Criterion News and Discussion

Started by Gold Trumpet, January 16, 2003, 06:18:19 PM

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Find Your Magali

Wow, I'm really looking forward to Onibaba. Sounds amazing....

tpfkabi

does anyone happend to know what the deal is with the other Tati's (like Playtime)? i remember reading that Criterion used the wrong aspect ratio......or maybe they found new footage or something.......it kinda sucks for me because i was in a Tati frenzy before the news and paid a hefty price for Playtime
I am Torgo. I take care of the place while the Master is away.

Fernando

The Criterion Crime Wave to Air on IFC.

A weekend film festival presenting some of the greatest crime films from The
Criterion Collection will appear on The Independent Film Channel (IFC) on
January 30th and 31st. "IFC presents The Criterion Crime Wave" will feature
such classics as High and Low, Tokyo Drifter, The Honeymoon Killers, Branded
to Kill, Alphaville and Man Bites Dog. A complete listing of the films,
dates and times appears on the IFC website . Viewers are encouraged to
participate in the Criterion Crime Wave Sweepstakes and play to win a home
theater system, a selection of DVDs and other prizes from IFC, The Criterion
Collection, Home Vision Entertainment and Amazon.com. Enter to win at
Amazon.com from now until February 16th.


SHAFTR

"Talking shit about a pretty sunset
Blanketing opinions that i'll probably regret soon"

abuck1220


modage

Out-of-print for some time now, The Criterion Collection will re-release their terrific version of director Stanley Donen's Charade (spine #57) in April. The film, starring Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn, has been available in countless cheapo disc releases and even as a double feature to Universal remake The Truth About Charlie, but Criterion's edition is the one to get. The disc features a new 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer (Criterion's original release was letterboxed), a Dolby Digital mono soundtrack, an audio commentary with Stanley Donen and screenwriter Peter Stone and "The Films of Stanley Donen" filmography, with an introduction by Donen biographer Stephen M. Silverman. Retail is $39.95.
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.

Ernie

Fuck yes, I've always always always wanted to see "3 Women"! Altman is the man!!! Thanks so much for the great news EEz....even with the couple rumors circulating, I still never thought they'd release it, I underestimated criterion. So is there any release date info yet??? It's enough to know it's coming out sooner or later anyway.

abuck1220

i've heard the release date as being in the spring...april maybe. the only extra is the altman commentary.

Gold Trumpet

More Godard on the horizon? From the CC forum:

New Godards + Dziga Vertov on the horizon?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A friend of JP Gorin has told me that JP's in New York right now recording audio commentary for Criterion releases of "Letter to Jane" and also possibly "Tout va bien."
------------------------------

from Craig Keller, on the Godard list:

It seems only natural that Criterion would put these two films together in a single release (a single fantastically daring release at that!) as, well, that's the way Criterion have proven themselves to operate. They don't release a single Antoine Doinel film when the whole series will do, nor 'I Am Curious: Yellow' without 'I Am Curious: Blue.' And it's almost certain that their upcoming 'Jour de fête' will include both the black and white and the color versions of the film. As such, these "sister films" by Godard and Gorin constitute what is almost certainly the most "progressive" release from Criterion since the Brakhage anthology or, indeed, the 'I Am Curious' box. Never mind the coupling of related films -- that Criterion are choosing these films at all (especially before their slated release of the much lighter 'Une femme est une femme' (1961)) is the most daring aspect of this scenario. (Does one dare even to speculate that a Godard+Gorin Dziga-Vertov-Group Films 1969-1971 box could also be a(n even unlikelier) possibility? -- i.e., a box consisting of: 'Un film comme les autres' (1968), 'Pravda' (1968), 'Le Vent d'est' (1969), 'Luttes en Italie' (1969), 'Jusqu'à la victoire' (1970), and 'Vladimir et Rosa' (1971).)

