INLAND EMPIRE Inland Empire 4K Studio Canal UK Release

two_chalfonts

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Amazon UK Listing of IE 4K

A brand new 4K restoration of David Lynch’s 2006 surrealist masterwork starring Laura Dern in one of her finest roles. INLAND EMPIRE (2006) is a complex Hollywood nightmare, blurring the lines between fantasy and reality. Nikki Grace (Laura Dern) is an actress preparing for her biggest role, a Hollywood movie from an acclaimed director (Jeremy Irons)opposite an amorous leading man (Justin Theroux). When she finds herself falling for her co-star, she realises her life is starting to mimic the fictional film they’re shotting. Adding to her confusion is the revelation that the current film is a remake of a doomed Polish production that was never finished due to an unspeakable tragedy.. Extras: Newly remastered in 4K - supervised by David Lynch, MORE THINGS THAT HAPPENED (1 hr 16 mins) - A collection of deleted scenes from David Lynch's 2006 surrealist horror
Not the Critereon collection release, but maybe the best we'll get in the UK. I'm sure I saw that the US release doesn't contain the 4K print, is that right?
 
Amazon UK Listing of IE 4K


Not the Critereon collection release, but maybe the best we'll get in the UK. I'm sure I saw that the US release doesn't contain the 4K print, is that right?
The Criterion is the 4K remaster, just like Lost Highway. The disc itself is not a 4K UHD disc, it is regular Blu-ray. Which looks to be what this Studio Canal release is as well. So this will be the same exact restoration on Blu-ray and should therefore be interchangeable with the Criterion. However, sometimes Studio Canal's encoding is superior to Criterion's, so it may end up being the superior disc after all, if you can even tell for such a digital film.
 
Ok. That's interesting, I would agree that it's a bit misleading to promote the disc as a 4K transfer. I'm sure i'll look better than anything else on the market, though.
 
That was certainly a problem with "Lost Highway" which did include an actual 4K disc in the US Criterion edition. The UK Criterion version did not, but still bragged about the blu ray being from a 4K master. Confusing enough to make me buy the lesser version.
 
I watched this Studio Canal, Region B Blu-ray disc last night. As I had noted of the Criterion Blu-ray in the INLAND EMPIRE 4K Restoration thread: "Of perplexing note for those interested is that the much-debated line about the 19/90-year old niece has been altered. It seems clearly intentional, and now plays as: "It's the, uh, niece..." The piece of dialogue concerning her age that should precede the word 'niece' has been removed."

That is also the case on this Studio Canal release, as I suspected it would be since it is touted as the 4K remaster. However, Studio Canal have used their pre-existing subtitles from their previous Blu-ray release, which means that if you turn on the full English subtitles it still reads "It's the, uh, 90-year-old niece." Trace evidence! Two worlds! (It's also incorrectly attributed to Harry Dean Stanton's Freddie rather than Jeremy Irons' Kingsley.)

That's kind of fun, but the really inexcusable thing about Studio Canal using their old subtitle files rather than either the original US subs or the new-and-improved subs that Criterion has advertised is that the film's opening sequence once again lacks a crucial subtitle that has always been there in US theatrical and DVD releases of the film, but has been absent from the UK releases. When the blurred-out-face woman speaks in Polish as she and the man begin to have sex, she says "Where am I? I'm afraid." But in the Studio Canal Blu-rays, both past and present, the "Where am I?" section is not subtitled. This of course prohibits "understanding" of the movie, since it is one of few instances in the film that are meant to be understood, as parallel lines are spoken in a mocking tone by Dern late in the film: Where am I? I'm a-fraaaaaaaiiiid!

For this reason, as always in the case of INLAND EMPIRE, the US (Criterion) release is preferable to the UK (Studio Canal) release.
 
I watched this Studio Canal, Region B Blu-ray disc last night. As I had noted of the Criterion Blu-ray in the INLAND EMPIRE 4K Restoration thread: "Of perplexing note for those interested is that the much-debated line about the 19/90-year old niece has been altered. It seems clearly intentional, and now plays as: "It's the, uh, niece..." The piece of dialogue concerning her age that should precede the word 'niece' has been removed."

