David Lynch says forthcoming Lost Highway Blu-ray falls short (1 Viewer)

[Kyle_D]

One thing I haven’t seen mentioned is the differences in licenses that Criterion and Kino tend to acquire. Criterion typically licenses a title in perpetuity for the life of the format. They can afford to spend more on their releases because they have an unlimited amount of time in which to recoup their expenses.

The licensing deals that Kino is able to get are generally for fixed terms and limited periods of time. They may only have the rights to their Universal titles for a short period, probably not dissimilar from Twilight Time’s three year window. They simply can’t afford to spend the same amount of money on a release that they’re only able to sell for a couple years compared to a company that has decades to recoup an investment.

Universal owns the film, and as the owner, it’s Universal’s responsibility to ensure its proper preservation and release.

It really seems to me that any studio-related frustration should be directed at Universal, not Kino.

Very interesting. I'd still like to know what went on behind the scenes on the licensing negotiations here. Given Criterion's relationship with Lynch, I can't imagine that Criterion didn't bid on Lost Highway.

 

[bigshot]

No, it's not a valid comparison. Neither is the follow-up. Lynch in fact is being paid, as any director would be paid, through his royalties from sales of the product that results from his work.

The royalties are for making the film in the first place. He gets that if he works on a release or not. He isn't required to continue to work on the film for free after it's finished. They pay the people who do the commentary tracks and the people who produce the making of videos. They pay the engineers who do the restoration, color correction and mastering. Why wouldn't they pay Lynch to supervise?

If someone asked me to work on restoring something I made and didn't offer to pay me, I might blow them off and I would certainly feel free to comment on the quality of their work afterwards.

 

[JohnRice]

Very interesting. I'd still like to know what went on behind the scenes on the licensing negotiations here. Given Criterion's relationship with Lynch, I can't imagine that Criterion didn't bid on Lost Highway.

It wouldn't be unreasonable to speculate that maybe Criterion just wasn't interested enough, which wouldn't be a surprise considering this isn't nearly as popular a title as the others they've released. He might have been bitter.

Regarding the other issue, considering Mr. RAH agreed with my initial comment about Lynch's involvement/non-involvement and pay, I feel rather confident to stand by my argument and leave it at that.

 

[Peter Apruzzese]

The royalties are for making the film in the first place. He gets that if he works on a release or not. He isn't required to continue to work on the film for free after it's finished. They pay the people who do the commentary tracks and the people who produce the making of videos. They pay the engineers who do the restoration, color correction and mastering. Why wouldn't they pay Lynch to supervise?

If someone asked me to work on restoring something I made and didn't offer to pay me, I might blow them off and I would certainly feel free to comment on the quality of their work afterwards.

Why do you keep assuming that he wasn’t offered compensation? If I had to guess, their inquiry probably never got far enough for that part to even come up.

 

[Bryan^H]

I always thought his insistence that his video releases have no chapter stops was silly, FWIW.

Me too. oddly controlling of him. I bought the DVD, I will watch it as I see fit. and his no chapters rule never stopped me from super fast forwarding to a scene I liked.

 

[Kyle_D]

It wouldn't be unreasonable to speculate that maybe Criterion just wasn't interested enough, which wouldn't be a surprise considering this isn't nearly as popular a title as the others they've released. He might have been bitter.

I seriously doubt that. It's been one of the most requested titles--perhaps the most requested title--on their forum for years. Criterion even released Fire Walk With Me, which is far more derided than Lost Highway and had already been released in the Twin Peaks box set that most fans already had in their collections.

 

[JoshZ]

I think Lynch has done an awful lot of LSD. Sometimes that is a good thing.

Lynch's vices are cigarettes and coffee. IIRC, he claims to have never done psychedelics.

 

[Rob W]

This is a relatively recent film shot on modern film stocks which are far more stable than earlier color stocks. And the film was hardly a roaring success which means the negative was certainly not over-printed. Just how much "restoration" would this film require ?

 

[OliverK]

This is a relatively recent film shot on modern film stocks which are far more stable than earlier color stocks. And the film was hardly a roaring success which means the negative was certainly not over-printed. Just how much "restoration" would this film require ?

