criterionforum.org

Border Radio

[img]http://criterion_production.s3.amazonaws.com/release_images/1741/362_border_w128.jpg[/img]

Before carving out a niche as one of the most distinct voices in nineties American cinema , Allison Anders made her debut, alongside codirectors and fellow UCLA film school students, Kurt Voss and Dean Lent, with 1987's Border Radio. A low-key, semi-improvised postpunk diary that took four years to complete, Border Radio features legendary rocker Chris D., of the Flesh Eaters, as a singer/songwriter who has stolen loot from a club and gone missing, leaving his wife (Luanna Anders), a no-nonsense rock journalist, to track him down with the help of his friends (John Doe of the band X; Chris Shearer). With its sprawling Southern Californian and Mexican landscape, captured in evocative 16mm black-and-white, Border Radio is a singular, DIY memento of the indie film explosion in America.

Special Features

-New, restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised and approved by director of photography Dean Lent and codirector Kurt Voss
-Two audio commentaries: one with codirectors Allison Anders and Voss, and one with actors Luanna Anders, Dave Alvin, Chris D., John Doe, and Chris Shearer
-The Making of “Border Radio,” a 2002 documentary featuring interviews with Anders, Lent, Voss, Doe, and Chris D.
-Nine deleted scenes
-Music video of the Flesh Eaters’ “The Wedding Dice”
-Stills gallery featuring rare behind-the-scenes photos
-Theatrical trailer and radio spot
-Bios of cast and crew
-Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
-PLUS: A new essay by music journalist and critic Chris Morris

Criterionforum.org user rating averages

Feature currently disabled

Wow, I didn't know much about this film. Given the roster of Cali-punk legends I would imagine this would be more of an Eclipse title than a full blown Criterion release (if it's something they're going to release).

As for Anders she's sort of floundered since Gas Food Lodging, working consistently but not really breaking through like she did with that film.

Eclipse title?

justeleblanc wrote:Eclipse title?

No, this seems to fit squarely in Criterion's new program of "first features by '90s indie auteurs" a la Slacker, Metropolitan, and Kicking and Screaming.

Good call.

grumblegrumbleBottleRocketgrumblegrumble

richast2 wrote:grumblegrumbleBottleRocketgrumblegrumble

at least throw in the short film br was based off of on the next anderson disc!!

Sony probably owns the rights to the short as well as the feature, so don't expect Criterion releasing that any time soon.

pzman84 wrote:Sony probably owns the rights to the short as well as the feature, so don't expect Criterion releasing that any time soon.

I doubt Sony owns the rights to the short. Why would they?

It's official,Border Radio later this year.From Criterion's web site as of 3:25 PM, EST.

Border Radio Screens in NY

This Saturday, May 20, at New York's Anthology Film Archives, there will be a rare screening of Allison Anders and Kurt Voss's 1987 independent cult film Border Radio. Set against Los Angeles's eighties punk scene, the semi-improvised, black-and-white Border Radio marked Anders's sdirectorial debut. Criterion will release Border Radio later this year, but before we do, catch it on the big screen. The Anthology event is at 3pm, at 32 2nd Avenue, in the East Village. Anders will be in attendance for a post-screening Q&A

I'm frankly surprised this is getting a Criterion release. I don't think it's anywhere near as important as the other '90s-indie-first-feature-films mentioned in this thread. It's a curiosity to be sure, but I'd rather see Bottle Rocket done properly (complete with the demo short film) before this.

And no, I haven't seen it, but I also haven't seen much written about it either and outside of a passing interest in the musicians involved don't have much of a compelling reason to seek it out. Moreover, Anders hasn't exactly shaken the world of film in the way Anderson, Linklater or even Stillman have.

Actually, my first thought was that Border Radio was going to be a bonus feature tacked on to a Criterion release of Gas Food Lodging which might've made a bit more sense.

Finally, the straw that broke the camel's back. I'm tired. This sucks. Let's please boycott this release? Alison Anders is an interesting director, but I mean Border Radio is jackass and her "career" doesn't exactly match any of the other 90s independent directors.

So many titles available and once again, we get a STAGGERING pile of crap as a major Criterion release.

(I came this close to just filling this whole damn reply with about a hundred other films not available on DVD OR VHS for that matter, but I shall resist the urge.)

And while I'm at it screw Koko. Sorry.

there's some clips of the movie here,
http://www.hipmagazine.com/border.htm

It looks like something I'd Like. I've never seen an Anders' film, except for her Four Rooms segment, I first heard of her because she was/is friends with Boyd Rice.

stroszeck wrote:Finally, the straw that broke the camel's back. I'm tired. This sucks. Let's please boycott this release?

