haineshisway
Senior HTF Member
Okay, I have just spent the last couple of hours comparing the new transfer of Playtime (from the new Critierion Tati box) against both the old BFI and previous Criterion. This is, of course, a new scan. I have read all the hand-wringing about the "new" color scheme and have seen the caps - the new transfer, according to the caps, seems to have a green wash over everything. And before anyone tells me that it's my computer monitor, for reference the previous BFI and Criterion Blu's caps at least resemble that transfer's very gray and metallic look. So, I was expecting a travesty of the highest order, a completely new blatantly different color scheme.
Let me get right to the point - no. There is no green wash over everything as those caps would indicate - nowhere near. Grays are gray, blues are blue. Are there differences? Yes. It's all in the skin tones - they are completely washed out in the previous BFI and Criterion discs and they are not in this new transfer. Does that adjustment to making the skin tones more accurate destroy the cold grays and blues? Of course not - at all. They are there every step of the way. Where Dr. Svet whatever his name is and whatever his credentials are says the new Criterion is darker than the previous transfer is incorrect. To my eyes, going back and forth between them on my two Oppo players, the new transfer looks a bit brighter. The color is fantastic - rich blues, more accurate skin tones, reds that pop, greens, but it's really not the drastic difference people are telling you. I saw a gorgeous 70mm print of Playtime four or five years ago at the Aero Theater in Santa Monica and this is what it looked like.
More importantly, something was very wrong with the previous Universal/Vivendi "restoration", clearly visible in both the previous BFI and Criterion discs - terrible and weird grain in the opening credits, the likes of which would never have been in a 65mm negative despite them being an optical, lines and scratches, moire patterns on the opening shot of the building and never quite sharp enough. Here we have a rock solid image, no scratches, normal 65mm optical grain (extremely light) and no moire ever. Anyone who was turned off by the reviews and caps posted should have no trepidation here - this is terrific every step of the way, from image to sound. It is my favorite film of Tati and I should think anyone who loves it will be very happy with what they see. You heard it here.
Let me get right to the point - no. There is no green wash over everything as those caps would indicate - nowhere near. Grays are gray, blues are blue. Are there differences? Yes. It's all in the skin tones - they are completely washed out in the previous BFI and Criterion discs and they are not in this new transfer. Does that adjustment to making the skin tones more accurate destroy the cold grays and blues? Of course not - at all. They are there every step of the way. Where Dr. Svet whatever his name is and whatever his credentials are says the new Criterion is darker than the previous transfer is incorrect. To my eyes, going back and forth between them on my two Oppo players, the new transfer looks a bit brighter. The color is fantastic - rich blues, more accurate skin tones, reds that pop, greens, but it's really not the drastic difference people are telling you. I saw a gorgeous 70mm print of Playtime four or five years ago at the Aero Theater in Santa Monica and this is what it looked like.
More importantly, something was very wrong with the previous Universal/Vivendi "restoration", clearly visible in both the previous BFI and Criterion discs - terrible and weird grain in the opening credits, the likes of which would never have been in a 65mm negative despite them being an optical, lines and scratches, moire patterns on the opening shot of the building and never quite sharp enough. Here we have a rock solid image, no scratches, normal 65mm optical grain (extremely light) and no moire ever. Anyone who was turned off by the reviews and caps posted should have no trepidation here - this is terrific every step of the way, from image to sound. It is my favorite film of Tati and I should think anyone who loves it will be very happy with what they see. You heard it here.