The Passenger (Michelangelo Antonioni) - Indicator - 19/03/2018

[Heinz-Klett]

Release Date: 19th March 2018

In one of the most acclaimed films of all time, Michelangelo Antonioni (Blow-up, Zabriskie Point) directed international star Jack Nicholson (The Last Detail, The Border, Wolf) and Maria Schneider (Last Tango in Paris) in an elliptical and fascinating thriller about alienation and lost identities. Now finally making its Blu-ray debut in the UK, this essential work from one of cinema’s most renowned and celebrated film artists is accompanied by an array of fascinating and insightful extra features.

Special Features

High Definition remaster
• Original mono audio
• Audio commentary with actor Jack Nicholson
• Audio commentary with screenwriter Mark Peploe and journalist Aurora Irvine
• New interview with actor Steven Berkoff (2018)
• New interview with actor Jenny Runacre (2018)
• Antonioni: 'Profession Reporter' (1975, 4 mins): the director discusses the film in an interview conducted at the 1975 Cannes Film Festival
• Michelangelo Antonioni – à propos du cinéma (1975, 5 mins): Antonioni discusses his philosophy of cinema
• Original theatrical trailer
• Image gallery: on-set and promotional photography
• New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
• Limited edition exclusive booklet with a new essay by Amy Simmons, an overview of contemporary critical responses, and historic articles on the film
• UK premiere on Blu-ray
• Limited Edition of 3,000 copies
• Region Free

http://www.powerhousefilms.co.uk/pro...e-passenger-le

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073580/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qXHF30KHZk

[UncleBuckWild]

[JimDiGriz]

Definite buy for me providing the transfer is good!

[javi92]

Damn, I was really hoping for a new scan when this finally made it to blu. Hopefully the existing master isn't too bad.

[nitin]

I am sure Criterion will eventually release this from a new scan in the US but I also won't be passing this up in the meantime!

[Persona]

Finally!

[Foggy]

Yeah, I’ll be getting this.

[peacekeeper]

Incredible news, and I just bought La Notte, Red Desert and L'Eclisse on Criterion blu-ray last week!

[Matt89]

Amazing! I’ve been waiting for someone to release this. One of my most wanted Antonioni films. Day one for sure.

~Matt

[outrunner]

This is my most wanted title on Blu-ray, so I'm ecstatic about this announcement.

[UseY0ur1llusi0n]

Another 'old master' eh?

[antennahead]

I can finally retire my DVD

[Arch Stanton]

yass

[Cremildo]

WOW!

First major announcement of the year?

[RupertPupkin]

"High Definition" remaster....
I'm happy with this announcement but there is a very poor Bu-Ray which has been released several years ago via Divisa in Spain.

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/El-Re...Blu-ray/110051

while the Almodovar movies/transfer were amazing (for instance "Tie Me Up Tie Me Down!" (Attache-moi) looks (almost) as good as the Criterion (which would shown up only several after) with vivid color; obviously a new restoration) "The Passenger" from Divisa looks like almost an upscaled bootleg.

so I'm a bit afraid with the "High Definition Remaster" (especially "the remaster" word) because there's a difference between digitally tweakin' and a new restoration.

Hopefully Criterion has the right for a X4 restoration because this is one of the last M.Antonioni movie that I'm waiting for...

but since the "Indicator" label has a good reputation according to the test/review I've seen, here, well, it doesn't hurt to pre-order it...
we'll see... because it there some so-so release (such as "Wolf") - whereas when the transfer comes from a Twilight Time release such as Paul Shrader's "Hardcore" it's excellent)
anyway that's good news!

[Spiderwalk]

I'm really pleased The Passenger is finally getting an upgrade. Most of the golden era Nicholson films are out in HD now. For me personally, I just need Carnal Knowledge and The Last Tycoon, then I'm good!

[Arch Stanton]

Originally Posted by UseY0ur1llusi0n

Another 'old master' eh?

Ah, good catch. This may well look like shit.

[UseY0ur1llusi0n]

Originally Posted by Arch Stanton

Ah, good catch. This may well look like shit.

I doubt it'll look like "shit", more than likely the same master Sony put out in 2006 -- certainly HD and not sourced from the 3rd generation bootleg upscale decried upon earlier in this thread. Could be much better of course, (4K scan) but who knows how long that'll take? It'll be the best thing... for now.

[CouncilSpectre]

I'm sceptical of a Criterion release, largely for reasons already mentioned - I can't see Sony allowing a region-free release if they have or were about to license it to CC. Equally. I'd imagine that Powerhouse probably asked if Sony were imminently looking at rescanning it themselves.

Either way I'd say that we're probably talking 12+ months at least before there's likely to be a new scan.

I'm not waiting that long when we'll most likely have a perfectly serviceable release within months.

Guesses that TT might pick this up for the US might not be too far wide of the mark.

[rapta]

As far as I'm concerned, I trust Indicator in their decision to release this, whatever the condition of the master. If it really was no good at all, they would've turned it away. Other labels do that all the time, even if it's as in-demand a title as this.

If you look at caps of the Sony DVD it's clearly quite a decent 'older' master, and the Spanish Blu-ray was terribly handled, so with David M encoding I'm sure it'll look like a healthy 4/5 PQ in the end. Like CouncilSpectre suggested, Criterion and/or Sony may rescan it in the future, but I'd say you might be waiting at least a few years for that - especially when you consider Nicholson owns the film outright, so there may be some legal wrangling before they can get all the materials together (and then probably touring festivals before it hits BD).

I can see an eventual Criterion edition, but it may be 2 or 3 years - or even longer - before that actually happens. I'm perfectly happy to double-dip on a title like this if that does turn out to be the case (god knows that's becoming a more common occurrence, with StudioCanal and Arrow especially).