'Forthcoming' Lists Discussion and Random Speculation Vol.1

[Matt]

As part of their Auteurs Festival for January, Criterion is streaming Deep Crimson, a title not yet released on DVD or Blu-ray. An April release, maybe? It's not a film I'm familiar with.

It was released on DVD in 2005 by Home Vision Entertainment, Criterion's former "sister" label. It's still in print, so I doubt there will be a Criterion edition anytime soon, if ever. I'm sure they'll get around to some other Arturo Ripstein film eventually.

[French completist]

When you search for Criterion and [Blu-ray] (with the [ ]) on the amazon.com web site, you get four extra films :
- Picnic at Hanging Rock
- Kwaidan
- Au Revoir les Enfants
- Down by Law

Does this mean these titles are going to be released as Blu-ray soon ?

[zedz]

When you search for Criterion and [Blu-ray] (with the [ ]) on the amazon.com web site, you get four extra films :
- Picnic at Hanging Rock
- Kwaidan
- Au Revoir les Enfants
- Down by Law

Does this mean these titles are going to be released as Blu-ray soon ?

If it does, it's fairly safe to assume that the first two will entail upgrades / rereleases of the DVDs as well.

[HerrSchreck]

Which, in terms of Kwaidan, would be fabulous.

[kaujot]

No wonder they've been taking so long for Hanging Rock.

[Tommaso]

"Kwaidan" on BluRay must be breathtaking, but even a new SD would probably be tough competition for the MoC. I'm sure that CC would do something against the audio crackle which can be rather annoying occasionally on the MoC. Still, before they update "Kwaidan", I wish they would finally come up with the long-promised "Human Condition" set.

[Shrew]

They could be planning to release Kwaidan and the Human Condition together a la The 400 Blows/Last Metro. Not sure if they would put Human Condition out on Blu-ray though. Awesome but maybe riskier.

Either way I think it will be some time. Although we got that last Metro hiccup, I expect Criterion will return to their announced Blu-ray list and release Gimme Shelter and Monterey Pop in April.

[HerrSchreck]

And I'm dying-- DYING-- to see what CC makes of the color scheme with an update of Kwaidan. I'm still not sure which is "right" and which is "wong" (MoC v CC). Visually, one of the most important films of the past 50 yrs, and one of the most glorious modern tributes to the silent era (and Murnau in general). A masterpiece. One of my biggest disappointments was missing this on the big screen a year or two ago when it toured.

[Dante Vescio]

Has anyone e-mailed Mulvaney about The Trial? Any good news?

[Tommaso]

And I'm dying-- DYING-- to see what CC makes of the color scheme with an update of Kwaidan. I'm still not sure which is "right" and which is "wong" (MoC v CC). Visually, one of the most important films of the past 50 yrs, and one of the most glorious modern tributes to the silent era (and Murnau in general).

Interesting, I would have never made the Murnau association, but you may have a point there (I assume you're talking about the fields in the second and also partially the third episode, for instance?). But I still think that most of the visuals' inspiration comes from Japanese painting scrolls, and well, as Michael K quite unintentionally convinced me in the Mizo Eclipse thread, there seems to be a strong "Ugetsu" influence here as well. In any case, completely mindblowing. Up there in my top four list of 'paintings in motion-films' (for want of a better term), together only with the Red Shoes Ballet, "Hoffmann" and "Prospero's Books".

Personally I find the MoC colours MUCH more convincing, quite apart from the full-length version.

[nostalghic]

Any information on Face To Face, Vivre Sa Vie, or any other Bergman title?

Man was I disappointed with Face to Face. Seeing it seriously took the shine off Ingmar Bergman for me. And he's one of my favourites, love all his other work with Liv Ullman. The shine didn't come back until I dug around the internet a while back and found a quote from him where he labels it one of his worst films. By all means see it, but I implore you for your own sake to have lower than usual expectations!

Also I'm not sure if this is new-news: I emailed the CC dudes a month or so back asking if a re-release of The Seventh Seal is in the cards. Jon Mulvaney said it is and is to be released some time in 2009. Pretty cool, love the movie, even without Sven Nykvist.

[HerrSchreck]

And I'm dying-- DYING-- to see what CC makes of the color scheme with an update of Kwaidan. I'm still not sure which is "right" and which is "wong" (MoC v CC). Visually, one of the most important films of the past 50 yrs, and one of the most glorious modern tributes to the silent era (and Murnau in general).

Interesting, I would have never made the Murnau association, but you may have a point there (I assume you're talking about the fields in the second and also partially the third episode, for instance?). But I still think that most of the visuals' inspiration comes from Japanese painting scrolls, and well, as Michael K quite unintentionally convinced me in the Mizo Eclipse thread, there seems to be a strong "Ugetsu" influence here as well. In any case, completely mindblowing. Up there in my top four list of 'paintings in motion-films' (for want of a better term), together only with the Red Shoes Ballet, "Hoffmann" and "Prospero's Books".

