2017 Criterion Forum Awards

[rossen]

BEST RELEASES:
1. World Cinema Project Vol. 2
2. The Breaking Point
3. The Before Trilogy
4. Black Girl
5. Othello

BEST BOXED SET: World Cinema Project Vol. 2

BEST MODERN FILM: Certain Women

BEST COMMENTARY: Ghost World

BEST "BONUS" FILM: The Front Page

BEST REISSUE: Good Morning

BEST UPGRADE: Jeanne Dielman

BEST BOOKLET: Rebecca

BEST COVER: They Live By Night

WORST COVER: Election

BEST PACKAGING: Marseille Trilogy

BEST DISCOVERY: The Breaking Point

MOST UNNECESSARY RELEASE: David Lynch: The Art Life

MOST FLAWED RELEASE: War Trilogy

MEMBER OF THE YEAR: Matrixschmatrix

RICHARD CRANIUM AWARD: FilmStruckFan

Non Criterion:
Four Film Noir Classics (Arrow)
Taisho Trilogy (Arrow)
Housekeeping (Indicator)
The Old Dark House (Cohen)
Letter from an Unknown Woman (Olive)

[jwd5275]

BEST RELEASE
Stalker
Tampopo
Ghost World
Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Project Vol 2
Black Girl

BEST BOXED SET
Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Project Vol 2

BEST COMMENTARY
Multiple Maniacs

BEST "BONUS" FILM
Borom sarret

BEST BOOKLET
Ghost World

BEST ON-DISC NON-COMMENTARY EXTRA
Fluid Style on The Breaking Point
.
BEST REISSUE
Good Morning

BEST UPGRADE
Ugetsu

BEST COVER
Good Morning

WORST COVER
Election

BEST PACKAGING
Ghost World

BEST DISCOVERY
Marseilles Trilogy

MEMBER OF THE YEAR
Matrixschmatrix

RICHARD CRANIUM AWARD
FilmStruckFan

[ng4996]

BEST RELEASE:
1. Barry Lyndon
2. Blow-Up
3. Good Morning
4. Tampopo
5. The Piano Teacher

(I was hoping to get around to picking up Othello, it almost certainly would've made my list, but alas I did not have the time this year.)

BEST BOXED SET: Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Project Vol 2

BEST MODERN FILM: Personal Shopper

BEST COMMENTARY: Multiple Maniacs

BEST "BONUS" FILM: I Was Born, But...

BEST BOOKLET: Blow-Up

BEST ON-DISC NON-COMMENTARY EXTRA: Achieving Perfection - Barry Lyndon

BEST REISSUE: Good Morning

BEST UPGRADE: Ugetsu

BEST COVER: Good Morning

WORST COVER: Election

BEST PACKAGING: Blow-Up

BEST DISCOVERY: Good Morning (Ozu is my favorite director, and I had never seen this one. I'd been praying for an upgrade and they really delivered, maybe my favorite presentation in the collection all year.)

MOST UNNECESSARY RELEASE: David Lynch: The Art Life

MOST FLAWED RELEASE: Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me

[Jean-Luc Garbo]

BEST RELEASE
1. Black Girl
2. The Marseilles Trilogy
3. Othello
4. Barry Lyndon
5. Ghost World

BEST BOXED SET
The Marseilles Trilogy
BEST MODERN FILM
The Lure
BEST BOOKLET
Ghost World
BEST COMMENTARY
Ghost World
BEST ON-DISC NON-COMMENTARY EXTRA
New interview with Ayanna Thompson - Othello
BEST "BONUS" FILM
Filming "Othello"

BEST REISSUE
Good Morning
BEST COVER
Blow-Up
WORST COVER
Stalker
BEST PACKAGING
The Marseilles Trilogy
BEST DISCOVERY
Desert Hearts
MOST FLAWED RELEASE
Personal Shopper

[domino harvey]

Deadline should have been this morning but I forgot, so you all have til tomorrow morning when I wake up

[zedz]

I subbed in for domino to tabulate these, so here you go:

BEST RELEASE:
1. Barry Lyndon
2. Stalker
3. Othello
4. World Cinema Project Vol. 2
5. Blow Up
6. Tampopo
7. Marseille Trilogy
8. His Girl Friday
9. The Breaking Point
10. 100 Years of Olympic Films

BEST BOXED SET: World Cinema Project Vol. 2

BEST MODERN FILM: A tie between Certain Women and Personal Shopper

BEST COMMENTARY: Multiple Maniacs (in a landslide)

BEST "BONUS" FILM: Filming “Othello” (Othello)

BEST BOOKLET: Blow Up

BEST ON-DISC NON-COMMENTARY EXTRA: Achieving Perfection (Barry Lyndon)

BEST REISSUE: Good Morning (beating Rebecca by a single vote)

BEST UPGRADE: A tie between Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles and Ugetsu

BEST COVER: They Live By Night


WORST COVER: Election (by a landslide)


BEST PACKAGING: Blow Up

BEST DISCOVERY: The Breaking Point

MOST UNNECESSARY RELEASE: Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (another landslide, with nearly three times the votes of the runner-up, the other David Lynch film)

MOST FLAWED RELEASE: Stalker (though that didn’t stop it being your number two pick for the year).

