Criterion and Netflix and Amazon

[therewillbeblus]

Yet Starting Over will still be talked about; I mean, it's still being talked about all these years later, isn't it?

I'd be surprised if many people on this forum had even seen the latter, or heard of it at all before some recent championing. I sure hadn't until I did some digging a year or two ago on this forum, and if this forum didn't exist I probably never would have discovered it.

Short answer: No, unless you're referring to on this forum in recency (mostly resigned to posts of me hoping for it to be released), in which case, sure?

I'll just say again, hopefully more clearly, that I have no qualms with a plug for these Amazon films to get released. I am worried about the implications of what I see as clues for a potentially disturbing shift in business model, and because Criterion has only so many resources to funnel their output, I am speculating that the consequences for further slowing down an already evaporating market of old titles by adding more modern awards-contenders is alarming. That's all.

[Jgh8xxx]

I guess this is where we're at... the Oscars now gaining prestige by associating themselves with Criterion.

100% this. It's no coincidence this happened during Oscar voting, or that this announcement for Netflix titles happened during the second phase of voting last year-
https://www.indiewire.com/2020/01/netfl ... 202205790/

Amazon and Netflix are aligning themselves with Criterion for the prestige the label offers, full stop. My how I only wish THE INVISIBLE LIFE OF EURIDICE GUSMÃO had been nominated last year so we could have gotten a release (there's no English friendly physical copy in the world

[Big Ben]

I'll just say again, hopefully more clearly, that I have no qualms with a plug for these Amazon films to get released. I am worried about the implications of what I see as clues for a potentially disturbing shift in business model, and because Criterion has only so many resources to funnel their output, I am speculating that the consequences for further slowing down an already evaporating market of old titles by adding more modern awards-contenders is alarming. That's all.

If you'll allow me to play Devil's Advocate here I think it might be worth pointing out that if Criterion does more things with more currently visible films that don't need a ton of leg work to put out it would certainly open the window financially for more obscure titles. A film from India from the sixties for instance is going to need more work than say, One Night in Miami. I realize my hypothesis isn't exactly scientific but I think it bears repeating that sometimes good things can come from things like this.

[therewillbeblus]

I mentioned that in my first post about this

I get the argument of releasing popular titles so that ___ can happen, but this seems to be growing a bit beyond the need

so I understand and respect that point. I’m fearful of the disproportionate skewing, and possible sacrifice of other opportunities in the process of prioritization (including random speculation of how this could have been an indirect swapsie with Paramount for all we know)

[Drucker]

I'm completely just guessing, but it seems that Fox and Paramount could be major studios that are licensing far less or not at all these days. If those major labels are just having their portion of the slate displaced by the streamers, no big deal overall. Studios are moving things to streaming platforms, and streaming platforms are finding ways to extend the shelf life of their content by giving it a physical release?

[Maltic]

I suppose Criterion was going to switch focus from films/cinema to "content" sooner or later.

[Ribs]

The original article was corrected to clarify that the Sound of Metal release is tentatively scheduled for next year and the other two are coming this year.

I think there is definitely a real possibility of an issue if Criterion maintains its “the three or four most appropriate movies” with these companies every single year - as that ends up at 15 releases and fully 25% of the slate. If, for example, Amazon has licensed Time, One Night in Miami, Sound of Metal, I’d expect they will take at the very least Mank, Da 5 Bloods, and Dick Johnson is Dead from Netflix (can see them interested in I’m Thinking of Ending Things and Forty-Year-Old Version as well, but just limiting the thought experiment, then from Neon I think they’d probably be happy to take some of their great foreign language slate this year which otherwise seem certain to be Blu-less (pick from Gunda, Night of the Kings, Dear Comrades!, Quo Vadis Aida), and then from IFC they probably will take (ignoring we know Medicine for Melancholy is happening and we assume Non-Fiction is still pending) at the very least The Truth (and think MLK/FBI seems possible though Criterion’s not been overeager about their Docs). I think all of these things I’ve listed are probably happening to a greater or lesser degree w/r/t individual titles and would result in a really different Criterion release calendar much more focused on contemporary film then it’s really ever been. Not necessarily a bad thing as without Criterion other than IFC it’s hard to see these titles ever making a disc.

[Maltic]

I don't see how it could not be a bad thing tbh... if those 25% might instead go to old titles otherwise left to KLSC, or a Hong Kong push a la Eureka, or whatever?

Again though, I may be presenting a false dichotomy here, since it's comparatively easy to clean up the cigarette burns in Mank and release it without extras, + it might sell better than the older stuff.

[FrauBlucher]

We are about to enter the mid-2021 releases and still haven't gotten Atlantics and the American Factory doc that was announced January of 2020 by Netflix, and who knows if they are slated anytime soon, although I do think that Criterion's calendar is somewhat fluid.

[tonytr87]

As far as recent films, all I want is a Mank criterion. Otherwise, Criterion can stick to what they do best: preservation.

[soundchaser]

Otherwise, Criterion can stick to what they do best: preservation.

The Wong Kar-Wai set would like a word.

[bainbridgezu]

Otherwise, Criterion can stick to what they do best: preservation.

The Wong Kar-Wai set would like a word.

You know what they say: "If you love something, flay it of all character, twist its form into a hollow shambles, and shit the mutilated corpse into a French-fold doorstop."

[therewillbeblus]

Pretty sure the only words the WKW set knows is "No man steps in the same river twice"

[Adam X]

At this point, it feels like that quote should be prominently displayed somewhere in the packaging or book. Just to drive the point home.

[jedgeco]

At this point, it feels like that quote should be prominently displayed somewhere in the packaging or book. Just to drive the point home.

Second pressing title change: W̶o̶r̶l̶d̶ Different Rivers of Wong Kar Wai

[therewillbeblus]

To make it clearer, there should be a visual aid on the insert showing one river as a thin blue stream, and a second river as green and wide. That literalist picture of the quote would make a hell of a lot more sense to the final product.

[rapta]

Curiously, just noticed Sony are releasing the brilliant Sound of Metal on Blu-ray in the UK on May 31st. I'm wondering if this will be a similar situation to Certain Women before, when they released it on DVD then announced a port of the Criterion disc a couple of months later? Just seems slightly odd if they're planning releasing it on Blu-ray twice...