Fun City Editions

[jazzo]

This is incredibly exciting to me, and actually gives me hope that FCE will rescue CITIZENS BAND, ideally (if some miracle licensing coup were to happen) with MELVIN & HOWARD and WHO AM I THIS TIME? / TRYING TIMES: FAMILY TREE in a Demme: The Humanist box set.

A middle-aged man can dream, can’t he?

[Randall Maysin Again]

I would buy that in a second! What exactly is the problem with Citizens Band, is it music rights? Because if it is, I assume it's probably never getting a bluray or even DVD...

[jazzo]

I think so, but have never seen that confirmed, although, like LITTLE DARLINGS (another beautiful little gem that suffers from prohibitive music rights costs), it is available on iTunes for digital rental/purchase.

[L.A.]

Reviews for Natural Enemies @ Beaver and Mondo Digital

[dwk]

VS have started segregating any Partner Label releases that are properly going out of print, i.e. not just the LEs but the standard editions too:

https://vinegarsyndrome.com/collections ... t-of-print

Odd that those Fun City releases are already going OOP. (Didn't Morvern Callar and Bilitis come out just a few months ago?)

[EddieLarkin]

It's interesting that they all say:

This Fun City Editions release will not be repressed by OCN Distribution and will be considered Out of Print once the remaining units are sold.

It may be that OCN Distro only had the rights to do the first pressing, and that future ones will be handled by others, meaning they may still be available through other stores?

[criterionsnob]

There are still plenty of copies of these, so maybe it’s just a way to try and jump start sales on low sellers. Good time to pick up Morvern Callar though, if you want it.

[dwk]

It's interesting that they all say:

This Fun City Editions release will not be repressed by OCN Distribution and will be considered Out of Print once the remaining units are sold.

It may be that OCN Distro only had the rights to do the first pressing, and that future ones will be handled by others, meaning they may still be available through other stores?

Huh. I wonder if Fun City is changing distributors.

[therewillbeblus]

I've tried to write up most of Fun City Editions' catalog individually (though not all here, Jeremy and I Start Counting! are their two best films, linked posts from elsewhere on the forum), but I haven't managed to find words to describe the ones I loathed. I'm often quite charitable to road movies drenched in banal exchanges and observations, but Radio On felt vapid of feeling, and whether or not the point is to emulate the state of its protagonist doesn't make it any less grating or more interesting. The Primetime Panic set has three bad films, but the only one that's outright terrible is the JJL-led Death Ride to Osaka, which is the cushy alternative to Lilya 4-ever's earnest depiction of human trafficking. Now, nobody thinks this 80s TV movie is going to get within throwing distance of Moodysson's masterpiece, but the systems are depicted as cartoonishly savvy at trapping our subjects, who are treated as insultingly capable of dexterity to manipulate their situations with bare-minimum intellect, somehow not weighed down by faults of gullibility. If the stakes were at least portrayed as frightening, or the isolated positioning pre-deus ex machina as fatalistic, or if any passion was stimulating the picture to give a sense of affection for its characters or predicaments, this would get more rope- but it's a desert of interest, and a grueling programmer.

It's hard to cough up actual thoughts on the obnoxiously hijacking fever dream that is Bilitis, but I guess I just don't 'get' how this is appealing as a coming-of-age story when it's so cloaked in obsessive voyeurism with underage women's carnal entities, to the point where I lost all sense of (undoubtedly simple and spoonfed) narrative congruence. And that's not an indication that I shared Hamilton's perversions! But his own distractions move the camera, and the filmgoing experience is a bit like an auteur coercing you into seeing their perspective without the wit to forge hypnotic interest in that process - something that is absolutely possible to do regarding repulsive texts that use intrusive strategies. I actually liked Alphabet City as a pure exercise in style, with some particularly involving music, but it's at the expense of such a throwaway interior -without any appealing tangible holds in character or space- that it's hard to cement positive feelings that last beyond the credit roll.

If a Fun City thread is reinstated at some point, I'd like to come back and follow through on my plan to draft an argument of connective tissue between their films. At that point, I'd have more to say about Smile, which for now is a humbled and actually funny antidote to Drop Dead Gorgeous. Likewise Morvern Callar has already been gifted a plethora of interesting writing, so anything I'd have to say outside of a label-specific thesis would feel superfluous. I believe I've now touched on each of FCE's releases aside from Married to the Mob and Cutter's Way- two films I've seen many, many times each, but again, they don't need my praise as individual works divorced from the spirit of the label

[furbicide]

^ Did you get a chance to listen to the Alexandra Heller-Nicholas / Josh Nelson commentary track on Bilitis, and if so what did you make of it?

