pro-bassoonist

Mao (or other members familiar with this production):

I have been trying to locate a semi-decent version of Gloomy Sunday for the last 4 years and every time I saw an announcement for a non-R1 release my hopes were crushed as soon as the DVD was actually released. Either there were no English subs, OR the Asian releases were with poor transfers. Strangely enough Gloomy Sunday was not picked up for a UK, US, or AUS, release....until now. So, naturally here comes the dilemma....

I am told the German/Hungarian romantic drama Gloomy Sunday has been picked up for US distribution (direct to DVD?) however none of my contacts have any preliminary info as of today as to who the distrib-company is. Here's the info on IMDB...
http://imdb.com/title/tt0155722/

furthermore if you look here it seems like this film got a second (??) premiere in Cleveland earlier this year..after being shown back in 2001.
http://imdb.com/title/tt0155722/releaseinfo

So, my question is ...who's in control with this title...it seems like Universal has it for the bigger part of Europe....



Mark at Nicheflix has kindly agreed to stock the R3 disc(HK)...(after I probably annoyed him immensely last yeat) and I immediately picked it up to compare it to the Korean disc I bought last year. Needless to say this version is VERY similar to the disc I bought...hazy image, PAL to NTSC transfer (I am certain a German port), etc....The German disc is out of question as it is not subbed...though with an excellent price.

Can anyone provide any further information on the R1 distro-deal?


Regards,
Pro-B


Here's a short review for those unfamiliar with the film...which should GREATLY appeal to those that liked Monica Bellucci's Malena
http://hoopla.nu/films/gloomys/gsindex.html

rasalas

The Boston Globe recently did a story about Gloomy Sunday's just ending an unprecedented 70-week run at a theater in West Newton, Mass. In the article, Neil Friedman, the owner of U.S. distributor Menemsha Films of Los Angeles, says the film will not be released on DVD in North America until 2006 or 2007. No reason for the delay is given.

But a recent Boston Herald article adds a little more info:

Comments that Friedman has made in those and other articles make it seem as if he's really giving the film some time to build up a cult audience before putting it out on DVD. Obviously, Menemsha Films is a small company--I couldn't even find a functioning web site--so when the film does come out on DVD, expect that it will actually be distributed by some established intermediary such as Facets, First Run, Image or Kino (just as examples).

pro-bassoonist

Very interesting info. Thank you for providing it.

It is quite unfortunate to see that a R1 release won't surface any time soon. In addition I have to admit that I am quite a bit upset that such a small company has acquired the rights for Gloomy Sunday (i first saw it mentioned on Rottentomatoes.com). In my opinion this is a film that could easily fit into the catalog of someone such as Criterion. There is SO MUCH in terms of extras that could be used...a 2DVD set would be superb.

I remember back in the days there was an article in Bild about all the suicides the song caused...it was unbelievable.

I am also tempted to post this same question in the International section to see if a UK release might be possible some time soon. I have not been able to find any bit of info regarding a possible R2(UK) release as of yet....though the film was clearly shown in the United Kingdom.


Regards,
Pro-B

rkndkn

What a coincidence -- I've been looking for this title, too. It just played last night at the Spring Hawaii International Film Festival, but I couldn't attend that sole showing. I was thinking about the HK release -- is it really too poor quality to bother with?

pro-bassoonist

Liz:

I own the Korean disc...and would recommend the HK as it least comes with a DTS track. The problem is however that both versions (and I specifically rented the HK disc from Niche to compare) are PAL to NTSC ports...and non-anamorphic. There is much of the dreaded blurring and in scenes such as when the camera zooms over Budapest it is quite annoying.

EVEN WITH THIS SAID....I think that one should pick up a copy (my vote goes for the HK version) looke here:
http://www.dvdasian.com/cgi-bin/dvda...ml?id=THPH4kuJ

...I think that the only other film that has moved me so much was Girl On The Bridge. There is a bit of the southern erotic flavor one could taste in Malena, a bit of the nostalgia found in Cinema Paradiso, and the poetic beauty Girl on the Bridge so well delivered. Splendid. And the piano performances are superb. I don't easily give such praise esp. when it comes down to soundtracks (with classical music in particular) as my professional ear is very sensitive ...but the German/Hungarian crew did an unbelievable job.


I have never ever recommended a non-anamorphic (PAL to NTSC port) disc on this forum...so I believe this would be the first time...sadly!
Until R1 or R2 decent disc comes out give the R3 a try...at least I would double dip in a hearbeat.


Ciao,
Pro-B

rkndkn

pro-b,

Thank you for the info you provided earlier. While I procrastinated on buying the DVD, I found out the film was coming to our Academy of Arts theatre. I just returned from seeing it a few hours ago -- wow, what a film! I loved the simply done, but powerful ending.

pro-bassoonist

FINALLY!!!!

Warner will release the film as it appears in R1 land on September 12.
Courtesy of the Brits:
http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=61762

Amazing news!!

Ciao,
Pro-B