Criterion Newsletter (Part 2)

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ogygia avenue · #226 Post by **ogygia avenue** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 11:51 pm

Apart from never being boring (which is more than you can say for many of the indiewood releases in the collection), Maddin is made of epic win. Fuck the haters. I am really, really excited about this release.

(I suspect it's either TBUtB! or Saddest Music -- the Kino editions of his films are still in print and have great extras.)

Cinephrenic · #227 Post by **Cinephrenic** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 12:00 am

ogygia avenue wrote:Fuck the haters

Everybody is entitled to their opinion on how they feel about someone's work. I don't believe it is necessary to fuck them for feeling that way.

denti alligator · Fri Mar 21, 2008 12:01 am

Kino's Careful is indeed out of print. It has great extras, too--not sure if Criterion could get these. Would make an excellent addition to the collection.

Domino, every day you get closer to being a troll.

miless · #229 Post by **miless** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 12:11 am

denti alligator wrote:Domino, every day you get closer to being a troll.

who says he isn't hiding under a bridge, trying to eat your children?

criterionsnob · #230 Post by **criterionsnob** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 12:14 am

Didn't Zeitgeist recently announce an upcoming new edition of Careful? My money is on Brand Upon the Brain!

Tribe · #231 Post by **Tribe** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 12:17 am

criterionsnob wrote:Didn't Zeitgeist recently announce an upcoming new edition of Careful?

I was just now looking for that in the Zeitgeist thread...I could've swore I read that somewhere myself.

Tribe

#232 Post by **domino harvey** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 1:01 am

denti alligator wrote: Domino, every day you get closer to being a troll.

I'd only be a "troll" (ugh, internet terminology) if I thought everyone loved Maddin and was only saying it to get a rise. It's been horrifying enough to discover that in fact everyone does love Maddin without being called out by name by another boarder for it.

denti alligator · Fri Mar 21, 2008 1:14 am

I understood Maddin to be generally liked on this board, as has always been the case. Point to more than one post that says otherwise (not counting your own).

ogygia avenue · #234 Post by **ogygia avenue** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 1:25 am

Cinephrenic wrote:
ogygia avenue wrote:Fuck the haters
Everybody is entitled to their opinion on how they feel about someone's work. I don't believe it is necessary to fuck them for feeling that way.

You know, if the responses to Maddin's inclusion in the collection were well-reasoned and articulate ("I dislike Maddin because of X, Y, and Z") and not just ad hominem attacks on the man, my response would have been a little more intelligent. Sadly, very few people here have said anything other than "this guy sucks". So until someone wants to critique Maddin without lapsing into ad hominem attacks...

#235 Post by **domino harvey** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 1:47 am

As in grade school, I will temper my outrageous comments by commending Criterion for releasing a newer film that lacked distribution in the States.

Anhedionisiac · #236 Post by **Anhedionisiac** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 1:52 am

ogygia avenue wrote:You know, if the responses to Maddin's inclusion in the collection were well-reasoned and articulate ("I dislike Maddin because of X, Y, and Z") and not just ad hominem attacks on the man, my response would have been a little more intelligent. Sadly, very few people here have said anything other than "this guy sucks". So until someone wants to critique Maddin without lapsing into ad hominem attacks...

If that's so, then those who like Maddin should be held accountable as well and post their thoughts on the matter.
Seriously, as Cinephrenic said, there's nothing wrong with expressing yourself, however one-note the sentiment expressed.
If you want further elaboration on their dislike, since it's normal feeling insulted for having your tastes trampled on (whether your tastes in question are Buñuel or Lazarova or Downey Sr. or whatever), just asking should do the trick.

domino harvey wrote:As in grade school, I will temper my outrageous comments by commending Criterion for releasing a newer film that lacked distribution in the States.

I didn't know that it didn't have previous distribution. It's nice to hear it, I hope they champion other recent undistributed works further down the collection

pianocrash · #237 Post by **pianocrash** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 3:24 am

ogygia avenue wrote:Apart from never being boring (which is more than you can say for many of the indiewood releases in the collection), Maddin is made of epic win.