[therewillbeblus]

I never bought that release, so no, any good?

[furbicide]

I haven't listened to the whole thing yet – maybe only the first half-hour or so – but what I heard was quite engaging and interesting; they have a great rapport, and obviously did their research. There's certainly no shying away from Hamilton's alleged crimes or the ethical problems with the film itself: the whole context and backstory of the film is discussed at length, which kind of helps resolve the question of why the hell anyone would bring out a restored disc of Bilitis now (or buy it, for that matter!).

I guess that's the best kind of DVD/Blu-ray special feature – not just there to fill space or put icing on the cake, but something that's an integral component of the entire release.

[domino harvey]

I am interested at what possible defense could be leveraged for the film from their commentary-- can you summarize any of their positives?

[Peacock]

Also for to those that have seen the film, do you feel much of a connection thematically or story-wise to Breillat’s directorial films? That’s the angle I’m most interested in personally.

[furbicide]

I am interested at what possible defense could be leveraged for the film from their commentary-- can you summarize any of their positives?

I'd have to go back and finish it, but I recall them specifically praising Patti D'Arbanville's performance and Bernard Daillencourt's cinematography. They don't have a lot of nice things to say about Hamilton as an artist or a person, but kind of mount a "death of the author"–style case for appreciating the film regardless – which some might scoff at, but I think is fair enough given that Hamilton was hardly a virtuoso filmmaker and presumably leaned heavily on his collaborators.

I don't recall them discussing Breillat's role as screenwriter in depth in the first half of the commentary (they may well later on), though they do mention that Breillat felt the film missed the point of her script and that she was pretty unhappy with the final product when it was released. Samm Deighan's essay in the accompanying booklet, which is much more unabashedly enthusiastic about the film, dwells substantially on Breillat's contribution and links/contrasts between Bilitis and her earlier films such as A Real Young Girl. I think it's fair to say that you couldn't find more polar opposite representations of female adolescence; Hamilton's film is, well, Hamilton (a kind of idealised representation of female sexuality, all delicacy and eroticised innocence), whereas Breillat's is abject, visceral and perverse, and obviously far more interesting for it.

Where Breillat comes through in Bilitis is probably most evident in the faintly acidic representation of male–female sexual power dynamics (via, for instance, the overbearing and predatory character of Pierre), but it's fair to say whatever rough edges were there in the screenplay have been worn off.

[Peacock]

Thank you furbicide for your in-depth answer!

[therewillbeblus]

So is Fun City's deal up, or are they just skipping a month?

[Glowingwabbit]

So is Fun City's deal up, or are they just skipping a month?

Usually we get a few partner titles announced on Black Friday so I would wait until then before sounding the alarm.

[Finch]

4 comparison caps between FCE and TT of Cutter's Way, courtesy of Dailyan from the other forum

The TT is cropped on all sides and the FCE has a more neutral look. I haven't seen the film theatrically so I can't say which is more accurate. I liked FCE's extras on their Married to the Mob edition so I'm going to get Cutter's Way from them at some point, too.

[senseabove]

To my absolute delight, Fun City Editions' next BD is Party Girl (the Parker Posey one) with a 4k restoration from the 16mm OCN and, assuming the trailer is accurate, in the correct AR for the first time on home video. Also interesting, the announcement says it's "the first title in their ongoing AIP (American Independent Project) series."

[Glowingwabbit]

To my absolute delight, Fun City Editions' next BD is Party Girl (the Parker Posey one) with a 4k restoration from the 16mm OCN and, assuming the trailer is accurate, in the correct AR for the first time on home video.

This is also coming through MVD so they aren't with OCN anymore (edit: although in the press release it says they will still work with VS which is confusing. Perhaps that is just until their remaining stock runs out)

[therewillbeblus]

Wow, excellent news! I imagine FCE is no longer with VS et al. though..

[mrb404]

It is indeed quite not very clear and the announcement doesn't help: "FCE will continue to work with Vinegar Syndrome in addition to their new collaboration with MVD."

Given that MVD is also partnering with Radiance Films, maybe the forthcoming FCE releases will show up there also (if they are UK releases, and not just US). I believe Radiance are set to announce new releases in a few days (January 11), so maybe that could clarify things a bit more.

[Adam X]

So I guess Fun City Editions is now officially its own thing. I figured this was coming, since Party Girl was announced with cover art revealed outside of VS

Fun City has always been its own thing.

[therewillbeblus]

So I guess Fun City Editions is now officially its own thing. I figured this was coming, since Party Girl was announced with cover art revealed outside of VS

Fun City has always been its own thing.

I am aware of that, but some may disagree [motions at this thread]