Criterion & Eclipse Cover Art & Packaging Babble-on Vol.4

Message

CSM126 · #101 Post by **CSM126** » Tue Mar 18, 2008 11:25 pm

arsonfilms wrote:Before anybody blows out an artery, lets just take a moment to reflect on the fact that the official artwork has NOT yet been finalized or released.

Yeah it has.

Person · #102 Post by **Person** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 7:46 am

After careful consideration, I have came to the conclusion that the Mishima cover is the most misguided piece of DVD art ever. What a complete mess. This film is teeming with great imagery that could easily have been used as the basis for an elegant and representative cover.

HerrSchreck · #103 Post by **HerrSchreck** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 8:06 am

Worst CC cover ever?

What a turd of dvd design.

jbeall · #104 Post by **jbeall** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 9:31 am

HerrSchreck wrote:Worst CC cover ever?

Easily.

Alonzo the Armless · #105 Post by **Alonzo the Armless** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 9:51 am

reno dakota wrote:Wow. It's as if they are trying to prevent it from appealing to people who know nothing about the film.

You may have a point. I like the cover a lot, have never seen the movie, but now want to.

Cronenfly · #106 Post by **Cronenfly** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 10:15 am

Antoine Doinel wrote:Breathless, while surprising (and a design I think ultimately works), at least was true to the spirit of Godard in some sense. I have no idea what to make of Mishima. Looking at the cover, it's like I'm gearing up to watch [bTHE TRIPPED OUT ON TOTALLY AWESOME TABS EDITION[/b]

Yes, Breathless' design ultimately kept the spirit of the film; though I can appreciate Scharphedin2's points about where the design was coming from for Mishima vis-a-vis the way Mishima's novels were marketed in the West, representing Mishima's different personas, etc, I certainly hope that, even if the cover remains unchanged, the rest of the design incorporates more of the film and its many fine visual qualities (which no one can deny, I think, even if they dislike the film), or at least something less in the grips of psychedelia.

mteller · #107 Post by **mteller** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 10:55 am

I don't usually bitch about covers, but I have to add my 2 cents in the hopes that someone at Criterion is reading this thread. Please please please discard this awful Magical Mishima Tour artwork and come up with something more appropriate.

Napier · #108 Post by **Napier** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 11:44 am

If they stick with this cover design at least I can replace my worn out vinyl sleeve of Cream's Disraeli Gears, just as gaudy. For rolling doobies in the movie room. 8-)

cgray · #109 Post by **cgray** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 1:27 pm

I don't think the cover is horrible or that it would deter potential buyers (though I agree its a far cry from the refinement of the Patriotism cover). I'm mainly annoyed because I think the cover looks so similar to WR: Mysteries of the Organism, a mere 40 numbers ago.

Why the kaleidoscopic overkill?

rwaits · #110 Post by **rwaits** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 2:40 pm

I think the complaint that the cover art could deter a viewer who has never seen the film is untrue. I have never seen Mishima (have only seen a few stills) but really like the cover. I'm not trying to be contentious for argument's sake (believe me I was one of the ones screaming about Viridiana, and a few others), but think it will look nice next to other 'cult' films like Symbiopsychotaxiplasm or Mysteries of the Organism, which it essentially is.

Antoine Doinel · #111 Post by **Antoine Doinel** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 2:54 pm

After you see Mishima you will see why stating that it is a cult film alongside those films you mentioned is completely off base.

reno dakota · #112 Post by **reno dakota** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 2:57 pm

rwaits wrote:I think the complaint that the cover art could deter a viewer who has never seen the film is untrue.

My earlier comment--which you seem to be referencing--was made partly in jest. I certainly do not believe the cover art will scare away every newcomer, but I do think it has the potential to scare away some.

rwaits · #113 Post by **rwaits** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 3:06 pm

Antoine Doinel wrote:After you see Mishima you will see why stating that it is a cult film alongside those films you mentioned is completely off base.

I'm not comparing it to either of those films... but really, what section will this dvd wind up in at, say, your local Borders?

Adam · #114 Post by **Adam** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 3:29 pm

reno dakota wrote:
rwaits wrote:I think the complaint that the cover art could deter a viewer who has never seen the film is untrue.
My earlier comment--which you seem to be referencing--was made partly in jest. I certainly do not believe the cover art will scare away every newcomer, but I do think it has the potential to scare away some.

I think it's more likely to attract potential buyers, with its colors and so forth. It just doesn't reflect the movie.

#115 Post by **domino harvey** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 3:39 pm

For the Mishima redesign, they should use one of my favorite scenes in the movie:

Svevan · #116 Post by **Svevan** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 7:57 pm

Alonzo the Armless wrote:I like the cover a lot, have never seen the movie, but now want to.

you'll be disappointed if that's your only point of reference

rwaits wrote:but really, what section will this dvd wind up in at, say, your local Borders?

uh, the Criterion section? where it will look terribly out of place.

luridedith · #117 Post by **luridedith** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 8:18 pm

What is with you guys and the colour pink?

miless · #118 Post by **miless** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 10:09 pm

luridedith wrote:What is with you guys and the colour pink?

they're afraid of being either called gay or a commie.

#119 Post by **domino harvey** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 10:23 pm

luridedith wrote:What is with you guys and the colour pink?

Too closely associated with that awful Aerosmith song. This also explains why we hate elevators and cryin' on covers.

Jean-Luc Garbo · #120 Post by **Jean-Luc Garbo** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 12:23 am

I'm appalled by the Mishima cover. Words fail me. Even just writing Mishima is bloody calligraphy (like on the earlier DVD) on a white background would have been sufficient. Has Schrader even seen this cover yet?

pianocrash · #121 Post by **pianocrash** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 12:25 am

Honestly, it could just say "Mishima" with a pink cloud in the background, and that would be light years beyond the mirrored image massacre that is the current cover. Too fucking much of everything, right there.

#122 Post by **kinjitsu** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 12:35 am

luridedith wrote:What is with you guys and the colour pink?

No one as far as I know has objected to the color pink. To my knowledge it was only used in reference to the first draft of the Viridiana cover.

Some references to help everyone adjust

Yokoo Tadanori: The Great Mirror of the Dance as an Immolative Sacrifice
Calligraphy with the poster's title, was written by Mishima

Yokoo Tadanori: Barakei: Ordeal by Roses

* Tadanori briefly appears in Mishima during the Kyoko's House noodle stand sequence.

HerrSchreck · #123 Post by **HerrSchreck** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 12:38 am

kinjitsu wrote:No one as far as I know has objected to the color pink. To my knowledge it was only used in reference to the first draft of the Viridiana cover.

Not to mention King of Kings, probably designed by the original Viridiana designer, and itself just this side of Total Tackorama. "Come See The New, Pop, Commie, Homo Christ! Tonite at Bowery Ballroom!"

a.khan · #124 Post by **a.khan** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 1:37 am

Let the letter campaign begin. I've done my part.

Steven H · #125 Post by **Steven H** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 12:27 pm

kinjitsu wrote:Yokoo Tadanori, "Yukio Mishima."

None other than Birdey Hilltop from Oshima's Diary of a Shinjuku Thief, and if they had stuck with something more along the lines of what you posted, instead of throwing little heads everywhere and adding layer upon layer of photoshopped images, we wouldn't have a squabble.