Katyn (Andrzej Waida) Poland
 

Per Mao's request:

Poland's official Oscar entry Katyn is set to be released on DVD in Poland on February 21. Preliminary info indicates availability of English subs.

Official Polish site:
http://www.postmortem.netino.pl/

http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/2073/ddvdby7.jpg

Ciao,
Pro-B

Can someone link a clear Polish DVD webstore that delivers this DVD to USA?

When they put it up for pre-order...these guys (I have linked directly to the English interface). This being said, I am going to forward the info to Tony from Xploited so hopefully he could pick it up as well.

http://merlin.pl/frontend/info/help/howtobuyen.html

Pro-B

Great news! My father has a lot of Polish colleagues, I hope they can buy it for him..

I would love to get my hands on VAGABOND, but you have to buy the CRITERION box

I am quoting myself above as the disc is now up at the same retailer:
http://merlin.pl/frontend/browse/product/2,581205.html

Pro-B

Anyone in NYC know some Polish DVD stores in Queens/Brooklyn (such as Greenpoint) that carry this DVD?

No one is carrying this disc. Not at this moment. It streets on February 21 :)

Pro-B

I'm seeing this film theatrically next weekend. I'm really looking forward to it, and am anxious to see whether it wins the Oscar for best foreign language film. If so, no doubt we'll see it picked up for theatrical and DVD release in North America.

DVD with English subtitles has been just released in Poland.

How do you know it?
Did you see the DVD itself??

Sometimes it is written on the cover that there are English subs, and finally nothing. It would be great if sy could give us certain info..

Thanks in advance, Dzienkuje :)

If you are interested in the film fire away, the info from the initial post stands.

Ciao,
Pro-B

I thought it was a powerful film, but I kind of got lost with all the characters and how the stories intertwined - I thought it could have used maybe another thirty minutes or so.

Just read a very thorough and in-depth review of the Polish single-disc DVD posted at DVDTimes. The reviewer indicates that the image has been cropped and posts screen grabs comparing the theatrical version vs. the dvd release.

Now I haven't seen the film, but at first glance the cropping bothers me more than it did the reviewer. Without seeing the film I can't say which look would be more appropriate for the material, but the theatrical 2.35 version has a sense of coldness, distance, and isolation to it whereas as the 1.85 DVD release (also with a much brighter appearance overall) has a greater sense of intimacy. Maybe I'm just attaching too much significance to the look, but my first take has me preferring the uncropped, darker look.

Giles, if you've got a few minutes on hand and since you've seen it in theaters, what are your thoughts in comparing the two different visual compositions?

Here's the review for reference:

Katyn DVD review at DVDTimes

I watched this movie over the weekend and thought it was fantastic. I wrote up a min-review (which I plan to expand on) here:

http://warinfilm.com/?p=14

Hopefully, this will get a Region 1 DVD release (with bonus materials). I consider this to be one of the more important WWII movies to come out in some time. Hopefully we'll see more movies like this (and Downfall) coming from Europe, since most (not all, but U-571 and movies of that ilk come to mind) US WWII based movies have been very poor in my opinion.

in all fairness, I don't remember the film being that dark as the 2.35 screen grabs appear to be. The cinematography from such an acclaimed director doesn't deserve to be altered/cropped, he and the DP originally photographed it that way, a studio sidestepping that decision and making an artistic decision always raises a red flag - I had no problem with the wideness of the original 2.35:1 image- the 1.85 image may be brighter but that doesn't mean it equates to being 'better'. As for the audio, I'm surprised that the DVD sounds subdued, granted I saw the film in a theatre that didn't have surround sound (DC's National Geographic auditorium) the front LFE effects during the moments of war sequences/gun shots were powerful and appropriately loud/effective. I mentioned this in 'The Counterfeiters' thread, but the introducer for the film, said there was no current US distributor, I am sure though that after the Oscar nomination a US studio might step up to the plate in releasing this.

Katyn (2 disc edition) ALL REGION PAL

granted it's fifty dollars and the supplements more than likely not English friendly - it does appear to be in the right aspect ratio - 2.35, can anyone confirm this?

Washingtonian's will get another chance to see this on the big screen when it is showcased at DC's FilmFest next month

Giles, I have the DVD from Artpop. You can either order the single disc or the 2 disc from them. I can confirm that the DVD is 2.35 anamorphic and English subtitled. All of the extras are NOT subtitled. The video/audio quality is excellent.

I finally watched this movie that I received on DVD last March, and what a sucky film this is. I hope Wadja's other films are a lot better than this emotionless, messy Katyn.

I would give score this film 5 out of 10.

Toddly,
There is a surefire way of knowing if Wajda fits you: start with the beginning. Criterion has the first three Wajda films in a box, the first is promising, the second is already important, and the third...

Well, my beef is that I couldn't find a good version of "Chronicles of Adolescence", for some time this film represented for me the quintessential Wajda (the way "The End of Old Times" represented the quintessential Jiri Menzel). The Birch Wood came years later, at least for me (hint: Menzel's "My Sweet Little Village" - look at my posted location - also came much later).

PS: that was unfortunate, to buy the film at a premium just to watch it almost a year later and to be disappointed by it...

Thanks for the advise - I'll rent his Criterions one of these days...and I got Katyn as a present, didn't spend any money on it, thank god!

Re: Katyn (Andrzej Waida) Poland
 

Artificial Eye are doing the UK theatrical release in April/May (exact date TBC), so expect an R2 from them later this year...

Re: Katyn (Andrzej Waida) Poland
 

xploitedcinema still has the Polish HD-DVD in stock. Picked it up last year - and STILL haven't watched it yet (along with half my other HD-DVDs) - for shame :(

BUMP

I was all excited to finally catch this via the R1 Koch Lorber DVD which released this past Tuesday, but a disappointment again now that I've read the DVDBeaver review which says the Koch Lorber released is also cropped (as was the case with the Polish release). DVDSavant's review lists it as 2.35:1 but I think Glenn might have simply grabbed those specs from the published material (he doesn't specifically address the aspect ratio in the body of his review, and e-tailer listings I've checked are also (incorrectly) indicating 2.35:1). And DVDBeaver shows the actual evidence in their screen caps and it is 1.78. Oh well, I'll cross my fingers that Artificial Eye gets it right come October. Otherwise, I'm back to the properly framed Russian DVD release, or just waiting for it to show up on TV.

This site's DVD Release List doesn't seem to be very thorough as it doesn't even list KATYN, and it missed LA SCONOSCIUTA a few weeks back.

Re: Katyn (Andrzej Waida) Poland
 

It's up for pre-order on Amazon UK for £9.98.