Criterion Newsletter (Part 2)

[domino harvey]

I don't think it could be anything else

[Buttery Jeb]

I don't think it could be anything else

"Black Christmas."

Just kidding. "Mon Oncle Antoine" seems best.

-BJ

[jmj713]

Crash?

[Cinephrenic]

Mon Oncle Antoine

It is a Janus holding.

[essrog]

MCA's Top Ten Criterion list was easily the greatest in the series.

[souvenir]

4.92:1 - Take that Storaro!

[Macintosh]

MCA's Top Ten Criterion list was easily the greatest in the series.

I know right.

Sometimes I get free DVDs from Criterion, but not always. I wanted to get one of each, you know, like the whole collection, but they said, “No, Adam, we don’t do that.”

LMAO.

[Anhedionisiac]

Speaking of canuck cinema, can anyone attest to Night Zoo/Un Zoo La Nuit being any good?
I hadn't even heard of Mon Oncle Antoine but if Criterion endorses it, I'll definitely give it a try!

[domino harvey]

4.92:1 - Take that Storaro!

lol

[rossbrew]

If you're interested in canuck cinema, that "Brewster McGee" is a heck of a little cinematic gem...

[domino harvey]

I'm holding out for a Criterion edition of Duct Tape Forever

[denti alligator]

Can someone link to the newsletter, please.

[Never mind....]

[sevenarts]

Nobody noticed this little gem?

Coming this April, exclusively from Janus Films, the marvelous, award-winning children’s films The Red Balloon and White Mane, both by Albert Lamorisse, and Bill Mason’s Paddle to the Sea, all for the first time on DVD, in new, restored high-definition digital transfers. The films are available for the low retail price of $14.95 each or $39.95 for all three. They are now available for preorder at criterion.com.

Anybody actually see these on the site anywhere?

[arsonfilms]

Coming this April, exclusively from Janus Films, the marvelous, award-winning children’s films The Red Balloon and White Mane, both by Albert Lamorisse, and Bill Mason’s Paddle to the Sea.

Anybody actually see these on the site anywhere?

If you look down towards the bottom of the main page, they've been hiding out there for the better part of the month.

[SheriffAmbrose]

MCA's Top Ten Criterion list was easily the greatest in the series.

hmmm. I was actually thinking the exact opposite but whatever.

[Michael Kerpan]

I hadn't even heard of Mon Oncle Antoine but if Criterion endorses it, I'll definitely give it a try!

Director Claude Jutra is one of the most important figures of Quebecois cinema -- and the cinematographer for this film, Michel Brault is another (he is also a wonderful director in his own right). I've spent a lot of the last month watching the work of the most experimental member of this group of film makers of the 50s-70s, Gilles Groulx -- and he did some impressive work too.

Americans are pretty unaware of this amazing group of directors -- so a Criterion release might be a good introduction to the Quebec "direct cinema" movement (which was very closely aligned with the French nouvelle vague (and with Jean Rouch).

[Doctor Sunshine]

This is always being voted the best Canadian film of all time, so it seems like a natural selection, in that they always go for the big stuff first. If you're like me and hate the most of the few Canadian films that you've watched, you'll be happy to note that Quebecois cinema is actually pretty good. They take after European cinema while the rest of the country flounders, except maybe the documentarians.

[Anhedionisiac]

MCA's Top Ten Criterion list was easily the greatest in the series.

hmmm. I was actually thinking the exact opposite but whatever.

I think in terms of personal taste when it comes to the selection of the Top Ten, yeah, it's kind of boring. But I think what everybody here means is that MCA's comments were awesome, which I agree places his list squarely among the bestest of the best.

If you're like me and hate the most of the few Canadian films that you've watched, you'll be happy to note that Quebecois cinema is actually pretty good.

You got me, I'm very much a noob when it comes at Canadian cinema. Jesus of Montreal and others irked the bug out of me and I can only claim having seen most of the Egoyan's and, say, Shivers and Strange Brew when it comes to fine maple leaf cinema. Wish I had some of Michael Kerpan's experience...

