Criterion Collection – Way Too Indie

Way Too Indiecast 60: Richard Linklater, Jeff Nichols, ‘Preacher’ Preview, Tribeca Controversy

Way Too Indie Staff — Fri, 01 Apr 2016 15:20:21 +0000

In one of the biggest, baddest episodes of the Way Too Indiecast yet, we welcome two of the best directors in the game as we hear from Richard Linklater about his ’80s college hangout movie Everybody Wants Some!! and are joined by Jeff Nichols, whose sci-fi thriller Midnight Special hits theaters this weekend as well.

WTI’s very own Ananda Dillon chats with Bernard about what she saw of AMC’s new Preacher series at WonderCon this past weekend, and if that wasn’t enough, the Dastardly Dissenter himself, CJ Prince, chimes in to talk about the recent controversy surrounding the Tribeca Film Festival and share his Indie Pick of the Week. Whew! What are you waiting for? Dive into the deep end of this week’s pool of ooey gooey Indiecast goodness!

And if that last sentence grosses you out…um…just hit play and enjoy.

Topics

Indie Picks (5:18)
Richard Linklater (18:42)
Preacher Preview (32:17)
Tribeca Vaxxed Controversy (51:13)
Jeff Nichols (1:06:32)

Articles Referenced

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75 Greatest Movie Cover Designs

Way Too Indie Staff — Fri, 09 Oct 2015 13:30:55 +0000

They say you can’t judge a book by its cover. But what about movies? We’re huge fans of well-designed movie covers here at Way Too Indie, and while we wouldn’t say the design impacts our overall judgment of the film, we admit a good design may influence us to watch it in the first place. So we created a list of the 75 Greatest Movie Cover Designs of all-time, comprised of new and old titles, special edition releases, and from boutique distributors like the Criterion Collection (clearly our favorite, earning 34 spots on this list).

12 Angry Men (Criterion Collection)

Brilliant design with 12 hand-drawn portraits of the jury featured in this essential courtroom drama, each with red backgrounds except for the one in the middle, which represents Henry Fonda as the man who stands out from the group with his own opinion. [DJ]

127 Hours

It may not be immediately obvious, but the sides of the canyon form an hourglass timer and the setting sun looks like sand. Very fitting with the tagline of the film, “Every second counts.” [DJ]

A Clockwork Orange

Simply an iconic poster with minimal design that somehow makes the ’70s block font used on the title tolerable. [DJ]

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night is an eerie, experimental film, so it’s only fitting that its home video release includes eerie, experimental cover art. [BH]

Adaptation

A funny little image that hints at the madness of Charlie Kaufman and Spike Jonze’s hilarious and painful world. [RS]

Almost Famous (Special Edition)

Cameron Crowe’s magnum opus gets a fantastically ornate and fun cover for its Bootleg Cut. Have a magnifying glass handy. [NG]

Anatomy of a Murder (Criterion Collection)

The first of several Saul Bass designs on this list. This striking design is such a classic that Spike Lee essentially stole the design for his 1995 film Clockers. [DJ]

Artificial Intelligence

Using the kid from the film as the ‘i’ in Intelligence and then inversing him to form the ‘a’ in Artificial is a simple, yet clever design. [DJ]

As Above, So Below

The design fits the title of the film so perfectly. [DJ]

Being John Malkovich (Criterion Collection)

There’s more brilliance than meets the eye in this simple Criterion cover of Being John Malkovich, perfectly suiting the eccentric nuances of the film. [NG]

Bicycle Thieves (Arrow)

The shadow from the two main characters form a bicycle. Great use of…foreshadowing.[DJ]

Blade Runner (Steelbook)

The rainy spotlight shines on the origami in this gorgeous Blade Runner Blu-Ray steelbook, evoking the pulpy, mysterious mood of the classic sci-fi noir. [NG]

Blind Woman’s Curse (Arrow)

The original Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Through beautiful design, Teruo Ishii’s exploitation classic practically jumps off the cover. [NG]

Blue Is the Warmest Color

Simple but gorgeous artwork which plays off the color from the film’s title. [DJ]

Boogie Nights

Simply a beautiful retro design on the special edition release of this masterpiece. [RS]

Boyhood

The contrast from the grass provides excellent contrast for the title. Plus, it wonderfully represents the dreamlike ideology of boyhood. [DJ]

Buried (Steelbook)

This cover explains the entire premise of the film; a man buried under ground and trapped inside a box. [DJ]

The Cabin in the Woods

The cabin pictured in the design looks almost like an Rubik’s cube, hinting at the puzzling plot found in the film. [DJ]

The Complete Jacques Tati (Criterion Collection)

Might be the best on the list because it doesn’t just come with one spectacular looking design cover, it’s a collection of several beautiful illustrated covers in one package. [DJ]

The Conjuring

At first glance it looks like an ordinary horror film cover, until you notice the shadow near the bottom. [DJ]

The Dark Knight Rises (Steelbook)

The broken mask and heavy rain combine for one dramatic looking design. [DJ]

The Devil’s Backbone (Criterion Collection)

There’s very little ambiguity in Criterion’s cover design for The Devil’s Backbone. A wartime horror film dealing with the paranormal receives artwork that seamlessly bridges the gap between those two subjects. It’s impressive, to say the least. [BH]

Day For Night (Criterion Collection)

Francois Truffaut’s masterpiece is a love letter to the beautifully chaotic nature of making a movie, and Criterion’s cover art for the film perfectly encapsulates the vibe of Day for Night. [BH]

Days of Heaven (Criterion Collection)

I love how sharply in focus and imposing the house is in relation to Gere’s fuzzy appearance in the foreground. [BB]

Dogtooth

A man staring at grass infront of a fence accurately sums up the absurd censorship portrayed in the film. And after you’ve seen the film the airplane makes a lot of sense too. [DJ]

Diabolique (Criterion Collection)

A dazzling illustration of a key scene in this French thriller. The rippling water effect on the typeface is a brilliant touch. [DJ]

Dressed To Kill (Criterion Collection)

A wonderful composition equal parts suggestive and creepy, totally befitting De Palma as a master of erotic thrillers. [RS]

Drive (Steelbook)

This Steelbook cover has rad ’80s flair thanks to hot pink lettering and the neon sign looking design. [DJ]

Enemy

The Toronto skyline transposed over Jake Gyllenhaal’s head signifies the brain-teasing doppelganger story found in the film. [DJ]

Enter the Void

Bright neon colors. Overstimulated visuals. Odd angles. The cover design perfectly matches the film. [DJ]

Escape From Tomorrow

The easy to recognize drawing of a certain iconic Disney character covered in blood captures the frightening twist this film has of the “happiest place on earth”. [DJ]

Eyes Without A Face (Criterion Collection)

Those eyes!! Edith Scob’s piercing gaze is captured in haunting fashion by Criterion’s designers here, made all the more striking by its ingenious choice of white as facelessness. [NG]

Foreign Correspondent (Criterion Collection)

The vibrant Criterion cover, with its 3D-like rain and sea of murky umbrellas, elevates one of Alfred Hitchcock’s lesser-known films to must-own status. Watch the behind the curtains video for this particular design. [NG]

The Game (Criterion Collection)

A brilliant design for a film about a man brought to the edge by both temptation and the illusory structure of society finally forgets his weight and allows gravity to pull him downward. [EH]

Hard Candy

The bright red hoodie draws your focus in like a target, and the trap fits well with the cat and mouse theme in the film. [DJ]

High and Low (Criterion Collection)

Perfect use of the epicenter motif that couldn’t be paired with a better image from the film. [BB]

House (Criterion Collection)

Those eyes just don’t leave you. It’s a fiery and startling image that you can’t help but pause to take a second look at while browsing through the DVD racks. [BB]

The Human Condition (Criterion Collection)

A simple design but not one without the kind of quiet power that characterizes Kobayashi’s work. [BB]

Jaws

I was tempted to write nothing here, quite possibly the most iconic cover in all of film it pretty much speaks for itself. [RS]

Jurassic Park

The iconic logo (which is used all over in the film) helped make this design an instant classic. [DJ]

The Lobster

Technically, this is a poster design for a film that hasn’t been properly released yet, but we’re including it anyways. Fantastic use of negative space. [DJ]

Lord Of War

Nicolas Cage’s face made out of bullets is exactly what the world needs. [DJ]

Make Way For Tomorrow (Criterion Collection)

Wonderfully represents two companions forced apart by circumstances out of their control, drifting gradually but surely down separate, melancholic paths. [EH]

Medium Cool (Criterion Collection)

A tremendously striking image from the juxtaposition of its colors to the image-within-an-image design. [BB]

Melancholia (Plain Archive)

Great contrast between the sepia tone still from the film and the turquoise script lettering of the title. [DJ]

Memento (Special Edition)

Nothing fancy here. Just pure, unfiltered, genius. Presenting Memento in the form Leonard’s case file will put an insta-smile on every fan, while enticing anyone who hasn’t seen the film to peek inside and get their minds blown. [NG]

Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (Criterion Collection)

A fittingly flamboyant explosion of color and a gorgeous application of the mirroring effect. [BB]

Moonrise Kingdom (Criterion Collection)

The latest Wes Anderson on Criterion is one of his very best films, aptly honored by one of Criterion’s most epic and intricate designs. [NG]

Network (Arrow)

A wonderful rendering of a rouge news anchor ‘telling it how it is’ on air, with the finger-pointing arm coming out of the TV set. [DJ]

Nymphomaniac (Vol. 1 and 2)

The whole marketing campagin behind the film was very on point, and so is this cover design featuring nine characters mid-orgasm. [DJ]

On The Waterfront (Criterion Collection)

This screen print looking design is splendid, especially with the inclusion of the birds, which are a major theme in the film. [DJ]

Onibaba (Eureka)

This formidable Masters Of Cinema cover, alluding to the dementia in Shindo’s classic ghost tale, does Criterion one better! [NG]

Quadrophenia (Criterion Collection)

The choice to color and arrange The Who lyrics in a way that replicates the band’s logo and circles the film’s main character is simply awesome. [BB]

The Raid (UK Steelbook)

One of the best-looking steelbook designs around, the picture on this cover of The Raid paints a thousand words of glorious violence. [NG]

Repo Man (Criterion Collection)

It makes perfect sense for a decidedly West Coast punk rock film to receive a punk rock artwork over a map of Los Angeles. It’s a bit surprising that Criterion is the distributor to make that happen, but they have done a fantastic job. [BH]

Repulsion (Criterion Collection)

This Criterion cover recalls the broken nerves and intense paranoia of Roman Polanski’s classic apartment horror in loud and disorienting whiteness. [NG]

Scanners (Criterion Collection)

Criterion’s cover design for one of Cronenberg’s most beloved films features a different kind of head explosion, but it’s extremely clever nonetheless. [BH]

Seconds (Criterion Collection)

A strange and interesting design that draws me in every time I come across it. [RS]

The Secret of the Grain (Criterion Collection)

Hands held high in the air but eyes facing the Earth and a disparity of light and darkness on either side: will the story end in glory or tragedy? [EH]

The Shining

Saul Bass designed equally amazing the yellow theatrical release poster, but the actual cover used for the home release of the film is great too. Very Kubrickian. [DJ]

Submarine

Using a white background allows the colorful text and images to really stand out. Great example of a clean design. [DJ]

The Sweet Smell of Success (Criterion Collection)

It’s rare for DVD art to double as something that could easily be hung on the wall and admired. This is one of those rarities. [BB]

Talk To Her

Like the film itself, shows a wonderful use of color and Pedro Almodovar’s great imagery. [RS]

The Thing

Never fails to capture my attention. I always end up watching the film if I stare at this cover too long, usually only takes a minute or so. [RS]

Three Colors Trilogy (Criterion Collection)

Criterion borrows one the most emblematic shots from Kieslowski’s indelible Trilogy for this spectacular mixture of red, white, and blue. [NG]

Trance

A chatoic arrangement of shapes, colors, and an image of a man screaming. As the title suggests, it puts you in a trance. [DJ]

