The French animation director René Laloux only made three feature films in his career, but each of those became a science fiction cult classic. His Fantastic Planet made it into the Criterion collection, and the DVDs Eureka released of the other two films, back in 2008, are sought-after collector’s items. His last film, Gandahar, was recently restored in 4K and shown as such at festivals, so the wait was on for a decent home release. Because while Eureka’s DVD was pretty good, it has been out-of-print for over a decade already. Cue the French, who didn’t just bring out a Blu-ray and a 4K-UHD disc, but also a lavish Limited Edition!
In this STRICTLY Limited Edition (only 500 exist) the focus is not just on Laloux, but also on artist Philippe Caza, on whose illustrations the film is based. Included is Caza’s sketchbook about the making of Gandahar, and there is even a Blu-ray of another film based on Caza’s work: Philippe Leclerc’s The Rain Children (Les Enfants de la Pluie).
Do note that this set is NOT English-friendly: all dubs and subs are French only. But hey, this in part a Canadian website, right? And I hope to give an English-language distributor a nice idea or two.
And the whole set does look mighty pretty, so here is a gallery of shots. Click on the edge of the pictures to scroll through them, or at the center of each to see a bigger version.
And here it is: a big cardboard box.
In the box you get the disc-holder for Gandahar, the Amaray for Philippe Leclerc’s The Rain Children and Caza’s book.
All contents opened up. Pretty!
The backside of the Gandahar discholder, revealing more art.
The front and back of the Amaray of The Rain Children (Les Enfants de la Pluie).
Caza’s book is a whopping 238 pages and quite a volume.
In it, you get artwork, storyboards, sketches and alternate sketches, scene breakdowns… for fans of the film this extra is magnificent.
The back-end of the Gandahar slipcase.
The back-end of the box, featuring the film’s hero Sylvain.
The (back)end of a fantastic release. Much appreciated and recommended, provided you speak or read French!
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