From the Cheap Seats: Labelled with Love – praise be to the UK DVD market
Blog by James Oliver on November 9th, 2011
Here’s a funny thing. Orthodox wisdom has it that DVD is on its uppers. We are told that ‘physical media’ (which is to say shiny silver discs, be they DVD or Blu-ray) will be replaced by internet streaming. DVD will collapse, the futurologists assure us, just as surely as compact discs.
The trouble with this thesis is that no one seems to have told the DVD labels. Rather than winding down their lists or becoming ever more timid, the smaller British DVD manufacturers have given us a year that shows the format in rude health.
Take Masters of Cinema. This year alone, they’ve given us some essential Fritz Lang (the criminally underrated Indian Epic films), early Antonioni, amazing Japanese films (get Harakiri now) and welcome contemporary fare (Colossal Youth). They’re also in the process of expanding their coverage of Hollywood films, starting with a definitive release of Touch of Evil.
And it’s not just MoC: the venerable BFI have been spoiling us rotten. Do you start with their Ozu releases? The first part of their Complete Humphrey Jennings? Their on-going Flipside series (including the long-awaited Deep End)? Švankmajer’s Alice or a collection of films about British folk traditions? Possibly most exciting is The Soviet Influence from Turksib to Night Mail, a scholarly-but-unpretentious exploration of cinematic inspiration that uses the DVD medium brilliantly.
Second Run have a much lower profile amongst DVD labels but are arguably the most important; no label works harder to nurture the obscure and the overlooked. For example: although well regarded in its native Hungary, Szindbád was all-but unknown internationally until Second Run released it this year, causing minds to blow and preconceptions to be reordered.
I don’t think it’s too much to say the UK DVD market is the most exciting in the world. We might not have any single label with the reach and resources of the American Criterion Collection (still the world-beaters of DVD production) but we’ve got a cluster of companies that punch far above their weight.
It’s not just ‘art film’ labels that are flourishing: few releases brought me as much pleasure this year as Cobra Woman and the Charlie Chan sets (all from Odeon). Shameless go from strength to strength (I especially recommend Don’t Torture a Duckling) while Japanese specialists Third Window released Confessions. And I haven’t mention crackerjack releases from Artificial Eye, Second Sight, Exposure Cinema, Arrow….
Of course, you might think this emphasis on ‘labels’ is misleading: what matters is the film, not who puts it out, right? But I think the strong identity these smaller labels have developed is important. Unlike the big boys, their releases are carefully curated. Experience shows we can trust their judgement so we’re more likely try things they put out, even if we’re otherwise unfamiliar with them. I’d say that’s why the UK market is so interesting right now.
There’s one thing missing from this round up – the viewer. If these labels are happy to supply, it’s because they know there is demand, that there is a loyal audience who care about interesting films and want to see them presented well. I would submit that, as long as that holds true, we shouldn’t be in such a hurry to bid au revoir to DVD.