The Tree of Life

Gorgeous snapshots of life are found throughout the film, so it’s fitting that the cover contains a bunch as well. [DJ]

Under the Skin

Scarlett Johansson’s colorful face blended in with outer space personifies her character in the film perfectly. [DJ]

The Vanishing (Criterion Collection)

Possibly the most brilliant cover I’ve ever seen, the simplistic design brilliantly reflects the painful frustration of the protagonist as the more you step away the clearer the image becomes. [RS]

Vertigo

The figures appear to be falling into the vortex of the geometrical downward spiral which symbolizes the meaning of the film’s title. And the imperfect hand lettering of Saul Bass. [DJ]

Videodrome (Criterion Collection)

Setting aside the disturbing central image, the color bars in the Criterion bar and the subtle horizontal lines running throughout make this an inspired design. [BB]

We Are Still Here

With We Are Still Here, writer-director Ted Geoghegan pays tribute to old-school Italian horror. Its brilliant cover design pays tribute to traditional haunted house films. It’s a damn-near-perfect artistic interpretation. [BH]

Wings of Desire (Criterion Collection)

An angel looks down at the world, a well-meaning voyeur, and his gaze shows a fusion of both inquisitiveness and sorrow. [EH]

World on a Wire (Criterion Collection)

An individual trapped in the center of a sideways cultural venn diagram, unsure of whether the environment surrounding him is the reality he’s used to, or merely a simulation brought forth by the incomprehensible Simulacron. [EH]

Y tu Mama Tambien (Criterion Collection)

A brilliant composition of blended images meant to look like an old photograph; slighly out of focus, large sun burst, and faded colors. A perfect summer road trip vibe. [DJ]

You’re Next

Even the pull quotes are aesthetically pleasing on the You’re Next home video cover, which is as aggressive and in-your-face as the home invasion masterpiece. [BH]

Zodiac (Director’s cut)

I’m a sucker for covers that double as pseudo-props from the movie like this Zodiac letter addressed to the San Francisco Chronicle. [RS]

Zazie dans le métro (Criterion Collection)

A clean, flat design which visually expresses the zany and cartoonish main character. [DJ]

Criterion Collection December 2015 Releases Include ‘Speedy’, ‘Downhill Racer’

Dustin Jansick — Wed, 16 Sep 2015 16:12:41 +0000

If you remember back at the beginning of the year when the Criterion Collection released their annual New Years Drawing as 2015 hints, and if you’ve been following along this year, then you might expect December’s announcement to be a little less surprising. Many were expecting The New World from Terrence Malick (a frequent name in Criterion speculation), the Coen brothers’ 2013 Inside Llewyn Davis, or potentially even the 1928 action film Speedy starring Harold Lloyd. Though that’d be wishful thinking, especially for a month that’s widely considered a “light” month in terms of Criterion releases. Turns out one of those titles would make it to the official slate for December, and that is Speedy. Perhaps 2016 will bring us those other titles, but check out the films Criterion will release in December down below.

Downhill Racer

Michael Ritchie – Available December 1

Astonishing Alpine location photography and a young Robert Redford in one of his earliest starring roles are just two of the visual splendors of Downhill Racer, the visceral debut feature by Michael Ritchie. In a beautifully understated performance, Redford is David Chappellet, a ruthlessly ambitious skier competing for Olympic gold with an underdog American team in Europe, and Gene Hackman provides tough support as the coach who tries to temper the upstart’s narcissistic drive for glory. With a subtle screenplay by the acclaimed novelist James Salter, Downhill Racer is a vivid character portrait, buoyed by breathtakingly fast and furious imagery that places the viewer directly in the mind of the competitor.

Features:

High-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
Interviews from 2009 with actor Robert Redford, screenwriter James Salter, editor Richard Harris, production manager Walter Coblenz, and former downhill skiier Joe Jay Jalbert, who served as a technical adviser, ski double, and cameraman on the film
Audio excerpts from a 1977 American Film Institute seminar with director Michael Ritchie
How Fast?, a rare twelve-minute promotional feature from 1969
Trailer
PLUS: An essay by critic Todd McCarthy

Speedy

Ted Wilde – Available December 8

Speedy was the last silent feature to star Harold Lloyd—and one of his very best. The slapstick legend reprises his “Glasses Character,” this time as a good-natured but scatterbrained New Yorker who can’t keep a job. He finally finds his true calling when he becomes determined to help save the city’s last horse-drawn trolley, which is operated by his sweetheart’s crusty grandfather. From its joyous visit to Coney Island to its incredible Babe Ruth cameo to its hair-raising climactic stunts on the city’s streets, Speedy is an out-of-control love letter to New York that will have you grinning from ear to ear.

Special Features:

New 4K digital restoration
Musical score by composer Carl Davis from 1992, synchronized and restored under his supervision and presented in uncompressed stereo on the Blu-ray
Audio commentary featuring Bruce Goldstein, director of repertory programming at New York’s Film Forum, and Turner Classic Movies program director Scott McGee
In the Footsteps of “Speedy,” a new short documentary by Goldstein about the film’s New York locations
Selection of rare archival footage of baseball legend Babe Ruth, who has a cameo in the film, presented by David Filipi, director of film and video at the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, Ohio
New visual essay featuring stills of deleted scenes from the film and narrated by Goldstein
Selection of Lloyd’s home movies, narrated by his granddaughter, Suzanne Lloyd
Bumping into Broadway, a 1919 Lloyd two-reeler, newly restored and with a 2004 score by Robert Israel
PLUS: An essay by critic Phillip Lopate

Jellyfish Eyes

Takashi Murakami – Available December 8

Takashi Murakami, one of the most popular artists in the world, made his directorial debut with Jellyfish Eyes, taking his boundless imagination to the screen in a tale that is about friendship and loyalty at the same time as it addresses humanity’s penchant for destruction. After moving to a country town with his mother following his father’s death, a young boy befriends a charming, flying, jellyfish-like sprite—only to discover that his schoolmates have similar friends, and that neither they nor the town itself are what they seem to be. Pointedly set in a post-Fukushima world, Murakami’s modest-budgeted special effects extravaganza boasts unforgettable creature designs and carries a message of cooperation and hope for all ages.

Special Features:

New, high-definition digital master, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
New interview with director Takashi Murakami
Two new behind-the-scenes documentaries on the making of the film
Trailer for Jellyfish Eyes 2
New English subtitle translation
PLUS: An essay by critic Glen Helfand

Burroughs:The Movie

Howard Brookner – Available December 15

Made up of intimate, revelatory footage of the singular author and poet filmed over the course of five years, Howard Brookner’s 1983 documentary about William S. Burroughs was for decades mainly the stuff of legend; that changed when Aaron Brookner, the late director’s nephew, discovered a print of it in 2011 and spearheaded a restoration. Now viewers can enjoy the invigorating candidness of Burroughs: The Movie, a one-of-a-kind nonfiction portrait that was brought to life with the help of a remarkable crew of friends, including Jim Jarmusch and Tom DiCillo, and that features on-screen appearances by fellow artists of Burroughs’s including Allen Ginsberg, Herbert Huncke, Patti Smith, and Terry Southern.

Special Features:

New, high-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
New interviews with filmmakers Jim Jarmusch, Aaron Brookner, and Tom DiCillo, as well as William S. Burroughs’s friends and fellow writers James Grauerholz and Stew Meyer
Rare outtakes
Footage from the 2014 New York Film Festival premiere of the film’s restoration
Thirty-minute experimental edit of the film from 1981 by inventor and photographer Robert E. Fulton Jr.
PLUS: An essay by critic Luc Sante and a collage poster by artist Alison Mosshart
More!

Criterion October 2015 Releases Include Spooky Picks from Cronenberg, Lynch

Aaron Pinkston — Thu, 16 Jul 2015 03:32:54 +0000

The end of the year is always the best time for the Criterion Collection. Not only do we typically see the major releases and box sets for the holiday season each November, October brings us world-renowned and classic horror flicks just in time for Halloween. In previous years releases have included The Uninvited, Eyes without a Face, The Vanishing and Rosemary’s Baby. This year, the Collection is releasing not one, but three haunting thrillers that are sure to delight any horror fan. The month also includes a Gen X landmark of gay cinema and an Italian classic starring Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni.

My Own Private Idaho

Gus Van Sant – Available October 6

Loosely based on Shakespeare’s King Henry plays, My Own Private Idaho is a searing and complex emotional drama updated for a particular time and place. Van Sant had already made his name known in independent circles with his debut Mala Noche, but his follow-up established him as one of the world’s best young filmmakers and one of the most important voices in gay cinema. The film stars River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves as teenage prostitutes, drifting through the Pacific Northwest on the fringes of society. Van Sant already had his trademark style and complex social themes in fine-tuned form. The Criterion Collection previously released the film on 2-disc DVD back in 2005—ten years later, it is definitely worthy of a Blu-ray upgrade.

Special Features:

New restored 4K digital transfer, approved by director Gus Van Sant, with 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
Alternate Dolby Digital 5.1 surround soundtrack
Illustrated 2005 audio conversation between Van Sant and filmmaker Todd Haynes
The Making of “My Own Private Idaho,” a 2005 documentary featuring cast and crew
Kings of the Road, a 2005 interview with film scholar Paul Arthur on Van Sant’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s Henry IV and Orson Welles’s Chimes at Midnight
Conversation from 2005 between producer Laurie Parker and actor River Phoenix’s sister Rain
Audio conversation from 2005 between writer JT Leroy and filmmaker Jonathan Caouette
Deleted scenes
Trailer
PLUS: A book featuring essays by film critic Amy Taubin and Leroy; a 1991 article by Lance Loud; and reprinted interviews with Van Sant, Phoenix, and actor Keanu Reeves

The Brood

David Cronenberg – Available October 13

Before the Canadian master of horror was making weird psychological dramas with the star of a teenage vampire franchise, he was making weird and bloody flicks about vampires and other creatures. The Brood is perhaps the best of his early low-budget films—and certainly one of his creepiest. The film involves two Cronenberg horror staples: a disturbed woman with a bizarre ailment receiving radical psychological treatment, and a group of disturbed mutants terrorizing her young daughter. And better yet, it stars horror icon Oliver Reed as the unconventional psychotherapist running the Somafree Institute. The Brood is grimy, unpleasant and bloody horror made by one of the genre’s best filmmakers. This marks Cronenberg’s fifth entry in the Collection.

Special Features:

New restored 2K digital transfer, supervised by director David Cronenberg, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
New documentary about the making of the film and Cronenberg’s early work, featuring actor Samantha Eggar, producer Pierre David, cinematographer Mark Irwin, assistant director John Board, and special makeup effects artists Rick Baker (Videodrome) and Joe Blasco (Shivers and Rabid)
New restored 2K digital transfer of Crimes of the Future, a 1970 feature by Cronenberg, supervised by the director, plus a 2011 interview in which the director discusses his early films with Fangoria editor Chris Alexander
Interview from 2013 with actors Art Hindle and Cindy Hinds
Appearance by actor Oliver Reed on The Merv Griffin Show from 1980
Trailer and radio spot
PLUS: An essay by critic Carrie Rickey

A Special Day

Ettore Scola – Available October 13

I wasn’t familiar with Italian auteur Ettore Scola until I saw his recent profile documentary on his idol and colleague Federico Fellini. That film, How Strange to be Named Federico is a bizarre blend of filmmaking styles and narratives, including a reflection on Scola’s work—with a major connection in star/muse Marcello Mastroianni. A Special Day is the duo’s most prominent work together, with the added bonus of Mastroianni’s oft-time co-star Sophia Loren. Perhaps the most interesting thing about A Special Day, however, is Mastroianni and Loren, two of the most beautiful and stylish people in the world at the time, play against type as a journalist and a housewife. They give among the most refined, down-to-earth performances of their careers in this WWII era romantic drama.

