant of one of these labs claimed these LUTs are applied to be able to strike "correct" positive prints from newly restored digital masters (albeit I can't remember ever having seen a positiv print look that funky). Why the latter idea seems like a good one to anybody these days is a little puzzling to me, but that's what I was told (can't vouch for it, though). And yes, getting rid of the effects of those LUTs is a terrible chore which I hope I won't ever have to undertake again, spending days and weeks tweaking the image to get it back to "normal" while grading from scratch would take only a fraction of that time and would yield a so much more satisfying result.

Plus, you have to take "approved by X" labels with a several grains of salt since you're rarely told how deepy involved X actually was in the process. The approval might equal X watching a screener of the restoration at their TV at home. Sometimes X might not even have watched it at all but signed off on it anyway (no time/no real interest). Sometimes X might just be too old to be able to remember what they had in mind decades ago, and can be pursuaded by colorists that the applied grading corresponds with modern restoration guidelines or whatever. Sometimes X might be in love with the teal & orange craze of new productions of the last 15 years or so. In short, we rarely know what happened during the restoration and approval process, so it doesn't really mean that much.

It's always a bummer to me when a film is released looking like it was done with obviously no care at all. Look at the great work Vinegar Syndrome is doing, for example, with B to Z pictures while major studio and lab efforts look like nobody was interested in the integrity of the film in the least.

As for RAN, I'm quite sure no one ever intended the film to look that toxic. And I really, really hope Criterion -- if they managed to get the rights back, which I hope -- will be able to come up with someting else (as slim a chance as that might be, unfortunately, since it's probably way too cost prohibitive for them).

Anyway, merry Christmas!

[Poya]

Did anyone here mention this thread is now a decade old?

[jw007]

Has anyone mentioned just how quiet it is here lately?

I can actually hear crickets!

(I know, its the holidays, people are busy with their families)

[Gacivory]

John Bailey talks about seeing a 4K restoration of Silverado and mentions a new restoration of The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Future upgrade perhaps)?

https://ascmag.com/articles/john-bai...d-other-issues

[nitin]

I rewatched Nashville after about 10+ yrs via the Criterion blu. On my last viewing I liked it but didn’t particularly love it. I am sure it’s a combination of changing/evolving taste and personality, along with seeing it via the fabulous restoration, but this time around I was absolutely gobsmacked by not just its scope, scale and ambition but also how perfectly it manages to capture numerous intimate moments amongst all that sprawl.

Easily a 5 Star film and probably into my top 25 all time (the second film I have seen this year, along with Fat City, that has done that).