Until the End of the World (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]

I was searching Amazon for limited edition bluray steelbooks of my favorite movies and somehow stumbled upon this listing despite it not being an actual steelbook. I had never heard of this movie nor had I heard of the director, but I'm a HUGE fan of both Bill Hurt and Sam Niell, especially their older films from the 80s and 90s, so I absolutely had to snag this with a preorder the moment I read the description.This is one of the best bluray packages I've spent money on in my time collecting bluray films. There's a wonderful story/artbook included in the case, as well as the film being presented on two very high quality dual layer BDR's, the first being 2 hours and 11 minutes and the second being 2 hours and 37 minutes in length. Each disc also includes some very interesting documentary-style extras and the quality on most of them is surprisingly good, being transcoded into HDWS (hi-def widescr) 16:9 instead of the usual SDFS (standard def fullscr) 4:3 that I'm accustomed to seeing with bonus features for movies of this age. I would have been interested in seeing the entire film on a single quad-layer (128gb) BDR, but I'm sure compatibility issues steered them into the 2 part dual-layer bdr print decision.Each film stream is encoded in AVC (x264) with a VBR of approx. 32 MBp/s with audio presented in lossless DTS XLL-HD Master Audio 5.1 @ ~3.5MBp/s. There's nothing in the way of alternative language audio or PGS subtitles, and unfortunately that feels like a weakpoint for a special edition of this magnitude--especially when it's cut into two separate discs with ample space. I personally prefer to backup my bluray collection so I can have the option of watching it on home theater with any device from any location in my home. I was able to successfuly rip the film using MakeMKV to an external SSD and then I appended both Matroska containers to one another using the excellent GUI for MKVToolNix. After about 30 minutes of working and waiting, I successfully created a single streamable Matroska container with a 4 hour and ~48 minute run time, making for a fantastic and mellifluous viewing experience (just the thought of having to switch discs or files midviewing is ruinous to the continuity and ultimate cinematic immersion for me).The film itself is incredibly long; surprisingly longer than any Sergio Leone or Martin Scorsese film epic. At almost 5 hours, the film is a slow burn--but not so slow that you ever get bored or lost in incoherence (a trait most very long films suffer from). Most people will probably find this film a hard pill to swallow just on length alone, and the first half may be somewhat offputing because of its pace. I can promise you that patience is definitely a virtue that pays off here, because the film goes from slow and normal to intense and captivating right around the 1 hour and 57 minute mark when we get our first reel major plot reveal and character development. You will understand the buildup and appreciate its effectiveness once more after you pass this minute mark when watching the movie. I won't say more for fear of potentially spoiling it.If you are a fan of sci-fi and like your tension and narrative more intelligently laid out than the usual spoon-fed stories from Hollywood, UTEOTW is your type of sci-fi film epic. I was so convinced by William Hurt's performance in the sci-fi horror drama "Altered States" that I had to absolutely give "Until the End of the World" a shot, and I'm more the satisfied for it. The first half of the movie is a road mystery that, around the 1 hour 57 minute mark stated earlier, does a huge 180 and transforms into a stunning sci-fi technothriller that draws heavy influence from films like Cronenberg's "Videodrome," without all the gruesome body horror associated with Cronenberg's movies. Sometimes, it's nice to watch a sci-fi film and not want to throw up your lunch when seeing it :PApart from the existentialist dialogue and acting from people who are now considered titans of the screen, UTEOTW's greatest selling point is its futuristic sort of culture-shock. Every few chapters, the viewer is introduced to a new part of the world and the characters are navigating each new culture with an unfamiliarity and curiosity that allows for some really cool filming opportunities. We're introduced to pre-Capitalist Moscow, the countryside of Japan, slums in France, the TransSiberian highway, and a whole host of other locations that really leave the viewer in awe at not only the scope of UTEOTW but just the sheer beauty of the planet we live on. What's really impressive is also the way in which the director is able to coherently splice all of this roadtripping fun together into a cohesive story that actually makes sense. In fact, I wouldn't be too far off the mark when saying that the cinematic world in UTEOTW feels nearly identical to the megacity we're presented with in the Blade Runner films, except the cultural melting pot is spread out instead of highly concentrated. The futuristic cars, video phone booths, holographic advertising, strange futuristic fashion predictions, and gritty atmosphere all feel like they were inspired in one way or another heavily from Blade Runner and other several prominent sci-fi flix from the 70s and 80s. UTEOTW's cinematic universe is definitely one that any sci-fi junkie or cinephile will remember fondly for years to come. My only complaint about the Criterion Collection is with the bonus features. Considering the soundtrack to this film is considered by critics to be one of the best of the entire decade of the 90s, it feels almost criminal that we weren't given a FLAC or OPUS mux of the soundtrack as an extra on the dual layer discs. I had to grab mine separately after hearing the incredible synth-laden soundtrack--a soundtrack that also really does an excellent job at giving the movie its futuristic, dream-like viewing quality over its 5 hour time span.This is money well spent, and the 4K downsampling for the original source material also means that you can rip the source material and upscale it into 2160P without much issue (which is what I did for mine), and it looks mindblowing.5/5 definitely worth the +20$ it costs.PS. The first two images are the BDMV/Meta/ cover.jpg images attached to each BDR. The first one is on disc 1, second one on disc 2 (obviously). The next 5 images are from the sequence in Moscow when searching for Trevor McPhee on the Bear program, which I screengrabbed using MPV.NET player while watching my HQ encode that I made from the MakeMKV 1:1 rip. The last is a MediaInfo mouse-over tooltip showing the Matroska bitrate information of the raw source film from the first disc. The second file has a similar bitrate but is about ~1.5MBps lower than the first disc (to compensate for the additional 30 minutes of runtime on disc 2).

