pro-bassoonist

Michael Haneke's Le Temps du loup (The Time of the Wolf) has gotten a release date in France- 5/18/2004.

I hope the French release gets English subs but if not the Brits will also be releasing this film shortly (I would assume).

For those with a short memory M. Haneke directed the winner at Cannes 2001 La Pianiste. As well as a number of other important films -Code Unknown, Funny Games, etc.

Details of the French DVD to follow soon.





Isabelle Huppert with Patrice Chéreau and Michael Haneke
at Cannes
May, 20, 2003

per smsu.edu

french fan

As i mentioned in another thread, this is the dvd i am waiting for the most and hoping for eng subs. Also while i was browsing i came across the dvd for the new italian film by Marco Bellocchio's "Good Morning, Night, didn't find anything about eng subs but i believe it's coming out soon, may be you can find more info. Again good job with the movie reviews.

DVD Smurf

pro-bassoonist this is first class news... thanks!

DVD Smurf

pro-bassoonist

Frenchy...you are hijacking the thread again with good questions. So here's what I know (not much mind you).

Marco Bellocchio's Buongiorno Notte should be out right now...cover work here:



specs here:

Genere Drammatico
Formato DVD
Numero di dischi 1
Produzione DNC Home Entertainment, 2004
Dati tecnici 105 min.
Lingua Audio italiano , Dolby Digital 5.1 - italiano , DTS 5.1
Lingua sottotitoli italiano per non udenti
Contenuti commenti tecnici; dietro le quinte (making of); interviste; trailers; foto
http://www.internetbookshop.it/dvd/s...=8026120165599

none of the Italian sites I have looked up indicate English subs but in general many of them are not so accurate with their technical specs to begin with. MDM should be able to provide us with the most reliable info but I have not "seen" him post around here in awhile. I have also sent an email to a friend of mine that lives in Napoli so I should have an answer for you soon.

DVDSmurf- you are welcome!

wirrus

Buongiorno Notte doesn't have English subtitles.

french fan

i love hijacking your threads, don't i pro-b, may be it's because i don't have the time to start mine or may be since you do such a great job

thanks for the info though, i guess we'll have to wait for the Uk release.

french fan

Great News!!!

"le temps du loup" will be released in the UK on 5/24, about a week after it's french release

Giles

do you recommend this as a 'blind buy'?

the description in my copy of last years Toronto Film Festival sounds fascinating.

pro-bassoonist

YES YES and YES!!

M. Haneke is one of the most original directors I have ever seen (with that said he could be quite "difficult" for many)!!

Bill Geiger

Svet,

Welcome the hell back! Told ya if you were nice and explained all things would work out!

pro-bassoonist

I have never been more thankful in my life!!

Thank you Geoff for resolving this enormous mystery!!

Thank you!!

Bill,
Thank you for all your support!! I aprreciate it!! I really do!!

Daniel Windsor

The UK release (The Time of The Wolf) is due 26 April (it was supposed to have been this month) from Artificial Eye.

Definitely worth a look

Bill Geiger

My pleasure! Glad to have you back. By the way, your collection is marked private.

french fan

Daniel Windsor, i see that you're in the UK but all the sites i've checked including artificial-eye's ordering site list " le temps du loup" to be released may 24th (i hope i am wrong). Can you post your link for confirmation?

Daniel Windsor

Play.com/choicesdirect.com have listed it as 26 April for several months (even though it had showed as February on many sites -and now May).

Artificial Eye's release dates are always moving about so I'd not put too much emphasis on their website until the disc is actually released.

Summerwine

Not to thread-crap, but: wasn't Haneke "booed" for this film at last year's Cannes Filmfestival?

I haven't seen this picture, but I know his work from "Funny Games" on, and I have to say Mr. Haneke went more and more into this excessively artistic way of filmmaking, which loses more and more of its audience.

I am a friend of good non-mainstream filmmaking, but in the end, the film should be open for many people, and not appeal to its creator only.

Pro-Bassoonist, I'd like to read some more of your thoughts on Haneke's latest film as well as some good reasons to actually go out and get this disc!

Like I said, I don't want to crap on this thread, I am just a little lost with the way Haneke's work is heading.

Thanks for readin', hope to hear from you guys,

Seb

pro-bassoonist

Summerwine:

First of all let me start with the fact that I HAVE NOT seen this film yet. I doubt it many in the US have. However this IS somewhat of an event for me- It has been almost 3 1/2 years since La Pianiste.

