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James Ivory In 4K


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The restored Howards End is now playing in Belgium. 

 

 

Howards End is easily my favorite Ivory/Merchant film but Maurice is my favorite Robbins score.

 

 

I guess it won't take too long before The Remains Of The Day gets the same treatment.

 

 

 

 

Alex

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Bully for Belgians!  No repertory films like this ever comes anywhere near me.

 

It's fine really, as long they're both released on bluray.  I have the old Criterion BR of Howards End already.

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Ivory/Merchant shot on cheap stock to save money. From what I read, some actors never received any money either. The restorations look good though. Some of their movies are great, others are very so-so.

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4 hours ago, Thor said:

THE REMAINS OF THE DAY is one of my favourite films, period. I hope it gets a similar treatment.

 

Same here. It is by every measure a most remarkable film. Absolutely brilliant score too.

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I still need to see so many of their pre-Room with a View movies.  I know the reputations of those films is spotty, but I'm sure there are at least a few gems.

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14 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

I still need to see so many of their pre-Room with a View movies.  I know the reputations of those films is spotty, but I'm sure there are at least a few gems.

 

The early ones that I've seen were kinda mediocre. They really upped their game with movies such as Maurice and Room With A View. Peaked with Howards End and Remains, then went downhill again ...

 

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The Bostonians?  That and The Europeans (Merchant Ivory's two Henry James adaptations) are at the top of my list to see.

 

This is the only video I can find online of The Europeans.  Looks good!

 

The Europeans from Merchant Ivory on Vimeo.

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Remains of the Day is already 4k restored and has a marvellous TT bluray (and other European ones).

 

These new restorations are done by Cohen working with Ivory himself.

here's the films Cohen aquired:

http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=17743

 

By the way, beware if you buy the Cohen Howards End, because it had the wrong aspect ratio, cropping from top and bottom.

There is a replacement disc, but in this one, although they corrected the aspect ratio they messed up with the gamma of the film.

 

I'm waiting for the BFI disc in UK  of this new restoration to see if it has addressed all these problems.

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3 minutes ago, filmmusic said:

By the way, beware if you buy the Cohen Howards End, because it had the wrong aspect ration, cropping from top adn bottom.

There is a replacement disc, but in the one, although they corrected the aspect ratio they messed up with the gamma of the film.

 

Whoa, thanks for the warning!  I was all set to buy the bluray next payday.

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1 minute ago, Stefancos said:

Wait! So they might show the wrong aspect ratio in my local?

well, if they play the original Cohen Bluray, yes!

here's a comparison with the older Criterion to see the difference:

http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/192541/picture:3

 

But don't they show film prints at cinemas?

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3 minutes ago, Stefancos said:

Prints? What? Cinema is digital now.

well i thought in events or something of old films, they show the print of the film.

 

So, yes, I assume you will either see the film in wrong aspect ratio or wrong gamma.

 

here's the gamma difference:

 

1st bluray with wrong aspect ratio:

0bZi5J1.png

 

replacement with correct aspect ratio and wrong gamma:

vpWPBgb.png

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Almost all movie theaters went digital over a decade ago. Regardless of the age of the movie.

5 minutes ago, filmmusic said:

B

1st bluray with wrong aspect ratio:

0bZi5J1.png

 

replacement with correct aspect ratio and wrong gamma:

vpWPBgb.png

 

I see no difference in aspect ratio?

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Details: A presentation of the Cohen Film Collection LLC. 'Howards End' has been digitally restored from the original camera negative held at the archive of the George Eastman Museum, completed in 4K by Cineric Portugal – Simon Lund. Colour grading under the supervision of cinematographer Tony Pierce-Roberts and director James Ivory, by Steve Bearman, Mark Bonnici and Graham Jones at Deluxe Restoration in London. 5.1 audio track restoration by John Polito at Audio Mechanics in Burbank.

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7 minutes ago, Stefancos said:

I see no difference in aspect ratio?

It seems my post doesn't show the 2nd picture.

Anyway, here it is:

http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/213162

 

but you can see better the difference in this shot (comparing the initial Cohen Bluray with the older Criterion) which I posted earlier

http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/192541/picture:3

 

Also I think the Cohen has a hideous encoding (it doesn't resemble at all the great Room with a View by Criterion or TT's Remains of the Day).

One more reason to wait for the BFI.

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5 hours ago, Alexcremers said:

Apparently,  The Remains Of The Day is already remastered in 4K. Lots of grain though ... Not sure if it's truly restored.

 

11421_3_large.jpg

 

Still looks good.

 

 

Geez, Louise, but that's gorgeous!!!!!

The framing superb, the lighting spot on!