There are so many potentially apt ways to title this review: A Breathtaking Romp. A Meditation on Technology-Induced Narcissism. Like Several Intriguing Films in One. Both Way Ahead of, and Way Behind, Its Times. Incredible Footage of Incredible Experiences. Finally, a Film Worthy of the Soundtrack.After watching this full 287 minute (nearly 5 hours!) version in two different sittings several months apart, it's easy to understand why the theatrical release was a flop: they edited so much that it hollowed the soul of what Wim Wenders set out to create. And yet when it was first released, I still paid to watch that butchered version in theaters two or three times, as I was convinced this film (and its soundtrack) were crafted with gravity, dignity, and love. There is something profoundly human and humane underlying it all. This is nothing like an ordinary theatrical film and could never be made into one, as it would defeat the purpose. It certainly is not a standard action or drama or science fiction film -- the pace is slower and more deliberate, as Wenders' films tend to be.What really astonished me watching this version, particularly the second disc, was how incredibly crisp and vibrant the colors are, and how carefully composed the shots and camera vistas are. The old theatrical version, as with most DVDs of that era, seems a bit blurry and washed out by comparison. It's truly astonishing what the restoration team has accomplished here -- you really feel like you are there in the middle of the Australian outback, living amidst native people and refugees from a potential nuclear disaster.The spontaneous community they form through improvised music is a joy to behold and was completely absent from the theatrical edit. When they learn the world is still alive and launch into a technology-free musical celebration, it feels a bit like Adam and Eve about to bite into that scrumptious-looking apple. It feels like good news, but is it really? What do we lose of ourselves and our community for every technological leap we make?Watching Claire and Sam dissipate in the narcissistic addiction to watching their own dreams, I couldn't help but be reminded of the mom in the supermarket letting her kid play on her phone, or even my own kids wallowing in the ceaseless mire of YouTube drivel. Why do we do that? Wenders made this film well before internet and portable technology were ubiquitous, but he seems to have anticipated our present-day malaise. Investing the five hours it takes to meditate on this masterpiece -- and its ultimate celebration of the written word -- may provide much-needed balm for our sickened souls.

I saw the original 160 min version in a theater in 1991 or 1992 and liked it, but it disappeared before I could see it again. I got the laser disc version a few years later, but it was still only 160 minutes. But I played parts (particularly the synthesized sequences near the end) over and over, trying to get guests interested in the film. To little avail.When I heard there was a nearly 5 hour "director's cut," I got really excited. When would I get to see it? It didn't play at film festivals. I ordered the European DVD when it became available, but didn't watch all of it; I can't tell you why. Perhaps because of the quality of the titles. Then, there was a sporadic, one-time showing of the restored film in theaters a year or two ago. I saw it twice. But this recent Blu-ray! What a treat. The colors are even better than my memory from the theater. Is it possible that the restorers tweaked the color saturation a little bit? I doubt that Criterion would do that. Perhaps seeing it on a 65 inch screen in the darkness of one's living room rather that a larger screen in a not-so-dark theater allows the images to appear brighter and crisper. And you can add subtitles: many of the actors - even though speaking English - have accents or mumble, or both. While the titles are distracting, you can turn them off for subsequent screenings.And yes, the movie is not for everyone. If you are mainly interested in the story or watching excellent performances, you will be disappointed. If your main interest is in images and sound, this is right up your alley. And if you want good images and sound to go with an unusual and different story, I think you will like it. Maybe even more so the second, or third, time around.

I've been looking for a DVD/Blu-Ray replacement for my VHS version of Until the End of the World and it finally appeared in an expanded version. Delighted to have it!

A really brilliant 5-hour version of this Vim Wenders original. Remastered sound and vision make this a must-see. Just make sure that you have a Region 1 DVD player, or be prepared to pay a lot and see nothing!

懐かしかった

This film is the best film I've ever seen and has been hard to get. I've had a video copy for years and it is the only copy I ever saw. I bought it from a video store when they went out of business. On video it is 2 hours and 45 minutes, but this original copy is 4 hours and 40 minutes. . I've waited for years to get it on d.v.d and to have it not cost $100 or more. Now I see the original film it is even more incredible than the video. I wish millions more people would see this film and also enjoy William Hurt in his best role.It was written by the director in the late 1970's and has romance, adventure, and amazing inventions like ipads , and tracking devices which didn't exist in the late 1970's . Part of the film is filming dreams and had to look different so they used the first digital pictures and speed them up for the effect. Amazing!! GOOD FOR YOU WIM WENDERS that it can now be seen as you intented it to be.I own about 2000 films and would get rid of the lot but never lose this film. ENJOY.

this movie is relevant more than ever