Criterion Discussion and Random Speculation Volume 7

[therewillbeblus]

You Can Count on Me is a huge announcement, bring on Margaret

[JSC]

I would say that finally bringing out the Doinel set after nearly twenty years
on DVD is pretty big. I hope they keep the original packaging art.

[mfunk9786]

Feels bad to say this, but I'm cancelling my Indicator order for Carnal Knowledge. LaBute commentary is the preferable one, despite not having heard either yet

[redbill]

I would say that finally bringing out the Doinel set after nearly twenty years
on DVD is pretty big.

Still kinda wish could get 400 Blows individual on 4k. Anyone know if that is something BFI could/might release?

[mfunk9786]

Guessing Criterion will eventually split it out, you might need to wait a year or two, but it's too popular a title not to sell individually somewhere down the line.

[beamish14]

Genuinely surprised that they wanted Neil LaBute given that he’s become persona non grata in the theatre world as a result of his conduct

[andyli]

Feels bad to say this, but I'm cancelling my Indicator order for Carnal Knowledge. LaBute commentary is the preferable one, despite not having heard either yet

I'm keeping it. Might eventually get the Criterion at discounted price as well since their package looks equally if not more competent. On the other hand the Indicator is limited and I don't want to miss the booklet.

One the other hand, I'm going for their Antoine Doinel set instead of Carlotta's. But could someone urge them to include commentary tracks for the other films as well? They don't seem to be there judging by the preliminary specs. I understand this involves creating new sets of English subs which can be very costly but it seems worth the effort given how slim extras are on the subsequent films. I also noticed that Les mistons has also been restored in 4K which is not the case on the Carlotta set, if I remember correctly.

[andyli]

Still kinda wish could get 400 Blows individual on 4k. Anyone know if that is something BFI could/might release?

They had the chance to do so back in 2022 when they issued the blu-ray but passed it up. I don't think they have ever second guessed their choices so far.

[Altair]

I feel as though everyone is sleeping on just how strong a slate this is.

[domino harvey]

It's a solid, typically loaded Summer BN sale month slate

[Beloved Aunt]

I feel as though everyone is sleeping on just how strong a slate this is.

And Austerity Criterion (seems to be) no more! Let the joyous news be spread!

[pzadvance]

Is this the first all-4K month or have we passed that milestone already

[tenia]

I believe we already had.

[DJBillyMac]

Some cool things this month, but is it just me or are they doing noticeably fewer new additions to the collection that aren't in English? Other than the Janus Contemporaries, that is, both of the last two month's slates don't have any new films that aren't either entirely or primarily in English. So far this year I'm only seeing The Mother And The Whore, King Lear (I don't know how much of that is in English), Godzilla vs Biollante, The Wind Will Carry Us, and Jean De Florette/Manon of the Spring - five releases over seven months. I think they are doing releases of good movies and they're doing a good job with them but this is a bit frustrating knowing how many great foreign films they are sitting on, in some cases for years.

[pianocrash]

Genuinely surprised that they wanted Neil LaBute given that he’s become persona non grata in the theatre world as a result of his conduct

It's no secret LaBute is a big fan of this film in particular (he was always quick to mention it in the past, frequently), and he's got a working relationship with the label in the realm of moviedom/people who want to hear him talk, so it's an eh/meh situation that will definitely earn CC some cash.

He was recently (this week!) also on a podcast discussing this very film, but I don't have the patience for whatever he seems to be doing these days (unless he lets Nicholas Winding Refn adapt Fat Pig into a 22-hour Amazon series, or something completely ridiculous like that).

As for Your Friends & Neighbors (1998, not the appleTV show) alumni, Aaron Ekhart seems to be doing okay in his cheapie action straight-to-hell weekend dad films these days - I wish CC would get wise and release like ten of them all at once in standard def a la Mill Creek for $69.99 (c'mon, Criterion Channel!) ](*,)

Also, perhaps all this LaBute-ing is basically CC fan service on their part since none of his films will probably be releasable in the collection? I guess we can always pretend

[hearthesilence]

You Can Count on Me is a huge announcement, bring on Margaret

I agree. The only thing I'm going to pass on is Carnal Knowledge, but that's a solid choice from Criterion given the devoted following it has. (I have mixed feelings about the movie, but I think Nicholson and especially Ann-Margaret are terrific.)

Margaret's been at the top of my wishlist, and I know Lonergan wants to create a new master for his preferred cut, presumably a 4K master. (Only an SD video master exists but the original film elements are still around.) Money's obviously an issue but it may also depend on Dan Gilbert.

[rrenault]

I would say that finally bringing out the Doinel set after nearly twenty years
on DVD is pretty big.

Still kinda wish could get 400 Blows individual on 4k. Anyone know if that is something BFI could/might release?

The ideal scenario for me would be a physical 4K copy of The 400 Blows coupled with the other Doinel film available to stream in native 4K on the Criterion Channel.

[spectre]

Some cool things this month, but is it just me or are they doing noticeably fewer new additions to the collection that aren't in English? Other than the Janus Contemporaries, that is, both of the last two month's slates don't have any new films that aren't either entirely or primarily in English. So far this year I'm only seeing The Mother And The Whore, King Lear (I don't know how much of that is in English), Godzilla vs Biollante, The Wind Will Carry Us, and Jean De Florette/Manon of the Spring - five releases over seven months. I think they are doing releases of good movies and they're doing a good job with them but this is a bit frustrating knowing how many great foreign films they are sitting on, in some cases for years.

Agreed – I habitually look out for the mid-month Criterion announcement on the hope that something never previously released will come out, but it seems like those titles are getting increasingly few and far between. The Mother and the Whore was my one long-hoped-for release this year, albeit accompanied with the disappointing realisation that we're unlikely to get anything else by Eustache. Looking back through the calendar, the last ones that fit this category for me before that were Not a Pretty Picture in August and the Sembène set in May. That's three purchases in over twelve months.

Hopefully we get Four Nights of a Dreamer and The Asthenic Syndrome sometime in 2026, but an exciting Criterion release is increasingly becoming a rarity for those of us who don't get as thrilled by upgrades.

[Mr.DarjeelingLimited]

Some cool things this month, but is it just me or are they doing noticeably fewer new additions to the collection that aren't in English? Other than the Janus Contemporaries, that is, both of the last two month's slates don't have any new films that aren't either entirely or primarily in English. So far this year I'm only seeing The Mother And The Whore, King Lear (I don't know how much of that is in English), Godzilla vs Biollante, The Wind Will Carry Us, and Jean De Florette/Manon of the Spring - five releases over seven months. I think they are doing releases of good movies and they're doing a good job with them but this is a bit frustrating knowing how many great foreign films they are sitting on, in some cases for years.

Agreed – I habitually look out for the mid-month Criterion announcement on the hope that something never previously released will come out, but it seems like those titles are getting increasingly few and far between. The Mother and the Whore was my one long-hoped-for release this year, albeit accompanied with the disappointing realisation that we're unlikely to get anything else by Eustache. Looking back through the calendar, the last ones that fit this category for me before that were Not a Pretty Picture in August and the Sembène set in May. That's three purchases in over twelve months.

Hopefully we get Four Nights of a Dreamer and The Asthenic Syndrome sometime in 2026, but an exciting Criterion release is increasingly becoming a rarity for those of us who don't get as thrilled by upgrades.

Werckmeister Harmonies, I Am Cuba, and Farewell My Concubine all on 4K were pretty big announcements I thought.

[Captain Paranoia]

Genuinely surprised that they wanted Neil LaBute given that he’s become persona non grata in the theatre world as a result of his conduct

It's no secret LaBute is a big fan of this film in particular (he was always quick to mention it in the past, frequently), and he's got a working relationship with the label in the realm of moviedom/people who want to hear him talk, so it's an eh/meh situation that will definitely earn CC some cash.

He was recently (this week!) also on a podcast discussing this very film, but I don't have the patience for whatever he seems to be doing these days (unless he lets Nicholas Winding Refn adapt Fat Pig into a 22-hour Amazon series, or something completely ridiculous like that).

As for Your Friends & Neighbors (1998, not the appleTV show) alumni, Aaron Ekhart seems to be doing okay in his cheapie action straight-to-hell weekend dad films these days - I wish CC would get wise and release like ten of them all at once in standard def a la Mill Creek for $69.99 (c'mon, Criterion Channel!) ](*,)

Also, perhaps all this LaBute-ing is basically CC fan service on their part since none of his films will probably be releasable in the collection? I guess we can always pretend

I remember I used to dream of Your Friends and Neighbors and The Shape of Things getting releases from (at least) Kino Lorber (both often come to mind when I think of films unavailable on Blu-Ray) and then I was reminded of his controversies and basically forgot about that. Maybe Imprint could release them on Blu-Ray?

Speaking of the Kino deal, I sometimes think of the missed opportunities for Kino to release the PolyGram and October/USA titles that Focus owns (I was going to mention Savoy before I realized most of their films I can think of are available on Blu-Ray).

[andyli]

Agreed – I habitually look out for the mid-month Criterion announcement on the hope that something never previously released will come out, but it seems like those titles are getting increasingly few and far between.

How do you define “never” though? They announced You Can Count on Me in this slate, whose only previous release was a 2001 DVD. If you think a lackluster edition released 24 years ago somehow makes Criterion’s rescue less worthwhile I don’t know what to say. Looking at Janus’ recently acquired films I see a lot of stuff, many of them foreign, are potentially ready to debut or return on disc after long absence in the coming months. I don’t think Criterion is doing bad at all in this regard.

[spectre]

Not questioning You Can Count on Me is a significant upgrade and in an entirely different category from, say, the umpteenth release of Barry Lyndon or The Big Heat (that's the stuff that really makes my eyes glaze over). But when I said "never", I meant titles like The Mother and the Whore, The Asthenic Syndrome, Rivette's L'amour fou, Not a Pretty Picture – films you literally couldn't (or, in Muratova's case, still can't) find anywhere on disc in English-friendly editions. The fact that Criterion is bringing out one or two of these a year is still great, don't get me wrong, but I do wish they were at least a little more active in this space.

I think DJBillyCrash is right that it's the non-English-language offerings that have been more underwhelming and that they have been doing better work with bringing English-language films out of the vault (even if a lot of those haven't grabbed my interest, Killer of Sheep is the standout of their upcoming slate). I don't pretend my taste is reflective of anyone else's, but there's no question there's a curatorial philosophy at play now that has come at the expense of their auteur world cinema slate and that leaves most of the "discoveries" to other labels – who thankfully are picking up some of the slack.

[Captain Paranoia]

Some cool things this month, but is it just me or are they doing noticeably fewer new additions to the collection that aren't in English? Other than the Janus Contemporaries, that is, both of the last two month's slates don't have any new films that aren't either entirely or primarily in English. So far this year I'm only seeing The Mother And The Whore, King Lear (I don't know how much of that is in English), Godzilla vs Biollante, The Wind Will Carry Us, and Jean De Florette/Manon of the Spring - five releases over seven months. I think they are doing releases of good movies and they're doing a good job with them but this is a bit frustrating knowing how many great foreign films they are sitting on, in some cases for years.

Agreed – I habitually look out for the mid-month Criterion announcement on the hope that something never previously released will come out, but it seems like those titles are getting increasingly few and far between. The Mother and the Whore was my one long-hoped-for release this year, albeit accompanied with the disappointing realisation that we're unlikely to get anything else by Eustache. Looking back through the calendar, the last ones that fit this category for me before that were Not a Pretty Picture in August and the Sembène set in May. That's three purchases in over twelve months.

Hopefully we get Four Nights of a Dreamer and The Asthenic Syndrome sometime in 2026, but an exciting Criterion release is increasingly becoming a rarity for those of us who don't get as thrilled by upgrades.

Ideally, we could get a Makhmalbaf or an Weerasethakule in 4K this year/next year or something off this ever-expanding list I created in the near future.

(Update: I can't believe I barely touched that list in a while, there is so much that slipped my mind when I first made it).

[spectre]

Hear hear. A Moment of Innocence, in particular, is high up on my holy grail list at this stage.

[Matt]

I habitually look out for the mid-month Criterion announcement on the hope that something never previously released will come out, but it seems like those titles are getting increasingly few and far between.

The thing is, Criterion kind of used to be the only game in town for this kind of thing. Now you've got many other boutique labels releasing things that have never seen the light of day: Deaf Crocodile, Indicator, and Radiance chief among them. Criterion is now in the position of again being a trusted partner of most of the major studios just like they were in the laserdisc days. So for every likely big seller like Risky Business or Bound they can rescue a nearly lost film like Not a Pretty Picture or Victims of Sin or an overlooked studio film like Chilly Scenes of Winter or Chose Me.

That said, their former bread and butter of European art cinema and classic Japanese cinema is now pretty overlooked, and they are sitting on a huge pile of these films, content to just throw them on the Channel.

Captain Paranoia, your list reminded me how I sigh every time I look at my DVD shelf and see all the Dardennes, Sokurov, and Claire Denis films that have only been released on that format. Some of our greatest living filmmakers, and yet!