Fun City Editions

[Matt]

A 35mm print of The Coca-Cola Kid screened here earlier this year, programmed by a very enthusiastic Andrew Bujalski. The post-screening discussion got a little awkward when one of the audience members turned out to have written his thesis on Makavajev and corrected Bujalski's claim that the film was a mainstream success. TBH I don't see how it could've been—Roberts' performance is spectacularly odd in a way that probably would've bewildered a lot of mainstream viewers

It’s certainly true that it was not a mainstream success theatrically, but anecdotally I remember it being on premium cable (Showtime or The Movie Channel) ALL THE TIME in the latter half of the ‘80s. It was one of the many “racy” bait-and-switch late-night regulars like The Last American Virgin and Losin’ It that I watched confusedly in the darkened living room with the sound turned down low. Bujalski, who is close to my age, might have had a similar experience and remembered the film as being more popular than it actually was.

[furbicide]

I hardly ever buy discs solely for the special features, but Fun City’s new blu-ray release of Bilitis may prove an exception – the audio commentary from Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Josh Nelson sounds fascinating, and I’m keen to check out Samm Deighan’s accompanying essay too. Has anyone else here picked it up?

[domino harvey]

You really do not want to own a David Hamilton movie. Trust me on this one

[Glowingwabbit]

I hardly ever buy discs solely for the special features, but Fun City’s new blu-ray release of Bilitis may prove an exception – the audio commentary from Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Josh Nelson sounds fascinating, and I’m keen to check out Samm Deighan’s accompanying essay too. Has anyone else here picked it up?

Yes it's a great release. I had already purchased it before knowing anything about David Hamilton, but thankfully the commentary does spend time on David Hamilton's rape allegations.

[furbicide]

You really do not want to own a David Hamilton movie. Trust me on this one

Because he’s a bad filmmaker, or because you should expect a visit from the local constabulary?

For what it’s worth, I have seen Bilitis, years ago, and didn’t think much of it at the time (admittedly, it was a murky English-dubbed transfer put out by some bargain-basement Australian DVD label). But I find the apparent attempt here to treat it as a film worthy of serious consideration intriguing, and do have a lot of time for these critics. For better or worse, it’s a pretty bold choice to be bringing this film out now...

(Incidentally, in case anyone’s interested, Catherine Breillat talks about her work on the film – which she calls “appallingly bad” – here: https://www.gala.fr/l_actu/news_de_star ... ton_380086)

[Calvin]

Fun City will be releasing Cutter's Way

[therewillbeblus]

Fun City is really becoming one of the most interesting labels. I recently watched The Coca-Cola Kid, which adopted a peculiar strategy of adopting a radically unconventional narrative and alienating characterization, but in an understated, soft execution. I'm not sure it quite works, but it's fascinating as a piece of alien media in a vacuum. And as The Fanciful Norwegian aptly noted, the postscript is amazing and is emblematic of the blithe eccentricity unrooted and floating aimlessly but with intentional passion. I don't really know what to make of it, but these are cool discoveries regardless of whether or not they're flat-out masterpieces like Jeremy or merely interesting films.

[L.A.]

The Coca-Cola Kid @ Beaver

[John Cope]

I have never heard of Heartbreakers before (it barely shows up on google unless you layer on key words/people!) but it sounds like another hidden gem from what I'm able to glean from critics who saw it at mid-80s festival circuits

Heartbreakers is one of my favorite films of the 80's. A great portrait of male intimacy and the art scene in mid-80's L.A. I cannot recommend checking out the classic Tangerine Dream score highly enough. Now if only someone will similarly rescue Peter Coyote/Walter Salles' A Grande Arte/Exposure.

[therewillbeblus]

Funny, along those lines I was just thinking that Fun City would be the perfect label to release The Music of Chance stateside- I'll check them both out, stat

[Finch]

The new release of Heartbreakers is going to have a mid-film sex sequence fully reinstated, reportedly 30 seconds were cut.

According to a 21 Sep 1984 LAT article, the film received a preliminary X-rating from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) for a sex scene involving “Blue,” “Eli,” and “Candy.” Roth cut much of the “sexual interplay” and the film was released with an R-rating.

[therewillbeblus]

Of course VG would go to any lengths to restore and reinstate all the sex

[swo17]

I don't know if VG is supposed to mean Vinegar Syndrome, but it's your beloved FCE that's putting out Heartbreakers!

[therewillbeblus]

Hey, I’m not complaining about the restoration of artistic intentions (or more sex), but yeah I have frain bog

[Aunt Peg]

Anything with Peter Coyote is always worth watching. One of the most under appreciated actors around and one of the very best.

[therewillbeblus]

Fun City also released Frank Perry's Rancho Deluxe, a critically maligned film that I also thought was wonderful.

I liked this too, and it's definitely within Fun City's wheelhouse of subtle, muted comedies, though for the same reason I understand why it flopped. The humor is so dry, and the tones waver in messily unprompted executions, that only when I added subtitles was I fully able to appreciate some of the dialog's wit, let alone proposed function. In particular, Elizabeth Ashley and Clifton James light up the film whenever they appear on screen, lethargically bantering about ideas to spice up their insipid existences. Ashley is especially great and her character's level of engagement could summarize the film (and the label!)'s ethos - a dim light, but a striking one if we choose to look at it. Charlene Dallas is also quite good in her supporting role, with a couple winning deadpan-lite lines that feel real, and are funny under such social conditions; unexpected responses disrupting the unwritten rules with a barely-confounding breezy grace, prompting double-takes that aren't even confidently convinced they should turn on the second take.

This is a particularly effective approach of earnestness because it allows for airy comic bits and delicate moments of tenderness to oscillate back and forth from scene to scene. So, even though Dallas and Stanton form a relationship across two brief scenes, their predicament carries a stamp of legitimacy that can be equally silly; a sincerely-pronounced meditation on feeling, and also a spoke in the wheel of ludicrous plot- where even the ultimate reveal doesn't denounce the information we and they received from one another in the earlier pockets of mini-drama. Now that I reflect back on it, Bridges and Waterston are handedly the worst and least-interesting characters in the movie, and it's strange kind of label-appropriate joke that they quietly dissipate into the margins of the film as other, more interesting, but no less significant characters enter and form relationships to the action and one another. This is the kind of film where everybody falls short of their own and others' (populist audiences included) expectations of who or what they 'should' be, but it does so in a way that's not demeaning, mean-spirited, or exaggerated, instead opting for a genuine, soft-hearted, and open presentation.

Such openness can read as too baggy to some viewers, and I'm as guilty as anyone of occasionally interpreting this kind of expressive delivery as lazy half-measures instead of an intentional low-key vibe that captures more authentic, restrained interactions. But I think, if nothing else, this label has greatly assisted me in tuning into aspects of movies that operate this way, and recontextualizing these moments as strengths worth meditating on rather that weaknesses not giving me what I want to squeeze more out of under genre or narrative expectations. I can't put my finger on the commonality between all Fun City's films, but there is one, and I'm really excited to see how their future releases add to this spirit. I'm not sure if it's been done, but this is the first time I've actually thought it would be an interesting idea to write an essay on the themes and energy of a physical media label, as if it's an auteur of collecting and releasing different films in a manner that redefines their value individually under a collective front of experiential conditioning. Consequentially, I'm disappointed it's the only VG partner label to get its own thread and then have it filtered back into the pile, since it's so singular and worthy of exploration independent of VS et al.

Maybe one day I'll write something- but the more of these Fun City releases I watch, the more I notice myself thinking of them as byproducts of a label and assessing them along those lines- and there's something cool and fitting about that process since they're all neglected low-ambition gems that breathe with a specific, comforting temperament of life, and provide opportunities to hang out with in eclectic ways. That said, I didn't like Bilitis, so they can't all be winners- even if I could make a case for that as a loose and laid-back introspective narratively-subversive and/or diversely-tonal flick in its own right!

[therewillbeblus]

I have never heard of Heartbreakers before (it barely shows up on google unless you layer on key words/people!) but it sounds like another hidden gem from what I'm able to glean from critics who saw it at mid-80s festival circuits

Heartbreakers is one of my favorite films of the 80's. A great portrait of male intimacy and the art scene in mid-80's L.A. I cannot recommend checking out the classic Tangerine Dream score highly enough. Now if only someone will similarly rescue Peter Coyote/Walter Salles' A Grande Arte/Exposure.

I loved this- totally within Fun City's wheelhouse of soft meditations on psychosocial vulnerability from a respectfully objective distance, and also a nuanced look at people with a self-destructive edge that refuses to define their entire personality. Coyote's character is particularly complex in this regard, but you have to really look for the realistic shades that are impulsively problematic and also maturely restrained, since they oscillate from scene to scene without drawing loud attention to either demeanor or their dissonance as a bipolar aspect of character. We're not working with polarities, but a human being who is many things, many of which he doesn't know himself. The film recognizes that invaluable asset of unconditional love is integral for us to sustain ourselves in such isolated existences of agonizing dysphoria. Which is not to say that life is pain, but that we are sensitive beings, who are ultimately alone and yet need others to survive our neuroses. The ending is powerful, and while it's a bit overtly spelled-out in dialog, that doesn't make the revelations any less honest or authentic to the dynamic, stressing their compatibility with an almost unbelievable (but sublimely believable in its optimism for platonic soul mates) simpatico around a shared evolution of expressive skills and ability to receive the other's truth. You only feel hate for people you care about enough to love, and acknowledging both and all thoughts and feelings in between is just another onion layer peeled back on the journey towards deeper intimacy and bountiful self and collective knowledge.

