Showing posts with label bfi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bfi. Show all posts

10 March 2015

BFI Unleash A Stunning New UK trailer For Upcoming Blade Runner:The Final Cut

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You may say to yourself "Again?!!!" but to true film fans will relish a  rare chance to see Ridley Scott's 1982 sci-fi Masterpiece Blade Runner on the big screen again, watch new trailer.

After numerous special editions for the home release and fans of the cult film argue which one is the best, we have to say the best is to relive the enjoyment of the big screen. BFI are bringing the film back to UK cinemas for a limited release and if your of a certain age group (like myself) either too young or weren't born so we see this as a rare chance.

So what version version will we watch? BFI are distributing Blade Runner:The Final Cut the version approved by director Ridley Scott, here's what he said about this version...

The Final Cut is my definitive version of BLADE RUNNER, and I’m thrilled that audiences will have the opportunity to enjoy it in the way I intended – on the big screen. This new trailer captures the essence of the film and I hope will inspire a new generation to see BLADE RUNNER when it is re-released across the UK on 3 April.



Graced with extraordinary sets, ground-breaking special effects, stunning costumes and photography, Blade Runner: The Final Cut brilliantly evokes a dystopian vision of the future. Breathtaking city vistas, rain-drenched neon-lit streets and gloomy interiors combine with Vangelis’ sweeping, sensual score to conjure an oppressive futuristic Los Angeles, a dark and dehumanising landscape where the sun no longer shines.

Blade Runner: The Final Cut will make an limited UK cinema release from 3rd April, check BFI website for a list of cinema who will show the film.

21 January 2015

BFI To Release Feng Xiaogang's Back To 1942 Starring Adrien Brody, Tim Robbins, Watch UK Trailer

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From acclaimed director Feng Xiaogang (Aftershock, Assembly) comes this breathtaking war epic which revisits one of the most catastrophic periods of 20th-century Chinese history – the famine in Back to 1942 will be released by the BFI on 23 February 2014 on both DVD and Blu-ray with additional special features.
Henan Province during the 1942 Sino-Japanese War. Previously unavailable in the UK,

Zhang Guoli stars as Master Fan, a wealthy landlord who loses everything when he and his family flee their famine-stricken hometown. Academy Award-winner Adrien Brody (The Pianist) co-stars as a courageous American journalist who encounters the horrors of the famine first-hand and endeavours to enlist relief-aid from the Chinese government and expose the plight of the Henan refugees.

Awe-inspiring action and intelligent characterisation combine to masterful effect in this explosive blockbuster.

Back to 1942 was screened at BFI Southbank last February, attended by director Feng Xiaogang, ahead of the major BFI season A Century of Chinese Cinema.



Back To 1942 will arrive in UK on DVD&Blu-ray on 23rd February and we hope to review this closer to release. The film Guoli Zhang, Hanyu Zhang, Wei Fan and of course Hollywood Stars Adrien Brody, Tim Robbins.

Pre-Order/Buy Back To 1942 (Blu-ray Edition which comes a host of extras  which include original trailers, promoreel, a couple of short features. The blu-ray also exclusively have 2 extra features which give a running time of  80 minutes  between them.

15 January 2015

BFI To Release Chinese Masterpeice Spring In A Small Town On DVD

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Regarded as the finest work from the first great era of Chinese filmmaking, Fei Mu’s quiet, piercingly poignant study of adulterous desire and guilt-ridden despair is a remarkable rediscovery, often compared to David Lean’s Brief Encounter. Following its theatrical release last year as part of the BFI’s major season A Century of Chinese Cinema, Spring in a Small Town will be released on DVD by the BFI on 23 February 2014.


China / 1948 / black and white / Mandarin with optional English subtitles / DVD9 / Original aspect ratio 1.33:1 / Dolby Digital 1.0 mono audio
After eight years of marriage to Liyan – once rich but now a shadow of his former self following a long, ruinous war – Yuwen does little except deliver his daily medication. A surprise visit from Liyan’s friend Zhang re-energises the household, but also stirs up dangerously suppressed longings and resentments.