That is also the case on this Studio Canal release, as I suspected it would be since it is touted as the 4K remaster. However, Studio Canal have used their pre-existing subtitles from their previous Blu-ray release, which means that if you turn on the full English subtitles it still reads "It's the, uh, 90-year-old niece." Trace evidence! Two worlds! (It's also incorrectly attributed to Harry Dean Stanton's Freddie rather than Jeremy Irons' Kingsley.)

That's kind of fun, but the really inexcusable thing about Studio Canal using their old subtitle files rather than either the original US subs or the new-and-improved subs that Criterion has advertised is that the film's opening sequence once again lacks a crucial subtitle that has always been there in US theatrical and DVD releases of the film, but has been absent from the UK releases. When the blurred-out-face woman speaks in Polish as she and the man begin to have sex, she says "Where am I? I'm afraid." But in the Studio Canal Blu-rays, both past and present, the "Where am I?" section is not subtitled. This of course prohibits "understanding" of the movie, since it is one of few instances in the film that are meant to be understood, as parallel lines are spoken in a mocking tone by Dern late in the film: Where am I? I'm a-fraaaaaaaiiiid!

For this reason, as always in the case of INLAND EMPIRE, the US (Criterion) release is preferable to the UK (Studio Canal) release.
And here’s me still second guessing myself about whether the line was unedited in the theatrical 4K release. I’m pretty certain it was, because I’ve seen the film many times and would have noticed. And yet… Did I zone out for a second or something? Is my entire life a lie? Is it possible that no one who saw it in theaters noticed/mentioned it here or on reddit? I’m wondering whether anyone else who saw it in theaters can chime in and save me from my existential crisis.
 
I watched the main film last night, and, much to be expected, if a feature wasn't filmed in 4K, then you aren't going to get a 4k film.

Maybe it's better than the original DVD (I no longer have a copy to compare), but it's not a 4K movie. On the plus side, it's good for UK fans to finally get a copy of the "more things that happened" scenes, which I personally love.

One thing I did find annoying was that any polish dialogue isn't subtitled unless you turn on the english subtitles. That really is pretty annoying, as the cinema release obviously would have displayed english subs when required. Pretty annoying to have to turn them on and off, as required.

Am I missing something here?
 
I watched the main film last night, and, much to be expected, if a feature wasn't filmed in 4K, then you aren't going to get a 4k film.

Maybe it's better than the original DVD (I no longer have a copy to compare), but it's not a 4K movie. On the plus side, it's good for UK fans to finally get a copy of the "more things that happened" scenes, which I personally love.

One thing I did find annoying was that any polish dialogue isn't subtitled unless you turn on the english subtitles. That really is pretty annoying, as the cinema release obviously would have displayed english subs when required. Pretty annoying to have to turn them on and off, as required.

Am I missing something here?
It's a very intriguing experiment to have undergone the restoration that it did. It has a slightly different look than it did before while, yes, remaining the same lo-fi presentation.

Yes, you have missed something regarding the subtitles. There are six subtitle files. The one that it should automatically be set to (it was when I put the disc in, anyway) is the fourth one (the second English option). That is the subtitle for the polish dialogue only. In my post above I was speaking of toggling between those two different subtitle options.
 
One slightly annoying thing about the Criterion Blu Ray is that More Things That Happened has no subtitles—not even for the Polish lines, which are meant to be subtitled. Thankfully this only applies to the one scene, where Nikki is on the phone and the disembodied Phantom is speaking to her. The scene works more or less fine without them, but it’s still annoying for them to be missing. Here are the Phantom’s translated lines from the DVD:

You don’t remember?

You don’t remember?

Do you understand?

But are you sure?

Tell me everything.

Isn’t it so, right?

Do you hear?

It glows within me. Like gold.

Right?

It could have destroyed a dream, right?

It could have destroyed a dream…

Right?

Right, dear?

It wasn’t me…

Maybe I fucked you a few times…
 
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