Good news! Senseless whining now has a thread of its own!

Honestly...lets please not start that shit again.

No, I understand the opposition, as after all, Criterion owes it to Stroszeck to run all their upcoming releases by him/her first. I say we all stop buying titles we were never going to buy anyways in protest.

Yay! another release I'm not interested in. Not being sarcastic at all, I love it when there are months that I dont want one of the new CC releases, lets me catch up on my want-list.

As a person who bitched a lot in the other board, I can finally say "give peace a chance." Why am I saying this? Just got Mr. Arkadin and Young Mr. Lincoln for 45% (more when you consider no sales tax and no shipping charges for big orders) on Amazon. There are still so many movies I have to catch up on. While I do not find this title appealing, I realize Criterion is trying to keep everyone happy (look at A Canterbury Tale, which when you take away the very crappy cover, it is one of the best so far).

So, while Border Radio might not be the long-awaited Eisenstein releases, I know I will not have time complain because I will be watching the Rohmer box set. Now many of you might say I am flip-flopping. I say "fine." All I wanted to say in this post is, if you don't like Border Radio, don't buy it. And "give peace a chance." And that's the word. We'll be right back...

pzman84 wrote:"give peace a chance."

Forget it, pzman. It's America.

Sorry, I didn't mean to dredge up the old, tired debate all over again and I pretty much concur with what the flip-flopping pzman (;)) is saying.

I guess my larger point is that if Criterion were going to do any Anders release, I would think it would be Gas Food Lodging. And given the marginal status of Border Radio it seems more appropriate for the Eclipse line than anything else.

But yeah, it isn't worth griping about and "boycotting" this title won't accomplish anything. The one thing I've always liked about Criterion is that they are guided by their own unique compass and while I might not alwasy agree on their choices, I do always love the lavish attention they give all of their releases. And to be honest, with the right amount/kind of extra features I might just pick up Border Radio for a rental.

Gas Food Lodging is Sony, so it's never going to happen. At least it's another woman director introduced to the collection!

I've got to be honest, if this were a two disc set or part of an Anders double feature, I'd be a whole lot more inclined to buy it than any of the Eisenstein or Ozu box sets you all keep whining about.

Why? Because I don't happen to be a big fan of those two directors. I know, I know, they're important and "how dare I" and all that, but the point I'm making is that everyone's got completely different tastes. I'm really tired of hearing about how Criterion has been making all of these bad moves, while I'm just happy they're exploring some more recent works. Would I buy this if it weren't Criterion? Probably not. And probably not with Kicking & Screaming either, but I'm glad that at least Criterion doesn't restrict "importance" to dramas dated prior to 1985.

Everyone's got their wishlist, and given the choice between Border Radio and, say, more Truffaut or Welles, then sure, I'd prefer the alternative. But lets not knock a release just because it's an American who's still working.

arsonfilms wrote:I've got to be honest, if this were a two disc set or part of an Anders double feature, I'd be a whole lot more inclined to buy it than any of the Eisenstein or Ozu box sets you all keep whining about.

Why? Because I don't happen to be a big fan of those two directors. I know, I know, they're important and "how dare I" and all that, but the point I'm making is that everyone's got completely different tastes. I'm really tired of hearing about how Criterion has been making all of these bad moves, while I'm just happy they're exploring some more recent works. Would I buy this if it weren't Criterion? Probably not. And probably not with Kicking & Screaming either, but I'm glad that at least Criterion doesn't restrict "importance" to dramas dated prior to 1985.

Everyone's got their wishlist, and given the choice between Border Radio and, say, more Truffaut or Welles, then sure, I'd prefer the alternative. But lets not knock a release just because it's an American who's still working.

Did you not get the questionaire upon joining the forum? Had you filled that in and followed the 67 step procedure towards cinematic enlightenment and proper wishlisting you would have saved yourself the embarrassment of making the above observations. We here all subscribe to exactly the same set of films/mission statement.

Folks? Who let this guy in? [cue in mansion scene from Eyes Wide Shut]
Where did you get the secret password?

Now, if you don't mind, we'll get back to bashing the shit out of this contemporary release.

My knowledge of US punk (LA and/or New Wave or otherwise) begins and ends with Husker Du, so this looks like it will be a pretty interesting/educational release.

Plus with a 4.1 it means that Equinox's reign as champ of the lowest imdb score is going to be short-lived.

Anyone seen this who has any comments?

Do you actually take IMDB's scores into any kind of consideration??