Personally I find the MoC colours MUCH more convincing, quite apart from the full-length version.

Well I'd say you're correct in the painterly influence.. the same way you'd be correct to note the influences of Romantic art in Murnau (not to mention Dutch chiaroscuro)-- which is kind of the point. As for the stylistic content of the images in Kwaidan, of course they are eastern-- I don't mean he's making a film inspired on the pictorial end by the German painters.

I'm talking about adapting a heavily painterly sensibility, and then deploying the means of the cinema in a fashion that hugely tributes the silent era, and Murnau in particular. The heavy, slow style, the creeping, climbing, drifting camera, the lighting.. I see lots of the German silent cinema here- not only Murnau but Lang and Pabst.

Of course, again, Kobayashi is Japanese, and the content is Japan-centric. But just as German romance paintings, as well as Japanese watercolors, were two dimensional static images, Murnau and Kobayashi created moving images. It's the way they both went about the "moving" part of the images that I mean, so to speak.

Why do you find the colors on the longer-cut digibeta "more convincing"?-- I'm very curious because I've not really heard this addressed much.

Perhaps we should move this over to the CC Kwaidan thread, since we're speculating on it's rerelease.

[Tommaso]

OK, I'll quote your whole post there, and then reply.

[Matt]

Domino, don't read this post.

I wonder when we are going to get a "The Long Film Titles of Yasujiro Ozu" Eclipse set:

The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice
The Record of a Tenement Gentleman
The Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family
What Did the Lady Forget?
Where Are the Dreams of Youth?

Seriously, though. I want more Ozu.

[mfunk9786]

Seriously, though. I want more Ozu.

Aren't the other 500 Ozu titles in the collection enough for now? Can't the Eclipse line take care of some other, lesser known filmmakers for a little while?

[HerrSchreck]

Domino, don't read this post.

I wonder when we are going to get a "The Long Film Titles of Yasujiro Ozu" Eclipse set:

The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice
The Record of a Tenement Gentleman
The Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family
What Did the Lady Forget?
Where Are the Dreams of Youth?

Seriously, though. I want more Ozu.

You aint the only one, homes.

I don't mind non-Ozu titles, so long as it's not Fanfan or fuckin Bottle Rocket.

[Michael Kerpan]

I wonder when we are going to get a "The Long Film Titles of Yasujiro Ozu" Eclipse set:

The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice
The Record of a Tenement Gentleman
The Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family
What Did the Lady Forget?
Where Are the Dreams of Youth?

Seriously, though. I want more Ozu.

The longest title has already been released.....

Otona no miru ehon - Umarete wa mita keredo / A Picture Book for Adults: I Was Born But.

;~}

Still to come, however -- College Student Romance: Days of Youth

[ellipsis7]

Days of Youth - ski bums of their day... (lovely film)...

[GringoTex]

fuckin Bottle Rocket.

Good- the real Shreck is back.

[Michael Kerpan]

Days of Youth - ski bums of their day... (lovely film)...

I wonder if Ozu and cinematographer Mohara's use of a ski cam in this film was the first time ever.

Also, (FWIW) I think Days of Youth is the best Harold Lloyd not made by Harold Lloyd. ;~}

MEK

[Adam]

We hosted Marilyn Brakhage at Filmforum last Sunday, and she confirmed that they are working on a new Criterion with 29 more films (!). It might be an Eclipse, actually. She said that Peter at Criterion said it was ok to spread the word.

Actually, she is in Los Angeles this week working with the Academy Film Archive on the telecine.
http://lafilmforum.wordpress.com/2009/0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ... -brakhage/
More on each of these films in the "By Brakhage" thread.

The seven that we screened are among the 29:

The Machine of Eden (1970, 16 mm, silent, 11 min)
“He was born, he suffered, he died” (1974, 16 mm, silent, 7 min)
Burial Path (1978, 16mm, color/silent, 15min (18fps))
Visions in Meditation #4 (1990, 16 mm, silent, 19 min)
Boulder Blues and Pearls and… (1992, 16 mm, Sound by Rick Corrigan, 23 min)
Persians 1-3 (1999, 16 mm, silent, 8 min)
Chinese Series (2003, 35mm, silent, 2 min) - his final film

A fabulous show, by the way.

[Dante Vescio]

Any news on The Trial, anyone? 8-[

[What A Disgrace]

Its hard to imagine a better DVD than another Brakhage set.

Great news, thank you very much.

[Le Samouraï]

At one time there was a very insistent rumor that Gus Van Sant's 'Elephant' was coming out from Criterion. Anyone care to speculate why it didn't happen?

[kaujot]

I think Sony owns it.