pro-bassoonist

Macedonia's 2005 Oscar entry Golemata Voda a.k.a The Great Water directed by Ivo Trajkov has been acquired by US distrib Picture This Entertainment. From all of the preliminary press-info and the trailer provided at the film's official site I think that Macedonia has yet another powerful film that would rival the Golden Bear Winner and Oscar nominated Before the Rain.

I had to do a little bit of research and I am told that the film is already available on DVD in Bulgaria. I don't have any further information whether or not there are English subs provided (though I do own two Bulgarian dvds and they both offer an English interface). Regardless, if I do not track down the R2 dvd Picture This' version should be out in late Fall if my calculations are correct. If anyone however acquires the Bulgarian disc before me please feel free to run a short review.

Official Film site and trailer:
http://www.thegreatwatermovie.com/


Ciao,
Pro-B

cine

Is Before the Rain available on DVD with English subs? I did a Google search and found this link: http://www.bolha.com/oglas1112354, but can't tell what it says.

pro-bassoonist

Not available yet.....unfortunately.

Pro-B

flixtime

I was impressed by the trailer for this when I initially saw it either here or via Twitch (or both) some months back. Then I completely forgot about it until a few weeks back when I checked out Pro-B's thread on "Sorstalansag". That triggered my memory for this one but I couldn't recall the title. I did have a vague recollection of it being Eastern European so I was searching all around here and Twitch for stuff like "Hungary", "Czech", etc. but came up with nothing. I was about a week away from starting a "what was the title of this movie" thread here in International Talk until I checked out Pro-B's Top Ten Foreign DVDs list on this site's homepage and found my mystery solved.

Anyway, I just received my R1 copy and am eager to check it out. Also, it did come with a bonus CD of the film's soundtrack.

edited: to remove some incorrect info. I had mistakenly posted (see my post below).

pro-bassoonist

I received the check disc(s) through a different site for review and indeed the one I have at home is non-anamorphic. I am a little surprised that the final version is also non-anamorphic. Either way this is one spectacular film!!

Pro-B

ps
Unfortunately I did not receive a case either.

flixtime

My apologies guys, it looks like this DVD is anamorphic after all. The packaging only listed "Widescreen 2.35:1" (and I couldn't find any other info. to the contrary) so my earlier comment was just as a caution that it might not be anamorphic. I don't have a 16:9 TV set but I did try a little test that I think (?) can be used by those without 16:9 capability to tell if a disc is anamorphic or not.

I did this by alternating the settings on my DVD player picture display between 4:3LBX and 16:9Widescreen. The results:

"The Island" DVD - I knew this (the new Michael Bay film) was anamorphic. It looked normal with a setting of 4:3LBX but everything looked tall and skinny when switched to 16:9Widescreen.

"Armageddon" DVD - this is the old non-anamorphic DVD. It looked normal with a setting of 4:3LBX and still looked normal when switched to 16:9Widescreen.

"The Great Water" DVD - the one in question. It looked normal with a setting of 4:3LBX but everything looked tall and skinny (as was the case with the anamorphic "The Island") when switched to 16:9Widescreen. So, if my testing method is valid, then "The Great Water" is indeed anamorphic!

flixtime

Watched this one the other day and I'd score it on the lower side of very good. It didn't quite reach me on an emotional level so that is why it falls short of a description such as excellent. Also, while I'm more than somewhat lacking when it comes to my knowledge in the realm of any religion, it seemed to me that the film was clear in its Christian symbolism In reading reviews after viewing the movie I was actually a little surprised that more discussion wasn't made of the religious symbolism in the film - who knows, maybe I know even less about the subject than I thought I did. From a technical/artistic standpoint, the film certainly exhibits a high caliber of craftsmanship. In all fairness to this movie, I feel I've watched a fair number of either powerful or emotionally affecting films recently so as a viewer I became somewhat acclimated to what I consider a high level (at least when it comes to hitting me on an emotional level) of filmmaking. If I'd seen this one prior to - instead of after - movies such as "El Septimo Dia", "Der Neunte Tag", "Adams Aebler", the new Kong film, or "The Great Raid", and others, then I'd have likely notched it up a bit. It was certainly a clear winner however in comparison to the other sludge - most especially "Grizzly Man" (see Movie Talk forum for a look at what might be interpreted as my conservative side) - that I watched during the weekend.