Special Features:

New restored 4K digital transfer, supervised by director Ettore Scola, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
New interviews with Scola and actor Sophia Loren
Two 1977 episodes of The Dick Cavett Show featuring Loren and actor Marcello Mastroianni
Trailer
New English subtitle translation
PLUS: An essay by critic Deborah Young

Kwaidan

Masaki Kobayashi – Available October 20

Nobody does ghost stories better than the Japanese. Before the modern age of J-horror’s Ringu and Pulse came the classic Kwaidan. Made up of four short stories derived from Japanese folklore, it features ghouls and demons in Japan’s typical take on existential dread. Filmmaker Kobayashi is one of his country’s great unheralded auteurs—never considered in the light of Kurosawa, Ozu or Mizoguchi, but many of his films are staples among genres: Harakiri for the samurai film and The Human Condition series for wartime dramas are right there with Kwaidan for the horror genre. This also marks a Blu-ray upgrade for the film, which was released on DVD within the first 100 Criterion films all the way back in 2000.

Special Features:

New 2K digital restoration of director Masaki Kobayashi’s original cut, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
Audio commentary by film historian Stephen Prince
Interview from 1993 with Kobayashi, conducted by filmmaker Masahiro Shinoda
New interview with assistant director Kiyoshi Ogasawara
New piece about author Lafcadio Hearn, on whose versions of Japanese folk tales Kwaidan is based
Trailers
New English subtitle translation
PLUS: An essay by critic Geoffrey O’Brien

Mulholland Dr.

David Lynch – Available October 27

Lynch’s masterpiece may not be initially thought of as a horror film, but there are few films that create such an intense level of dread. Oh, there’s also a homeless monster. Dissecting the weird world of Hollywood, it is full of colorful Lynchian characters and shattered dreams. Naomi Watts is fantastic as both sides of the Hollywood cycle: chipper ingenue looking for her big break and worn failure at the end of her rope. Endlessly watchable, not only for the impenetrable mystery, but also for Lynch’s brilliant direction, humor and sidewinding script. A long-time wish for many Criterion devotees, Mulholland Dr. finally gets a Blu-ray release in the Collection.

Special Features:

New restored 4K digital transfer, supervised by director David Lynch and director of photography Peter Deming, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
New interviews with Lynch, Deming, actors Naomi Watts and Laura Harring, composer Angelo Badalamenti, and casting director Johanna Ray
Interviews with Lynch and cast members, along with other footage from the film’s set
Trailer
PLUS: A booklet featuring an interview with Lynch from filmmaker and writer Chris Rodley’s 2005 edition of the book Lynch on Lynch

Criterion Club #6: ‘L’avventura’, E3, Dissension Double-Down

Way Too Indie Staff — Thu, 18 Jun 2015 01:27:14 +0000

More stupidity ensues as CJ and Bernard churn out another off-topic, meandering, disgraceful episode of Criterion Club. The boys don’t go over Criterion’s September releases at all, instead talking about classic movies they don’t love and playing a “game” in which Bernard tests the validity of CJ’s “Dastardly Dissenter” moniker (which Bernard himself gave him). Also, for some reason, they about the Electronic Entertainment Expo and what games they would put in a video game version of the Criterion Collection.

What were you expecting?

Criterion Collection September 2015 Includes ‘Moonrise Kindgom’, Beresford Duo

Aaron Pinkston — Wed, 17 Jun 2015 04:29:20 +0000

October and November are always my favorite month of Criterion Collection releases, so I can forgive a somewhat less flashy schedule coming this September. Though there will be some gems added to the collection; the inevitable release of an indie darling, an underseen film from a world cinema master, and an unheralded director double take.

Blind Chance

Krzysztof Kieślowski – Available September 15

Polish auteur Kieślowski is one of the most important European filmmakers whose thoughtful and complex dramas have a tremendous influence on modern independent cinema. His Three Colors trilogy and The Double Life of Veronique have already been enshrined by the collection, now with less known Blind Chance to come. Its plot is certainly intriguing: Witek is presented with three different realities after running for a train—with each reality’s differences coming through the title’s metaphysical power. In the film’s construction, different actors play the same characters that Witek comes across in the different stories. As someone who loves when films employ a creative narrative structure, I’m very intrigued by this film. Thematically, Kieślowski deals with political questions surrounding the fall of Communism and its effect on the individual.

Special Features:

New 4K digital restoration of the original uncensored film, approved by cinematographer Krzysztof Pakulski, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
New interview with Polish film critic Tadeusz Sobolewski
Interview with director Agnieszka Holland from 2003
Nine sections from the film originally censored by the Central Film Board in Poland
An essay by film critic Dennis Lim and a 1993 interview about the film with director Krzysztof Kieślowski

Breaker Morant

Bruce Beresford – Available September 22

Bruce Beresford is most known for Driving Miss Daisy (for which he won the Best Picture Oscar) and Tender Mercies (for which his star Robert Duvall won an Oscar), but Criterion has chosen to highlight the filmmaker this month with two lesser known works. The first is Breaker Morant, an Australian war drama about three lieutenants who are court-martialed for executing prisoners, scapegoats of larger and farther-reaching culture of war crimes. The film’s enlightening look at the greater effects of colonialism and blend of war film and courtroom drama philosophies put Beresford on the map of world cinema.

Special Features:

New 4K digital restoration, supervised and approved by director Bruce Beresford, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
Audio commentary featuring Beresford from 2004
New interviews with Beresford, cinematographer Donald McAlpine, and actor Bryan Brown
Interview with actor Edward Woodward from 2004
New piece about the Boer War with historian Stephen Miller
Trailer
An essay by film scholar Neil Sinyard

Mister Johnson

Bruce Beresford – Available September 22

A different look at colonialism, Mister Johnson centers around its title character, an educated Nigerian working as a civil servant for the British colonialists. Actor Maynard Eziashi won the top acting prize at the Berlin Film Festival for his sympathetic and tragic performance. Pierce Brosnan plays against Eziashi as his superior. This is a particular film completely off my radar, with Beresford, in general, a director who I should see more. With the co-lead performances in a dramatically rich time and setting, Mister Johnson could certainly be a sleeper.

Special Features:

New 4K digital restoration, supervised and approved by director Bruce Beresford, with uncompressed stereo soundtrack on the Blu-ray
New video interviews with Beresford, producer Michael Fitzgerald, and actors Maynard Eziashi and Pierce Brosnan
Trailer
An essay by film scholar Neil Sinyard

A Room with a View

James Ivory – Available September 29

With as much as Criterion loves the James Ivory films, I’m surprised that A Room with a View wasn’t already apart of the collection. This marks the 19th Ismail Merchant film to either have a full Criterion release or as part of a Eclipse box set, the 14th directed by Ivory. The British filmmaker is no doubt the most prolific Criterion filmmaker who has the least profile. A Room with a View is the film that put James Ivory on the map. Adapted from the E.M. Forster classic novel, the film stars a very young Helena Bonham Carter as a young woman torn between romantic interests Julian Sands and Daniel Day-Lewis. Co-starring British mainstays Maggie Smith, Judi Dench, Simon Callow and Denholm Elliott, A Room with a View is a sublimely acted and gorgeous romantic drama.

Special Features:

New 4K digital restoration, supervised by cinematographer Tony Pierce-Roberts, with 2.0 surround Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
New interviews with director James Ivory, Pierce-Roberts, costume designer John Bright, and actors Helena Bonham Carter, Simon Callow, and Julian Sands
Segment about Merchant Ivory Productions from a 1985 NBC television program
Trailer
An essay by film critic Farran Smith Nehme

Moonrise Kingdom

Wes Anderson – Available September 22

We’ve known that Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom would be coming to the Criterion Collection, given that all of his films have been released (and as they announced the film would be released a few months ago without a specific date), but it is finally officially coming. The more recent The Grand Budapest Hotel proved to be the greater breakout for the beloved director, but I’m partial to Moonrise Kingdom. Not only does it showcase Anderson’s unique style, but it is his most emotionally rich script. The film is also notable for expanding the Anderson stable of actors, adding Edward Norton, Bruce Willis, Tilda Swinton and Frances McDormand alongside regulars Bill Murray and Jason Schwartzman.

Special Features:

Restored 2K digital transfer, supervised by director Wes Anderson, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
Audio commentary featuring Anderson, Bill Murray, Edward Norton, Jason Schwartzman, and Roman Coppola
Selected-scene storyboard animatics
Interviews with cast and crew
Exploring the Set of “Moonrise Kingdom,” an original documentary about the film
Norton’s home movies from the set
Behind-the-scenes, special effects, and test footage
Auditions
Trailer
A booklet featuring an essay by critic Geoffrey O’Brien, plus a map of New Penzance Island and other ephemera

The Honeymoon Killers

Leonard Kastl – Available September 29

The lone Blu-ray upgrade of the month is The Honeymoon Killers, the lone directorial effort of Leonard Kastle. Shot in stark black-and-white, with a documentary style, the film follows lovelorn Martha and her con-artist boyfriend. The Honeymoon Killers is equal parts sad and shocking, with a clear vision and radical point-of-view. It is 1970’s low-budget filmmaking (costing an estimated $150,000 to make) at its best and one of the best one-and-done directorial efforts ever.

Special Features:

New 2K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
New interview program featuring actors Tony Lo Bianco and Marilyn Chris and editor Stan Warnow
Interview with writer-director Leonard Kastle from 2003
“Dear Martha,” a new video essay by writer Scott Christianson, author of Condemned: Inside the Sing Sing Death House
Trailer
An essay by critic Gary Giddins

Criterion Collection August 2015 Includes Varda, Dardennes

Aaron Pinkston — Tue, 19 May 2015 16:39:36 +0000

The Criterion Collection comes with another strong month of releases in August, featuring a classic from a genre master, a French auteur’s unsung masterpiece, a recent film from indie favorites, and much more.

Night and the City

Jules Dassin – Available August 4

Jules Dassin is more well known for Rififi and The Naked City, but the 1950 film Night and the City shows off the director at the top of his film noir game. Starring Richard Widmark (Judgement at Nuremburg) and Gene Tierney (Laura) as his beautiful femme, Night and the City takes the small-time grifter looking for the big score trope to the world of underground professional wrestling. If you don’t think that’s cool, I don’t know what to tell ya.

Special Features:

New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
Alternate presentation of the 101-minute British version of the film
Audio commentary from 2005 with film scholar Glenn Erickson
Interview with director Jules Dassin from 2005
Excerpts from a 1972 televison interview with Dassin
Comparison of the scores for the British and American versions of the film
Trailer
PLUS: An essay by film scholar Paul Arthur

Eclipse Series 43: Agnès Varda in California

Agnès Varda – Available August 11

Agnès Varda, director of four films already among the collection now gets her first Eclipse boxset, with five of her lesser known works. The set’s five films were made during the period when Varda briefly left France for Hollywood. Though the films are far from the Hollywood style, they explore the culture, politics and society of California from an attentive outsider’s eye. The films in the set include short docs Uncle Yanco (1967) and Black Panthers (1968), meta comedy Lions Love (…and Lies) (1969), and two films made during her return to California in the early 80s Mur murs (1980) and Documenteur (1981).

The French Lieutenant’s Woman

Karel Reisz – Available August 11

Veteran of the British New Wave, Karel Reisz (Saturday Night and Sunday Morning) trades in the kitchen sink and angry young man for the “unfilmable” John Fowles novel. Who better to adapt this complex novel than complex screenwriter Harold Pinter, who turns the story into a post-modern telling involving parallel narratives with actors’ lives intersecting roles they are playing. Hot off her breakout in The Deer Hunter and Kramer vs. Kramer, Meryl Streep (from my quick count: only her second film in the Collection, along with The Fantastic Mr. Fox) stars alongside Jeremy Irons in this romantic and spellbinding adaptation.

Special Features:

New 2K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
New introduction by film scholar Ian Christie
New interviews with actors Jeremy Irons and Meryl Streep, editor John Bloom, and composer Carl Davis
Episode of The South Bank Show from 1981 featuring director Karel Reisz, novelist John Fowles, and screenwriter Harold Pinter
Trailer
PLUS: An essay by film scholar Lucy Bolton

Dressed to Kill

Brian De Palma – Available August 18

In the late ’70s and early ’80s, Brian De Palma’s films inspired a generation of filmmakers. With his breakneck style and insane filmmaking instincts, De Palma was able to take genre films to a different level, which led to high profile films like Scarface and The Untouchables—though he never lost his imprint. Dressed to Kill may be the last straight-up thriller the auteur made, revolving around a mysterious murder and a group of people who are connected. At times horror, at times erotic thriller, Dressed to Kill is a delight to the senses and masterfully made.