Enjoy your honeymoon, poindexters. I'm sure Maddin is as great of a guy as you say he is (his essays in Film Comment notwithstanding), but for those of us out of sorts with his particular proclivities (winking till-it-hurts humour, overexaggeration of the visual senses, film history jokes), I think we'll just wait for the next bus, thanks. Or you could prove us all wrong and make your pre-orders count! Either way, we all win.

mikeohhh · #238 Post by **mikeohhh** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 3:39 am

Oh wow, this is exciting. I've been into Maddin for a while and this is the one film of his I've never managed to see (recommended by the friend of mine who introduced me to Maddin as his best). I've seen a few "hmm, the Kino seems to be out of print" comments... it's been that way for a long ass time! Careful has been on my Netflix "saved" queue since I joined in summer 2004 so I am overjoyed that I will finally be able to see it four years later.

Now I just hope I can see the second-longest holdout on that saved list, Los Angeles Plays Itself, sometime in the next... well, I probably shouldn't set a timeline for that one...

miless · #239 Post by **miless** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 5:22 am

If you look back on the previous page you'll see my reasons for dissent. I don't Care for Madden simply because I can't stand watching his films. I get nothing from them. To me they seem like they're trying to be funny, but are far too obscure to include me in the joke (it's like a group of hipsters laughing, and if I ask what they're laughing about they give me the evil eye).
I'm also not convinced by his style. I never get drawn into the subject matter, I am continually left staring at the surface. I like silent cinema, but to purposefully recreate it seems like an interesting experiment, not the basis for a career, and I've never really cared for silent film acting... and Madden's films make silent era acting look Bressonian in comparison. But, that said, I welcome him to the collection. I just won't buy his movies. I'll wait for Criterion's Pedro Costa or Max Ophüls boxed sets to blow my wad (both of em).

#240 Post by **Jeff** » Sun Mar 23, 2008 1:05 am

I think Brand Upon the Brain! is by far the most likely. Careful is an homage to early sound film, and Brand is an homage to silents. The rights to Careful are indeed likely to still be owned by Zeitgeist, and Maddin owns the rights to Brand himself (along with the independent, non-profit, and virtually dead "The Film Company"). Although it is out of print, the Careful DVD had an hour-long documentary and a Maddin commentary. I don't really see what Criterion could do to top it. Janus owns the rights to My Dad is 100 Years Old, and it would be a natural fit with Brand, since Isabella Rossellini's narration would likely be the primary audio track. It would be great if they could present recordings of some of the other narrators (Crispin Glover, Eli Wallach) as alternate tracks.

magicmarker · #241 Post by **magicmarker** » Sun Mar 23, 2008 1:38 am

I'm very please to see the Maddin announcement. I suspect it will be Brand Upon the Brain, and besides the Rosselini film, it would be great to see some extras on the live performances (there was some footage of the foley artists on the film's website, so maybe there's more of that) and maybe a few audio tracks.

dadaistnun · #242 Post by **dadaistnun** » Sun Mar 23, 2008 4:05 am

The dvd of My Dad is 100 Years Old that comes with Rossellini's book says "Courtesy of the Criterion Collection" on it, so I'd say its inclusion with whatever Maddin film this is (and I agree that Brand is the most likely) is a safe bet.

miless · #243 Post by **miless** » Sun Mar 23, 2008 4:54 am

dadaistnun wrote:The dvd of My Dad is 100 Years Old that comes with Rossellini's book says "Courtesy of the Criterion Collection" on it, so I'd say its inclusion with whatever Maddin film this is (and I agree that Brand is the most likely) is a safe bet.

why wouldn't My Dad is 100 Years Old be included with any Rossellini titles?

