The Criterion Channel -- Film and Content Discussion

[Blutarsky]

May 2021's slate

May 2021 is a most awesome month on the Criterion channel.

I hope a box set including all the films of Satyajit Ray being shown this month comes out later this year. This is Satyajit Ray at 100.. His time has come.

If it does, all other Criterion problems will be forgiven.

Even if we are to get a proper release/restoration of Devi I will be thrilled. It is a beautiful movie, and when I viewed it on the channel when it first premiered it was painfully rough to watch.

[Michael Kerpan]

Alas -- none of the rarer stuff I am dying to see is showing up there.

[JakeStewart]

Its encouraging that classic Fox titles have begun to show up with some regularity.

[Drucker]

Are there any DVDs anywhere of the Vittorio De Seta films currently on the channel?

[DandyDancing]

There will be.

[Drucker]

Pretty vague reply, you have inside evidence these will be an upcoming release?

[RIP Film]

How does criterion channel handle new releases? Last time I was a member they had In the Mood for Love and Mirror, but I’m guessing they don’t just automatically get the recent restorations, or do they? Are there any of the WKW “restorations” up?

[DandyDancing]

Pretty vague reply, you have inside evidence these will be an upcoming release?

Newly restored with Janus and Criterion logos. All but confirmed in my eyes.

[Noiradelic]

How does criterion channel handle new releases? Last time I was a member they had In the Mood for Love and Mirror, but I’m guessing they don’t just automatically get the recent restorations, or do they? Are there any of the WKW “restorations” up?

Don't own the WKW set, but In the Mood for Love appears to be the old version. Almost positive Happy Together and Fallen Angels are the recent restorations (as one would expect). The Mirror isn't currently available. Obviously if a film becomes available on the service after the Blu-ray release, it'll be the same restoration. If it's added shortly preceding the physical release there's a good chance it will be the same restoration. Streaming versions of some of the older Blu-ray releases are still SD. Films that have been on the channel for a long time and haven't gotten a physical release yet may be either SD or restored HD.

[yoloswegmaster]

Happy Together and Fallen Angels are playing the old versions, not the new restorations.

[Noiradelic]

Didn't know there were Criterion-licensed old versions. My bad.

[yoloswegmaster]

Coming to the Channel in June 2021.

[therewillbeblus]

The Solid Gold Cadillac and Vigil in the Night are welcome inclusions, hopefully pointing toward physical releases

[Michael Kerpan]

I believe I last watched Solid Gold Cadillac some time in the 60s....

[domino harvey]

Solid Gold Cadillac is worth it for the murderer's row of supporting That Guys occupying the office

[Blutarsky]

Hoping Pink Flamingos is at least restored. Mink Stole had mentioned years back that Criterion were going to do an edition of it, then John c. 4 years ago had mentioned Warner Archive was preparing it for a blu. Since then, silence.

[beamish14]

Hoping Pink Flamingos is at least restored. Mink Stole had mentioned years back that Criterion were going to do an edition of it, then John c. 4 years ago had mentioned Warner Archive was preparing it for a blu. Since then, silence.

Well, next year is its 50th anniversary, so let's see.

This is a pretty cool Pride Month lineup of films.

[Omensetter]

The Judy Holliday series is enormously welcome. Bells are Ringing is a masterpiece, top-shelf Minnelli. It Should Happen to You is tier one Cukor. Phffft and The Solid, Gold Cadillac are solid matinees. Her more dramatic ones—Full of Life and The Marrying Kind—are something of a slog, but at least Cukor slid a slick dream sequence in the latter.

[Wigs by Leonard]

The Pride lineup here is spectacular. The Epstein/Friedman program and the Riggs films would be enough, but BPM ("the best film I've ever seen about gay people," said Larry Kramer), a double feature of Tom of Finland and Daddy and the Muscle Academy (I haven't seen the former, but it can't be as good as the latter, a genuinely arousing and visceral explication of/tribute to the artist), the Orphic Trilogy, Cruising, and more more more? I'll subscribe for the first month in months.

[therewillbeblus]

I totally missed Quine's Full of Life too- which is mid-tier Quine, but still interesting compared to his themes of interest. Also, between a recent blu-ray release and a Channel-acquisition, Robson's worst film, the appropriately-titled Phffft, is getting some questionable love

[beamish14]

Aya of Yop City, which debuts on June 23rd, is fantastic. Extremely heartfelt and very funny movie about a young woman's yearning for self-determinism in post-colonial Ivory Coast. It would make a nice double bill with Another Day of Life, another recent animated feature about sub-Saharan Africa in the 1970's.

[bainbridgezu]

Given that the old DVD is long out-of-print, I wonder if Criterion might consider Gypsy 83 -- currently on the Channel -- for disc release. The original had some good features, but they could certainly expand with new interviews and more material on the music.

