Ok L'Avventura is almost on Blu-ray, But what about Blow Up?
I will most likely pick this up in 3 months, but when Blow Up arrives on Blu-ray, I will be the First in Line. Any ideas if its been announced, Criterion anyone?
shareIt's yet to be announced for release by any company in any region, sadly. In Region 1/A, Warner Home Video has the distribution rights for the film, which is bad news because of all the major studios they have the lowest rate of Blu-ray releases for catalog titles and, additionally, they very rarely license their titles out to other companies (such as Criterion, Kino, etc.) for home video release. They have demonstrated a reluctance to release a number of other classic films they have the rights to, so I wouldn't hold my breath for a Blowup Blu-ray any time soon. Warner has said that 2015 will be their biggest year for Blu-ray yet, so perhaps they'll surprise us and put it out then.
Another possibility is that 2016 will be the film's fiftieth anniversary, so perhaps it might be released on Blu-ray at some point in that year to coincide with that anniversary. I'll be pretty bummed out if we have to wait that long for it, but I wouldn't be surprised.
Thank you, I might be able to wait that long.
Blow Up was one of the most evocative films I seen in film school, looking back I am glad I got to see that on a fairly wide projector screen in the dark along with other Italian classics.
by the way I just bought L'Eclisse criterion and was very impressed, not to mention the Eye that changed Cinema documentary.
Yes, the L'Eclisse Criterion is terrific. Actually I'm very happy with all of the Antonioni films they've done!
We just need Blow Up, The Passenger, Zabriskie Point and a couple of the early ones to get quality Blu-ray treatments now. If ever a filmmaker's work demanded to be seen in the best quality possible, it's Antonioni.
I was fortunate to be able to see Blow Up, L'Avventura and L'Eclisse at the AFI Silver Theater in Maryland a few months back. All three looked wonderful and I thought at the time that I couldn't wait for Blow Up and L'Avventura to be released on Blu-ray.
Masters of Cinema in the UK released Le Amiche and La Signora Senza Camelie on blu-ray and the quality is great. Il Grido was also released by them but DVD only and I'm not sure if they'll upgrade that soon. Il Grido in particular would look great on blu-ray. I'll hopefully upgrade L'Eclisse and L'Avventura in the Barnes and Noble November sale.
shareYes, those two are nice looking. Story of a Love Affair is waiting on a release and I Vinti has a mediocre one (sadly we're not likely to get another, better one any time soon). Regrettably Chung Kuo - Cina is unlikely to receive a Blu-ray release at all; that remains a very rich document of a unique point in time in China's history. The 200 minute version is really terrific.
I had hoped that Criterion might include The Mystery of Oberwald as an extra on one of their other Antonioni Blu-ray releases, but this didn't come to pass. I think that was likely our best/only shot at getting it released on Blu-ray.
Chung Kuo China and Story of a Love Affair have been released by Mr. Bongo in the UK, I don't expect either of them to be upgraded though. I haven't seen The Mystery of Oberwald, do you rate it highly?
shareNo, it's a (much) lesser effort for Antonioni in my opinion. I still think it's worth seeing as I consider Antonioni to be one of the greatest of all filmmakers, but it's far from a major work. It's interesting to see a visual master working with the then fairly new technology of video and his manipulation of color is as intriguing as ever but on the whole it's more of a curiosity than a vital work. Identification of a Woman was the last of his truly strong films, I think.
shareI'll have to try and find it somewhere. And I agree that Antonioni is one of the greatest of all film makers.
shareStory of a love affair is fairly good (Lady without camellias is better though) , but The Mystery of Oberwald is best seen as a mildly interesting experiment.
Actors are like cows. You have to lead them through a fence.
Yeah I agree with that. I've not been able to find The Mystery of Oberwald from a source of good enough quality yet.
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