[Michael Kerpan]

The NFB has put out a number of wonderful inexpensive sets of essential Quebecois films. Unfortunately some of these (especially the early ones -- like the marvelous Gilles Groulx set) are unsubbed and have only French booklets. But later sets have been bilingual. These Include a Jutra set (the mediocre MOA is negligible -- but it also has Tout va prendre and an excellent documentary about Jutra), A Frederic Back set (indispensable), a Brault set (indispensable), and volume one of the Pierre Perrault series (wonderful). There is also a set devoted to Anne-Claire Poirier (not yet seen -- she seems more downbeat than her colleagues, so I've put off tackling her work).

There is also a barebones subbed DVD (not sure who released it) of Francis Mankiewicz's Good Riddance / Les bons debarras (shot by Brault) -- another must-see.

Some links to stuff I've written on Quebecois films:

Le beau plaisir

Les Voitures d'eau / The River Schooners

Le Règne du jour / The Times That Are

Les bons débarras / Good Riddance

Alas, much of my watching took place before I started doing illustrated reviews, so all of my Jutra and most of my Brault-watching is undocumented. I've yet to write up my Groulx explorations.

[essrog]

MCA's Top Ten Criterion list was easily the greatest in the series.

hmmm. I was actually thinking the exact opposite but whatever.

I think in terms of personal taste when it comes to the selection of the Top Ten, yeah, it's kind of boring. But I think what everybody here means is that MCA's comments were awesome, which I agree places his list squarely among the bestest of the best.

For the record, yes, I was talking about MCA's comments rather than his list of films.

[Cronenfly]

Let's just hope that Criterion's release of My Uncle Antoine is entitled Mon Oncle Antoine if they want to sell their DVD in the movie's province of origin; the Wikipedia page on Breathless states that:

The 2007 Criterion release is illegal for sale in Quebec, Canada because it falls under Bill 101's law that prohibits French films from being released with an English title. Criterion did not produce a French cover for the DVD release of Breathless.

[Cinephrenic]

We should have a similar law here. Cinephrenic's 101 law of naming The Fire Within in original French title.

[Saturnome]

Haha, well, I didn't knew that, it calls back to my previous post on the cover art topic. I went to my usual store planning to buy À bout de souffle (sorry!) with the Kubrick collection, only to learn they didn't had a clue about the Criterion release. I bought it on eBay finally, and never saw it in stores. While I'm completly for french titles, it's silly to block releases... Thanks for the internet.

It must certainly be a new law or something, as I remember clearly Elevator to the Gallows(Ascen...) in shelves for a long time in a common DVD store. It may have slipped; something impossible for À bout de souffle considering the cover

Now I'd like to get Mon Oncle Antoine, I hope they'll think about it. I only have seen a handful of films from where I am but from what I can tell: Frederick Back is a must, and Brault's Les Ordres and Perrault's Pour la suite du monde too.

[Michael Kerpan]

Frederick Back is a must, and Brault's Les Ordres and Perrault's Pour la suite du monde too.

Absolutely!

Les Ordres is essential viewing -- and sadly once again all too topical (in the US). Pour la suite du monde -- a documentary about revival of an obsolete method of trapping and penning beluga whales (for sale to the NYC Aquarium) -- is absolutely delightful. I wonder what the Ile aux Coudres (where this was shot i the 50s) is like today?

All of Back's animated films are gorgeous. He and his Russian peer Yuri Norstein are two living treasures.

If Criterion does MOA, it needs to include both Paule Baillargeon's documentary on Jutra and some sort of introduction to the direct cinema movement.

[Hail_Cesar]

Let's just hope that Criterion's release of My Uncle Antoine is entitled Mon Oncle Antoine if they want to sell their DVD in the movie's province of origin; the Wikipedia page on Breathless states that:

The 2007 Criterion release is illegal for sale in Quebec, Canada because it falls under Bill 101's law that prohibits French films from being released with an English title. Criterion did not produce a French cover for the DVD release of Breathless.

Anyway the criterions in Québec stores are f*cking expensive, I buy on internet everytime...

But I like to have dvds with their original title on them...