Special Features:

New, restored 4K digital transfer of director Brian De Palma’s preferred unrated version, approved by the director, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
New interviews with actor Nancy Allen, producer George Litto, composer Pino Donaggio, shower-scene body double Victoria Lynn Johnson, and poster photographic art director Stephen Sayadian
New profile of cinematographer Ralf Bode, featuring filmmaker Michael Apted
The Making of “Dressed to Kill,” a 2001 documentary featuring De Palma
Interview with actor-director Keith Gordon from 2001
Video pieces from 2001 about the different versions of the film and the cuts made to avoid an X rating
Gallery of storyboards by De Palma
Trailer
PLUS: An essay by critic Michael Koresky

Day for Night

François Truffaut – Available August 18

Films about filmmaking is a genre with no lack of great films, Truffaut’s Day for Night is one of the best of them. A blend of styles and tones, it is a madcap, but always loving portrait of the industry. Truffaut takes a starring role in its ensemble, as a successful director in over his head a little on his latest production. Jean-Pierre Léaud, Valentina Cortese and Jacqueline Bisset play actors in the film-within-the-film, bringing in their neuroses and problems that nearly bring everything down. There is perhaps no film about filmmaking that more clearly shows just how impossible it is to make a film with so much that has to come together. That thought only makes it all more fantastic.

Special Features:

New 2K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
New visual essay by filmmaker :: kogonada
New interview with cinematographer Pierre-William Glenn
New interview with film scholar Dudley Andrew
Documentary on the film from 2003, featuring film scholar Annette Insdorf
Archival interviews with director François Truffaut; editor Yann Dedet; and actors Jean-Pierre Aumont, Nathalie Baye, Jacqueline Bisset, Dani, and Bernard Menez
Television footage of Truffaut on the film’s set in 1972
Trailer
New English subtitle translation
PLUS: An essay by critic David Cairns

Two Days, One Night

Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne – Available August 25

One of the most critically acclaimed films of 2014, the Dardennes’ latest features a heartbreaking performance from Marion Cotillard. In Two Days, One Night Cotillard plays a woman sacrificed from her job so that the rest of the staff can keep their holiday bonuses. The film takes place over the title’s length, as she visits each of her former co-workers, pleading with them to reconsider. With the Dardenne’s naturalistic style, the film’s emotions are as raw as its structure is clever.

Special Features:

New 2K digital transfer, approved by directors Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, with DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack on the Blu-ray
New interviews with the Dardennes and actors Marion Cotillard and Fabrizio Rongione
When Léon M.’s Boat Went Down the Meuse for the First Time (1979), a forty-five minute documentary by the Dardennes, featuring a new introduction by the directors
New tour of the film’s key locations with the directors
PLUS: An essay by critic Girish Shambu

Post-Weekend News Roundup – Mar. 23

Aaron Pinkston — Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Remember last week when we said that It Follows was being planned for a slow build in theaters and a Video On-Demand release on 3/27? Well, when you open to the second highest per screen average of the year, plans can change. The unsettling horror film expanded to 32 screens this past weekend, and now according to Slashfilm, distributor Radius-TWC will quickly expand to around 1,000 theaters. The downside is that the VOD release has been postponed, perhaps until the film leaves the big chain theaters it now will be seen in. Truthfully, this is a good trade-off, as It Follows is best seen in a dark room, surrounded by strangers. Here’s what you may have missed from last week’s entertainment news:

SXSW 2015 Wraps, Krisha Wins Top Prize

After premieres of 100 films including first looks at hotly anticipated films Furious 7 and Trainwreck, this year’s SXSW Film Festival was bigger and better than ever. Trey Edward Shults’s family drama Krisha became the first film to win both the Narrative Feature and Audience Award at the the SXSW Film Festival since Natural Selection in 2011. Peace Officer took home the top prize for feature documentary. You can find the complete list of jury winners here. And don’t forget to check out our coverage directly from the fest.

Criterion Collection June Titles Headlined by André and Wallace

The landmark 1981 indie My Dinner with André (Criterion #479) is getting a Blu-ray upgrade, being packaged with already enshrined Vanya on 42nd Street (#599) and new release Jonathan Demme’s A Master Builder for a new boxset focused on the collaboration between theater director André Gregory and actor Wallace Shawn. Other films being released in the June 2015 haul are Bernhard Wicki’s antiwar film The Bridge, Gilliam-Bridges-Williams masterwork The Fisher King, Czech cult film Valerie and Her Week of Wonders, and a standalone release of Jack Nicholson’s iconic performance in Five Easy Pieces (the film was original released as part of the BBS boxset).

Amirpour Follow-Up Casts Carrey, Keanu, Momoa

Ana Lily Amirpour’s debut A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night was a striking, original entry in vampire cinema, standing out as one of last year’s best indie films. For her follow-up, she’s turning to cannibalism, a horror subgenre that isn’t as popular but could use a fresh re-imagining. According to Deadline, The Bad Batch won’t be an uncovered gem with the recent casting of Jim Carrey, Keanu Reeves and Aquaman himself, Jason Momoa. The trio will join leads Diego Luna and Suki Waterhouse in this dystopian love story set in the heart of Texas. Production is set to begin in April.

Errol Morris Making True-Crime Series for Netflix

Fresh off the mind-blowing conclusion to HBO’s series The Jinx, documentary legend Errol Morris told the Business Insider that his upcoming project with Netflix “has an element of true crime in it.” It was impossible not to connect recent cultural dynamos Serial and The Jinx to The Thin Blue Line, the landmark in pulpy true crime docs, so it is exciting to the see the originator is back in the game. If you haven’t seen The Thin Blue Line, it is being released by the Criterion Collection tomorrow.

Mondo Takes on Malick

Mondo, the fine purveyors of awesome original posters, recently announced an upcoming series on the work of film master Terrence Malick. The first, for his debut Badlands, was released on Thursday and promptly sold out, as is usually the case for their work. If you want to get your hands on the limited prints for Days of Heaven or The Tree of Life, you’re going to have to act fast. The Badlands print was sold at $45 (275 quantity), with 125 variant editions being sold at $65. The beautiful work and exclusivity are definitely worth the price if you can manage to be one of the lucky few.

Trailer of the Week: Sunshine Superman

Base jumping is one of the most dangerous and awe-inspiring extreme sports. Marah Stauch’s profile of Carl Boenish, who is credited as the movement’s innovator, features incredible footage from his life and many daring escapades. Sunshine Superman premiered at the 2014 TIFF and will open in limited release on May 22. Check out the heart-pounding trailer below!

Criterion Club: The Double Life of Veronique, May Releases, Landlines

Bernard Boo — Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

To the disgust of true film snobs across the globe, CJ and Bernard have once again eluded cancellation, returning for the fifth installment of Criterion Club! Wondering what new Criterion discs are coming out in May? Wondering why Bernard got fired as host? Never seen Krzysztof Kieslowski’s The Double Life of Veronique and wonder if it’s any good? Daydreaming about what some of CJ and Bernard’s fantasy Criterion releases could be? How many more questions could I possibly ask? What would you do if I sang out of tune? Would you stand up and walk out on me?!

All this and more on the brand-spankin’ new edition of…CRITERION CLUB!!!

Criterion Collection May 2015 Highlighted by Chaplin, Costa-Gavras

Aaron Pinkston — Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

It has become pretty standard for the Criterion Collection to include a few upgrades from their back catalog recently. May 2015 is a bit unusual in that respect—though it technically does have one upgrade on the schedule, it’s for a film they very recently released, so it’s just like new! Instead, we get two new releases from under-heralded filmmaker Costa-Gavras, a Bette Midler star vehicle, another R.W. Fassbinder release and another in their growing selection from Charlie Chaplin.

The Rose

Mark Rydell – Available May 19

I am young enough that my only real association with Bette Midler is her mega-hit Wind Beneath My Wings, which isn’t exactly a full representation of her incredible career. Mark Rydell’s The Rose put Midler on the map as a self-destructive female rock star, struggling with the constant pressures of the business. It will certainly be an interesting look back at what made her such a generational star.

Special Features:

New 4K digital restoration, supervised by director of photography Vilmos Zsigmond, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD master audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
Audio commentary featuring director Mark Rydell
New interviews with Rydell, Zsigmond, and Bette Midler
Archival interviews with Midler and Rydell, with on-set footage
PLUS: An essay by music critic Paula Mejia

Limelight

Charlie Chaplin – Available May 19

Chaplin’s last great film is his sixth addition to the Collection. Limelight stands out as the comedy masters most dramatic of his major works and perhaps one of his most biographical. In the film, Chaplin stars as Calvero, a fading comedian, who builds an interesting relationship with a troubled young ballet dancer (Claire Bloom). Despite the lack of laughs, it is one of Chaplin’s most cathartic films, with beautiful emotional stakes and arc. Perhaps because it isn’t one of his more famous comedies, Limelight is under-heralded – so now is a great time to catch it!

Special Features:

New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
Chaplin’s “Limelight”: Its Evolution and Intimacy, a new video essay by Charlie Chaplin biographer David Robinson
New interviews with actors Claire Bloom and Norman Lloyd
Chaplin Today: “Limelight,” a 2002 documentary on the film, featuring director Bernardo Bertolucci and actors Bloom and Sydney Chaplin
Outtake from the film
Archival audio recording of Charlie Chaplin reading two short excerpts from his novella Footlights
Two short films by Chaplin: A Night in the Show (1915) and the never completed The Professor (1919)
Trailers
PLUS: An essay by critic Peter von Bagh

Make Way for Tomorrow

Leo McCarey – Available May 19

One of the greatest tearjerkers in all of cinema was one of my favorite discoveries while in film school. When Make Way for Tomorrow was released as spine #505 in 2010, I was really pumped to revisit the film (and for others to get their first chance). Now that it is being upgraded to Blu-ray, there is all the more opportunity to see this wonderfully emotional film about an elderly couple forced to spend time apart. The film would make a great double-feature with the recent Love Is Strange or Criterion release Tokyo Story.

Special Features:

High-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
Tomorrow, Yesterday, and Today, an interview from 2009 featuring filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich discussing the career of director Leo McCarey and Make Way for Tomorrow
Video interview from 2009 with critic Gary Giddins, in which he talks about McCarey’s artistry and the political and social context of the film
PLUS: A booklet featuring essays by critic Tag Gallagher and filmmaker Bertrand Tavernier, and an excerpt from film scholar Robin Wood’s 1998 piece “Leo McCarey and Family Values”

State of Siege

Costa-Gavras – Available May 26

The work of Costa-Gavras is a complete blindspot for me, so I’m especially excited that the Criterion Collection is releasing two films in May 2015 – I always love when the Collection does this. The first of his films is State of Siege, a film set around the kidnapping of a U.S. official (played by veteran actor Yves Montand) in Uruguay. From there, it focuses in on American relations with foreign governments and their impact on guerrilla movements.

Special Features:

New 4K digital transfer, supervised by director Costa-Gavras, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
New conversation between Costa-Gavras and film scholar Peter Cowie
NBC News excerpts from 1970 on the kidnapping of Dan Mitrione, on which the film is based
New English subtitle translation
PLUS: An essay by journalist Mark Danner

The Merchant of Four Seasons

Rainer Werner Fassbinder – Available May 26

With The Merchant of Four Seasons, Fassbinder now has 13 films in the Collection (including his Eclipse boxset), putting him near the top of total releases. The film’s synopsis feels very much in line with Fassbinder’s most known work, as well as the German film movement he was integral in shaping: Hans is a street fruit peddler who is ostracized by his family, which turns him to drinking and misery. Though that does sound pretty depressing, the film is known as a pretty adept black comedy.