I also have to loudly disagree with you. I think that since Funny Games on M.Haneke has been nothing short of spectacular. Code Unknown was absolutely brilliant, the episodic progression of the "plot" (if you could describe it that way), Binoche....everything was perfect.
La Pianiste was even better, in fact that is why it took all the accolades in Cannes. Isabelle Huppert gave one of her best performances ever. Period.

So why did I recommend this film as a blind buy? Because as you could see M.Haneke has NOT been declining as you are trying to tell us, on the contrary just as Lars Von Trier, he has grown stronger, has been more and more sophisticated in his approach. His films have been more and more intelligent (maybe difficult for some, sure, I will give you that, hence my very same remark in my earlier post).

I also disagree with your claim that art/artistic movies are loosing audiences, on the contrary I think that more and more people are being fed up with the mish-mash that comes daily from Hollywood. Look at the number of people discussing non-mainstream cinema around here. Though...You are entirely entitled to have your own opinion on the issue.

Was Haneke booed at Cannes? I dont know that is news to me. Even if he was though, this wont change the fact that I will 100% get this film as a blind buy. What I know for sure is that just as Von Trier Haneke has been often criticized for his “Anti-Americanism”. Sadly though this "constructive-criticism" has come out of people that tagged similarly Von Trier and his outstanding Dogville. So, not sure there is much of an argument here as well.

Last but not least my recommendation for a "blind buy" on this film comes from the fact that a number of my Dutch friends with whom I routinely discuss film with and receive news from have given Haneke's latest some very good reviews. If needed I will submit some but will have to figure out how to translate them from Dutch.

Thank you for posting though and please do not consider this thread-crapping. It is always nice to start a good discussion.

Good day,
Pro-b

Summerwine

Hi Pro-b,

thanks for your comments.

I think you misunderstood some of my points though.

I wasn't trying to bash Mr. Haneke, and especially am I not trying to bash Arthouse-cinema, since it is what gets me to my movie theatres every week, hehe.

The problem I have with his recent work is that I, as the viewer, feel a little "forgotten". La Pianiste's excessive "audience-abuse", if I may put it that way, really turned me off in many ways. I know, this is what the film wants to express, but I am a little lost as to how I am supposed to appreciate it.

Haneke is an intellectual extremist, and I appreciate that, but sometimes it just appears to me that he makes films with a too personal scope.

I am not saying that Arthouse films are losing their audiences, the contrary is the case; I am talking about Haneke's work. I remember seeing "Funny Games" in packed theatres here in Germany, and it definitely was a film that touched more people than it turned off. Now, with "La Pianiste", I think this ratio has inverted, and I wonder why he is going that way.

What I will do in about an hour or so, I will go to a movie theatre and SEE first hand his latest film "LE TEMPS DU LOUP" - after that, I will be able to tell you more about it, and, maybe, my opinion is changed again, hehe.

Regarding Lars von Trier: I am a big admirer of his work, and was completely stunned by "Dogville" - which I watched twice at the movie theatres and own on DVD - to me, one of the 5 best of 2003!

Hope to hear from you,

Seb

pro-bassoonist

Dear Summerwine:

You are absolutely, 100% correct. Haneke is indeed an intellectual extremist. He and his works (esp. the more recent ones) are very difficult to grasp. You are also correct when you said that he is rather intimate in his approach. I believe that this is one of his strongest qualities. He does not make films to “please” as you put it but rather to incite emotions, often the sort of emotions people like to hide or outright disregard. That’s how I perceive his creative philosophy though I am sure others will treat his work differently.

On the other hand, I have to admit that I am rather biased when it comes to his work- Haneke always tends to involve actresses that I have a tremendous amount of respect for-first J. Binoche, then Isabelle Huppert, and now Beatrice Dalle. This is the crème de la crème of French (European) cinema.

To answer your question regarding the direction of Haneke’s latest movies- Well, you see, some of the great directors of our time, and mind you Haneke is one of them, together with Kieslowski, Chabrol, Rivette, Leconte, etc, these are people that in their best works never aimed to please the audience. There is a very interesting interview on the set of the Three Colors with Kieslowski where he talks how he wanted his trilogy to be rather “personal”. I don’t know if this interview is available on the Three Colors set in Germany, but if you don’t own the set yet you could get either the French MK2 version or the US version….some very interesting comments.
So, my point is again that yes, you are absolutely correct, these are directors that create intimate films, they don’t really care (as bad as this may sound to you) to please the audience. Their vision is much more mature than what we as viewers can often comprehend. Haneke in my view is one of those directors.

