388 The Two of Us

Discuss releases by Criterion and the films on them. Threads may contain spoilers!
Post Reply
Message
Author
User avatar
kinjitsu
Joined: Sat Feb 12, 2005 1:39 pm
Location: Uffa!

388 The Two of Us

#1 Post by kinjitsu » Fri Mar 16, 2007 1:49 pm

The Two of Us

[img]http://criterion_production.s3.amazonaws.com/release_images/1022/388_box_348x490_w128.jpg[/img]

A young Jewish boy living in Nazi-occupied Paris is sent by his parents to the countryside to live with an elderly Catholic couple until France's liberation. Forced to hide his identity, the boy, Claude (played delicately by first-time actor Alain Cohen), bonds with the irascible, staunchly anti-Semitic Pepe (Michel Simon), who, improbably, becomes a friend and confidant to the child. Based on own childhood experiences, the poignant, light-hearted The Two of Us was acclaimed director Claude Berri's first feature film and gave legendary actor Michel Simon one of his most memorable roles at the twilight of his career.

DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

- New, restored high-definition digital transfer
- Le poulet (1962), director Claude Berri's Oscar-winning short film, an earlier, playful take on the subject of disguise
- New video interviews, with Berri and actor Alain Cohen
- Two interviews from 1967: Berri on his family roots and identity and Michel Simon on his role
- An excerpt from a 1975 French talk-show segment, The Jewish Children of Occupied France
Last edited by kinjitsu on Fri Mar 16, 2007 2:33 pm, edited 2 times in total.

User avatar
domino harvey
Dot Com Dom
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm

#2 Post by domino harvey » Fri Mar 16, 2007 2:01 pm

extras seem pretty faint to justify the higher price point

User avatar
CSM126
Joined: Thu Nov 04, 2004 8:22 am
Location: The Room
Contact:

#3 Post by CSM126 » Fri Mar 16, 2007 2:23 pm

Funny. Just the other day I was thinking "Why haven't they released this movie yet?". And now here we are. The extras look alright, but I was kinda expecting a commentary from Berri after Criterion mentioned in a blog post that they'd met with him. Interviews are the next best thing, I suppose.

portnoy
Joined: Sat Apr 01, 2006 11:03 am

#4 Post by portnoy » Fri Mar 16, 2007 5:19 pm

I'll be honest - if I buy this, it'll be for one of the extras, specifically Le Poulet, which is better than The Two of Us and is one of the most perfect short films ever made.

That said, I strongly like the feature. It's just that with so much coming out in June it'll be tough for me to decide what's high priority...

User avatar
HerrSchreck
Joined: Sun Sep 04, 2005 11:46 am

#5 Post by HerrSchreck » Sun Mar 18, 2007 2:28 am

First major YAHOO of the year that's a total yawn for me. I saw this in the cinema & came close to falling asleep. Great to see Simon as always but really it's just a straight up melodrama-- worth seeing, but nothing I feel I really need in my collection.

I really don't see the value of stories like this in terms of racial dialog-- really. Using a cute little boy is about as manipulative as possible.. what's Simon supposed to say, after finding out he's Jewish: "Get this rancid little cute adorable kike fuck outa my face right now awready or furchrissakes I'm gonna bleed him over my tub!!!" Is there any real transformative moment for Simon there, is he truly "redeemed" by deciding to keep on loving the boy? It'd be different-- in terms of it's comment on racism-- if Simon turned around vs. a fat, mildly annoying man of his own age, where he really had to take a look at the truth of his bias in a highly challenging way. Anytime the target of racism is portrayed as something snuggly or completely harmless or devoid of annoying/negative qualities, the film becomes Spielbergian horseshit to me. If the lead wasn't played by Simon, nobody would care a dry snot about this film. It'd be as forgotten as Ruth Buzzie.

User avatar
zedz
Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:24 pm

#6 Post by zedz » Sun Mar 18, 2007 3:25 am

HerrSchreck wrote: If the lead wasn't played by Simon, nobody would care a dry snot about this film. It'd be as forgotten as Ruth Buzzie.
Who could forget Ruth Buzzi?

portnoy
Joined: Sat Apr 01, 2006 11:03 am

#7 Post by portnoy » Sun Mar 18, 2007 5:26 pm

HerrSchreck wrote:just a straight up melodrama
one of the worst phrases I know of

rlendog
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 6:30 pm

#8 Post by rlendog » Tue Mar 20, 2007 9:36 pm

I think this has been an excellent year so far and to me this is one of the highlights. I am very excited about this release.

Gus
Joined: Thu Nov 30, 2006 12:04 pm

#9 Post by Gus » Sat Jun 02, 2007 11:14 am


mogwai
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 2:50 am
Location: California

#10 Post by mogwai » Sun Jun 03, 2007 5:33 pm


User avatar
aox
Joined: Fri Jun 20, 2008 12:02 pm
Location: nYc

#11 Post by aox » Tue Aug 26, 2008 2:48 pm

HerrSchreck wrote:what's Simon supposed to say, after finding out he's Jewish: "Get this rancid little cute adorable kike fuck outa my face right now awready or furchrissakes I'm gonna bleed him over my tub!!!" Is there any real transformative moment for Simon there, is he truly "redeemed" by deciding to keep on loving the boy?
I could be completely wrong, and it has been a while, but I thought Simon never finds out that the boy is Jewish. I remember that being the saving grace of this film for me.

