Making a Criterion version of a film will not make it better. In fact, I have liked the few Kinos that have gone through my hands (and their bonus material) that all the Criterions that I have borrowed. I don’t know why people praise a film distributor so much as they do with The Criterion Collection.
At Jason, no one’s getting screwed.
YES, YES, YES…
ME, ME, ME….
I like BennyYarnell’s last post- The Collective Works of Tarkovsky all from Criterion! What a glorious day that’ll be! We can all just fantasize for now…
We not only need it on Criterion but a box set ALL ON BLU RAY.
I would weep. For days and days and days…
according to Kino, they only have the DVD rights to this film. So, Criterion acquiring the rights to a Blu is not entirely out of the question.
Is that really how it works? The rights are to a specific format, not just the rights in general? Didn’t know that.
I’d like to see Criterion pick up the Mirror just because I’ve heard a lot of criticisms about the Kino translation. Which makes me question whether Stalker’s translation has the same problems.
Kino seems to charge almost as much as Criterion when they don’t have the same amount of options and extras.
Yeah, someone asked about Stalker on Kino’s facebook page and they replied that they only held DVD rights. I asked about The Mirror earlier today, hopefully I can get a response.
Kino Blu-ray is quite a step up from their lackluster DVD presentation. Still not as rich in the supplements as Criterion, but A/V presentation is as good as it gets. They have been working on properly restoring The Sacrifice for a blu-ray release for quite awhile, so when that comes out hopefully it will be the proof people need to restore faith in Kino.
I have not had the opportunity to watch and Kino Blu-rays yet, but I don’t know how people could say their DVDs are comparable to Criterions… The KINO Tarkovsky DVDs are sub-par at best… yellow subtitles, shitty quality..
Regardless I’ll grab a copy of any Tarkovsky on Blu-ray that Kino releases.
In case you guys don’t already know, there has been a Russian release of Andrei Rublev that looks great. It has English Subtitles.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&trksid=p4340.l2557&rt=nc&nma=true&item=350434436485&si=he8V0iXq7GA6CAiEVxk1aAuiuRk%253D&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWNX%3AIT#ht_2166wt1141
I’d love to see someone put out a good version of Kurosawa’s Derzu Uzala. Kino’s release is pretty bad.
The Kino release is identical to the Russian Ruscico release of STALKER aside from PAL to NTSC conversion, which could result in a slight change in image quality and I guess ghosting of interlaced images, but for the time being, it’s about as good a version as you can get anywhere in the world…significantly better than any of Kino’s other Tarkovsky releases.
Has Criterion ever released a title only on Blu-Ray? I doubt they will, and expect they will just wait till the rights for STALKER expire at Kino before making a bid for US distribution.
@Jason
Conveniently someone asked for restorations of Derzu Uzala and Come and See on facebook and Kino said that both would probably be coming in 2012.
@Keldon
Sweet.
I’d love to see Stalker issued on Criterion!
I would. More of Tarkovsky’s films deserves to be in Crtierion. Check out my list.
There is literally nothing I would rather have Criterion release more than MORE Tarkovsky (STALKER the most)
Yes
I would love to see Stalker by Criterion but first, my wet dream is The Devils fully uncut Blu-ray with Criterion treatment.
Totally agree on THE DEVILS. I haven’t seen THE DEVILS yet but it sure does need a real good uncut (uncensored) DVD release soon.
Jason Callen
I’d love to see it on Criterion, though the Kino version isn’t bad. What I want to know is whether the film was actually shot in 1.33:1 or are we all getting screwed. Anyone know if that’s the proper aspect ration?