Christian Petzold

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martin
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Re: Christian Petzold on DVD

#26 Post by martin » Tue Sep 13, 2011 7:59 am

I recently recorded the 3 Dreileben films from cable tv with Danish subs. I especially recorded the films because of the subs as I intended to use these with the German blu-ray. I'm not sure how it will work out though, as I haven't received the blu-ray yet (I need it to correct any sync issues).

I'll let you know how it's going in a week or two.

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martin
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Re: Christian Petzold on DVD

#27 Post by martin » Sun Dec 18, 2011 4:26 pm

Sorry for the late reply. I got the German blu-ray some time ago. It turns out to be a 1080i50 transfer (ie. 25 fps) because it was shot for television (PAL). This has the advantage that the Danish subs I recorded from cable tv are in perfect sync. I must say that the subs are a bit casual two or three times throughout the movies, and a 30-seconds passage with perhaps 10 spoken lines in the 2nd film is untranslated. But the subs are generally quite good, and perfectly useable. I've not done anything to correct any issues except two grammatically awful lines. Link.

The disc transfers are pretty good. There's a 25 min. documentary (unsubbed) with participation of the three directors, among others.

The films are perhaps not on par with the best I've seen from Petzold or Hochhäusler but I still enjoyed them. Petzold's and Hochhäusler's contributions are very typical for their kind of cinema: Subdued, restrained, bare (and sometimes quite eerie). And sparse on dialogue. Graf's film - part 2 in the trilogy - has more dialogue than the other two combined, and really belongs to another school of cinema (Dominik Graf is perfectly aware that he's not part of the same Berliner Schule as the other two directors, a subject he briefly touches upon in the documentary).

This does not mean, however, that Graf's film doesn't fit into the trilogy. The three films fit very well together, and each film sheds new light on the previous ones in a clever way.
Last edited by martin on Mon Dec 19, 2011 5:18 am, edited 1 time in total.

accatone
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Re: Christian Petzold on DVD

#28 Post by accatone » Mon Dec 19, 2011 4:30 am

Hi Martin, as for Christian Koch i think you have Dominik Graf in mind.

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martin
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Re: Christian Petzold on DVD

#29 Post by martin » Mon Dec 19, 2011 5:19 am

Of course, thanks. Corrected!

naersjoen
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Re: Christian Petzold on DVD

#30 Post by naersjoen » Tue Jul 31, 2012 12:28 pm

Good news: Looks like the "Barbara" DVD to be released in Germany on 12 October will contain English subtitles (Label/Amazon).

accatone
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Re: Christian Petzold on DVD

#31 Post by accatone » Tue Jul 31, 2012 12:42 pm

I was very impressed to see that it was shown in so many cinemas in Paris two weeks ago. A friend of mine from there told me about it allready in June. If its running "that" well outside Germany i think it will get other DVD releases as well…great film by the way!

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zedz
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Re: Christian Petzold on DVD

#32 Post by zedz » Thu Aug 02, 2012 12:27 am

I've been a Petzold skeptic up until now, but Barbara is indeed a great film! I'd advise holding out to see if there's going to be a BluRay release anywhere, however, since its crisp visuals would definitely benefit from higher definition.

TheDoman
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Re: Christian Petzold on DVD

#33 Post by TheDoman » Thu Aug 02, 2012 9:11 am

Great news, I'm looking forward to seeing it. Goodmovies usually do a nice job on their DVDs, and the quality is usually decent, even if they offer no extras. I highly doubt (wish I'm wrong) that we will see a Blu-ray release, as it really only leaves Artificial Eye and Cinema Guild who are the likely candidates to pick up the film outside of Germany. For both, I would suspect they might release on DVD rather than Blu-ray, as Petzold doesn't seem to be a big seller. Sadly it seems like the German Blu-rays of Berliner Schule films like Sleeping Sickness and Dreileben don't have English subs.

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repeat
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Re: Christian Petzold on DVD

#34 Post by repeat » Sun Aug 19, 2012 1:26 am

domino harvey wrote:Anyone else have trouble with the State I Am In? It looks like my copy is flagged at the wrong aspect ratio, as the 1.66 is squashed into the 1.37 frame, making it literally unwatchable. There's nothing wrong with my player or settings, I've played countless films before or since properly, so it's not on my end.
Any news on this? I'd go for this release for the subtitled commentary, but not if there's an aspect ratio issue. Can anyone comment on the German release - are the extras subtitled?