BEST THREAD: State of the Forum

MEMBER OF THE YEAR: Matrixschmatrix

RICHARD CRANIUM AWARD: FilmStruckFan (a.k.a. Kevyip)

[swo17]

Thanks zedz, and a well earned congrats to matrixschmatrix!

[MichaelB]

And an equally well-earned Worst Cover. I normally don’t care about artwork, but that one’s actively off-putting. Does “picking and flicking” have the same connotation outside the UK? I’m guessing not, but when the yellow icing on the cupcake bears at least a passing resemblance to nasal mucus it’s an association that’s pretty much impossible for me to ignore, however involuntarily.

[aox]

MOST FLAWED RELEASE: Stalker (though that didn’t stop it being your number two pick for the year).

Why is Stalker the most flawed release? I assume the lack of contextual extras?

[tenia]

When explicited on the topic here by people considering it a flawed release, the amount of extras was indeed a recurring complaint.

[MichaelB]

I suspect there's a story behind that.

For instance, one really obvious extra would have been 2009 feature-length documentary Rerberg and Tarkovsky: The Reverse Side of Stalker, which is so obvious (and I know for a fact that at least one member of the Criterion team was aware of its existence) that I suspect there's a reason for its omission.

It could of course be down to money or even lack of availability of US/UK rights (since Criterion would need to clear both), but my hypothesis is that since the film paints a decidedly unflattering portrait of Tarkovsky and an exceptionally unflattering portrait of his wife, the involvement of their son in the Criterion release nixed that idea from the outset.

But you can watch it here (with English subtitles).

[aox]

But you can watch it here (with English subtitles).

Well, there goes my morning. Thanks

[Calvin]

Nostalghia.com have a list of significant documentaries on Tarkovsky, though I suspect materials for those that are Stalker-specific may have been hard or impossible to find. Stalker's Dreams, which focuses on actor Aleksandr Kaidanovsky, is another notable omission though.

[zedz]

MOST FLAWED RELEASE: Stalker (though that didn’t stop it being your number two pick for the year).

Why is Stalker the most flawed release? I assume the lack of contextual extras?

I was surprised by that as well, as I was tabulating the votes, since it was so well liked in general, but it won 'most flawed' by more than two to one over any other title, where the other contenders had clearer reasons for their inclusion:
Tree of Wooden Clogs - botched colour timing in the face of a superior rival release
War Trilogy / Germany Year Zero - absence of newer restoration
Le Samourai - use of old master (though it's better than the newer, botched one)
David Lynch: the Art Life - extra masquerading as a mainline title, while there's an actual Lynch film released that really could have used some fresh extras.

I can see the argument for Stalker, though, as it surely wouldn't have been hard for Criterion to commission additional scholarly extras if they couldn't secure existing docs. Still, you have to be grateful for their restoration (which I suspect hoovered up a lot of the budget for this release).

[colinr0380]

Another hearty congratulations to matrixschmatrix, whose posts are always entertaining to read, and has often been at the centre of some of the most interesting discussions!

[Saturnome]

For instance, one really obvious extra would have been 2009 feature-length documentary Rerberg and Tarkovsky: The Reverse Side of Stalker, which is so obvious (and I know for a fact that at least one member of the Criterion team was aware of its existence) that I suspect there's a reason for its omission.

In fact a big chunk of the essay in the booklet (a whole paragraph plus a few more lines) is about this documentary. You can only wonder why it isn't included, and the release feel flawed because of it.

[soundchaser]

I really like Geoff Dyer’s book, but the interview with him added absolutely nothing to it. Surely he’s had a few more insights in the intervening years, especially since his slant is already so personal?

[Morbii]

I guess I'm one of the few (or only one?) that didn't really mind the Election cover. I thought the Woman of the Year cover was absolutely dreadful, and felt it would win no contest, but I think I was the only one to vote for it.

As one of the people that voted stalker for best release and most flawed release, it just came down to features. In my view it's probably the greatest film ever made, so maybe there'd have always been something to nitpick about.

I'm happy to see that of my top 5, 4 of them are in the forum's top 5 too. Only one (Black Girl, which didn't even make the top 10) wasn't.

[zedz]

As I recall, Black Girl ended up at number 11 or 12, with quite a lot of support but few top placings.

[aox]

As one of the people that voted stalker for best release and most flawed release, it just came down to features. In my view it's probably the greatest film ever made, so maybe there'd have always been something to nitpick about.

This is where I'm at. I was just happy to have a beautiful transfer.