Crash

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MichaelB
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Re: Crash (David Cronenberg, 1996)

#51 Post by MichaelB » Mon Mar 16, 2009 4:17 pm

I read all the Mail articles in the BFI Library when researching that essay, and my jaw hit the floor several times. Sadly, I couldn't work that reference into the final draft, but I couldn't possibly leave out the classic:
As the initially heterosexual characters lose their inhibitions, they experiment pleasurably with gay sex, lesbian sex and sex with cripples. [...] In short, his movie condones many practices which the vast majority of people would find disgusting and degrading.
...a comment that manages to be about ten million times more offensive than anything in the film.

I also loved the short-lived attempt to get Mail readers to boycott Sony in the run-up to Christmas, for having the temerity to be Columbia Tri-Star's parent company.

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Re: Crash (David Cronenberg, 1996)

#52 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Mon Mar 16, 2009 9:52 pm

That is pretty offensive. It's also kind of funny too, considering that it had nothing in terms of controversy here as it did in the U.K.. I never remembered seeing any commercials or headlines about it when it did come out, either. I found out about it years later, through a BDSM forum and saw it on IFC a few years after that.

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Re: Crash (David Cronenberg, 1996)

#53 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Thu Feb 04, 2010 8:45 am

Saw this again for the first time in awhile last night. I have to say that I'm amazed that no matter how many times I've seen a film of David's, I manage to still be a bit unnerved by it.

flyonthewall2983
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Re: Crash (David Cronenberg, 1996)

#54 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Tue Apr 19, 2011 8:49 pm


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jbeall
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Re: Crash (David Cronenberg, 1996)

#55 Post by jbeall » Tue Apr 19, 2011 10:23 pm

flyonthewall2983 wrote:Three Reasons
That's great! But now I fear it'll spawn an epidemic of "three reasons" videos for the most inane releases. (Reason #1 for Tiny Furniture: because it'll piss off those nerds in criterionforum.org! Reason #3 for Avatar: because it needs a commentary track and a booklet!)

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DeprongMori
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Re: Crash (David Cronenberg, 1996)

#56 Post by DeprongMori » Thu Jun 26, 2014 5:28 pm

Cronenberg's "Crash" was just released by Warner Archives Collection as a "made to order DVD". It deserves much better treatment than that, and obvious that WB doesn't want to put the resources into it. Perhaps WB will license it back to Criterion again for a properly remastered BluRay. After all, it was a Criterion LaserDisc release.

But, at least it is available again in some form in the meantime.

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domino harvey
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Re: Crash (David Cronenberg, 1996)

#57 Post by domino harvey » Wed Aug 06, 2014 1:29 am

The original New Line release has finally become reasonable in price thanks to the Warner Archives version diluting the market, so there was a little silver lining in that I could pick the original disc up in mint condition for a reasonable sum. This film's unavailability had kept it at arm's length for a while, and though I'm not nearly as enamored of Cronenberg as most of this forum, I was intrigued by the film's controversy and premise (and I either read or started reading the book back in college, though I remember so little about it that I cannot be certain I finished it).

Reading through this thread, I am utterly baffled at anyone defending it on the grounds that it either is erotic or someone else would find it erotic, as the whole point of the film is to present something inherently non-erotic using erotic markers. It's an intriguing methodology, and like any fetish film for a kink you don't have, it teeters on the edge of dullness quite often as strikingly unsexy behaviors and sequences get objectified and glorified and pored over. This distancing lends a detached air to the film that doubles as "dreaminess" in effect, but it also underlines how the film, not unlike a porno movie, is unconcerned with narrative or satisfaction beyond a given self-contained scene-- this is particularly highlighted by Holly Hunter's virtual absence from the second half of the film. Crash is a hard film to assess on a subjective level of whether or not I find it a good movie, as I respect its aims and can honestly say it appears to have done what it set out to do, and did it with competence and skill (though by no extraordinary or exceptional means or methods). Does that make it a good movie? I guess. Did I like it? Not really.

Also, I can only laugh and shake my head at the accusations earlier in the thread that Ebert was somehow erotically conservative or against sex even though he liked this film. Though he's becoming sainted in memory, it's a good reminder that so many cinema "fans" went out of their way to distance themselves from Ebert at his heights, even though his tastes, outside of a few idiosyncrasies, were pretty in line with most movie lovers. And Ebert (and, actually, especially Siskel) loved "sexy" movies when they met their metric of also being good films. There's one Siskel and Ebert special where they recommend "Guilty Pleasures" and Siskel chose Emmanuel and Summer Lovers on the grounds that he found them sexy and both were filled with beautiful women, and he went on to argue that more critics should be honest instead of dancing around praising something they found arousing. Yeah, what a prude!!!!!

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Jeff
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Re: Crash (David Cronenberg, 1996)

#58 Post by Jeff » Wed Aug 06, 2014 9:50 pm

domino harvey wrote:I can only laugh and shake my head at the accusations earlier in the thread that Ebert was somehow erotically conservative or against sex even though he liked this film. Though he's becoming sainted in memory, it's a good reminder that so many cinema "fans" went out of their way to distance themselves from Ebert at his heights, even though his tastes, outside of a few idiosyncrasies, were pretty in line with most movie lovers. And Ebert (and, actually, especially Siskel) loved "sexy" movies when they met their metric of also being good films. There's one Siskel and Ebert special where they recommend "Guilty Pleasures" and Siskel chose Emmanuel and Summer Lovers on the grounds that he found them sexy and both were filled with beautiful women, and he went on to argue that more critics should be honest instead of dancing around praising something they found arousing. Yeah, what a prude!!!!!
Siskel and Ebert were both notorious hounds in the 70s. The wonderful Life Itself recounts how Ebert would take home any random woman (including prostitutes) from his favorite bar, much to the horror of his friends. It sounds like Siskel basically lived at the Playboy Mansion before getting married. The movie shows him palling around with Hef on his jet and in the hot tub with topless playmates. Siskel and Ebert were many things, prude they were not.