Special Features:

New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
Audio commentary featuring filmmaker Wim Wenders
New interviews with actors Irm Hermann and Hans Hirschmüller
New interview with film scholar Eric Rentschler
New English subtitle translation
PLUS: An essay by film scholar Thomas Elsaesser

The Confession

Costa-Garvas – Available May 26

The other Costa-Garvas release in May is the follow-up to the filmmaker’s incredible debut, Z. Like State of Siege, The Confession has a kidnapping at its center – in this case, it is a Czechoslovak dignitary who also happens to be played by played by veteran actor Yves Montand. Unlike State of Siege, however, it focuses much more on the incredible journey of its victim – along with the imprisonment, torture and interrogations.

Special Features:

New 4K digital transfer, supervised by director Costa-Gavras, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
You Speak of Prague: The Second Trial of Artur London (1971), a twenty-one-minute documentary by Chris Marker shot on the set of The Confession
New interview with the film’s editor, Françoise Bonnot
Conversation between Costa-Gavras and programmer and scholar Peter von Bagh about the director’s life and career, from the 1988 Midnight Sun Film Festival
Portrait London, a 1981 interview with Artur and Lise London, the real-life figures on whose story the film is based
Interview with actor Yves Montand from 1970
New interview with John Michalczyk, author of Costa-Gavras: The Political Fiction Film
New English subtitle translation
PLUS: An essay by film scholar Dina Iordanova

April 2015 Criterion Collection Releases Include Sturges, Renoir Blu-Ray Upgrades

Aaron Pinkston — Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

The Criterion Collection has made a huge effort of upgrading some of their very best releases to Blu-ray (who says the Blu-ray medium is dying?). The next few months will see Hoop Dreams (still bitter about the Oscar snub…) and Ozu’s An Autumn Afternoon upgrades, and now April 2015 features three more.

Sullivan’s Travels

Preston Sturges – Available April 14

One of my favorite movies of all time, I have great memories of watching my Criterion DVD of Sullivan’s Travels. Now, it receives a worthy upgrade to Blu-ray. Preston Sturges, Hollywood’s first writer-director, is at the top of his game, merging slapstick comedy with incredible pathos. The film features a knockout duo in Joel McCrea ans Veronica Lake as a famous filmmaker and failed actress, going on the road to get first-hand research of the human condition for a serious new film. Sullivan’s Travels is a great insight to early Hollywood and why we love movies.

Special Features:

New 2K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
Audio commentary from 2001 by filmmakers Noah Baumbach, Kenneth Bowser, Christopher Guest, and Michael McKean
Preston Sturges: The Rise and Fall of an American Dreamer (1990), a 76-minute documentary made by Bowser for PBS’s American Masters series
New video essay by film critic David Cairns, featuring filmmaker Bill Forsyth
Interview from 2001 with Sandy Sturges, the director’s widow
Interview with Sturges by gossip columnist Hedda Hopper from 1951
Archival audio recordings of Sturges
PLUS: An essay by critic Stuart Klawans

Odd Man Out

Carol Reed – Available April 14

If you can’t pony up the $300+ for Carol Reed’s OOP Criterion Blu-ray of The Third Man, the new release of his earlier film, Odd Man Out is a much cheaper alternative. Starring James Mason on the run after a failed robbery attempt, it is a prime example of classic UK noir.

Special Features:

New high-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
Postwar Poetry, a new short documentary about the film
New interview with British cinema scholar John Hill
New interview with music scholar Jeff Smith about composer William Alwyn and his score
Home, James, a 1972 documentary featuring actor James Mason revisiting his hometown
Radio adaptation of the film from 1952, starring Mason and Dan O’Herlihy
PLUS: An essay by critic Imogen Sara Smith

The River

Jean Renoir – Available April 21

One of Jean Renoir’s underseen gems, The River takes the master French filmmaker to beautiful, exotic India. It is the best example of late-period Renoir, wonderfully shot in gorgeous color with the master’s typically magical style. It might be a pretty outdated view of India, but it is a pretty fantastical outsider’s look at a strange land through a light and funny love story.

Special Features:

High-definition digital transfer from the 2004 Film Foundation restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
Archival introduction to the film by director Jean Renoir
Around the River, a 60-minute 2008 documentary by Arnaud Mandagaran about the making of the film
Interview from 2004 with Martin Scorsese
Audio interview from 2000 with producer Ken McEldowney
New visual essay by film writer Paul Ryan, featuring rare behind-the-scenes stills
Trailer
PLUS: An essay by film scholar Ian Christie and original production notes by Renoir
New cover by Kathleen Cantwell

Le silence de la mer

Jean-Pierre Melville – Available April 28

If Renoir’s film is too light for you, Criterion has counter-programmed with you in mind. Melville’s feature debut, La silence de la mer, isa sobering morality tale based on an underground novel from the Nazi occupation of France. The film involves a Nazi officer who boards with a French man and his daughter, who deal with his presence with silence. Any fans of Melville’s more popular work will definitely want to check this out.

Special Features:

New high-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
24 Hours in the Life of a Clown (1946), Melville’s seventeen-minute first film
New interview with film scholar Ginette Vincendeau
Interview with Melville from 1959
New English subtitle translation
PLUS: An essay by critic Geoffrey O’Brien

The Friends of Eddie Coyle

Peter Yates – Available April 28

A believed example of late American film noir, The Friends of Eddie Coyle is a great pairing with Reed’s Odd Man Out as two different takes on cringe and punishment. Starring Robert Mitchum in one of his best roles, it’s a great example of 70’s Hollywood autuerist cinema. After career criminal Eddie gets popped and faces an extended jail sentence, he is forced to contemplate ratting out all his friends. It is also one of the best depictions of crime in the city, showing of the grotesque underbelly of ’70s Boston.

Special Features:

New, restored high-definition digital transfer, approved by director Peter Yates, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
Audio commentary featuring Yates
Stills gallery
PLUS: An essay by critic Kent Jones and a 1973 on-set profile of actor Robert Mitchum from Rolling Stone
New cover by Michael Boland

Eclipse Series 42: Silent Ozu-Three Crime Dramas

Yasuojiro Ozu – Available April 21

Fans of the Criterion Collection may or may not be familiar with their Eclipse DVD series, which offers great box-set collections of lesser known films otherwise not available on video. In April, the series is releasing three Ozu silent films from the early 1930s: Walk Cheerfully (1930), That Night’s Wife (1930) and Dragnet Girl (1933). Holding up to the Eclipse philosophy, these are three films that are completely in my blindside. Ozu is one of my favorite filmmakers and I’ve always appreciated his silent films, so these should be a treat. This is the third Eclipse set to dip into Ozu’s filmography.

‘Hoop Dreams’, ‘The Thin Blue Line’, & More Announced as Criterion Collection March 2015 Titles

Aaron Pinkston — Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

This March, our favorite arthouse and world cinema DVD purveyors are highlighting four great documentaries and more underseen classics from great auteurs. The Criterion Collection restores a film from Francois Truffaut’s The Soft Skin, as well as very exciting Blu-ray upgrades of Steve James’ Hoop Dreams and Ingmar Bergman’s Cries and Whispers.

The Soft Skin

Francois Truffaut – Available March 10

It is known that Truffaut was a great student/admirer of Alfred Hitchcock, and his film The Soft Skin is perhaps his closest homage. The tale of infidelity is among Truffaut’s bleakest, most tense films, but stays true to the wildly artistic French New Wave era.

Special Features:

New high-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
Audio commentary by screenwriter Jean-Louis Richard and François Truffaut scholar Serge Toubiana
New video essay by filmmaker and critic Kent Jones
Interview with Truffaut from 1965 about the film
New English subtitle translation
PLUS: An essay by critic Molly Haskell

Ride the Pink Horse

Robert Montgomery – Available March 17

It is always exciting when the Criterion chooses a film you are completely in the dark on, and that’s where I’m at on Ride the Pink Horse (and I’m sure I’m not alone). Released during the height of American cinema’s great film noir period, the film involves a tough-talking GI returned from war and a murderous gangster. The film also involves a cool bit of trivia as supporting actor Thomas Gomez became the first Hispanic actor to receive an Academy Award nomination.

Special Features:

New 2K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
Audio commentary featuring film noir historians Alain Silver and James Ursini
New interview with Imogen Sara Smith, author of In Lonely Places: Film Noir Beyond the City
Lux Radio Theatre adaptation of the film from 1947, featuring Robert Montgomery, Wanda Hendrix, and Thomas Gomez
PLUS: An essay by filmmaker and writer Michael Almereyda

The Thin Blue Line

Errol Morris – Available March 24

Before there was Serial, there was The Thin Blue Line. Errol Morris’s documentary, chronicling a murder investigation deep in the heart of Texas, is as amazing as it is important. An exhaustive piece of film journalism, its recreations, interviews, Philip Glass score and inquisitive eye blend into an invigorating piece of entertainment.

Special Features:

New high-definition digital restoration, supervised by director Errol Morris and producer Mark Lipson, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray

New interview with Morris

New interview with filmmaker Joshua Oppenheimer (The Act of Killing)

NBC report from 1989 covering Randall Adams’s release from prison

PLUS: An essay by film scholar Charles Musser

Gates of Heaven/Vernon, Florida

Errol Morris – Available March 24

The Thin Blue Line wasn’t enough Errol Morris for the Criterion Collection, so they are also releasing a two-film box-set with less known Morris docs. Where The Thin Blue Line shows Morris at his investigative best, Gates of Heaven and Vernon, Florida show his unique view of American society and brilliant ability to tell a story you never knew you were interested in. His tales of California pet cemeteries and the backwoods folk of a small Florida town are thoughtful, funny and just the right amount of odd.

Special Features:

New 2K digital restorations of both films, supervised by director Errol Morris, with uncompressed monaural soundtracks on the Blu-rays
New interviews with Morris
Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe (1980), a twenty-minute film by Les Blank featuring Herzog fulfilling a bet intended to inspire Morris to complete his first feature
Footage of Herzog professing his admiration for Gates of Heaven at the 1980 Telluride Film Festival
PLUS: An essay by critic Eric Hynes

Hoop Dreams

Steve James – Available March 31

If your first exposure to Steve James was his wonderful portrait of Roger Ebert, Life Itself, do yourself a favor and check out his seminal documentary about inner-city Chicago basketball plays searching for the American dream. Filmed over a five year period and over three hours long, Hoop Dreams is a landmark of American true-life storytelling. Its profiles of two young men and the pressures of success are complex and complete.

Special Features:

New digital restoration, with 4.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
Two audio commentaries: one by filmmakers Peter Gilbert, Steve James, and Frederick Marx, and one by the film’s subjects, Arthur Agee and William Gates
Life After “Hoop Dreams,” a new documentary catching up with Agee, Gates, and their families
Additional scenes
Collection of excerpts from Siskel & Ebert tracking the acclaim for Hoop Dreams
Original music video for the film’s theme song from 1994
Trailers
PLUS: Essays by author John Edgar Wideman and filmmaker and critic Robert Greene

Cries and Whispers

Ingmar Bergman – Available March 31

Bergman was known for existential dread, and Cries and Whispers may be his most existential dreadful work. Beautifully composed, shot and acted, the film is a deep study of illness and loss. Previously released by Criterion on DVD, this Blu-ray transfer will certainly show off the vivid reds in the film to new heights. A powerful and emotional film, it is a must see for any fan of European art films or Bergman.

Special Features:

New 2K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
Introduction by Ingmar Bergman from 2001
New interview with actor Harriet Andersson, conducted by film scholar Peter Cowie
New video essay on the film’s visuals by filmmaker : : kogonada
Behind-the-scenes footage with commentary by Cowie
Ingmar Bergman: Reflections on Life, Death, and Love with Erland Josephson (2000), a 52-minute interview with Bergman and his longtime collaborator
Trailer
New English subtitle translation
Optional English-dubbed soundtrack
PLUS: An essay by film scholar Emma Wilson

The Criterion Collection Announces February 2015 Releases

Aaron Pinkston — Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

The Criterion Collection doesn’t usually go with a theme with its monthly releases (a specific Halloween selection in October a small exception), though its February 2015 slate is an accidental one. Featuring overlooked and smaller releases from some of cinema’s greatest auteurs, the month rounds out the collection of great films beautifully. Aside from new selections from Godard, Fellini, Renoir and a Blu-ray upgrade from Ozu, February will also bring a 70s British shocker and a cult animated film.

