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Technically you're right because it does exist on DVD: I think there are at least 3 different versions available (I have the cheap Panorama disc), but there's little doubt that the Criterion release will be the ultimate one.
Also, I read somewhere that Maurice Pialat's À nos amours might be coming up shortly. It's one of the great French films from one of the greatest of French filmmakers.
Harlan County USA is also being added for May along with Viridiana, which was pulled because of a newly recorded interview which was added. The Kopple film looks loaded, and I say thank goodness, this is by far her most important film, and it's about time someone puts it out on DVD. Somehow it doesn't seem right that Havoc came out before it.
I may be the only one who's excited for the Criterion release of Linklater's Dazed and Confused. I watched this flick at the exact right time in my life, and I find myself identifying with it more and more as I continue through my youth. It's nice to see the film getting a proper treatment.
I've finally gotten around to watching all four of the Ozu DVD's from Criterion and they certaily look great, I'm afraid I've skipped the extras but for the serious fan/addict they're probably hard to beat too.
Dazed and Confused....I thiink I was too stoned to watch that. Or too stoned to remember whether I did or not. Linklater is pretty great and it's sinful that I've missed one (or, to ber honest, two or three) of his features. That's not counting Bad News Bears, which I feel okay about skipping.
As mentioned before, I'm looking forward to the Louis Malle triolgy with the hitherto rare Lacombe, Lucien.
Glad to see somebody else is a Whit Stillman fan. He has some of the most sophisticated dialogue in any recent US movies and the only other writer/director who captures the preppy youth as well has been Burr Steers of Igby Goes Down.
Originally posted by Chris Knipp
I've finally gotten around to watching all four of the Ozu DVD's from Criterion and they certaily look great, I'm afraid I've skipped the extras but for the serious fan/addict they're probably hard to beat too.
Yes, they are magnificent. Four Ozu dvds which include 5 films because FLOATING WEEDS package includes the 1934 silent and the color remake he made in 1959. Best extra: a tie between the 122-minute bio doc I LIVED BUT...included in the TOKYO STORY dvd, and the commentary tracks by Japanese Cinema expert Donald Richie on FLOATING WEEDS and EARLY SUMMER dvds. Criterion will release LATE SPRING on May 9th, 2006.
Even better: many of the Ozu films previously released on dvd in Japan without subs are now available in versions release in Taiwan and Hong Kong in NTSC format with English subs at very good prices. Titles include: AN INN IN TOKYO, THERE WAS A FATHER, THE ONLY SON, BROTHERS AND SISTERS OF THE TODA FAMILY, A HEN IN THE WIND, and many others. Yesasia.com is one place to find them, but I've found the same discs for as low as $6 on Ebay.
I hope one day we get a chance to experience the masterful films of Kenji Mizoguchi. The 10-disc "packs" available in France and Spain are only subtitled in either French or Spanish.
I'm looking forward to the Louis Malle triolgy with the hitherto rare Lacombe, Lucien.
Three remarkable films. I fell in love with MURMUR OF THE HEART when I was in my middle-teens, obviously not mature enough to fully dissect the incestuous relationship between Lea Massari and her intellectual teenage son. I recently watched it again and the film looks wonderful. Its depiction of French bourgeoisie in the early 50s is quite rich and multi-faceted. P. Kael's ecstatic review, which I re-read after viewing, is one of her best. Practically no extras on these discs though.
Speaking of Malle, I read the book he wrote about his famous three wives: Fonda, Bardot & Deneuve.
What a lurid book!
I won't say anything, lest I spoil the revelations.
The Bardot section interested me the most. I have the Criterion disc of ...And God Created Woman, and I have a secret crush on Bardot that will never go away.
She was here in Ottawa at the Marriott hotel the day after I arrived, protesting the seal hunt. (She looks nowhere near as good as she did in her sex symbol youth).