For those of you unfamiliar with 'Tout va bien' ['Everything's Going Fine'] (1972) and 'Lettre à Jane' (also 1972), allow me to paste from my Godard profile at Senses of Cinema:

====
"...'Tout va bien sees' star-cum-revolutionary Jane Fonda in the role of a disenchanted American radio reporter stationed in Paris who attempts to reconcile both her occupation and relationship with Yves Montand with Marxist ideology. 'Lettre à Jane,' on the other hand, documents a tag-team analysis between Godard and Gorin in voice-over of the notorious photo taken of Fonda commiserating with a group of Communist North Vietnamese. The film brings Fonda's activities and history into relief as, among other things, just another variety of bourgeois dilettantism; the same could be (and has been) argued of 'Lettre à Jane' itself, although the strain of self-questioning that runs through both films signals perhaps a feeling within Godard (if not Gorin) that he had arrived at an ideological impasse, whereby the practice of “revolutionary” filmmaking itself might also be perceived as a form of opportunism.

And so Godard's “retreat” from film. ..."
====

That only scratches the surface in regard to both films, of course. 'Letter to Jane' continues to be hugely controversial due to the fact that the two filmmakers essentially wrapped shooting on one film, then went forth directly thereafter with the unprecedented action of making another picture whose central focus is an out-and-out lambasting of the star of their previous film. Whether the attack is fair or savage is up for debate, but what's certain is that Godard and Gorin, at the height of their Marxist vitriol in 1972, felt that Fonda (whose star status and revolutionary interests were exploited for 'Tout va bien') was not above reproach, nor was the image of her with the North Vietnamese above ideological-aesthetic analysis. (Indeed, 'Letter to Jane' is perhaps Godard's purest meditation of that period on the idea of "the Image" -- rivaled only by his 'Le Gai savoir' (1968), which starred Jean-Pierre Léaud and Juliet Berto.) In later years, Jean Seberg (no less) would remark that what Godard and Gorin did to Fonda in 'Letter to Jane' was "unforgivable."

SoNowThen

I know, I read that this morning. News like this makes me go a big rubbery one.

So this year is looking to be:

Rohmer Moral Tales box set
Welles (either F For Fake, Falstaff, or The Trial)
Godard (Woman Is A Woman, Masculine/Feminine, 2 Or 3 Things I Know About Her, and now the Dziga Vertov group stuff).

If this all happens, I will glady take up robbery and/or drug dealing to buy all this stuff.

Good times.
Those who say that the totalitarian state of the Soviet Union was not "real" Marxism also cannot admit that one simple feature of Marxism makes totalitarianism necessary:  the rejection of civil society. Since civil society is the sphere of private activity, its abolition and replacement by political society means that nothing private remains. That is already the essence of totalitarianism; and the moralistic practice of the trendy Left, which regards everything as political and sometimes reveals its hostility to free speech, does nothing to contradict this implication.

When those who hated capital and consumption (and Jews) in the 20th century murdered some hundred million people, and the poster children for the struggle against international capitalism and America are now fanatical Islamic terrorists, this puts recent enthusiasts in an awkward position. Most of them are too dense and shameless to appreciate it, and far too many are taken in by the moralistic and paternalistic rhetoric of the Left.

cron

context, context, context.

Ernie

Quote from: SoNowThenMasculine/Feminine

Oh man, that's been one of my most anticipated films to see for like the past 2 years now, I would kill for them to release that. I actually can't remember hearing anything about a criterion release ever, what specifically was the rumor?

That's a great quote by the way SoNowThen. I was this close to getting that book but I ended up finding a copy of "Godard on Godard" just recently after getting gipped back in December with it being out of print and all. Some prick told me he had it but it never showed up. Anyway, I hope I get it this time, it's not unbelievable to me that there's some copies floating around somewhere out there. Either way, even if it's nowhere to be found, I want to get as immersed in Godard's work as possible. It's probably true, he may very well be the best ever.

Pubrick

Quote from: ebeamanIt's probably true, he may very well be the best ever.
no, that's not very likely.
under the paving stones.

tpfkabi

who is releasing the Welles' films?
i have a really cheap DVD of The Trial. very interesting shots and sets.....which is standard with Welles........someone frickin' cough up the lost print of the Magnificent Ambersons......now!!!
I am Torgo. I take care of the place while the Master is away.