Every Man for Himself

Jean-Luc Godard – Available February 3

One of cinema’s most prolific and notorious filmmakers, Godard went a bit more mainstream with Every Man for Himself. The film follows three protagonists (a television producers, his ex-girlfriend, and a prostitute), looking into their working and sexual relationships with each other. Not previously available on DVD in the U.S., this minor work from the master filmmaker can finally be seen by Criterion fans.

Special Features:

New high-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
Le scénario (1979), a short video created by director Jean-Luc Godard to secure financing for Every Man for Himself
New video essay by critic Colin MacCabe
New interviews with actor Isabelle Huppert and producer Marin Karmitz
Archival interviews with actor Nathalie Baye, cinematographers Renato Berta and William Lubtchansky, and composer Gabriel Yared
Two back-to-back 1980 appearances by Godard on The Dick Cavett Show
Godard 1980, a short film by Jon Jost, Donald Ranvaud, and Peter Wollen, featuring Godard
Trailer

A Day in the Country

Jean Renoir – Available February 10

Renoir’s A Day in the Country is a perfect short narrative film. While only 40 minutes long, it shows off the best of the French filmmaker’s ability to create interesting character dynamics and set a romantic tone. Based on a short story by Guy de Maupassant, A Day in the Country doesn’t stretch its source, letting its contained, simply story breathe in the French countryside. Short features are rarely made today, but Renoir shows how this type of film can be as satisfying and complete as any 3-hour epic.

Special Features:

New 2K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
Introduction by director Jean Renoir from 1962
New interview with Renoir scholar Christopher Faulkner about the film’s production
New video essay by Faulkner on Renoir’s methods
Un tournage à la campagne, an 89-minute 1994 compilation of outtakes from the film
Interview with producer Pierre Braunberger from 1979
Screen tests
New English subtitle translation

Don’t Look Now

Nicolas Roeg – Available February 10

Roeg’s follow-up to the odd and serene Walkabout is one of the most artful and creepy horror films ever made. Don’t Look Now is known for its crazy shock ending (if you don’t know it, watch the film without looking it up!), but the film’s gorgeous cinematography, showing off the seedier side of Venice, Italy, and great performances from Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie are definitely worth noting.

Special Features:

New 4K digital restoration, approved by director Nicolas Roeg, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
New conversation between the film’s editor, Graeme Clifford, and film writer Bobbie O’Steen
“Don’t Look Now,” Looking Back, a short 2002 documentary featuring Roeg, Clifford, and cinematographer Anthony Richmond
Death in Venice, a 2006 interview with composer Pino Donaggio
Something Interesting, a new documentary on the writing and making of the film, featuring interviews with Richmond, actors Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland, and coscreenwriter Allan Scott
Nicolas Roeg: The Enigma of Film, a new documentary on Roeg’s style, featuring interviews with filmmakers Danny Boyle and Steven Soderbergh
Q&A with Roeg at London’s Ciné Lumière from 2003
Trailer

An Autumn Afternoon

Yasujiro Ozu – Available February 17

Previously inducted to the Criterion Collection (Spine #446), Ozu’s swansong An Autumn Afternoon gets a much deserved Blu-ray upgrade. Like many of Ozu’s best films, An Autumn Afternoon takes a somber but realistic look at aging, death, and marriage. Simply beautiful, one of the few of Ozu’s films shot in color cinematography, it is a wonderful conclusion to one of Japan’s greats.

Special Features:

New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
Audio commentary featuring film scholar David Bordwell, author of Ozu and the Poetics of Cinema
Excerpts from Yasujiro Ozu and “The Taste of Sake,” a 1978 French television program, featuring critics Michel Ciment and Georges Perec, that looks back on Ozu’s career
Trailer
New English subtitle translation

Fellini Satyricon

Federico Fellini – Available February 24

Fellini transitioned into his third phase with 1969’s Satyricon, a lush tribute to sex and sin. Though Fellini certainly was no stranger to extravagance, Satyricon was certainly a departure from the more intellectually avant-garde work and even more certainly different from his early Italian neo-realism. This will certainly be one of the more visually striking releases in the collection, even if we’re not sure what is going on.

Special Features:

New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
Audio commentary featuring an adaptation of Eileen Lanouette Hughes’s memoir On the Set of “Fellini Satyricon”: A Behind-the-Scenes Diary
Ciao, Federico!, Gideon Bachmann’s hour-long documentary shot on the set of Fellini Satyricon
Archival interviews with director Federico Fellini
New interview with cinematographer Giuseppe Rotunno
New documentary about Fellini’s adaptation of Petronius’s work, featuring interviews with classicists Luca Canali, a consultant on the film, and Joanna Paul
New interview with photographer Mary Ellen Mark about her experiences on the set and her iconic photographs of Fellini and his film
Felliniana, a presentation of Fellini Satyricon ephemera from the collection of Don Young
Trailer
New English subtitle translation

Watership Down

Martin Rosen – Available February 24

Though I don’t have any nostalgic attachment to the animated adaptation of Richard Adams’ landmark children’s novel, I’m intrigued by its reputation – and having the Criterion Collection pick the film up is a surprising turn that only makes me more interested. The dystopian tale of a colony of rabbits seeking shelter after their home is destroyed, Watership Down is a stark, yet beautiful story for children. Only the second animated film in the collection (excluding their Laserdisc releases – Fantastic Mr. Fox being the other), this is an important distinction.

Special Features:

New high-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed stereo soundtrack on the Blu-ray
New interview with director Martin Rosen
New appreciation of the film by director Guillermo del Toro
Picture-in-picture storyboard for the entire film (Blu-ray); four film-to-storyboard scene comparisons (DVD)
Defining a Style, a 2008 featurette about the film’s aesthetic
Trailer

Criterion Collection To Stream Select Titles On Fandor

Aaron Pinkston — Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Hulu and the Criterion Collection have struck a deal with Fandor to stream curated selections of their library. Currently, seven films are up on the streaming service, with more rolled out in the upcoming months.

The titles will come to Fandor with a specific grouped theme, similar to the themes that Criterion uses on its website. The current theme is “Expeditions” and includes Burden of Dreams, The Four Feathers, The Gold Rush, Letter Never Sent, Sanders of the River, The Wages of Fear and Woman in the Dunes. Each group of films will be available on the site for a limited time, a 12-day run, though a new theme’s films will be uploaded every Tuesday.

Here are the lineups for the following two themes:

“Island Life” 11/18/14

L’avventura (1960) dir. Michelangelo Antonioni
Bergman Island (2006) dir. Marie Nyreröd
Lord of the Flies (1963) dir. Peter Brook
Naked Island (1960) dir. Kaneto Shindô
Profound Desire of the Gods (1968) dir. Shohei Imamura
Stromboli (1950) dir. Roberto Rossellini
Through a Glass Darkly (1961) dir. Ingmar Bergman

“Family Troubles” 11/25/14

Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974) dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder
A Nos Amours (1983) dir. Maurice Pialat
The Ceremony (1971) dir. Nagisa Oshima
The Demon (1964) dir. Kaneto Shindo
Fists in the Pocket (1965) dir. Marco Bellocchio
The Housemaid (1960) dir. Kim Ki-young
Seduced and Abandoned (1964) dir. Pietro Germi
A Woman Under the Influence (1974) dir. John Cassavetes

All films will be commercial free and selected films with include special features that allow viewers to dig deeper into the films. More information on the partnership and films can be found here.

Criterion Club: Seven Samurai, Tati Box Set, January Releases

Bernard Boo — Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Returning to corrupt your computer screen with our boundless arrogance and ignorance, CJ and I bring you the third installment of Criterion Club, in which we discuss Criterion’s January 2015 releases, CJ’s brand new Jacques Tati box set (jealous), CJ’s impressions of Seven Samurai, Videodrome, Blow Out, exploding monacles, and much more! Kick up your feet and listen to us geek out about some of the best movies in the world, and join in on the conversation in the comments section below!

Criterion Collection Announces January Titles From Maddin, Fassbinder, & More

Aaron Pinkston — Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

The Criterion Collection rings in 2015 with four great new releases and one Blu-ray upgrade. This month has an incredibly varied selection including films from independent master Guy Maddin, a great slapstick classic, and a wildly violent samurai flick.

The Sword of Doom

Kihachi Okamoto – Available January 6

A film where Japanese legend Toshiro Mifune stars as a wandering samurai who gets mixed up in a violent battle? That could describe many great films, but Okamoto’s The Sword of Doom stands out among many of them with its crazy mean streak. Mifune actually takes a backseat to Tatsuya Nakadai who plays the vengeful Tsukue, who displays a unique sword style and amoral code.

Notes and Selected Features:

New high-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
Audio commentary featuring film historian Stephen Prince
Trailer
PLUS: An essay by critic Geoffrey O’Brien

The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant

Rainer Werner Fassbinder – Available January 13

German auteur Fassbinder meets the melodrama of Douglas Sirk in this tale of forbidden love between a fashion designer and a young ingenue. With an all-female cast and Fassbinder’s dark but lavish style, the film is one of the filmmaker’s most daring and beautiful films. Bitter Tears marks Fassbinder’s twelfth release by Criterion and Eclipse – one of the highest numbers for any filmmaker.

Notes and Selected Features:

New 4K digital restoration, supervised by director of photography Michael Ballhaus, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
New interviews with Ballhaus and actors Margit Carstensen, Eva Mattes, Katrin Schaake, and Hanna Schygulla
New interview with film scholar Jane Shattuc about director Rainer Werner Fassbinder and the film
Role Play: Women on Fassbinder, a 1992 German television documentary by Thomas Honickel featuring interviews with Carstensen, Schygulla, and actors Irm Hermann and Rosel Zech
New English subtitle translation
PLUS: An essay by critic Peter Matthews

My Winnipeg

Guy Maddin – Available January 20

One of the most original filmmakers in the world, Guy Maddin had only been recognized by a Criterion release once before. My Winnipeg is a dreamlike pseudo-autobiography about Maddin’s hometown, the enigmatic central Canadian city. Moody and hilarious, the film is difficult to grasp but fascinating to experience. A great Criterion double-feature pairing is the equally bizarre Eraserhead, which is an obvious influence on Maddin’s mad world.

Notes and Selected Features:

New high-definition digital restoration, with 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
Conversation between director Guy Maddin and art critic Robert Enright
“My Winnipeg” Live in Toronto, a 2008 featurette
Three Maddin shorts, with introductions by the director: Spanky: To the Pier and Back (2008), Sinclair (2010), and Only Dream Things (2012)
Deleted scene
Trailer
PLUS: An essay by critic Wayne Koestenbaum

The Palm Beach Story

Preston Sturges – Available January 20

Personally, I’ve always preferred Sturges’ Sullivan’s Travels, but you can’t do wrong with this follow-up. Starring Sturges regular Joel McCrea and slapstick queen Claudette Colbert, the film takes the standard love-hate relationship genre to hilarious and romantic results. The Palm Beach Story also features a fantastic supporting role for screen legend Mary Astor as the Princess Centimillia. It is most notable, however, for the writer-director, whose dialogue sparkles in maybe his best pure comedy.

Notes and Selected Features:

New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
New interview with writer and film historian James Harvey about director Preston Sturges
New interview with actor and comedian Bill Hader about Sturges
Safeguarding Military Information, a 1942 World War II propaganda short written by Sturges
Screen Guild Theater radio adaptation of the film from March 1943
PLUS: An essay by critic Stephanie Zacharek

La ciénaga

Lucrecia Martel – Available January 27

The most important voice in the new cinema movement in Argentina, Martel is among the most unheralded foreign directors working today. La cienaga (The Swamp), her debut film is also perhaps her best. The film is a visceral depiction of a large upper-class family during the sticky hot Argentine summer. It is a simple narrative told with incredible complexity.