[yoloswegmaster]

Coming to the Channel next month:

Spoiler

2046, Wong Kar Wai, 2004

Across 110th Street, Barry Shear, 1972

Alice, Jan Švankmajer, 1988

Alois Nebel, Tomáš Luňák, 2011

American Movie, Chris Smith, 1999

Anatomy of a Murder, Otto Preminger, 1959

Andrei Tarkovsky: A Cinema Prayer, Andrei Tarkovsky, 2019

As Tears Go By, Wong Kar​ Wai, 1988

Being There, Hal Ashby, 1979

Belladonna of Sadness, Eiichi Yamamoto, 1973

The Bedroom Window, Curtis Hanson, 1987

Beyond the Visible – Hilma af Klint, Halina Dyrschka, 2019

The Big Sleep, Michael Winner, 1978

A Bigger Splash, Jack Hazan, 1973

The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings, John Badham, 1976**

Black Fury, Michael Curtiz, 1935

The Black Power Mixtape 1967–1975, Göran Olsson, 2011

Blow Out, Brian De Palma, 1981

Body Double, Brian De Palma, 1984

Body Heat, Lawrence Kasdan, 1981

Bombay, Mani Ratnam, 1995

Born Yesterday, George Cukor, 1950

Brick, Rian Johnson, 2005**

Chico & Rita, Tono Errando, Fernando Trueba, and Javier Mariscal, 2010**

Chinatown, Roman Polanski, 1974**

Clockwatchers, Jill Sprecher, 1997

Commandos Strike at Dawn, John Farrow, 1942

Consuming Spirits, Chris Sullivan, 2012

Cotton Comes to Harlem, Ossie Davis, 1970

Cutter’s Way, Ivan Passer, 1981

Days of Being Wild, Wong Kar​ Wai, 1990

A Day on the Grand Canal with the Emperor of China, Philip Haas, 1988

Delirious, Tom DiCillo, 2006

Drums Along the Mohawk, John Ford, 1939

Earth, Nikolaus Geyrhalter, 2019

Ernest & Celestine, Stéphane Aubier, Vincent Patar, and Benjamin Renner, 2012**

Eyes of Laura Mars, Irvin Kershner, 1978

Farewell, My Lovely, Dick Richards, 1975

Faust, Jan Švankmajer, 1994**

Film, Alan Schneider, 1965

The Girl Without Hands, Sébastien Laudenbach, 2016

The Grand Bizarre, Jodie Mack, 2018

The Hand, Wong Kar​ Wai, 2004

Hedwig and the Angry Inch, John Cameron Mitchell, 2001

Homo Sapiens, Nikolaus Geyrhalter, 2016

Hoop Dreams, Steve James, Frederick Marx, and Peter Gilbert, 1994

I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang, Mervyn LeRoy, 1932

The Incident, Larry Peerce, 1967

It’s Such a Beautiful Day, Don Hertzfeldt, 2012

János vitéz, Marcell Jankovics, 1973

Kannathil muthamittal (A Peck on the Cheek), Mani Ratnam, 2002

The King of Pigs, Yeon Sang-ho, 2011

Knock on Any Door, Nicholas Ray, 1949

The Last Angry Man, Daniel Mann, 1959

The Last Seduction, John Dahl, 1994

The Life of Emile Zola, William Dieterle, 1937**

Living in Oblivion, Tom DiCillo, 1995

The Long Goodbye, Robert Altman, 1973

Manhunter, Michael Mann, 1986

Mary and Max, Adam Elliot, 2009

Millennium Actress, Satoshi Kon, 2001

Mind Game, Masaaki Yuasa, 2004

Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation, Henry Koster, 1962

Nayakan, Mani Ratnam, 1987

Night Moves, Arthur Penn, 1975

No. 7 Cherry Lane, Yonfan, 2019

Nocturna, Adrià García, Víctor Maldonado, 2007

Notfilm, Ross Lipman, 2015

The Onion Field, Harold Becker, 1979

Othello, Orson Welles, 1951

Paprika, Satoshi Kon, 2006**

The Painting, Jean-François Laguionie, 2011**

Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud, 2007**

The Plague Dogs, Martin Rosen, 1982

Practice, Iyabo Kwayana, 2017

Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time, Lili Horvát, 2020

The Rabbi’s Cat, Joann Sfar and Antoine Delesvaux, 2011**

Rocks in My Pockets, Signe Baumane, 2014**

A Room with a View, James Ivory, 1985

Scarface, Howard Hawks, 1932

Slacker, Richard Linklater, 1990

Son of the White Mare, Marcell Jankovics, 1981

A Song to Remember, Charles Vidor, 1945

The Story of Louis Pasteur, William Dieterle, 1936

Suture, Scott McGehee and David Siegel, 1993

Swimmer, Lynne Ramsay, 2012

Swoon, Tom Kalin, 1992

Tatsumi, Eric Khoo, 2011

Tess, Roman Polanski, 1979

Thelma & Louise, Ridley Scott, 1991

This Magnificent Cake!, Emma De Swaef and Marc James Roels, 2018

Too Late for Tears, Byron Haskin, 1949

Tower, Keith Maitland, 2016

A Town Called Panic, Stéphane Aubier and Vincent Patar, 2009**

Trouble in Mind, Alan Rudolph, 1985

Twentieth Century, Howard Hawks, 1934

The Wanted 18, Paul Cowan and Amer Shomali, 2014**

The Wolf House, Joaquin Cociña and Cristóbal León, 2018

Waltz with Bashir, Ari Folman, 2008**

You Will Die at Twenty, Amjad Abu Alala, 2019

[dwk]

I don't know if they are taking the older versions down or not, but since the WKW revisions are going up on the channel next month, it might be wise to revisit any of them you've been meaning to (or listen to Tony Rayns' Chungking Express commentary if you don't have the original release.)

[FrauBlucher]

I'm glad to see they are doing a Paul Muni retrospective this month. I always thought he needed to be in the Collection. Maybe this is a precursor to that happening. My personal choice would be I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang