I’ve always assumed that “Monkey” was some sort of nickname or diminuative that they called the girl.
The nickname Monkey isn’t limited to the Kino DVD. The character is referred to by that nickname in the release prints I"ve seen, and in at least one book on Tarkovsky.
Zachary. Kino is much better than Facets, at least that can be said for them. Also, I think the transfer of Stalker, while it might be pretty poor, yes, is actually due to the fact that most of the film had to be completely reshot, and, I think, on an inferior film stock. I don’t remember the logistics, but I read something like that once.
Savvy
This is true about Facets. However, I’ve also in the past been disappointed by the Kino transfers of films like “Come and See” and “A Short Film About Killing.” Oh well, it’s not awful, but I still wish Criterion had gotten a crack at it. Also, I suppose the nickname theory makes sense.
Yeah, I also remember him using “Monkey” (or I guess it was translated) in a book (may be Sculpting in Time.) I think it is a fairly common nickname in some languages.
Nope, the original film of STALKER had to be reshot because of a screwup at the lab. The poor DVD is a result of poor DVD mastering.
Ok, is there a reliable way of finding out this kind of information. I know everyone throws DVDbeaver around a lot but can anyone prove they are accurate in their assessments? I ask because I don’t know but a part of me suspects that many people have no clue whether a film is supposed to look grainy and just assume that every film would look as glossy as their 300 blu-ray if it came out from Criterion. Has anyone ever addressed their issues with KIno or Facets with the respective companies and gotten a response?
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What exactly is it that’s “poor” about the Kino disc? Tarkovsky liked to “improve” colors in his films. For example, he desaturated the color in The Sacrifice by making two dup negatives, one color and one b&w, from the color negative and then layered via optical printing.
I’m just happy it’s available at all.
“I’m just happy it’s available at all.”
Exactly. No matter what replies my questions above receive I say Hooray for Kino!
Maybe I’m just being a little paranoid about the film because I love it so much. Really, there is a good possibility that the equipment used on films like “Stalker” were of sub-par quality when compared to what was being used in Hollywood at the time, because it was made in the Soviet Union.
Though really, Kino could have invested in a commentary, or something. Just quibbling.
I’ve projected prints of STALKER before. This disc is NOT that bad.
NOT bad enough to merit two threads exclusively about how bad this disc is.
http://www.theauteurs.com/topics/1421?page=1
And while we’re at it:
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/dvdcompare5/stalker3.htm
So can we move on to discussing something much more criminal: the limited availability of Artemiev’s scores?
The STALKER DVD has never looked right to me. It isn’t a matter of too much/too little grain, or the color scheme, or anything that any experienced viewer of Tarkovsky would know is part of the experience of the film.
It is hard to describe, but it simply never looks right. The image never seems to settle down, somehow.
The image jumps around a bit in the beginning. Be sure to check out the bed.
True. That’s a problem with the Ruscico master leased/sold to Kino. The Ruscico release from a few years before exhibits the same jitters.
They also remixed the sound for a 5.1 Mix. I find it shameful that they added new sounds.
Doesn’t it also contain an original mono mix, though?
Yes it does.
Monkey is also the (nick)name of Stalker’s daughter in the 1977 English translation of Piknik na obochine (Roadside picnic in Russian), which inspired the film.
In the original novel she’s called Мартышка or MARTYŠKA (Marmoset, a monkey species).
It sounds like an affectionate nickname (I don’t know Russian nor it’s culture).
But maybe you all know this already.
Zachary W
It’s so depressing that Kino has the rights to so many great films, and yet with every release proves how cheap they are by providing poor transfers and limited special features. Now that I have that out of my system, I was wondering about the subtitles. I’ve read places that the Stalker’s daughter is named Martha, yet the subtitles on the Kino DVD identify her as ‘Monkey.’ That’s just a bad Kino translation, right?