Notes and Selected Features:

New 4K digital film transfer, approved by director Lucrecia Martel, with 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
New interview with filmmaker Andrés di Tella about Martel and the film
Trailer
New English subtitle translation
More!
PLUS: An essay by critic David Oubiña

Criterion Club: December Releases, Jacques Demy

Bernard Boo — Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Because their self-involvement knows no end, Bernard and CJ have found another excuse to grace your computer and mobile screens with their mangy mugs to talk about the Criterion Collection in the inexplicable second installment of Criterion Club.

In this month’s episode, your woefully underprepared hosts discuss Criterion’s freshly-announced December releases, Bernard embarrasses himself by butchering the name of a great actress, CJ embarrasses himself by admitting to only having seen one Kurosawa film and, overwhelmed by the deluge of shame and guilt, they manage to pass the humiliation along to a third party…

Criterion Club #2

Criterion Collection Announces December 2014 Releases

Aaron Pinkston — Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

With the box-set and wishlist fodder that is typically released by the Criterion Collection each November, December tends to be lighter on must-have items. In 2013, Criterion changed that up a bit with the Martin Scorsese World Cinema box and the critically acclaimed Nashville, Altman’s first Criterion release in over 400 spine numbers. Will we have to make many last-minute changes what we’ll ask from Santa this year? But sure to check back soon for our Criterion Club discussion surrounding this announcement.

Safe

Toddy Haynes – Available December 9

The film that put eclectic filmmaker Todd Haynes on the map, Safe is an intense thriller about a wealthy housewife who becomes obsessed with her chemical sensitivity to the world around her. Julianne Moore, in a career defining performance, stars as Carol White, whose delusions/ailment leads her to a strange and perhaps dangerous cult. A relatively unseen gem, it is a great blend of genre exercise and art.

Notes and Selected Features:

New 4K restoration
Audio commentary with Haynes, Moore, and producer Christine Vachon
1978 short film The Suicide

Time Bandits

Terry Gilliam – Available December 9

Terry Gilliam’s madcap film has long been in the Criterion Collection, though its DVD release has been out of print for years. Thankfully, Time Bandits finally gets a much-needed Blu-ray upgrade. Time Bandits brings all of the weird humor and horror which defines Gilliam, but with a family film focus. A predecessor to Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, the film involves a young boy who gets caught up in a time travelling adventure with a group of dwarf bandits. The film also includes fantastic performances from Sean Connery, John Cleese and Ian Holm as historical figures and David Warner as the menacing Death. But sure to

Notes and Selected Features:

New 2K restoration, supervised by Gilliam
Audio commentary featuring Gilliam, Michael Palin, John Cleese, David Warner and Craig Warnock
Featurette on the creation of the film’s different historical periods and fantasy worlds

The Night Porter

Liliana Cavani – Available December 9

Another early-edition Criterion selection which gets a long-awaited upgrade, The Night Porter couldn’t be any different than Time Bandits. Set in Vienna following WWII, the film stars Charlotte Rampling as a concentration camp survivor who starts a sadomasochistic sexual relationship with her former tormentor. It is known as being one of the most shocking films to ever comment on sexuality and remains one of the most unique portrayals of the remaining horrors of the Holocaust.

Notes and Selected Features:

New 2K restoration
New interviews with Cavani and the film’s screenwriters
Women of the Resistance, a short documentary made by Cavani about women who lived through the German invasion of Italy

Eclipse Series 41: Kinoshita and World War II – Available December 16

Liliana Cavani – Available December 9

I’m deeply familiar with Keisuke Kinoshita’s work, but I do know that he was an incredibly important and popular filmmaker in Japan in the mid-1940s. World War II was a difficult time for film production in Japan, for obvious reason, so seeing a contemporary perspective from Japan during these years is an interesting opportunity.

Box set includes:

Port of Flowers, 1943
The Living Magoroku, 1943
Jubilation Street, 1944
Army, 1944
Morning for the Osone Family, 1946

Criterion Club: November Releases and Jacques Tati

Bernard Boo — Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

In the first episode of Criterion Club, Bernard and CJ discuss upcoming Criterion Collection releases, their recent CC purchases, and Bernard shares a story about his love for the CC that’ll probably piss off his wife.

Criterion Club #1

Criterion Collection Announces November 2014 Releases

Aaron Pinkston — Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

The November release slate for The Criterion Collection is always an important one. With the Holidays just around the corner, this is typically one of the most loaded months. Last November, Criterion released its massive 25-film Zatoichi boxset and announced the now defunct Blu-Ray/DVD dual releases. This year, releases include the Blu-ray upgrade of an Italian classic and one of the great screwball comedies.

Be sure to check out our discussion of these announcements in our Criterion Club video.

The Shooting / Ride in the Whirlwind

Monte Hellman – Available November 11

Monte Hellman, best known for the already Criterion enshrined Two-Lane Blacktop, is one of the 1960s best genre filmmakers. This double-feature includes two classic westerns, notably produced by icon Roger Corman. Ride in the Whirlwind is also notable as an early starring role for Jack Nicholson. I haven’t seen either film, but knowing Hellman’s work, this two-for-one release is exciting.

Notes and Selected Features:

New 4K digital restorations for both films
Audio commentaries featuring Hellman and film historians
Video essay by critic Kim Morgan on actor Warren Oates

It Happened One Night

Frank Capra – Available November 18

Surprisingly, It Happened One Night is the first Frank Capra film to be added to the Criterion Collection, though that may be fitting as his best work. The film, arguably the greatest screwball comedy of its time, features magnetic performances from the under-appreciated Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable in a madcap romantic adventure. This era of comedy is sorely under-represented in the collection, so this is a welcome addition.

Notes and Selected Features:

New 4K digital restoration with uncompressed monoaural soundtrack
Frank Capra’s American Dream, a 1997 feature-length documentary
Capra’s first film, 1922 silent short The Ballad of Fisher’s Boarding House

L’avventura

Michalangelo Antonioni – Available November 25

Already released on Criterion DVD (Spine #98), L’avventura‘s beautiful black-and-white cinematography will be well presented in this Blu-ray upgrade. One of the prime examples of the counter to Italian neorealism, the film is a challenging and lavish thriller.

Notes and Selected Features:

New 4K digital restoration with uncompressed monoaural soundtrack
Audio commentary with film historian Gene Youngblood
Selected-scene commentary with filmmaker Olivier Assayas
Writings by Antonioni, read by Jack Nicholson

Tootsie

Sydney Pollack – Available November 25

In the mid-1980s, women in the workplace comedies were extremely popular, with Tootsie being its best example. The satirical comedy of a struggling actor who decides to take a soap opera gig in a cross-dressed persona is as cutting today, shining a light on the way women are represented on TV and film. Both hilarious and thought-provoking, it is incredible that a film like Tootsie was ever made (and that it was so successful).

Notes and Selected Features:

New 4K digital restoration with uncompressed monoaural soundtrack
Two “making of” documentaries
New interviews with Dustin Hoffman and writer Phil Rosenthal

Les Blank: Always for Pleasure

Available November 25

Les Blank: Always for Pleasure is a 14-film tribute to one of the most important independent filmmakers in cinema. Blank’s documentaries took us to strange corners of the world, introduced us to a number of incredible real-life characters. As someone who is aware of Les Blanks’ importance but fairly unfamiliar with the films, this box set is certainly one of my most anticipated releases of this year.

Notes and Selected Features:

Box set includes: The Blues Accordin’ to Lightnin’ Hopkins (1968); God Respects Us When We Work, but Loves Us When We Dance (1968); Spend It All (1971); A Well Spent Life (1971); Dry Wood (1973); Hot Pepper (1973); Always for Pleasure (1978); Garlic Is as Good as Ten Mothers (1980); Sprout Wings and Fly (1983); In Heaven There Is No Beer? (1984); Gap-Toothed Women (1987); Yum, Yum, Yum (1990); The Maestro: King of the Cowboy Artists (1994); Sworn to the Drum (1995)
Excerpts from Les Blank: A Quiet Revelation, an upcoming documentary by Gina Leibrecht
Interviews including Blanks’ family, documentary subjects, and filmmakers.
Seven short films directed by Blank

Criterion October 2014 Releases Announced

Aaron Pinkston — Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

The Criterion Collection has made their announcement for October 2014 and to my memory, it has to be one of the best release months ever for the purveyors of fine cinema. Featuring new releases from Ford and Fellini, a Blu-ray upgrade from Welles, a boxset from one of the most unheralded screen comedians and the obligatory Halloween-release horror film, October will have a little something for everyone.

My Darling Clementine

John Ford – Available October 14

Though The Searchers and Stagecoach have more clout, My Darling Clementine is quintessential John Ford. The well-told story of Wyatt Earp and the O.K. Corral is a sharp and ridiculously fun Western tale. Henry Fonda stars as Earp, but Victor Mature steals the film as drunk downer Doc Holliday. If you are in any way adverse to classic Westerns, My Darling Clementine is a great introduction to the genre, complete with American themes, action, humor, great cinematography and music.

Notes and Special Features:

103-minute “prerelease” version of the film
New 4K restoration
New audio commentary featuring John Ford biographer

F for Fake

Orson Welles – Available October 21

The prolific filmmaker’s only stab at documentary, F for Fake is a spellbinding look at tomfoolery and fakery, all with perhaps the most boisterous performance of Welles’ career at the center. A direct predecessor to newer documentaries like Exit Through the Gift Shop, F for Fake blends traditional doc storytelling with fiction and fantasy. Previously released on DVD through Criterion, the film gets a much-welcomed Blu-ray upgrade.

Notes and Special Features:

Orson Welles: One Man Band: a 2005 documentary about Welles’ unfinished projects
Almost True: The Noble Art of Forgery: 1997 documentary profiling Elmyr de Hory, a major subject in F for Fake
Introduction by Peter Bogdanovich

La dolce vita

Federico Fellini – Available October 21

Full disclosure: La dolce vita is my favorite film, so I’m over-the-top ecstatic about its upcoming release to the Criterion Collection. Federico Fellini’s love letter to wealth and sadness is a vibrant and gorgeous film, both fun and depressing. Fellini’s extensive work in neo-realism gives a cast of characters who would be otherwise seen on reality television a deep emotional connection context. It is also among the most alluring documents of a city, in this case Rome. La dolce vita becomes a fantastic double-feature with recent Criterion release The Great Beauty, which is a great tribute to Fellini.

Notes and Special Features:

New 4K restoration
Interviews with filmmaker Lina Wertmuller and Italian film journalist Antonello Sarno on the production and style of the film
Video essay by kogonada

The Complete Jacques Tati

Available October 28

Featuring all six features from French comedy master Jacques Tati, this boxset heads to the top of my holiday wishlist. Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday, Trafic, Mon Oncle and Tati’s masterpiece, Playtime, have all been previously released by Criterion (Playtime previously on Blu-ray), but with all of these titles being out of print in their original releases, this gives us all a second chance. The set also includes seven short films and hours of bonus features, making this the absolute definitive collection of the auteur. Seeing Playtime on 70mm may still be preferred, but this is a welcomed treat. Now if only Criterion can figure out a way to get distribution rights to The Illusionist and make this totally complete.

Notes and Special Features:

New digital presentations for all six features
My Uncle, the English-language version of Mon Oncle
Interview with film historian Michel Chion on the sound design in Tati’s work
Tativille documentary shot on the set of Playtime
Multiple short documentaries and interviews featuring Tati and Tati lovers

The Vanishing

George Sluzier – Available October 28

Typically the Criterion Collection releases a major horror flick as close to Halloween as possible (recent years have included House and Rosemary’s Baby), and this year goes to Dutch psychological thriller The Vanishing. The film involves a man on the search for his girlfriend, who mysteriously disappears while the couple are on a road trip and is known for one of the most surprising and devilish endings in the genre. An early Criterion DVD release (spine #133), the Blu-ray upgrade allows us to complete forget about the mediocre Hollywood remake.