[rapta]

I wrote thoughts somewhere here (I think the separate Fun City thread got filtered back into this one?) but I liked both Born to Win and The Coca-Cola Kid, though neither will be eligible for sale prices. Walking the Edge is a blast, Smile is a good satire (much better than the comedic failure mockumentary Drop Dead Gorgeous) and I Start Counting! is an absolute masterpiece, though I have the BFI edition (if you're region free, I think it's supposed to have more extras). Don't sleep on that one- it's also a film that inverts whatever genre you think it is (horror, mystery, coming-of-age pic?) and becomes anti-genre in the most profound, unsettling, and satisfying ways

Is this the right place to ask - definitively - which Fun City Editions are Region Free (whatever the specs say)? I already got hold of Morvern Callar, and there are a couple of other FCE titles that people have said are Region B friendly, namely Walking the Edge.

However, I'm a bit confused as to whether Born to Win is or not. The DVD-Beaver review says it's Region Free, as does DVD-Compare, but two different users on Blu-ray.com have listed it as unplayable for Region B. Does it depend what player you have?

Only asking as I bought the VS edition of Patty Hearst due to lots of testimony that it was Region Free, despite saying it's Region A locked on the back of the release...

[therewillbeblus]

Is this the right place to ask - definitively - which Fun City Editions are Region Free (whatever the specs say)? I already got hold of Morvern Callar, and there are a couple of other FCE titles that people have said are Region B friendly, namely Walking the Edge.

However, I'm a bit confused as to whether Born to Win is or not. The DVD-Beaver review says it's Region Free, as does DVD-Compare, but two different users on Blu-ray.com have listed it as unplayable for Region B. Does it depend what player you have?

Only asking as I bought the VS edition of Patty Hearst due to lots of testimony that it was Region Free, despite saying it's Region A locked on the back of the release...

blu-ray.com is usually pretty good at updating region coding for recent releases as they playtest them. All the ones you've listed as being region free are listed as such on their site, regardless of whether they say they're locked on the packaging. Unfortunately Born to Win is listed as "region A, (C tested)" which to me indicates that B has been tested and it won't play. I'd go to the releases' pages there for your questions about region-locking- it's what I do and I have yet to be pointed in the direction of a more comprehensive and reputable website that tests and updates information regularly.

However, (I know, I know, you've heard it all before- but) I'd also just buy a region-free player because it's worth paying the extra small change to not have to worry about what you buy and have the freedom to get the best releases of the films you love from around the world. If you ate cash on buying just three-ish boutique movies during sales that won't play on your machine, that money could have paid the fees for hacking a player on the 'net. Just sayin

[swo17]

I just checked and Born to Win will not play in a Region B-locked player. I can test other titles if I have them

[therewillbeblus]

Natural Enemies interests me.

It's a strange and unclassifiable film, avoiding any clear categorization in a manner that's reflexively communicated in an early scene where Holbrook sits down with an astronaut at his magazine press. The astronaut wants Holbrook to produce an article about the overwhelming experience of vitality the spaceman had on his otherworldly adventure, and Holbrook cynically responds that no medium we have could ever express such a sensation. That seems to be the ethos here, both in the themes of the film and the approach by the filmmaker: That agitation of overwhelming stimuli that numbs us as we face our existential crises, born from life failing to meet the expectations of our various desires and needs. Just like Holbrook and his magazine are impotent to vocalize these dense feelings, the film's grammar doesn't even attempt to rise from its languid energy. The film is fatigued at the task of contending with life on life's terms, just like its protagonist. We're clinically blended with his subjectivity- as Holbrook's perspective is that two people must engage together for meaning to occur, discounting the astronaut's meaningful story because it doesn't gel with Holbrook's definition of meaning being one that thwarts his loneliness. This isn't something the filmmaker necessarily shares, but it rather feels transparently placed to exhibit the skewed outlook infected from mental health deterioration. Whether or not viewers will be able to endure this film and come out the other side with a positive review depends on their ability to appreciate films that are so aggressively alienating. I fall somewhere in the middle- it's an interesting movie but one that stumbles and potentially fails to abide by its own logic by the end.