I tried to find out where she was demonstrating, but the local press, assholes that they are- loyal to King Shit Harper- wouldn't release the hotel she was holding her plea.
He refused to meet with her.
"I don't meet with celebrities with agendas".
She cried.
I was furious.
Another example of him distancing himself from Paul Martin's M.O.
But the irony is Martin met with celebs and BRUSHED THEM OFF anyway!
Bono & African Aid, anyone?
He could have at least MET with Brigitte.
He can always ignore and do absolutely nothing about her complaints which is business as usual in governments...
Sorry folks, I always get Malle and Roger Vadim mixed up: both worked with Bardot and Vadim wrote the book.
VAVA! VAVA!
Malle had an interesting life (and a better artistic career) but he didn't have as colorful a set of wives:
"Louis Malle's first marriage was to Anne-Marie Deschodt, but they broke up three years later. His first child, whose mother was actress Gila von Weitershausen, was born in Mexico in 1971. Malle's second child's mother was actress Alexandra Stewart.
"Malle married another actress Candice Bergen in 1980, and they had his third child in 1985. "
--http://www.biogs.com/famous/malle.html
Just a reminder that Kurosawa's Seven Samurai is getting a revamp for release later this year.
Some exciting titles are coming soon.
Spirit of the Beehive should bring oscar jubis some happiness.
A big Rohmer box set.
Amarcord is being re-released.
And so is Brazil, with Gilliam's 142 min. ultimate director's cut. Good thing I held out on buying it.
But I might have to replace my copies of Amarcord & Seven Samurai.
Man do I hate it when they "update" DVD releases you already have...
Fred Kaplan of the NYTimes has been a champion of good DVD trasfers. He has a July 15, 2006 story "Getting the DVD Transfer Right the Second Time Around," (warning: this link may not last) focused on how Fox Lorber botched its disc of Edward Yang's masterpiece Yi Yi but Criterion has now gotten it. . .right. If you haven't seen Yi Yi get hold of this one as soon as you can.Quote:
“Yi Yi,” the Taiwanese director Edward Yang’s lyrical comedy-drama about a family’s crises in contemporary Taipei, was arguably the best film of 2000, the worst DVD of 2001 and now — with a newly restored disc from the Criterion Collection — one of the best DVD’s of 2006.
--Fred Kaplan in the NYTImes.
Criterion DVD Yi Yi features:
Quote:
-New, restored high-definition digital transfer
-Audio commentary by writer-director Edward Yang and noted Asian-cinema critic Tony Rayns
-New video interview with Rayns about Yang and the New Taiwan Cinema movement
-Optional English subtitle translation by Yang and Rayns
-U.S. theatrical trailer
-PLUS: A new essay by Kent Jones and notes from the director
As I've said before, Criterion are doing God's Work.
The new releases always have stunning artwork/presentation.
Pabst's Pandora's Box is coming soon, a silent film that is one of my all-time faves.
and Mr. Kieslowski, a man who is incapable of making a bad movie, has his first ever Criterion release:
The Double Life of Veronique.
Check out that cover art!
3 short films by Kieslowski are also included.
Criterion keeps the spirit of cinema alive with grace, respect and excellent attention to their cinephile fanbase.
Did you guys also see the t-shirts and hats they're now selling?
I'm ordering a shirt right now.
Holy Mary Mamma Sita
Check out that $650 monster box set of cinematic treasure:
Essential Art House: 50 Years of Janus Films
That's a mother of a box set. Start saving your pennies, kids.
http://store.prostores.com/servlet/c...o/Detail?no=31
Some unbelievable films are coming soon:
Chris Marker's La Jetee & Sans Soleil
Mizoguchi's Sansho The Bailiff
A new, 2-disc set for The Third Man
Vengeance is Mine
and one film that I am over the moon over getting the treatment:
SWEET MOVIE
It's one of the weirdest, artyest, most beautifully crafted mysterious masterpieces in the history of movies.