Focusing on people rather than politics, director Fei Mu’s greatest achievement perfectly captures the dilemma of desire raging against loyalty, and sits alongside both the tender family dramas of Japan’s Yasujiro Ozu and the wonderful post-war humanist realist cinema of René Clément, Satyajit Ray and Vittorio De Sica. It has been acknowledged as a formative influence by Zhang Yimou (House of Flying Daggers), Chen Kaige (Farewell My Concubine), Jia Zhangke (Still Life), and Wong Kar-wai (In the Mood for Love).

Fei Mu’s deft use of locations, dissolves and camera movements makes for a fraught, febrile mood of hesitant passion, entrapment and ennui. Cinematically and psychologically sophisticated, Spring in a Small Town has been restored by the China Film Archive as part of the Digital Restoration Project. It is accompanied here by two rare and fascinating films from the BFI National Archive.



Special features
BFI re-release trailer
A Small Town in China (1933, 9 mins): an intimate portrait of community life in an unidentified Chinese town
This is China (1946, 9 mins): a fascinating compilation of scenes showing diversity and disparity in 1940s China
Illustrated booklet with film notes and credits

Fei Mu's Spring In A Small Town will arrive on DVD from BFI on 23rd February, we are hoping to review  so stay tuned and you can pre-orderSpring in a Small Town (DVD) now.

21 January 2014

BFI to Release Claude Sautet’s Classe tous risques (1960) on Duel Format This February

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Brilliantly suspenseful and surprisingly moving, Classe tous risques is a devastating study of loyalty and betrayal, distinguished by a bleak, incisive psychological realism. Previously unseen in the UK, it was released in cinemas by the BFI last September and now comes to DVD and Blu-ray in a Dual Format Edition on 24 February 2014. Special features include a documentary on the life and career of the great Italian-born character actor Lino Ventura.

French gangland boss Abel Davos (Lino Ventura) has been on the run in Italy for a decade in order to escape a death sentence. But when police finally close in, he turns to his old criminal friends to help him and his young family return to Paris. With loyalty in short supply, it takes an insouciant stranger (coolly played by Jean Paul Belmondo in the same year as his breakthrough performance in A Bout de souffle), to come to the rescue.

The directorial debut of the influential Claude Sautet (Un Coeur en hiver, Nelly & Monsieur Arnaud), and based on the novel by death-row-inmate-turned-writer José Giovanni (Le Trou, Le Deuxième souffle), Classe tous risques features a stand-out performance from Ventura as a bad man trying to do right by his children.

Special features

  • Presented in both High Definition and Standard Definition
  • Brand new restoration
  • Monsieur Ventura (Doug Headline, 1996/2014): documentary on the life and career of Lino Ventura
  • Original French and US trailers
  • Illustrated booklet with newly commissioned essay by the Guardian’s John Patterson


Check out the film's trailer....


Classe tous risques will be released on Dual Format (DVD&Blu-ray) by BFI on 24 February,pre-order/buy Classe Tous Risques (DVD + Blu-ray) [Amazon]

19 December 2013

BFI To Release 1924's The Epic Of Everest

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Genre:
History, Documentary
Distributor:
BFI
Release Date:
27th January 2014 (UK)
Buy:The Epic of Everest (DVD + Blu-ray) [Amazon]

Following the world premiere of The Epic of Everest at the 2013 BFI London Film Festival and its critically acclaimed cinema release, Captain John Noel’s stunning official record of the 1924 Everest expedition,

When George Mallory and Sandy Irvine attempted to reach the summit of Everest in 1924 they came closer than any previous attempt. Captain John Noel filmed in the harshest of conditions to capture the drama of this fateful expedition. Now restored by the BFI National Archive, The Epic of Everest with a new score by Simon Fisher Turner, will be released in a Dual Format Edition (DVD and Blu-ray discs) on 27 January 2014.

Inspired by Herbert Ponting (The Great White Silence), Captain Noel recorded images of breathtaking beauty and considerable historic significance using specially adapted equipment. The film is also amongst the earliest filmed records of life in Tibet. But it is the brooding presence of the mountain itself that is the heart of Noel’s film, and his photography captures the magical play of light and shadow on an alien landscape which enhances the vulnerability, isolation and courage of the mountaineers.

The restoration – undertaken in collaboration with Sandra Noel, the director’s daughter – has transformed the quality of the surviving elements of the film and reintroduced the original coloured tints and tones.

The BFI commissioned a new score by Simon Fisher Turner which was released on LP/CD by Mute in October and has been voted No.1 soundtrack of the year by Mojo magazine.

