From: hamster@werple.apana.org.au (Anthony Horan)
Newsgroups: alt.cult-movies
Subject: Re: Luc Besson, among other things
Keywords: Argento, Woo, Besson, Mann, Reno, Serra, etc.
Date: 30 Sep 92 04:56:51 GMT
Organization: werple public-access UNIX, Melbourne
NNTP-Posting-Host: localhost.apana.org.au

wildman@athena.mit.edu (Timothy Worsley) writes:

>Le dernier combat [The Final Battle] (1983)
> Try to imagine, say, Tarkovsky doing THE ROAD WARRIOR and you'll have
>some vague idea of what this is like.  The video release *desperately*
>needs letterboxing.  Excellent movie, and an impressive debut (correct
>me if I'm wrong, please!) for Besson, who was 23 at the time I
>believe.

It's not available on tape here in Australia, but has been broadcast a
couple of times - letterboxed - on one of our commercial-free
networks... :-)

>Subway (1985)
> Stars Christophe Lambert of HIGHLANDER fame, also with Isabelle
>Adjani (everyone remembers her from THE DRIVER, right?) and Richard
>Bohringer (I always think of him as Gorodish, from DIVA), among
>others.  I liked the opening car chase -- very amusing.  Not as good
>as LDC, but still worth watching.  Unfortunately the video I saw was
>dubbed into English.

The French Language/Letterbox version is available in England (PAL
system only, of course) through one of the FoxVideo arthouse labels.

>Le grand bleu [The Big Blue] (1988)
> This was half awesome and half awful.  The latter is probably due to
>the US presence in this coproduction...  (Rosanna Arquette plays a
>really annoying character.)  But nonetheless I had a good time
>watching it.  Compare the opening shots of this and NIKITA -- they are
>identical!

The 163 Minute cut (!) of this film, as released in France a couple of
years back, has now been released on tape in the UK. It also restores to
the film the two love scenes that were cut in many countries to earn the
film a softer rating. Some scenes have subtitles in French, reason
unknown. Letterboxed with superb sound, and released in a nice box with
a booklet, by FoxVideo. I await the US LaserDisc patiently...

>Nikita [La Femme Nikita] (1990)
> Everyone knows about this one.  Stars Anne Parillaud, and Jean-Hughes
>Anglade (from BETTY BLUE, as well as SUBWAY).

Here's my question (if you could reply via mail, it'd be nice!) - has
anyone seen the US LaserDisc of Nikita, and if so could they kindly let
me know;

The Running time of the version on disc
Whether it is subtitled
Whether it is letterboxed (and what aspect ratio)
and Is it in Stereo?

The film was releeased here initially in an AWFUL US dubbed/Pan&Scan
version, and then later re-released subtitled, letterboxed (but slightly
squeezed to lessen the boxing effect - lthe result looks awful) and in
mono.

>(Has anyone seen ATLANTIS yet?)

I have a press kit for it here, and the soundtrack album, but have not
yet seen the film. I was told by the distributor that it's a
documentary!

>you notice subtleties in the sound -- both music and diagetic sound --
>when you listen to it without watching the film at the same time.)  I
>especially like the way the phone hitting the table makes a noise that
>blends in with the music kicking in.)  Eric Serra did the music for
>LDC and SUBWAY too (I think he even appears as the bass player in
>SUBWAY), and it's great stuff.  Unfortunately Serra didn't do the
>music for THE BIG BLUE...

The sound on Luc Besson's films always earns him acclaim and, at least
in the case of Big Blue, awards.

And by the way, Eric Serra DID do the music for THE BIG BLUE. At least
on the two versions that I've seen, he did!

Anthony Horan
Melbourne, Australia.

-- 
(@)  (@)                            |    Anthony Horan
   UU                               | Melbourne Australia
////////                            | "Alas, poor kcirroY...
hamster@werple.apana.org.au         | I knew him backwards!"
Newsgroups: alt.cult-movies