Criterion Newsletter (Part 2)

[swo17]

Clues are supposed to have animals in them. How hard would it have been to make those dog collars?

[AALFW]

Correct me if I'm wrong but I seem to recall the Breathless Blu was announced very shortly after its newsletter hint... so if the trilogy is announced tomorrow there's some precedent for the shorter than usual hint-announcement gap...

[swo17]

There have in some cases been only a couple weeks between newsletter hint and official announcement, but it's usually more like one or two months, i.e. Three Colors will most likely be announced in July or August.

[aox]

I feel like a tool, but I have never seen any of them. #-o I have seen a few of his other films, but these have just never managed to come around for me.

blind buy?

[Napier]

blind buy?

You have no idea. You'll be wondering what took you so long to see them.

[swo17]

Buy it or we'll blind you.

[knives]

Get it for Red if nothing else. Stylistically Blue is a Double Life retread, but the story and performance more than make up for that. White on the other hand is just good.

[The Elegant Dandy Fop]

What about we few who do not care for Kieslowski? Am I damned into blind buying this lest ye blind me?

[Murdoch]

I'll be getting it but Dekalog's the only Kieslowski I really like. Three Colors didn't do much for me last time I saw it, I'd been wanting to revisit it though.

[jbeall]

What about we few who do not care for Kieslowski? Am I damned into blind buying this lest ye blind me?

Yes. If only in the hope that the extra sales will give Criterion the dough they need to acquire titles that didn't already have perfectly acceptable editions.

[Tom Hagen]

Hell, just blind buy the DVDs now.

What about we few who do not care for Kieslowski? Am I damned into blind buying this lest ye blind me?

Yes. If only in the hope that the extra sales will give Criterion the dough they need to acquire titles that didn't already have perfectly acceptable editions.

Like The Decalogue.

[Gary Gnu]

I would guess a double-clue for Danton had it not already been released. Now, I'm in for The Headless Woman as well... So Reservoir Dogs and Headless Woman- Final Answer!

[thatobscurecharm]

Yesterday, I was looking at a copy of Blue at my local store and was itching to buy it. However, a little voice told me that Criterion might be releasing it and that I should be patient. Huzzah!

[HistoryProf]

i've only seen blue - but it was over 15 years ago....any significance to the collars in the first place?

[swo17]

Probably a reference to how they collared us into believing that we would get an actual hint this month.

[headacheboy]

Collars, Colours. Just a play on words.

[Feego]

Haha, when I first saw this, I thought it meant the entire Antoine Doinel series was coming to Blu.

[Cinephrenic]

Oh, the Banana Republic catalog.

[benm]

I found the whole trilogy to be pretty trying. Euro arthouse type fare that looks good but doesn't have that much substance. So I'd say not blind buy.

[aox]

I initially avoided it for the past decade, because the people that raved about it when I was getting into film were people who were 22 years old, really into Fight Club (a film I ended up being OK with), and thought Amelie (a film I ended up thinking was OK) was the best foreign film they had seen. I sort of lumped these in with them. They talked just as glowingly about this trilogy but had never even heard of Fellini. But his other films are compelling, so I have no reason to believe these won't be.

[oh yeah]

If you like, say, The Double Life of Veronique, I'd think you'd like the trilogy as well. They're very similar aesthetically, though the trilogy is a good deal more accessible.

[Zot!]

I found the whole trilogy to be pretty trying. Euro arthouse type fare that looks good but doesn't have that much substance. So I'd say not blind buy.

What? I usually enjoy brusk dismisals of stuff, but if I can't complain about Julie and Julia, I don't think you should be able to get away with that. These are extremely well crafted films that are both entertaining and enlightening on a multitude of levels, and they are certainly not lacking in substance. I prefer the Decalogue, but these are hardly mere trifles. Please revisit and I can't imagine you wouldn't agree.

[NilbogSavant]

I'm still pulling for a double clue that includes Hong Sang-soo's Night and Day. Those headless women look like they could be from that one girl's sketchbook.

EDIT: Messed the title up.

[Jun-Dai]

I'm also in the camp that believes the trilogy to be overrated, and would not recommend it as a blind buy except for people that already know they like Kieslowski or seem like the sort of people that would fall in love with his films.

That's not to say that they're bad films. Beautifully shot parables with nice-looking actors, I would have no trouble watching them again, but Kieslowski's work generally feels a bit pretentious to me.

Blue I found to be the most beautiful of the three, but I only wish that Kieslowski had spared us actually having to hear the composition the film centres around, and had left it implied. It's about as boring a piece of music as could have been written for the film (IMO), but regardless, it would have been hard for anyone to write something that was up to the task the narrative gives it.

[oldsheperd]

They're okay but they don't live up to the hype. There is a different tone for each film. I liked White the most, it was a bit more light hearted.