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Not a Pretty Picture



Trailblazing filmmaker Martha Coolidge made her feature debut with this unflinchingly personal hybrid of documentary and fiction. Centered on an intense reenactment of Coolidge's experience of rape in her adolescence, the film casts Michele Manenti (also a survivor) as the director's younger self, and observes the actor and her castmates as they engage in a profound dialogue about what it means to recreate these traumatic memories, and about their attitudes concerning consent and self-blame. A high-stakes experiment in metacinema that broke new ground with its uncompromising examination of date rape, Not a Pretty Picture brings a stunning immediacy to questions about the on-screen representation of sexual violence and the limits of artistic catharsis.

DIRECTOR-APPROVED BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

• New 4K digital restoration, supervised and approved by director Martha Coolidge, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
• Interview with Coolidge conducted by filmmaker Allison Anders
• Old-Fashioned Woman (1974), a documentary by Coolidge about her grandmother
• English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• PLUS: An essay by film critic Molly Haskell

Between this and Imprint's release of Rambling Rose in June, it appears that much of Martha Coolidge's work is getting more recognition on Blu-Ray. Would love to see a Blu-Ray release of Lost in Yonkers down the line.

This is amazing news. A brilliant, under-seen film. It’s always a thrill when a long-unreleased masterpiece finally makes it to disc, and genuinely warms my heart to see Criterion bring something like this out.

Am I wrong in thinking Rambling Rose is possibly with Criterion?

Imprint recently announced it for Australia. Most of those titles seem to end up with Arrow or Kino in the US

Lionsgate has it in the US, so Kino is most likely, followed by a possible Criterion (can't think of any other boutiques with recent deals with Lionsgate.)