To sum it all up, awhile ago I read an interview with Juliette Binoche in a European magazine where she was talking about Code Unknown, the filming process etc. She said something very interesting about Haneke and his films, I cant exactly quote it but it was in the spirit of how “people have to intellectually prepare and educate themselves before they see a Haneke film”. I agree very much with Binoche- you have to discuss his works reflected through the prism of a completely different value system than what you usually use when you see your typical crowd-pleaser.

Hope this makes sense and yes, please post your comments after you see the film. Looks like we in the US will have to wait and import the dvd. What a surprise.... considering the fact that not a SINGLE one of his films has received a decent treatment in R1 land.

Cheers,
Pro-B

Summerwine

Dear Pro-B,

so here I am, after sleeping over what I saw last night - "Le Temps Du Loup" by M. Haneke.

Well, to sum it up in a few words: it stays in your head.

Throughout the picture, I was reminded of Bergman's "Skammen" from 1968 with Max von Sydow and Liv Ullman somewhat playing the part of Huppert and her two children.

While in "Skammen" it was a portray of married couple coping with an apocalyptic scenario, here it is a family, trying to keep up, trying to be disciplined in an otherwise completely anarchistic time.

"Le Temps Du Loup" was moving, sometimes a little hard to take but in my opinion a more accessible feature than "La Pianiste".

Many of the films very well composed images will stay in your head for quite some time - the haunting cries of Huppert in the dark, the deep black scenes Haneke used, often in combination with the yellows and reds of fire, the impressive finale - now that's a cinematic masterclass!

Haneke's pace is somewhat slow, but remains interesting: the film evolves from a kind of road movie to a chamber-like drama.

I read several reviews by many European critics, and they vary very much - ranging from "a landmark picture" to "missed opportunity".

As an admirer of his work, you will certainly not be disappointed - I would be thrilled to hear what you are thinking about this film once you saw it though, and maybe we can then discuss several scenes or images in more detail - I don't want to give away anything so I will stop here.

Just this: maybe watch Bergman's "Skammen" before watching "Le Temps Du Loup" - the similarities (end-of-the-world scenario, relationships changing in life-or-death situations, values shifting, the loss of perspectives) are very interesting and should be discussed as well!

Enjoy your Sunday, (that of course goes to everyone).

Seb

pro-bassoonist

Summerwine:

Thank you for posting your thoughts. This only further fuels my anticipation to see this film. Too bad that I have to wait for the dvd as I am not aware if a US company has picked the distribution rights as of yet.

Looking forward to see it though!!

french fan

I enjoyed the two of you going back and forth (pro-b and summerwine), and display some passion about this film and cinema in general. I just don't want great directors like Haneke, Claire Denis, Tsai Ming Liang among others who are doing great work NOW to only be remembered in some retrospective after the've passed on or no longer working.

Thanks Summerwine for you comments on "le temps du loup", can't wait to see it on dvd although i believe Palm Pictures will be releasing this film in theatres in the U.S at the end of May.

Summerwine

Pro-B,

I do have several articles and interviews on LE TEMPS... (avec Haneke etc.) from French daily newspaper "LE MONDE".

In case you're interested, I could post those here!

Do you write about the films you watch? That would be very interesting!

Also, French-Fan, where are you from?

Talk to you soon,

Seb

pro-bassoonist

Hello Summerwine,

Yes, please post the article...or if you prefer you could email it to me at [email protected] ....in case the moderators are not fond of posting non-English material. I would love to take a look.

As to writing, yes, most recently I have written a few reviews for the region-free rental service Nicheflix (great people by the way). You have probably seen the banner that pops up every once in awhile on the top of this page. It is basically a rental opportunity for people in the US that miss on other region titles. I am rather biased though as I usually write about films that I love (and lately there have been a lot). I also did a little bit of writing back home in Chicago.

You could take a look here- (the Euro section )

http://www.nicheflix.com/reviews/

I think that Mark asked me to write a few reviews in January....so it has been close to 2 months now.

By the way, my top pick from last year is there as well- Ricordati Di Me(Remember Me) - if this film is available in Germany- SEE IT!!

Sorry, had to "force" my opinion yet again....

Sincerely,
Pro-B

Giles

hey pro-bassoonist, any idea if nichflix is trying to arrange rental of this film when it becomes available. (all these DVD's purchases and filmgoing is going to make me broke.)

If and when I become a nicheflix member I might take consideration of your review of Remember Me and watch it, even though I found Gabrielle Muccino L’ultimo Bacio (The Last Kiss) painfully overrated and cringe-inducing.



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