L'Avventura Criterion DVD (1 Viewer)

[Paul_D]

Does anyone have this. Is it worth getting? Is it an improvement over the LD? I'm seriously tempted by it right now, but the $36 price tag is giving me pause. I need to know I'll like the DVD first. Does anyone know where I might pick up a cheaper copy?

 

[gregstaten]

Paul, the difference is significant and absolutely worth doing. Criterion did a brand new HD transfer and then did a digital cleanup/restore. The two transfers are like night and day. The previous transfer didn't have very good blacks and shadow detail. The new print has gorgeous blacks and plenty of shadow detail.
The cinematography is so gorgeous in this film that a great transfer really makes a difference. I noticed details I'd never seen before (for example, the detail and texture of wood in some of the village scenes was a revelation). Trust me, you won't be dissapointed.
The supplements are quite nice as well.
-greg

 

[Rich Malloy]

IMO, one of the finest releases of the year. The film looks extraordinary, the commentary is superb, and the extras disc, while not quite as loaded as some second discs, is nonetheless an incredible Antonioni resource.
If you like this film, it's a no-brainer. If you're not sure, it's still worth taking a chance!
I'm not a huge Antonioni fan, but this is by far his best work IMO, and simply one of the finest and most important films ever made. And the DVD does it justice... and then some. Very, very highly recommended.
------------------
"Only one is a wanderer; two together are always going somewhere."

Link Removed
Al's Criterion Collection

 

[Jon Robertson]

Agreed - according to the restoration demonstration, Criterion took five months cleaning this up, and it shows.
The disc has a beautiful nitrate element look to it - there's a silvery, shimmering (but not digital shimmering) quality to the image that I've never seen before on video. The detail and contrast, likewise, are truly outstanding.
By far one of Criterion's best transfers ever, and the supplements, while not overflowing exactly, are of such a high caliber, they're more than satisfying when all's said and done.
[Edited last by Jon Robertson on September 09, 2001 at 01:20 PM]

 

[Bjorn Thoresen]

The transfer is much better. It's from the same print, with the same nicks and scratches, but most of these have been cleaned up and the contrast range is greatly expanded. A definite improvement. Although there is a scratch running through a large section of the last part of the film that, given how much the rest has been cleaned up, stands out all the more. It begins as Claudia walks down the hallway in search of Sandro, and doesn't go away until she is walking through the ballroom, two scenes later. It's there on the LD, too, but stands out more because of the improved transfer.
The subtitles are also newly translated -- sometimes jarringly so, if one is familiar with the previous video version. From the opening exchange between Anna and her father, there are significant shifts in phrasing and emphasis.
Unfortunately, I also find Anna's explanation of her feelings after not seeing Sandro for a month, spoken in halting phrases to Claudio, to now be very difficult to understand. There is a passage dropped -- where Anna says that, during such separations, "you start to see things your own way" -- that explains what she means when she says that, although it's hard being separated, it has advantages.
All the lines are translated on the laserdisc, but on the DVD there is now an awkward moment where the actress is clearly saying something significant, but nothing is translated. When her next line is "Understand?" this is a little problematic.