Probably none at all, just a standard 4k scan with some TLC should do.

I think the same was done for Blue Velvet and the improvements from the new 4k master were not as big as some people may have hoped for and I doubt that big jumps in detail or clarity are possible with Los Highway due to its original photography. So this is another good reason to get this Kino release now, Lost Highway simply isn't a hyper detailed highly resolved movie that would profit a lot from a 4k scan.

 

[Brian Kidd]

One thing I haven’t seen mentioned is the differences in licenses that Criterion and Kino tend to acquire. Criterion typically licenses a title in perpetuity for the life of the format. They can afford to spend more on their releases because they have an unlimited amount of time in which to recoup their expenses.

I'm guessing that's when they can arrange it. The Criterion "This Is Spinal Tap" was one of their first DVD releases and, sadly, went out of print almost immediately. I'm still kicking myself for selling my copy years ago when I naively assumed that subsequent releases on home video would contain all of the supplemental material that wasn't created specifically by Criterion. I've been pining for the long version of the "Cheese Rolling" film ever since. Lesson learned.

 

[Jack Theakston]

This is a relatively recent film shot on modern film stocks which are far more stable than earlier color stocks. And the film was hardly a roaring success which means the negative was certainly not over-printed. Just how much "restoration" would this film require ?

Even the best condition negative will need to be graded after being scanned. A scanner’s sensor isn’t going to “read” an untimed element the same way making a print photochemically with the correct timings would, so shot-to-shot matching has to be done. This is especially obvious from one camera load to another, where even the changes in processing times can have a drastic effect on the overall timing of a shot.

 

[Rob W]

Even the best condition negative will need to be graded after being scanned. A scanner’s sensor isn’t going to “read” an untimed element the same way making a print photochemically with the correct timings would, so shot-to-shot matching has to be done. This is especially obvious from one camera load to another, where even the changes in processing times can have a drastic effect on the overall timing of a shot.

Understood, but I see those as transfer and timing issues that would apply to every title . Had Lynch complained that the film required an upgraded transfer I would have kept my mouth shut, but "restoration" as I interpret it involves elements which have been edited, deteriorated or require TLC in order to bring a film back to the way it was intended to look, beyond the basic things that can be done in the video transfer stage.

 

[Robert Harris]

Understood, but I see those as transfer and timing issues that would apply to every title . Had Lynch complained that the film required an upgraded transfer I would have kept my mouth shut, but "restoration" as I interpret it involves elements which have been edited, deteriorated or require TLC in order to bring a film back to the way it was intended to look, beyond the basic things that can be done in the video transfer stage.

The film does not need a restoration, but some people just like the sound of the word. Adds a certain position of legitimacy, importance and self-needed respect.

 

[TravisR]

The great Tim Lucas posted a link to download his commentary for Lost Highway that was forced off the Blu-ray. Here it is: http://www.videowatchdog.com/home/home.html (anyone reading this in the future, scroll down to July 1, 2019)

 

[titch]

The great Tim Lucas posted a link to download his commentary for Lost Highway that was forced off the Blu-ray. Here it is: http://www.videowatchdog.com/home/home.html (anyone reading this in the future, scroll down to July 1, 2019)

This is one of the best links I've seen posted on this site! Not only is the commentary very valuable, it was also terrific to hear Tim Lucas again after the sad demise of his excellent magazine, to which I was a subscriber. Thanks for this - it deserves to be listened to by a large audience.

(Now, if only someone can get hold of the commentary Twilight Time made for Woody Allen's Interiors, which they were also forced to pull. Why the hell can't these auteurs just let cinephiles just revel in their splendid work and allow commentaries by external experts? It's not as though anyone is forced to listen to them, if they don't want to!)

 

[OliverK]

The great Tim Lucas posted a link to download his commentary for Lost Highway that was forced off the Blu-ray. Here it is: http://www.videowatchdog.com/home/home.html (anyone reading this in the future, scroll down to July 1, 2019)

Thanks for posting that, so now there is at least one extra that one can enjoy with this release!

It is worth reading what he writes about that contract with David Lynch that also forced Kino to release Lost Highway without extras.

Just in case anybody wants to blame Kino for a bare bones release.