Don't diss the grain, Alex. I love seeing the grain in older films. It reminds me that film is a living, breathing, physical thing. Embrace the grain!

Share the grain, and gain strength from the sharing.

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The use of green and red in REMAINS is stunning (it's also a commentary on the state of Hopkins' character, the passion of 'red' and the natural of 'green' being a contrast to the emotions behind his stern exterior -- often displayed as black/white). This is one of my favourite shots:

 

vlcsnap-2012-11-27-16h03m39s238-600x255.

 

It also has some amazing individual framings that commmunicate these ideas, like these:

 

vlcsnap-2012-11-27-16h01m06s163-600x255.

 

Trapped between two clocks, in a 'temporal vacuum'

 

Then there's the "dream of Mrs. Kenton", first as a ghostly dissolve from the past, captured in the port hole:

 

vlcsnap-2012-11-27-16h01m34s187-600x255.

 

...untill we see them united in the same frame:

 

vlcsnap-2012-11-27-16h02m24s140-600x255.

 

The film is full of these things. I wrote an article about it a couple of years ago, but as usual, it's in Norwegian:

 

http://montages.no/2012/11/the-remains-of-the-day-1993/

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Have you seen the deleted scenes?

There is a specific scene where Hopkins breaks down and cries.

It's quite powerful and from what i remember listening to the commentary I think, Hopkins didn't like that it was cut.

 

I remember when I first saw the film in my teens I was like: "why the hell don't they express their feelings"?

As a mediterranean people that we're most extrovert and expressive of our feelings this "british" way seemed very strange to me!

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4 minutes ago, filmmusic said:

Have you seen the deleted scenes?

There is a specific scene where Hopkins breaks down and cries.

It's quite powerful and from what i remember listening to the commentary I think, Hopkins didn't like that it was cut,

 

I haven't seen those, no. I can understand Hopkins, but much of the power of the film comes from the lack of a total breakdown -- the zithering intensity of Hopkins' eye movements in the intimate moment with Mrs. Kenton. It's what's NOT on display that becomes so powerful (Hopkins is my second favourite actor, and I've always preferred this to Hannibal Lecter, believe it or not!):

 

vlcsnap-2012-11-27-16h04m47s28.jpg

 

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17 minutes ago, Richard said:

 

 

Geez, Louise, but that's gorgeous!!!!!

The framing superb, the lighting spot on!

Don't diss the grain, Alex. I love seeing the grain in older films. It reminds me that film is a living, breathing, physical thing. Embrace the grain!

Share the grain, and gain strength from the sharing.

I'm with you on the grain thing.

I'm a grain-lover!!;)

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Grain is great! Vilmos Zsigmond, for example, was a master of creating grainy and gorgeous landscapes, partly because of pre-fogging, partly because of his eye for natural light.

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Just now, Thor said:

 

I haven't seen those, no. I can understand Hopkins, but much of the power of the film comes from the lack of a total breakdown -- the zithering intensity of Hopkins' eye movements in the intimate moment with Mrs. Kenton. It's what's NOT on display that becomes so powerful:

 

 

 

Yes, I guess that's why they cut it.

It would seem totally out of place to the rest of the film.

this scene was to be after

Spoiler

their final parting, talking to a stranger

 

You should see it. there are many other deleted scenes too, but I remember this stood out, and made me burst into tears too.

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I'm a bit hesitant to check them out, because I'm afraid to 'taint' my experience of the film and what makes it so powerful, but I'm certainly curious. :)

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8 minutes ago, filmmusic said:

Have you seen the deleted scenes?

There is a specific scene where Hopkins breaks down and cries.

It's quite powerful and from what i remember listening to the commentary I think, Hopkins didn't like that it was cut.

 

I remember when I first saw the film in my teens I was like: "why the hell don't they express their feelings"?

As a mediterranean people that we're most extrovert and expressive of our feelings this "british" way seemed very strange to me!

 

I hear what you're saying, Film, but TROTD is about two people who, for whatever reason, can't connect, who, for whatever reason, can't express their feelings for each other. 

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Absolutely, but I can see where filmmusic is coming from in terms of his background and culture. Curiously, for me it resonated very well even as a youngster, but then we are more closely connected to British culture than Greek culture in Norway...

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8 hours ago, Richard said:

Don't diss the grain, Alex.

 

I love the shot, that's why I posted it, but the grain in the sky is a little too much. But, it's better to leave to grain where it is than to apply some kind of digital grain reducer.

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On ‎6‎/‎16‎/‎2017 at 10:49 AM, Alexcremers said:

I guess it won't take too long before The Remains Of The Day gets the same treatment.

 

I keep meaning to pick that one up on blu ray.  Top 10 movie all-time for me.  Adore it.

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