criterionforum.org

The AE Blu-ray is currently going for £6.49 (or $10.25 at the current exchange rate).

I believe the phrase is "a no-brainer", though I did at least do Criterion the courtesy of waiting to see if the rumours were true.

Criterion has addressed the controversy:

Criterion on Twitter wrote:On May 22nd, a major work by Abbas Kiarostami comes to Blu-ray and DVD

At this point I haven't seen any minor work from Kiarostami...

Criterion on Twitter wrote:On May 22nd, a major work by Abbas Kiarostami comes to Blu-ray and DVD

They surely winked at us on the minor-major thing.

Oh my god, maybe this has all been a long, drawn-out hint for

That joke wasn't even funny when I told it.

You're right.

At this point I haven't seen any minor work from Kiarostami...

ABC Africa?

That blackout scene prevents it just barely from being in contention for 'minor'.

jonah.77 wrote:

At this point I haven't seen any minor work from Kiarostami...

ABC Africa?

I haven't seen it yet but the dozen of his films I've seen are all among my all time favorite...

I don't know, I think Kiarostami has actually set out to make 'minor' films on several occasions (Roads of Kiarostami, that boiling-an-egg one, his commentaries on other of his films), and he's usually quite playful about their status as such.

ABC AFRICA starts with the fax from the UN agency inviting AK to make the film, and it then unfolds, although it is unclear whether this is the film or the recce to make the film, that then became the film... So the juxtaposition of his films and their parallel 'making of' pieces is apposite...

Minkin wrote:Sheesh, couldn't they have at least put one of Kiarostami's shorts on this disc? That Interview and booklet had better be worth the extra $30 this thing costs over the AE

Well, everyone hold the phone, because we now have a reason to buy this/fall in love with Criterion all over again:

New Special Feature wrote:The rarely seen 1977 Kiarostami film The Report, which deals with similar themes

I'm sold now.

And purchased.

Nah, I think the circulating copy shows very little room for improvement:

So that's what happened to Nastassja Kinski's jumper from Paris, Texas!

Wow! That should satiate those who were disappointed in the previously announced specs (myself included). I haven't seen the film, but I love Criterion including early features as supplements. This one stars a young Shohreh Aghdashloo. Can't wait.

Watching Peter Labuza's video essay on Copy today got me chomping at the bit to nab the AE but an extra film is more than enough reason to wait for the CC release. They do know how to treat us right *most of the time anyway*.

Hey, with that sweetener I'm even prepared to say I love the cover.

(though to be honest, domino's screengrab is probably more aesthetically pleasing)

THE REPORT is a fascinating film, made while the Shah was still in power, about a marital breakdown...

A corrosive study of the domestic and professional life of a Tehran bureaucratic clerk two years prior to the Islamic Revolution. Corruption and confusion are rife, and the man's relationship with his wife has reached a crisis. Reflecting not only the seismic shifts then affecting Iranian society but also, perhaps, the director's own feelings following a recent divorce, this is one of his darkest and, in many ways, least characteristic films.

From Abbas Kiarostami: Visions of the Artist programme 2005 @ BFI, V&A etc

AlexHansen wrote:Watching Peter Labuza's video essay on Copy today got me chomping at the bit to nab the AE but an extra film is more than enough reason to wait for the CC release. They do know how to treat us right *most of the time anyway*.

Criterion should include that video piece as an extra. Well done.

Indeed, that was a worthwhile watch and I find the first theory to be quite compelling.

AlexHansen wrote:Peter Labuza's video essay

It's a great piece. Every theory seems compelling to me, and I don't think that there's a "answer," but indeed that's the pleasure of the film.

Bluray.com

Can't wait to see The Report. Given its' history, it looks amazing (improving on domino's screenshot). Too bad about the print's forced subs. Damn thoseblastards.

THE REPORT is indeed fascinating, with many of Kiarostami's familiar tropes and themes expressed more overtly and directly than in his later work, where a greater level of elision and sublety comes into play, a development driven both by the ensuing political situation and his growth to full artistic maturity... Criterion's inclusion of THE REPORT as an extra on this release is really a great gift, doing a superb service for cinephiles, especially for us followers of Kiarostami etc....