Notes and Special Features:

New 2K digital transfer
New interview with director Sluzier and actress Johanna ter Steege

A Hard Day’s Night Get’s the Criterion 50th Anniversary Restoration It Deserves

Ananda Dillon — Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

When it was released in 1964, Time magazine called A Hard Day’s Night “One of the smoothest, freshest, funniest films ever made for purposes of exploitation.” It’s hard to find a modern cultural equivalent. Clearly the multiple Justin Bieber documentaries or silly pop-star musicals like From Justin to Kelly don’t hold a candle to Richard Lester’s witty and innovative film. The closest comparison I can think of is Spice World, where the Spice Girls also played scripted versions of themselves but parodying themselves in a way that panders to their fans but doesn’t exactly break cinematic ground.

Filmed a month after The Beatles invaded America, rocking out on the Ed Sullivan show, the film follows John, Paul, George, and Ringo as clever, cheeky versions of themselves (though it’s hard to believe that they weren’t just as cheeky in real life). The fab four are making their way to Liverpool for a TV appearance, barely making it to their train as they run madly away from an adoring mob. The boys accept their celebrity good-naturedly, while acknowledging how taxing it can be. On the train Paul introduces his Grandfather (Wilfrid Brambell), a “clean” old man with a proclivity for troublemaking. The boys lock Grandfather up in the cargo area of the train, using it as an excuse to bust out their instruments and treat some fellow traveling girls to a performance. At their destination, Grandfather steals an invite to a casino while the boys shirk fan-mail duties to dance. At the rehearsal for the TV show next day, Grandfather incites further mischief by convincing Ringo he’s not living life to his fullest resulting in his last-minute abandonment of his duties, forcing his bandmates to search the city for him. Of course they make it back in the nick of time for their performance, closing out the film with iconic footage of just how crazed their fans truly were as young girls and boys scream their heads off at the cool foursome playing a few more of their incredibly catchy hits.

The film takes advantage of the boys’ Liverpool accents, upbringing, and the cheeky humor associated with the area. They poke fun cleverly at their celebrity and the nature of celebrity itself. In one sketch George wanders into a casting call where he’s told what the latest fashions will soon be, declaring them “grotty” (short for grotesque) he shirks their show and their fashion choices. The casting director consults his trend calendar after he leaves, declaring that they’d better soon fire the show’s host, as she’s likely soon to be out of style and best to be ahead of the curve. Another scene involves John running into an actress in the hall who insists he looks just like “him” (without ever saying John’s name). John denies it and a very meta sort of conversation ensues where he claims to have heard rumors of the actress and “him” but that he stood up for her. Their conversation ends when the actress claims she can’t even see the resemblance now that she thinks of it, causing John to claim “she looks more like him than I do”. It’s a hilarious, introspective, and satirical bit that not only highlights the genius of the film’s writing but also showcases just how well the young stars were able to handle themselves when tasked with the challenge of simultaneously acting while being themselves.

A Hard Day’s Night was nominated for two Oscars, Best Screenplay and Best Score, and its distinctive style influenced countless future projects from The Monkees’ TV show to the advent of music videos. What I find most interesting about the film is the way it was so perfectly suited for The Beatles. Alun Owen was chosen as screenwriter because of his mastery of the particular humor associated with Liverpool and his screenplay and its unique vignette style were the perfect way to give fans the exposure they demanded of the band, while allowing the musicians to have fun, showcase their music, and yet also gain a sincere sense of character that makes them even more loveable.

Criterion’s edition is gorgeous having used the original 35mm camera negative. It was scanned in 4k resolution and retains the film’s singularity while enhancing a crystal clear and detailed picture. The film is in its original theatrical aspect ration of 1.75:1 and sounds exceptionally awesome. The final result was approved by director Richard Lester and while it is now available for purchase on Blu-Ray/DVD it is also getting a limited release in theaters, an experience hard to duplicate, so get out and see it if you are able.

A Hard Day’s Night is opening Nationwide July 4th and will be playing at The Cinefamily in Los Angeles from Friday, July 4th until Thursday, July 10th.

A Hard Day’s Night trailer

Criterion September 2014 Releases Announced

Aaron Pinkston — Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

The Criterion Collection announced their September 2014 releases today, highlighted by David Lynch’s masterpiece Eraserhead and films from auteurs Roman Polanski and Rainer Werner Fassbinder.

Eraserhead

David Lynch – Available September 16

If there was one film not previously released by the Criterion Collection that most belongs, it might be Eraserhead, the unique experimental horror film that changed the way people thought of independent films.

Notes and Special Features:

New 4K digital restoration
“Eraserhead” Stories, 2001 making of documentary
High-def restorations of six David Lynch short films: Six Figures Getting Sick (1966), The Alphabet (1968), The Grandmother (1970), The Amputee Part 1 and Part 2 (1974), and Premonitions Following an Evil Deed (1996)
New and archival interviews with cast and crew

Macbeth

Roman Polanski – Available September 23

Noted auteur Polanski takes on the classic Shakespearean tale of ambition and revenge. Nearly all of Polanski’s films (at least his best work) features psychologically frail characters in tortuous environments. The Scottish play fits right into those themes.

Notes and Special Features:

New 4K digital restoration with uncompressed stereo soundtrack
New documentary about the making of the film, featuring interviews with Polanski and other filmmakers
Polanski Meets Macbeth, a 1971 documentary on the making of the film

The Innocents

Jack Clayton – Available September 23

Clayton’s cut horror film is another long overdue addition to the collection. The Gothic flick features a great performance from Deborah Kerr as a psychologically strained governess who suspects something untoward happening around her. With a screenplay co-written by Truman Capote, based on Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw, The Innocents is a is bizarre and bold, especially for its time. Released on the same day as Macbeth. this makes for a fine double feature.

Notes and Special Features:

New 4K restoration
Audio commentary featuring cultural historian Christopher Frayling
New interview with cinematographer on the film’s extraordinary look

Ali: Fear Eats the Soul

Rainer Werner Fassbinder – Available September 30

Previously released on DVD, Ali: Fear Eats the Soul gets a deserved upgrade to Blu-ray. A reworking of recently Criterion enshrined All That Heaven Allows, this is a brave film looks into the trauma caused when an elderly German woman begins a romantic relationship with a younger refugee from Iran. Filled with difficult themes of race, age and social class, it is the rare example of a remake that might be better than the original.

Notes and Special Features:

New 4K restoration
Introduction by filmmaker Todd Haynes
Short film Angst isst Seele auf, starring Brigitte Mir
1976 BBC program about the German national film movement

Sundays and Cybele

Serge Bourguignon – Available September 30

Sundays and Cybele is the wildcard of the bunch, the least known release in September. The film won the Academy Award for France in 1962 and involves a psychologically damaged war vet (I sense a theme…) and a neglected child which becomes an alliance of the two troubled individuals.

Notes and Special Features:

New 2K digital resoration
Le sourire, Bourguignon’s Palme d’Or winning short documentary
New interviews with the director and actor Patricia Gozzi

Way Too Indie’s Three Reasons: Films That Deserve the Criterion Treatment

C.J. Prince — Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

The Criterion Collection is home to hundreds of classic, obscure, foreign and independent films that come with the best possible picture and audio quality along with plenty of excellent special features. Their selection ranges from old Hitchcock classics like The 39 Steps to the massive amount of avant-garde works from people like Stan Brakhage or Hollis Frampton, but their goal of giving important classic and contemporary films their proper treatment has always stayed the same. After being inspired by Criterion’s Three Reasons campaign we decided to give our own three reasons why the following films deserve to get a place in the Criterion Collection.

Cashback – Dustin Jansick’s pick

#1 Freeze Time
The main character imagines that he can freeze time where he gets to freely move around and interact without anyone knowing. Originally, he does this to make time seem to go by faster at work but he ends up taking advantage of his artistic abilities by drawing the female form, clothing becomes optional. The final scene in the film is a magical one that people often experience, when time seems to stop when you kiss the one you love.

#2 Supermarket Fun
After watching Cashback, it makes you consider picking up a part time job night shift at your local supermarket. Or at the very least it shows just how much fun you can have at such mundane job. Racing down the aisles in a shopping cart and stuffing sex toys in women’s shopping bags were just two examples the film gave for mischievous adventures for the immature soul.

#3 Beauty Is Everywhere
One of the themes in Cashback is that beauty is all around you if you take the time to look for it. The visuals found in this indie film rivals other films with 10 times the shooting budget. Moving down aisles around people that are frozen in time was spectacularly done. Possibly the best scene is the 24 second clip of the main character hanging up the phone as he seamlessly transitions to falling back into his bed in a single shot. That shot took one full day of the 25 day shooting schedule to do.

Cashback trailer:

Stalker – Blake Ginithan’s pick

#1 Calm and Cool
Andrey Tarkovskiy loves his long shots and Stalker is filled with plenty of them. He lets scenes play out for minutes on end, even if it’s just three guys walking in the rusted wastelands of ‘The Zone’. At times the camera is so close to our subjects we feel as if we ourselves are walking with these men. Long takes, mixed with some lengthy tracking shots, make for some stunning cinematography. Some scenes the camera just sits and watches creating an edgy atmosphere as we get glimpses of utter magic.

#2 One of a Kind
When some people talk about a film, they sometimes say that they have never seen anything like it. I can truly say I have never seen a film like Stalker before. It’s a full blown science fiction masterpiece that contains no aliens, no ray guns, and no flying cars and somehow, the film feels very firmly cemented in the genre, practically reinventing it. While the basic premise of a man (the stalker) leading two others into ‘The Zone’ (said to have mystical powers) is all that happens, Stalker is about so much more.

#3 Magnetism
Stalker is brutally slow at times. There are times where you feel like time isn’t moving at all. But you don’t care because Tarkovskiy draws you in with unrivaled power. You are drawn into the lives of these three souls as they walk seemingly forever in a barren land where only a glimmer of hope exists. Tarkovskiy’s atmosphere is heightened by this. At times the characters don’t know what lies ahead of them and the tension is very palpable. A rare film where you literally don’t know what’s going to happen next.

Stalker trailer:

Sombre/La Vie Nouvelle/Un Lac – CJ Prince’s pick

#1 The Mind of a Killer
Philippe Grandrieux is a French director whose experimental films are criminally underseen. His debut feature Sombre follows a serial killer across France who goes into a crisis when he encounters a woman that he can’t bring himself to murder. It could be looked at as a (very, very screwed up) love story but Grandrieux shoots the entire film in a suffocating atmosphere, creating scenes of pure unsettling terror while achieving moments of transcendence. Sombre is the only movie by Grandrieux to get a US release, but it’s in an old non-anamorphic DVD. Releases in Europe fared a little better with picture quality but it’s impossible to actually go out and see this movie in North America properly.

#2 A Descent into Hell
His follow-up La Vie Nouvelle takes the elements in Sombre to their breaking point. Grandrieux puts his focus on visual and auditory sensations to get things across and for some La Vie Nouvelle could be seen as absolute torture. In this film we see an American visiting an Eastern European country who, after encountering a prostitute he becomes obsessed with, tries to hunt her down and buy her for himself. As the soldier travels further and further down into the seedy underworld of the sex trafficking business, the movie appears to start going off the rails entirely as we get closer and closer to its disturbing hellish climax. La Vie Nouvelle is a visceral experience that feels like a sensory overload at times, but it’s impossible to forget once you’ve seen it.

#3 A Family Disrupted
Un Lac may not have the dark storylines involving murder and prostitution that made up Grandrieux’s previous films, but it still feels as otherworldly and bizarre as Sombre and La Vie Nouvelle. Un Lac takes place at an isolated cabin where the son, who is madly in love with his sister, has to deal with a new stranger who arrives to help the family out. Despite the more human elements taking precedence here, Grandrieux’s approach hasn’t changed a bit (every scene shot in the cabin is shrouded in so much darkness it’s impossible to get a sense of what the inside looks like), creating a film that has just as much emotional resonance as his other two.

Sombre trailer:

La Vie Nouvelle clip:

Un Lac trailer:

Un Lac full streaming film: