Criterion Discussion and Random Speculation Volume 7

[FlickeringWindow]

No idea where to post this but Ashley Clark is now working for Criterion in the role of "Curational Director"

Absolute tragedy what happened to George Floyd but looks like someone was able to spin it to their advantage and secure the bag.

Looks like we have our Richard Cranium Award winner

[therewillbeblus]

It'll take more than that to beat the guy who went on a day-long defense of his sexist statements a few weeks after doing the same about poor people only being in poverty because they want to be, tho I am slightly impressed he was able to do so without getting banned

[domino harvey]

No idea where to post this but Ashley Clark is now working for Criterion in the role of "Curational Director"

Absolute tragedy what happened to George Floyd but looks like someone was able to spin it to their advantage and secure the bag.

Looks like we have our Richard Cranium Award winner

If this board forgets the year long reign of Nasir over this forum in favor of the one comment above, there’s no hope for any of you

[MichaelB]

Absolute tragedy what happened to George Floyd but looks like someone was able to spin it to their advantage and secure the bag.

That's just about the most revoltingly ignorant comment that I've ever read on these forums, but I'm cheered to see people leaping so swiftly to Ashley's defence. Not that he needs any: the quality of his work over the years amply speaks for itself, and his book on Bamboozled is one of the very best single-film monographs of the last decade, not least because it was so clearly such a deeply personal project for him.

And this is what makes it such a great book, because he articulates so clearly why the film struck such a powerful chord with him even though it had been glibly dismissed by people who didn't have any skin in that particular game (a crude but in this case all too appropriate metaphor). Books that persuade me to give something another look are ten a penny, but books that actually shame me into doing so are much rarer.

(I also vividly remember his booklet essay for Indicator's Scum kicking off by highlighting the parallels between it and Pasolini's Salò, one of those insights that looks blindingly obvious once it's voiced, but I'd never made the connection before because the films come from such different cultural milieux.)

[Big Ben]

I for one am looking forward to seeing what Ashley contributes as he's always been friendly and inviting on Twitter.

[goblinfootballs]

Also a big Ashley Clark fan, especially his contributions to the Film Comment podcast over the years.

[FrauBlucher]

It can't be anything but a positive for Criterion

[Wigs by Leonard]

...the quality of his work over the years amply speaks for itself, and his book on Bamboozled is one of the very best single-film monographs of the last decade, not least because it was so clearly such a deeply personal project for him.

And this is what makes it such a great book, because he articulates so clearly why the film struck such a powerful chord with him even though it had been glibly dismissed by people who didn't have any skin in that particular game (a crude but in this case all too appropriate metaphor). Books that persuade me to give something another look are ten a penny, but books that actually shame me into doing so are much rarer.

Thank you very much for the recommendation - I'm going to seek this out, and promptly. I'm always interested in film writing that incorporates a writer's personal relationship to the film/history/its context without sacrificing any of its bite as criticism qua criticism. I'm less familiar with Clark than some, but I'm only happy for the opportunity to become acquainted not only with his writing and work but with the films he will help steward to disc and streaming.

[Black Hat]

Absolute tragedy what happened to George Floyd but looks like someone was able to spin it to their advantage and secure the bag.

Looks like we have our Richard Cranium Award winner

If this board forgets the year long reign of Nasir over this forum in favor of the one comment above, there’s no hope for any of you

Ha... what did he finally get banned for?

[therewillbeblus]

I figured he just gradually selected to hide posts from every user on the forum and is still yelling into the void (/only mods' ears) invisibly to the rest of us, in a novel self-defeating self-gratification fetish yet to be added to the DSM

[senseabove]

Did he actually get banned? I assumed he was just licking his wounded pride until it was far enough gone in the rearview how confidently, spectacularly wrong he was in the US politics thread about the election being a landslide for Biden and Dems, as that's about when he disappeared.

[soundchaser]

Gonna be real fun when it turns out he's still around and the call is coming from inside the thread.

[knives]

He hasn’t been banned and he’s posted within the past month.

[DarkImbecile]

He was in fact banned, after having basically ceased engaging in actual discussion on a discussion forum in favor of making definitive (usually wrong) proclamations and explaining basic concepts as if they were deep insights; as was explained to him on multiple occasions in attempts to improve his contributions, this isn’t any user’s personal blog.

[Black Hat]

Yeah his whole posting oeuvre was one long cry for help. Hope with the pandemic the sperginess hasn't gotten too out of hand and he's doing ok.

[domino harvey]

Whoever thought it was a good idea to ask the rodeo clown to judge the rodeo, folks? Nevertheless, here I am, stepping in for Minkin for this month’s Speculation Rodeo Roundup!

Celine and Julie Go Boating A surprise, but perhaps an eventuality given that Criterion has picked up other New Yorker holdings in the interim since the label folded over a decade ago

Defending Your Life A surprise, but perhaps an eventuality given that Criterion has a working relationship with Brooks and is in good graces with Warners for licensing

Secrets and Lies Teased somewhere, but I can’t figure out how the internet works. Criterion and Mike Leigh are a natural fit and this is his most critically lauded and awards-heavy film, so a no-brainer

Touki Bouki A surprise, but perhaps… no, this was not an eventuality. Total left field choice to pick this out of the existing box set, though perhaps one executed to bring more spine numbers to films made by minority filmmakers in the wake of the NYT hit piece

World of Wong Kar Wai You’re not California Dreaming, we knew it was coming from the New Year’s Clue, and then it came in a different new year.

…AND THIS MONTH’S RECIPIENT OF THE EXPIRED $10 GIFT CARD TO A WRANGLER OUTLET STORE IS…

Wigs by Leonard for his correct guess of Celine and Julie Go Boating! You can collect your prize in any of the brightly painted trash barrels near the exits. Only one other member even got a single guess correct, and that was Bressonaire so it doesn’t even count. And this guy or gal only joined a few days ago. We've all brought shame on our respective families. :patheticSkinnerGIF:

(WKW reached out to me and insisted that his box was no longer intended to be guessed for this month’s rodeo, so no one’s guess counted. A moot point given the early announce anyways, but we <3 Auteurs here at the Criterion Forum just like our daddy company who won’t acknowledge us in public)

Will Minkin return next month to save us from another month of the roundup looking like this? Only time will tell. Tip your babysitters and Arbys clerks!

[yoloswegmaster]

]

Celine and Julie Go Boating A surprise, but perhaps an eventuality given that Criterion has picked up other New Yorker holdings in the interim since the label folded over a decade ago

Secrets and Lies Teased somewhere, but I can’t figure out how the internet works. Criterion and Mike Leigh are a natural fit and this is his most critically lauded and awards-heavy film, so a no-brainer

Neither of these are actually a surprise since they were both on the Criterion Channel with a Janus logo (and a page for Celine was also uploaded on the Janus site a couple months back). How can you not know these things?!?!?! I want Minkin back.

[Wigs by Leonard]

Wigs by Leonard for his correct guess of Celine and Julie Go Boating! You can collect your prize in any of the brightly painted trash barrels near the exits. Only one other member even got a single guess correct, and that was Bressonaire so it doesn’t even count. And this guy or gal only joined a few days ago. We've all brought shame on our respective families. :patheticSkinnerGIF:

While I am gooped, gagged, and truly honored, this is where I admit that I am in fact a Long-Time Lurker (since 2018), First-Time Player, and your shame is fully optional. I collect my guesses one Channel addition and podcast-culled crumb at a time, just like the rest of you clowns. (And I'm glad to finally be a contributor to the forum that has taught me a whole lot over the past few years. Genuinely, thank you all!)

[Lowry_Sam]

Wasn't Milestone going to release Celine and Julie Go Boating? Maybe we'll see a Criterion I am Cuba too.

[Michael Kerpan]

Wasn't Milestone going to release Celine and Julie Go Boating? Maybe we'll see a Criterion I am Cuba too.

No. New Yorker had done lots of work for a C&J release, before things sort of fell apart there. I am pretty sure that Milestone wants to do a Blu-Ray Release of Cuba (but without the extravagant cigar box packaging).

[The Elegant Dandy Fop]

I actually saw New Yorker's 35mm restoration (at the tail end of restorations on film along with Janus FIlms' last 35mm restoration of Daisies and Rialto's last 35mm restoration of Le Petit Soldat) back in either 2012 or 2013. I'm really surprised that New Yorker sat on this film for so long and am not surprised Criterion picked it up. Is New Yorker even still around?

[whaleallright]

I asked that very question a few days ago. Last I had read, they were re-constituted (absent the Talbots) post-liquidation and were still renting some of their films for the non-theatrical market and for libraries—I was getting emails from them advertising "institutional prices" for some African films on home video. But their website hasn't been updated in at least six years, and I haven't gotten an email from them for nearly that long.

[MongooseCmr]

TCM is playing Almodovar’s first four features in the first two weeks of January (can’t see further) which seems specific enough to imply a release next year. I haven’t seen any but his early films are usually grouped together stylistically, right?

[therewillbeblus]

TCM is playing Almodovar’s first four features in the first two weeks of January (can’t see further) which seems specific enough to imply a release next year. I haven’t seen any but his early films are usually grouped together stylistically, right?

Does that include Fuck Me, Fuck Me, Fuck Me, Tim? That's the only one I haven't seen yet, but otherwise I don't know, I think a lot of his films bleed together but that's not a bad thing. I want to agree and say that everything pre-Woman on the Verge is a bit messy and chaotic without as much desire to command a tone that works as both wild and existentially provocative, but then I remember that Dark Habits and Matador strike a more balanced composition, and some of his later features slip back to the early chaos, so I doubt Criterion could really pair any together more than the others. I think we'll either get standalones of all his work at some point, or an early set just for the sake of it, or most likely a giant box set without individual releases, which seems to be the preferred trend now.

[dwk]

According to this, Mira Nair has said that Criterion is releasing Mississippi Masala next year.