Cinelicious Pics and Cine-Tamaris have announced the Blu-ray release of two newly restored films,
Jane B. Par Agnès V. and
Kung-Fu Master! The double feature arrives on Blu-ray on March 10th.
Jane B. Par Agnès V.
Synopsis: "I'll look at you, but not at the camera. It could be a trap," whispers Jane Birkin shyly into Agnès Varda's ear at the start of
Jane B. Par Agnès V. The director of
Cleo From 5 to 7 and
Vagabond once again paints a portrait of a woman, this time in a marvelously Expressionistic way. "It's like an imaginary bio-pic," says Varda. Jane, of course, is the famed singer ("Je t'aime ... Moi non plus"), actress (
Blow Up), fashion icon (the Hermes Birkin bag) and longtime muse to Serge Gainsbourg. As Varda implies,
Jane B. Par Agnès V. abandons the traditional bio-pic format, favoring instead a freewheeling mix of gorgeous and unexpected fantasy sequences.
The film is newly-restored from the original 35mm camera negative, a process overseen by director Varda herself.
Kung-Fu Master!
Synopsis: A lovely, bittersweet companion piece,
Kung-Fu Master! has nothing to do with martial arts - the film's title comes from an arcade video game played obsessively in the film by a teenage boy, Julien (played by Varda's real-life son with husband Jaques Demy). Jane Birkin delivers one of her finest performances as a lonely 40-year old woman who finds herself falling in love with the 14-year old Julien - but is it romance, or a desperate attempt to turn back time in the face of middle age? A real family affair, Birkin's daughters, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Lou Doillon, her child with well-known filmmaker Jacques Doillon, also appear in the film.
Long unavailable in the US, the film has been newly-restored from the original 35mm camera negative.
Special features include:
- Video interview with Agnès Varda by Miranda July
- Essay by Sandy Fitterman-Lewis