#244 Post by **Jeff** » Sun Mar 23, 2008 1:11 pm

I confirmed with a member of the Brand Upon the Brain! production team that Criterion will be releasing it this summer. He says that the last the last he heard, it would be coming in July. If their clue-to-release pattern holds true though, I'd say it may have been pushed to August.

Tribe · #245 Post by **Tribe** » Sun Mar 23, 2008 3:26 pm

jaredsap wrote:

Any meaning regarding the mouse...or just a back reference to The Royal Tenenbaums?

Tribe

#246 Post by **Jeff** » Sun Mar 23, 2008 4:48 pm

Tribe wrote:Any meaning regarding the mouse...or just a back reference to The Royal Tenenbaums?

Just a Tenenbaums reference, I'm sure. At one time, all of their wacky clue-giving animals were from existing releases. It's just been in the past few months that some of the drawings themselves have been clues.

Andre Jurieu · #247 Post by **Andre Jurieu** » Tue Mar 25, 2008 4:38 pm

miless wrote: ... To me they seem like they're trying to be funny, but are far too obscure to include me in the joke (it's like a group of hipsters laughing, and if I ask what they're laughing about they give me the evil eye).

I can understand the feeling of being an outsider to his brand of comedy, but I'm a bit baffled by the sense that Maddin is akin to hipsters greeting you with scorn and disdain for not being as scholarly and knowledgeable as they presume to be. Maddin's humor isn't really about cinematic-in-jokes designed to make him appear more intelligent than the rest of us. In fact, a great deal of his humor is at his own expense and some of it is just plain and simple comedy about embarrassment, which I'm sure we can all relate towards on some small level no matter how extreme his scenarios may appear. I can also say with confidence that his collaborators really don't enjoy the whole "hipster" mentality and go out of their way to champion films that they have a genuine emotional reaction towards.

Ornette · #248 Post by **Ornette** » Tue Mar 25, 2008 8:29 pm

Well, I say word on that, Andre.

Speaking of evil eyes and Maddin humour, I once attended a screening of Twilight of the Ice Nymphs and every time someone in the theater uttered a laugh a guy in the audience (I and my friends prefer to call him "The Humourless Cinéaste") would turn around and eye the audience with a very mean and intense look, trying to find the guilty one/s. He really seems to enjoy Maddin though, 'cause he also attended several other Maddin screenings after that, but I guess he just doesn't pick up on the jokes.
Once when we both eyed a guy that was making a "potatao chip bag symphony" every time he dug into it our eyes met and he kind of gave me a sign of recognition -- which I think meant that I unwillingly bonded with him, 'cause now he always greets me when whenever I run into him.

ellipsis7 · #249 Post by **ellipsis7** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 3:09 pm

April Newsletter...

SOCRATE, BLAISE PASCAL, CARTESIUS from Rossellini - late TV work?...

IMDB writes of CARTESIUS...

Part of Roberto Rossellini's Italian TV series on philosophers in history (other titles: Socrates, Blaise Pascal), this three hour chunk of television is, like the other titles, riveting in its own unique way. Granted it is a talk fest, but imagine listening to the leading lights of Renaissance Italy, Holland, and France talking for three hours on the subject dearest to their hearts: scientific investigation and its relation to the Church (which meant only one thing at the time, of course: the Roman Catholic church). It is an edifying three hours, but, this may surprise you, a very entertaining three hours as well. Negative points, however, to the rather annoying Mario Nascimbene score (though annoying in a way that doesn't really distract from the action). Rossellini's attention to quotidian detail is always fascinating. (In "Socrates," for example, Socrates goes to market, and his fish is wrapped to go -- in a piece of lettuce!)

Maybe an Eclipse release?... will run approx 7 hours altogether...

Awesome Welles · #250 Post by **Awesome Welles** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 3:15 pm

A certainty but as Eclipse or not?

EDIT: Our posts crossed as you updated, Ellipsis. It seems right for Eclipse but surely this is deserving of supplementary material. A nice booklet would go down well I'm sure.

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