Also included on the release are three documentary featurettes about the film, the restoration and the score, and an optional alternative musical accompaniment; the original 1924 score as recreated by Julie Brown, a specialist on film music and early twentieth-century concert music.


Special features

  • Presented in both High Definition and Standard Definition
  • Introducing The Epic of Everest (2013): Sandra Noel and Bryony Dixon (BFI National Archive) discuss the background and filming process
  • Scoring The Epic of Everest (2013): Composer Simon Fisher Turner discusses the production of the new score
  • Restoring The Epic of Everest (2013): Bryony Dixon, Ben Thompson (BFI National Archive) and Lisa Copson (Deluxe Digital) discuss the restoration process
  • Alternative score – the original 1924 score recreated by Julie Brown. Performed by Cambridge University Chamber Orchestra conducted by Andrew Gourlay
  • Additional musical pieces that accompanied the film on its first screening at the Scala, London in 1924
  • Original 1924 film programme (downloadable PDF, DVD only)
  • 30 page illustrated booklet with essays/contributions from explorer and writer Wade Davis, Simon Fisher Turner, Sandra Noel, Julie Brown and the BFI National Archive’s Kieron Webb, plus notes on the musical extras and full credits.
The Epic of Everest Dual Format Edition will be launched by the BFI and Caught by the River at Rough Trade East, Dray Walk, 91 Brick Lane, E1 6QL on Friday 17 January at 6.30pm. A FREE screening of the film will be followed by a Q&A with Sandra Noel and Simon Fisher Turner, hosted by Luke Turner of TheQuietus.com.
Open to all, no booking necessary – full details here: http://www.roughtrade.com/events/2014/1/305

19 October 2013

Nosferatu (1922) Masters Of Cinema Review

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Rating:
PG
Release Date:
25th October 2013 (UK Cinema)
Distributor:
Eureka! Video, BFI
Director:
F.W. Murnau
Cast:
Max Schreck, Greta Schröder, Ruth Landshoff


It's easy to call yourself a film fan or even a cinephile but when you dig a little deeper to find out why they call themselves fans its then you truly find out how much of a fan you really are. Film is one of the most culturally diverse art forms ever created, true cinephiles will appreciate it in all it's forms including Silent Film. With Halloween creeping up on us what better time to (re-)release of the most iconic horror  films in cinematic history getting a rare appearance on the big screen, F.W Murnau's Nosferatu (1922).

Whilst Bela Lugosi then Hammer Films romanticized that many of us perceive Dracula to be, the reclusive black cloaked fanged count  who has women falling at his feet ,under his hypnotic spell, Murnau's masterpiece is film's earliest adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel seen on the big screen.

Set in post world war one Germany, Nosferatu sees Knock (Alexander Grauach) a estate agent and his assistant Hutter (Gustav Von Nagenheim) go on assignment deep into the mysterious Carpathian Hills in heart of Transylvania. They arrive at Count Orlock's castle (Max Schreck)to broker the sale of Orlock home back in Germany but as the days fly past Hutter starts to notice unusual things start to happen he reverts back to the book he is reading Orlock might actually be a vampire. As the horror of realization sinks into Hutter he discover Orlock has escaped his castle back to Germany amongst a shipment of coffins leaving a trail of death in his wake forcing Hutter to Hunt the parasitic killer before a veil of death destroys his hometown.

To be screened part of BFI's Gothic The Dark Heart Of Film,Nosferatu deserves its rightful place next to modern horror, frankly because of its superior quality. The film might be 9 years short of been 100 years old some may call it outdated, cliched but in reality this film's craftmanship, technical ability are second to none. This film is essential viewing for any wanna be horror filmmaker though scare factor maybe non-existent but the visual power and atmosphere stands up against any modern horror film making one of the best with the genre (possibly best within Vampire sub genre). The shadowy silhouettes, male leads exact doubles of each other, broody Gothic horror in its prime but most of all make up the symbolic German Expressionism.

If there's any case for the importance of music within a feature film, the silent film era will act as your best case to support your argument. Nowdays it seem many bands fight to get a hip points however like when you talk about football matches the crowd been the '12th Man' the score is that '12th Man' providing the heartbeat of the audience delivering an extra dimension of fear, tension. Even with a modern score Nosferatu never loses it's power still delivers the platform for Max Schreck to deliver the ultimate legendary performance as Count Orlock.