Orlac
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Re: Crash (David Cronenberg, 1996)

#59 Post by Orlac » Sat Aug 09, 2014 10:20 am

Jeff wrote: Siskel and Ebert were many things, prude they were not.
Their behaviour over Betsy Palmer in Friday the 13th was prudish/reactionary.

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Jeff
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Re: Crash (David Cronenberg, 1996)

#60 Post by Jeff » Sun Aug 10, 2014 12:40 pm

Orlac wrote:
Jeff wrote: Siskel and Ebert were many things, prude they were not.
Their behaviour over Betsy Palmer in Friday the 13th was prudish/reactionary.
How so?

Orlac
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Re: Crash (David Cronenberg, 1996)

#61 Post by Orlac » Sun Aug 10, 2014 2:49 pm

One of them published an old address of hers, suggesting viewers wrote to her complaining about her role in the film.

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domino harvey
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Re: Crash (David Cronenberg, 1996)

#62 Post by domino harvey » Sun Aug 10, 2014 2:59 pm

Unless saying a city someone lives in counts as posting their address, no he didn't

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Re: Crash (David Cronenberg, 1996)

#63 Post by albert_m2 » Tue Aug 19, 2014 7:01 pm

Also, I can only laugh and shake my head at the accusations earlier in the thread that Ebert was somehow erotically conservative or against sex even though he liked this film. Though he's becoming sainted in memory, it's a good reminder that so many cinema "fans" went out of their way to distance themselves from Ebert at his heights, even though his tastes, outside of a few idiosyncrasies, were pretty in line with most movie lovers. And Ebert (and, actually, especially Siskel) loved "sexy" movies when they met their metric of also being good films. There's one Siskel and Ebert special where they recommend "Guilty Pleasures" and Siskel chose Emmanuel and Summer Lovers on the grounds that he found them sexy and both were filled with beautiful women, and he went on to argue that more critics should be honest instead of dancing around praising something they found arousing. Yeah, what a prude!!!!!
Over their careers, they both have reviewed films where they demonstrate that they were hardly prudes. Add to that Ebert's early screen writing effort and Siskel having a seemingly 70s playboy life, it just doesn't hold. I would add that just because one doesn't like a film like Crash, doesn't mean that they dislike it for moral or other reasons that they might find it offensive.


Calvin
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Re: Crash (David Cronenberg, 1996)

#65 Post by Calvin » Fri Feb 15, 2019 7:54 pm

German label Turbine have restored this in 4K and are working on a Blu-Ray release
[Director of Photography, Peter Suschitzky] supervised the grade and came, in person, to Hamburg to work on and finally approve the pre-grade prepared for him. We also conducted a nice interview with Peter - he was in town (Hamburg), so the friendly guys from Alsterfilm taped the session. I have seen the final version recently and I am tempted to say that it looks gorgeous. Not because we made it, but because Jan & Ben from LSP (who did the grade) worked so hard on getting the shots right. I've not seen many transfers where shadows kept so much detail. Also the cleanup was 100% manual, so we have a very natural image, no DNR, nice grain. We'll now get together materials (further bonus etc.) and then start working on a disc.

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Adam X
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Re: Crash (David Cronenberg, 1996)

#66 Post by Adam X » Sat Feb 16, 2019 1:08 am

Turbine wrote:Unless something unexpected happens, [Cronenberg's Criterion] commentary is going to be on our release. Of course.

beasled
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Re: Crash (David Cronenberg, 1996)

#67 Post by beasled » Thu Jun 27, 2019 5:17 am

Update from Turbine who posted on Facebook that there will be a UHD disc. No details on dates yet.

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Murdoch
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Re: Crash (David Cronenberg, 1996)

#68 Post by Murdoch » Thu Jun 27, 2019 6:39 am

This might make me take the UHD plunge, here's hoping it's out within the next year.

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Re: Crash (David Cronenberg, 1996)

#69 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Thu Jun 27, 2019 6:00 pm

I'm unfamiliar with the label, is any of their stuff region-free?

Calvin
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Re: Crash (David Cronenberg, 1996)

#70 Post by Calvin » Sat Jun 29, 2019 6:04 am

I suggested a few potential extras over on the other forum, with reference to Harley Cokeliss' 1971 Crash! it seems like the BBC's licensing policy is as difficult for the German label as it is for UK boutiques:
We're in touch with director Harley Cokeliss for this one. He'd love to see it re-done in 4K, he'd love to see it featured on this release. The problem is... the BBC doesn't understand what this undertaking is about. They've redirected us to Getty Images, who are doing clip sales for the BBC. We've pulled a couple of strings, but it seems there's no way to access this, except for the Getty Images thing. The "problem" with these companies is that they do not differentiate between the use case. So we'd be paying a very high sum to be able to use this, but his sum is simply out of the scope for a home video release.




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TwoTecs
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Re: Crash (David Cronenberg, 1996)

#74 Post by TwoTecs » Wed Dec 04, 2019 12:24 pm

Missed this being confirmed for UHD so this is great to hear.

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Re: Crash (David Cronenberg, 1996)

#75 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Wed Dec 04, 2019 3:41 pm

I wouldn't get too excited yet, except for our German friends.

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