I remember liking this film a lot and I need to revisit it.

as for the disc, I am disappointed that neither this or Death of a Cyclist came with a commentary track.

User avatar
domino harvey
Dot Com Dom
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm

Re: 388 The Two of Us

#12 Post by domino harvey » Wed Feb 24, 2016 8:36 pm

Listed as OOP on Criterion's website

User avatar
knives
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:49 pm

Re: 388 The Two of Us

#13 Post by knives » Wed Feb 24, 2016 8:40 pm

I have to imagine this is a sign of an upgrade. Pathe is credited on the back and as far as I know there's no problems between them and Criterion.

User avatar
cpetrizzi
Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2012 9:26 am

Re: 388 The Two of Us

#14 Post by cpetrizzi » Wed Aug 16, 2017 11:10 am

Does anyone know why this is OOP? I need a copy to round out my 300's and noticed it was close to $200!

What's going on here I wonder....

User avatar
knives
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:49 pm

Re: 388 The Two of Us

#15 Post by knives » Wed Aug 16, 2017 12:03 pm

They're still streaming it in places so I assume they are prepping a Blu.

User avatar
cpetrizzi
Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2012 9:26 am

Re: 388 The Two of Us

#16 Post by cpetrizzi » Wed Aug 16, 2017 12:58 pm

Thanks knives. So maybe I'll just wait it out.

Is there a thread on films where the blu-ray release has significantly less supplemental material than the original DVD release? I'm thinking of movies like The Last Emperor, Mishima, etc. I could have sworn this thread existed.

Or would I just have to look through individual threads?

User avatar
swo17
Bloodthirsty Butcher
Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2008 10:25 am
Location: SLC, UT

Re: 388 The Two of Us

#17 Post by swo17 » Wed Aug 16, 2017 1:01 pm

There's no such thread, but off the top of my head, the BD releases of Carnival of Souls and The Tin Drum shed a lot of the DVD supplements.

Mishima has never been upgraded.

User avatar
cpetrizzi
Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2012 9:26 am

Re: 388 The Two of Us

#18 Post by cpetrizzi » Wed Aug 16, 2017 1:58 pm

:^o Whoops! Maybe that'll turn into a forecast.

On another note, I sense that there are some divergent views on The Two of Us. Merely because of the distasteful racial slurs or due to being a poor film?

User avatar
dwk
Joined: Sat Jun 12, 2010 6:10 pm

Re: 388 The Two of Us

#19 Post by dwk » Wed Aug 16, 2017 3:03 pm

swo17 wrote:There's no such thread, but off the top of my head, the BD releases of Carnival of Souls and The Tin Drum shed a lot of the DVD supplements.

Mishima has never been upgraded.
To these two I'll add:
Beauty and the Beast DVD(1998 release) had a 20-minute PBS (?) doc that was dropped from subsequent releases
Fanny and Alexander DVD had a selection of short Bergman introductions to his films that were dropped from the Blu-ray
Short Cuts, The River, and Straw Dogs DVDs all had BBC docs that were dropped from the Blu-rays.

User avatar
PfR73
Joined: Sun Mar 27, 2005 6:07 pm

Re: 388 The Two of Us

#20 Post by PfR73 » Wed Aug 16, 2017 4:07 pm

dwk wrote:Fanny and Alexander DVD had a selection of short Bergman introductions to his films that were dropped from the Blu-ray
Although, at least, those introductions have been added to the individual releases of each film, as they've been re-released [some have yet to be re-released, but I assume the introduction(s) will be included when they are].

User avatar
knives
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:49 pm

Re: 388 The Two of Us

#21 Post by knives » Wed Aug 16, 2017 5:21 pm

cpetrizzi wrote::^o Whoops! Maybe that'll turn into a forecast.

On another note, I sense that there are some divergent views on The Two of Us. Merely because of the distasteful racial slurs or due to being a poor film?
I like it, but some people (as discussed in this thread) dislike how the film builds sympathy for Simon's character. Most such arguments I've seen on that don't make sense since they suppose a redemption for him through a revelation the film never delivers.

User avatar
zedz
Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:24 pm

Re: 388 The Two of Us

#22 Post by zedz » Wed Aug 16, 2017 6:37 pm

swo17 wrote:There's no such thread, but off the top of my head, the BD releases of Carnival of Souls and The Tin Drum shed a lot of the DVD supplements.
The Tin Drum DVD and BluRay are really complementary releases, as not only are the supplements different, but they feature different versions of the film. Probably the least overlap between two formats of a Criterion release.

mteller
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 3:23 pm

Re: 388 The Two of Us

#23 Post by mteller » Thu Dec 07, 2017 10:48 am

cpetrizzi wrote:Does anyone know why this is OOP? I need a copy to round out my 300's and noticed it was close to $200!

What's going on here I wonder....
http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=22534" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Post Reply