Schreck's portrayal of Orlock was delivered with such conviction, terrifying passion by an actor who actually believed he was a  vampire. There is no comparisons from any other  actor coming close to matching Schreck,but the closest comparsions could possibly be seen in two  more recent films, the highly underrated Shadow Of The Vampire (2000) and Werner Herzog's Nosferatu The Vampyre (1979) with Klaus Kinski.

So why has Stoker's legendary creature of the night always been romantized rather been a predatory monester, one a argument comes from film historians with the possibe connections with Nazism. Whilst the film was created well before the rise of the Nazis Nosferatu is believed by some to be an account based around the Weimar Republic. A state within Post World War One Germany born out off corruption, anti antisemitism delivering the National Socialist Party  but it's the visual attributes of Orlock that could be seen as the most terrifying. The Nazis looked to have hijacked Murnau's vision for how they symbolized the Jewish people as rat like creatures for their propaganda films. If anything the main argument could all be down to Bram Stoer's widow taking the German auteur to court for breach of copyright despite the change to the novel

Whatever your think about Nosferatu, it may not feel part of modern romantic vision of the vampire but it has it's rightful place in horror folklore. When you look back at the story of how Murnau's masterpiece was created it makes you wonder did  he know something we didn't know when he kept that single copy despite the court order to destroy all copies. Though sometimes if he had a time machine he may have thought twice about destroying the remaining if he knew that Twilight Saga lay ahead?! Whatever you think or how many versions of the film you may have on DVD or Blu-Ray  F.W Murnau's Nosferatu was made for one thing, that's the big screen, don't miss a piece of cinematic gold getting a rare run on the big screen.

★★★★★

Paul Devine



1 August 2013

BFI To Screen Claude Sautet's Classe Tous Risques (The Big Risk) This September

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Highly rated by Jean-Pierre Melville, Robert Bresson and Bertrand Tavernier, Classe tous risques is a truly great, astonishingly neglected French crime movie, deserving of far wider renown. The dazzling directorial debut of Claude Sautet (1924 - 2000), better known for his later films Un Coeur en hiver (1992) and Nelly et Monsieur Arnaud (1995), it will be released in cinemas nationwide on 13 September.

Classe tous risques stars the great Italian-born character actor Lino Ventura as Abel Davos, a once powerful Parisian gangster, convicted of multiple crimes in France and sentenced to death in absentia, who has grown weary of his Italian exile and longs to return home with his wife and two small children. In order to finance this ambition, he decides to pull one last job  boldly executed in broad daylight on the streets of Milan  before heading in the direction of Nice. The getaway proves highly perilous, and Abel realises that he will never make it to Paris without a little help from his friends. But his old pals and partners-in-crime despite the incredible debt they all owe him  are reluctant to risk their own safety. Instead they send a complete stranger, the fresh-faced Eric Stark (the young, still unknown Jean-Paul Belmondo), to escort their former comrade from Nice to Paris.

Scored by Georges Delerue and shot in expressive black and white by Ghislain Cloquet (who was to win an Oscar for Tess), Classe tous risques is based on a novel by death-row-inmate-turned-writer José Giovanni (Le trou, Le deuxième souffle) whose intimate knowledge of the underworld helped steer him away from cliché. Brilliantly suspenseful and surprisingly moving, it is a devastating study of loyalty and betrayal, distinguished by a bleak, incisive psychological realism.

The relative obscurity of Sautet’s superb thriller is in many ways an accident of history. It was simply swept away in the frenzy of excitement generated by the Nouvelle Vague which made its classical virtues appear old-fashioned. Released in Paris in March 1960, it was almost immediately overshadowed by Godard’s Breathless (Belmondo’s international breakthrough) which opened a week later.

Now, more than half a century on, the mists which obscured Sautet’s achievement have cleared. In the words of Tavernier: “We’ve come to understand that Classe tous risques … was just as revolutionary as Breathless … Sautet was renewing the genre, profoundly, from the inside, instantly turning dozens of contemporary films into dusty relics.” The BFI’s release will enable cinema audiences to relish in full this wonderful rediscovery.



The film’s nationwide release will coincide with a month long retrospective of Claude Sautet’s work at BFI Southbank from 11 September until 7th October.Check your local independent/Arthouse cinema for listings