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Housekeeping (1987)
Housekeeping (1987) poster
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Housekeeping (1987)

Comedy, Drama • 1h 56m

Director: Bill Forsyth

Cast: Christine Lahti, Sara Walker, Andrea Burchill, Anne Pitoniak, Barbara Reese, Margot Pinvidic, Bill Smillie, Wayne Robson, Betty Phillips, Karen Elizabeth Austin, Dolores Drake, Georgie Collins, Tonya Tanner, Leah Penny, Brian Linds, Clayton W. Okell, Clay Barton, Erik Richardson, Bob Hughes, Sheila Paterson

Letterboxd
IMDbThe Movie Database (TMDB)

Best English-friendly & video release

Updated 4 months ago


About the film

In the Pacific Northwest during the 1950s, two young sisters whose mother has abandoned them wind up living with their Aunt Sylvie, whose views of the world and its conventions don't quite live up to most people's expectations.

More from Bill Forsyth

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Director: Bill Forsyth

Best English-Friendly & Video:

UK Spirit Entertainment Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · caps-a-holic (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

UK Spirit Blu-ray better encode than Criterion Blu-ray

Best Audio:

Criterion Blu-ray (mono mix)

Additional Info:

The UK Blu-ray is a marginally better encode than the Criterion, with better preseveration of detail: https://caps-a-holic.com/c_list.php?c=5302

The Criterion Blu-ray presents the original mono mix. Most other Blu-rays and DVDs are remixed either to stereo or 5.1 surround, with loss of detail and very little actual separation.

Director: Bill Forsyth

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

BFI 4K Blu-ray

More from Indicator

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Director: Alan Clarke

Video format: UHD Blu-ray

4K · Disappointing
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Indicator Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

The 88 Films 4K Blu-ray is disappointing. Indicator Blu-ray > 88 Films Blu-ray. From nicolas:

Fine master, solid HDR but very poorly encoded with strong blocking artifacts in normal areas and clipped highlights that bring Criterion’s Walkabout to mind. Their Blu-ray is slightly better overall but then again still not as good as FiM’s encode for Indicator.

Additional Info:

Indicatorand 88 Films have exclusive extras

Director: Howard Hawks

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Indicator Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Director: Vincent Sherman

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Indicator Blu-ray

Video Notes:

While no comparison is available Indicator Blu-ray is most likely better than Mill Creek Blu-ray

Director: John Ford

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Indicator Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Director: Gregory Ratoff

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Indicator Blu-ray

Director: Mitchell Leisen

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Indicator Blu-ray

Director: Roy Boulting

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Indicator Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Director: Ernst Lubitsch

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Indicator Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · DVDBeaver (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

> Kino Lorber see DVDBeaver 

Indicator is using a different restoration from earlier Kino Lorber Blu-ray and it has much better contrast and slightly better grain resolution

Director: John M. Stahl

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Indicator Blu-ray

Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Indicator Blu-ray is encoded by FiM and likely better than Kino Lorber Blu-ray

Best Audio:

Indicator Blu-ray see comparison

Director: Fritz Lang

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Indicator Blu-ray

Sources: DVDBeaver (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Indicator Blu-ray is superior to Kino Lorber transfer see caps. 2K restoration

More Comedy on Blu-ray

Director: Jacques Tati

Video format: 1080p Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly:

Criterion for 1949 and 1964, BFI for 1964 English Variant and 1994/5

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Upcoming Release:

StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray (part of Jacques Tati boxset releasing December 2026)

Best Video:

Jour Germany fete (1949) - Criterion only, HD Jour Germany fete (1964) - Criterion only, HDThe Village Fair (1964, English variant) - BFI only, HDJour Germany fete (1994/5) - Criterion SD, BFI HD

Director: Jacques Tati

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Upcoming Release:

StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray (part of Jacques Tati boxset releasing December 2026)

Director: Jacques Tati

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Upcoming Release:

StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray (part of Jacques Tati boxset releasing December 2026)

Director: Jacques Tati

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion/StudioCanal Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Upcoming Release:

StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray (part of Jacques Tati boxset releasing December 2026)

Video Notes:

> BFI. New restoration unreleased.

Best Audio:

Old R2 DVD 1.0

Director: Jacques Tati

Best English-Friendly & Video:

BFI Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Upcoming Release:

StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray (part of Jacques Tati boxset releasing December 2026)

Video Notes:

> Criterion/StudioCanal. New restoration unreleased.

Director: Jacques Tati

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)

Upcoming Release:

StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray (part of Jacques Tati boxset releasing December 2026)

Best Audio:

2014 StudioCanal Blu-ray

Additional Info:

The UHD is slightly cropped in.

Director: Ben Stiller

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

Sony 4K Blu-ray

Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Comparisons

Audio Notes:

Spectrograms

Director: Gary Ross

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly:

Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray, but a shot was cut from the film

Warner Bros Blu-ray for the uncut version, but it's an older master.

Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab) · YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Best Video:

Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray, but a shot was cut from the film. See comparison

Warner Bros Blu-ray for the uncut version, but it's an older master.

Directors: Chris Appelhans & Maggie Kang

Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Additional Info:

"Sing-Along Edition" not included on the Criterion 4K Blu-ray, only available on Netflix Streaming

Director: Bong Joon Ho

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly:

UK Artificial Eye 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Upcoming Release:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray releasing January 2027

Best Video:

France The Jokers 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

France The Jokers 4K Blu-ray has the least DNR (UK Artificial Eye might be similar? Both better than Universal 4K Blu-ray)

Criterion even though doesn’t have 4K, it has the B&W version and a lot of extras.

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vanshady

· last reviewed 4 months ago

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