The film's greatest strength is in how it simultaneously beats us and Holbrook down with the fatalistically tragedy of his inability to articulate suburban malaise. However, the final act boils things down from the fantasies of Holbrook's exit from life into the banality of life's muck, and then frustratingly engages in some conversations where these ideas are articulated with a degree of simplified pronouncement and obnoxious TV-movie didacticism. At the other end of this incredibly depressing film is a somewhat inspiring revelation that -despite not having answers, or being so powerless over our pleas to avoid being flooded by the stimuli of life- when we come together intimately with another person who is willing to engage us on that level, we can become liberated with a lucidity around the actual reduced size of our problems.. Then the film reverts back into nihilistic terrain from inherent disconnect, a gravity far stronger than any hope could ever produce, and it's an even more unsettling ending because of the elision between the final speech and the written denouement. This is itself a sick joke, likely a wink at all the preceding talk of how printed information cannot illuminate all the complexity of experience occurring intangibly and desperately in the margins of our psychological space and in the vacuity of our souls. So maybe this undercuts the didacticism and renders it as a pathetic TV movie after all. Maybe it's brilliant for its follow-through on the pump-fake of its unevenness' mirage. I'll have to see it again to diagnose, but I'm not sure if I can stomach another go of this film any time soon. Recommended with hesitation- you have to be in the mood for this one, and it might ruin your day anyways!

[Glowingwabbit]

I'll have to see it again to diagnose, but I'm not sure if I can stomach another go of this film any time soon. Recommended with hesitation- you have to be in the mood for this one, and it might ruin your day anyways!

Great write up. I've seen this last point mentioned by a lot of people. I've been a FCE completionist up to this point (most have been blind buys), but this is the first title that I might skip. I'm gonna watch it but I'm not sure if it's something I'd ever watch more than once.

[therewillbeblus]

I'm going to buy it because I do think it'll be a rich film to revisit, if only for list projects or the commentary. With less than 24 hours having passed since my viewing, I'm already feeling liberated from its sinkhole energy and curious to return to it at some point. I also didn't mention that a lot of the film is comprised of Holbrook's existential voiceover commentary, or 'B-plot' thought-provoking conversations with peers (including a powerful moment where Jose Ferrer tells a story), which are dense with ideas, and I definitely got the sense that I'll pick up new significant aspects of the film and its themes upon future watches.

As far as replayability or quality of films released by FCE goes, this is somewhere in the middle for me. Having just finished going through their entire catalogue, I've been meaning to post a ranking of the films they've released so far, but since the label'd dedicated thread has been funneled into this one, I'm not sure how organized it'll be if I decide to follow through on the label analysis I talked about after my Rancho Deluxe viewing. Either way, I may post a ranking here later on and then just come back and revise the post as the label keeps going

[Glowingwabbit]

As far as replayability or quality of films released by FCE goes, this is somewhere in the middle for me. Having just finished going through their entire catalogue, I've been meaning to post a ranking of the films they've released so far, but since the label'd dedicated thread has been funneled into this one, I'm not sure how organized it'll be if I decide to follow through on the label analysis I talked about after my Rancho Deluxe viewing. Either way, I may post a ranking here later on and then just come back and revise the post as the label keeps going

You may have convinced me to just pick it up. I always grab the slipcover so worse case scenario I can sell it off later and recoup what I paid.

I would definitely love to see a label analysis. I really love Hertzberg's curation so hearing from someone else who has also really taken to the label's continuity of themes and aesthetic would be great. Maybe if you get it started a mod will spin it off into its own thread.

[beamish14]

Amityville Horror 4k, Iceman Cometh BD from VS; Ozploitation film Fair Game BD from Dark Star and Saturday Night at the Baths from Altered Innocence

cover and specs for Married to the Mob

Region A Blu-ray
New 2K restoration from its 35mm interpositive
“A Simple Appreciation of Life,” a newly filmed video interview with star Matthew Modine
“It Barreled into My Life,” a newly filmed video interview with star Mercedes Ruehl
“Writing Married to the Mob,” a newly filmed video interview with writers Barry Strugatz and Mark R. Burns
Image gallery
Theatrical trailer
Booklet with new essays by writer and podcaster Jourdain Searles and DJ and writer Margaret Barton-Fumo
Newly recorded audio commentary by Danielle Henderson and Millie De Chirico of the I Saw What You Did podcast
English SDH subtitles

What an incredible contrast to Kino Lorber’s shit Blu