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repeat
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Re: Christian Petzold on DVD

#35 Post by repeat » Wed Aug 29, 2012 6:25 am

(This might more correctly belong to the Essentials from Germany thread, but since the film was already brought up here -)

At the risk of appearing hyperbolic, I have to beat the drum a bit for the Dreileben trilogy; in fact I'd suggest that had more people here had the chance to see these films, the lower half of the 2011 consensus list might look slightly different. It goes without saying that fans of Petzold (whose contribution here rivals and, for me, outdoes even Barbara) and Christoph Hochhäusler (wherever they're hiding) owe it to themselves to watch this, but I'd say anyone with the slightest interest in contemporary world cinema - especially the fertile grey area between "genre" and "arthouse" - could do a hell of a lot worse than to seek out the nearest possibility to experience this genre-bending masterwork in it's entirety; although it's said that the films can be viewed separately, it doesn't make a lot of sense to - and after Petzold's stunning opener it's hard not to want to return to the world of the films.

To say something of the content, the designator "murder mystery" or the comparisons to Red Riding etc. don't even begin to describe the scope of Dreileben; in fact the police procedural seeps in only gradually - and even the last third isn't really "about" that; the overarching theme seems to be that of possible worlds - uninvestigated, unrealized, and finally lost possibilities - the latter very pronouncedly and building in intensity towards the end, rendering the whole work with an air of overwhelming sadness, far more than any moods that the labels "thriller" or "mystery" might suggest (although those tonalities are present too, in varying degrees). And that theme is of course mirrored in the filmmaking itself, as the project was initiated in order to explore different (hopefully not lost) possibilities of what storytelling, television, cinema could be.

For me, Dominik Graf's segment was particularly interesting, as I hadn't heard of him before; containing some of the bubbliest filmmaking in recent memory, it stands well in contrast to the other two (which is the point of course), without feeling forcedly polemical. Graf's latest and acclaimed TV work In Face of the Crime is available with English subs, and went right to the top of my shopping list on the strength of his Dreileben contribution and this interesting interview.

By the way, what's with the lack of love for Christoph Hochhäusler? His work is readily available on English-friendly and cheap DVDs, but even his magnificent Unter dir die Stadt (The City Below) is mentioned on this forum only once - hopefully it's just because few people have had the chance to see it? On the strength of the three films I've seen, each better than the previous one - if the guy keeps up this standard, he's bound to make a film that will blow a lot of minds in the near future.


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Finch
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Re: Christian Petzold on DVD

#37 Post by Finch » Sat Sep 01, 2012 6:52 am

Barbara is distributed here by Soda, and will open theatrically September 28th. They released Norwegian Wood and Tetro on BD so hopefully they'll do a Blu-Ray of the Petzold.

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Finch
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Re: Christian Petzold on DVD

#38 Post by Finch » Fri Sep 07, 2012 8:47 am

Soda confirmed to me via email that the home video release is set for March 2013 but a decision re a BD hasn't been made yet so you may want to register your interest with them.

accatone
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Re: Christian Petzold on DVD

#39 Post by accatone » Fri Sep 07, 2012 9:03 am

http://www.bluray-disc.de/blu-ray-filme ... u-ray-disc" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thats what i found out.

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TMDaines
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Re: Christian Petzold on DVD

#40 Post by TMDaines » Fri Sep 07, 2012 7:24 pm

No need to bother Soda then if Indigo are on the case!

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Finch
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Re: Christian Petzold on DVD

#41 Post by Finch » Sat Sep 08, 2012 5:03 am

Nice one, accatone. Think I'll go for the German BD as well.

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domino harvey
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Re: Christian Petzold on DVD

#42 Post by domino harvey » Sat Sep 08, 2012 10:24 am

Awesome, Petzold in English-friendly Blu, FINALLY!

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repeat
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Re: Christian Petzold on DVD

#43 Post by repeat » Sat Sep 08, 2012 11:28 am

Even though Barbara is fucking brilliant, I'd still give an English-friendly BD of that for an English-friendly DVD of Beats Being Dead without blinking an eye

TheDoman
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Re: Christian Petzold on DVD

#44 Post by TheDoman » Sun Sep 09, 2012 4:00 pm

Awesome. Great to see this with subtitles :) and hopefully this is a sign for the future of Indigo!

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repeat
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Re: Christian Petzold on DVD

#45 Post by repeat » Mon Sep 17, 2012 7:23 am

repeat wrote:
domino harvey wrote:Anyone else have trouble with the State I Am In? It looks like my copy is flagged at the wrong aspect ratio, as the 1.66 is squashed into the 1.37 frame, making it literally unwatchable. There's nothing wrong with my player or settings, I've played countless films before or since properly, so it's not on my end.
Any news on this? I'd go for this release for the subtitled commentary, but not if there's an aspect ratio issue. Can anyone comment on the German release - are the extras subtitled?
In case anyone's interested, they're (unsurprisingly) not - and the film itself is windowboxed (if that's what it's called - with empty spaces on all four sides, so that you have to zoom into the picture at the expense of resolution). It's such a great film though that I might consider double-dipping for the subtitled extras, if anyone can recommend them - the Beaver review doesn't say much and my German listening skills are inexistent...

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bigP
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Re: Christian Petzold on DVD

#46 Post by bigP » Mon Oct 01, 2012 3:41 pm

Finch wrote:Soda confirmed to me via email that the home video release is set for March 2013 but a decision re a BD hasn't been made yet so you may want to register your interest with them.
TMDaines wrote:No need to bother Soda then if Indigo are on the case!
Indeed. It appears that the Soda release of Barbara is looking like DVD only for the moment. Soda don't look to be rushing to get many of their films out on BD (Forgiveness of Blood, Tales of the Night etc as upcoming SD pre-orders) so I'm not too hopeful we'll see much change with Barbara.

Grand Illusion
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Re: Christian Petzold on DVD

#47 Post by Grand Illusion » Sun Dec 23, 2012 10:30 pm

Barbara just opened up nearby, so I decided to watch the DVD of Yella to get an introduction to Petzold as a filmmaker. I'd have a hard time finding anything in the film that worked for me.

The quasi-horror tropes don't gel at all with the shot/countershot business meetings. Petzold never sets up the rules of the game for these meetings, so the audience doesn't ever know the stakes. His screenplay saps the capitalist meetings of any drama.

The sound design seems overwrought in an attempt to add depth to Yella's character. And most egregious of all, the two leads behave differently to each other from scene to scene, making unbelievable any sort of coherent arc.
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Of course, this is all justified at the end because - tada - dream logic! But we know that's Poor Storytelling 101.
Not to mention I felt a step ahead of the film the whole time. I was surprised to see it labeled as a thriller when there is zero tension to be had in the entire film. Every beat is obvious and lacking in spontaneity. I was even able to pick up on the film-school twist at the end just by making a glib joke to myself in the course of watching the first 20 minutes.

The rhetoric-and-jargon-laced booklet included with the Cinema Guild DVD offers some interpretation of the film as some sort of post-reunification statement on venture capitalism, which is great and all, but Yella just doesn't stand on its own. The project feels like an American indie at a smaller C-tier film fest, not an internationally acclaimed filmmaker.

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warren oates
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Re: Christian Petzold on DVD

#48 Post by warren oates » Mon Dec 24, 2012 2:01 am

Grand Illusion wrote:Yella just doesn't stand on its own. The project feels like an American indie at a smaller C-tier film fest, not an internationally acclaimed filmmaker.
I'd try Jerichow or The State I Am In instead. They're both much closer to the sort of thriller of everyday life vibe he's got going in Barbara -- and far better films than Yella too.

Grand Illusion
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Re: Christian Petzold on DVD

#49 Post by Grand Illusion » Mon Dec 24, 2012 3:46 am

warren oates wrote:
Grand Illusion wrote:Yella just doesn't stand on its own. The project feels like an American indie at a smaller C-tier film fest, not an internationally acclaimed filmmaker.
I'd try Jerichow or The State I Am In instead. They're both much closer to the sort of thriller of everyday life vibe he's got going in Barbara -- and far better films than Yella too.
I'll give Barbara a shot before writing him off as a filmmaker, but I'm picking that one since it's the easiest for me to see at the moment.

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repeat
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Re: Christian Petzold on DVD

#50 Post by repeat » Mon Dec 24, 2012 7:14 am

While I agree that Yella might not be the best introduction, I'm really not sure depth of character, believability or coherence of plot are things you will find in abundance in any of Petzold's films (with the possible exception of Barbara). On the contrary, for me, his best films (especially Ghosts and Beats Being Dead) are some of the most genuinely dreamlike films I've seen -
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although they don't really contain any obviously "surreal" or "oneiric" elements - and maybe that's exactly why the dream-gimmick makes Yella a weaker film in that respect.
I feel that's worth pointing out as his choices of subject matter certainly seem to overshadow that aspect somewhat. (He actually said somewhere that he prefers to work on his scripts in a half-sleeping state)

Films have to be marketed of course, but I wouldn't label any Petzold film a "thriller" - while he's obviously influenced by Hitchcock and horror films in general, his own films would seem very clearly and consciously to be hybrids of several genre tropes.

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