Russian Ark cover art (1 Viewer)

[PaulP]

Russian Ark is due on DVD from Wellspring on 09/09 (one more fall title, wahoo). The cover is posted at Amazon. Sorry if this is old news, but a search turned up nothing, and I don't recall any other posts on this, except in the Movies forum. The only thing is that Amazon lists no details about the DVD, but seeing as it's part of Wellspring's Masterworks Editions line, like Kurosawa's Ran, I suppose some features are in order. I'm really hoping for a commentary by the director on this, though I don't know if he speaks English or not.

 

[Marc Colella]

Sweet cover.

Can't wait to get my hands on this DVD.

Thanks for posting it.

 

[Jay E]

Definitely on my pre-order list. Thanks for the artwork!

 

[Martin Fontaine]

I wanted to see this in theaters but missed out and I'm now thinking of buying it sight unseen. Is it worth a blind purchase? I like foreign films and reading subtitles doesn't bother me. Also I do know some russian (Learned a few words here and there by listening to t.A.T.u.'s music)

Looks like the cover art is different than the theatrical poster, I remember seeing the original title (In russian) under the english one.

So what's the movie about (No major spoilers please)

 

[Julian Lalor]

IMHO, this is one of the best films of the last decade. it is simply astonishing. I just wish someone other than Wellspring was doing this DVD. The movie is a history of Russia through the Hermitage museum in a single 90 minute take.

 

[MatthewLouwrens]

IMHO, this is one of the best films of the last decade. it is simply astonishing. I just wish someone other than Wellspring was doing this DVD.

Why so? Do Wellspring discs have recurring quality poblems?

 

[Cary T]

A great film. On my top 10 list of 2002. I'm seriously considering a purchase, but sept. is already an expensive month.

 

[Mark McLeod]

Seville is doing this disc in Canada. Cover art appears to be the same except they are releasing it under the Signature Collection so that banner will be at the top.

I haven't seen the specs yet.

 

[Julian Lalor]

Why so? Do Wellspring discs have recurring quality poblems?

Ran looked ghastly. And they are known for more than the odd non-anamorphic transfer. I would have prefered a studio with a better track record to handle this film.

 

[Garry Cowell]

Ran looked ghastly.

It did!?

http://207.136.67.23/film/dvdcompare/ran.htm

 

[PaulP]

Wellspring's Russian Ark site has nothing on the DVD. I'm really curious about specs and extras, but this is a definite buy in any case.

 

[Marc Colella]

Since Russian Ark is a new film, the print should still be in fantastic condition... so there shouldn't be any reason for a bad transfer.

However, since Seville is releasing it in Canada - if they're not using the same transfer as Wellspring, then I hope they do a decent job with it.

 

[ThomasC]

Since Russian Ark is a new film, the print should still be in fantastic condition.

It was shot digitally onto a hard drive, right? There would be no excuse for a bad transfer.

 

[Marc Colella]

It was shot digitally onto a hard drive, right? There would be no excuse for a bad transfer.

Thanks for reminding me.

So we better not be seeing a bad transfer on this one.
Of course it seems that the greater the film is - the greater the chance there is for a bad transfer. Just seems to work out that way.

 

[Brian Lawrence]

Since Russian Ark is a new film, the print should still be in fantastic condition... so there shouldn't be any reason for a bad transfer.

It's Wellspring, I would say there is at least an 80% chance the transfer is going to suck. I recently rented Alias betty a new movie and yet Wellspring still managed to put out a disc that looked like ass.

As far as Ran, I actually prefer the older dvd, while it's faded and very soft, It at least looks like the movie was at some point actually film. The new disc looks like over digitaly processed garbage that was transfered off of a Playstation1 game

 

[Julian Lalor]

It did!?

Yes. Do you have this DVD or are you relying on screen shots?

 

[PaulP]

That's too bad. And I was looking forward to acquiring Wellspring's Ran at some point. Good thing I didn't, looks like... :frowning:

 

[Jon Robertson]

It's converted directly from an interlaced PAL source, and it does indeed look like garbage.

Hopefully Russian Ark will be a direct-to-digital transfer - a film this visually magnificent deserves nothing less.

 

[Martin Fontaine]

Seville is doing this disc in Canada

Seville as in Pan & Scan Only with a 2.0 soundtrack? Too bad, I won't see it then...

 

[Kristoffer]

Any specs for this yet?