The Aki Kaurismäki Collection [Blu-ray]

The Amazon warning says this package is "Region 0" (which isn't a region), but it's not! The discs are Region B only!(I still gave the product 5 stars so as not to hurt the overall rating - this package seems to be a good value if you are interested in this director's films, and you have a compatible player).

This is a great collection, I love these films, a unique vision, beautifully realized, this is Film, shot 0n 35mm, always a live music performance. Here's a chance to see the development of his talent and style. Each one a gem Buy it if you love Film.

I liked everything about it.

Great collection of Aki Kaurismaki films. Includes a very interesting small paperback book about Aki, his films and his regular actors. Very well packaged, excellent quality and very good value.

Just a fast and short work-in-progress pseudo-'review' for people ordering this newly released title. I haven't watched all movies yet - but I've skipped through them to try and get a quick sense of the transfers.On the whole these seem like very good well defined and colorful transfers. The visuals and colors are very important in these movies, so this is good news. I DID, however, notice some excessive noise during some night scenes in "The Match Factory Girl", the rest of the scenes in this movie seemed okay, so I don't know what went wrong here. I'm no expert. The night scenes I saw in the other movies in the set seemed okay.I'm certainly happy with the purchase. If only "I Hired a Contract Killer" had been included, so the box had been complete. And then there's that noise I mentioned. Oh well, few ten disc blu-ray boxes are absolutely perfect.I will probably be back with a few more details at some point. Let me end by posting THIS basic info, which was really what I came here to post:DISC 1CRIME AND PUNISHMENTCALAMARI UNIONDISC 2SHADOWS IN PARADISEDRIFTING CLOUDSOO AINA IHMINEN (short film)DISC 3HAMLET GOES BUSINESSLA VIE BOHEMEDISC 4ARIELMATCH FACTORY GIRLVALIMODISC 5LENINGRAD COWBOYSLENINGRAD COWBOYS GO AMERICADISC 6TOTAL BALALAIKA SHOWTHESE BOOTS (short film)THOSE WERE THE DAYS (short film)THRU THE WIRE (short film)ROCKY IV (short film)RICH LITTLE BITCH (short film)DOGS HAVE NO HELL (short film)DISC 7TAKE CARE OF YOU SCARF, TATJANAJUHADISC 8THE MAN WITHOUT A PASTLIGHTS IN THE DUSKDISC 9LE HAVREDISC 10THE OTHER SIDE OF HOPE

The best films let the pictures do the talking, instead of big-mouthed brash gabble and stupid comedy. (I like a lot of Western-culture films but I hate many more). Aki Kaurismäki makes the kind of film that amuses, saddens and sometimes shocks. It touches the emotions. Minimal dialogue and glamour, high on atmosphere and humanity. It surprises me that at 77 years I have only recently found his work. How many other greats are out there that I don't know because they are not in the trivial modern style, or perhaps merely despised for not being spoken in English?

I have now received a complete version of this collection and I have to reconsider my initial review. The films are beautifully restored and they look so amazing, better even than I had hoped for!While I still think there should be more quality control regarding the actual production of the box set (see my original review below), I recommend this amazing collection of films to everyone with an interest in European Film.Original review: 1 star, Contains the first five discs twiceThere seems to be a production error and my set contains the same first five discs twice. Now I have to wait for a replacement set and return the box at my own expense, with the replacement coming in no sooner than two weeks from now.This is very disappointing and I think it shows a severe lack of care on the side of the manufacturer. I hope this is not a general problem with this product as I love Kaurismäki's movies and was looking forward to watching them in high definition.