Criterion Discussion and Random Speculation Volume 7

[therewillbeblus]

I'm in the same boat, though for me it usually moves in one direction- most of my favorite films are ones that didn't leave as much of an impression on me the first (or second!) watch, and I only grew to appreciate them more with personal or interpersonal recontextualization (my own maturation or willingness to incorporate others' readings to the artwork). Having said that, if I liked a film on a first viewing and then rewatch it and dislike it significantly, I hesitate more to return to it, especially if I've done my research and attempted to contextualize the film based on my own and others' favorable impressions/readings and come up empty regardless. Such is the case with this Capra film

[rrenault]

Maybe the '97 French film is My Sex Life... since that's the year it was released everywhere outside of France after another post-Cannes festival run? (Please?)

This seems very plausible. I doubt that would get a UHD though.

[swo17]

I don't think that's how Criterion assigns years, and besides, it's already on Criterion Channel as a 1996 film

[Finch]

Just here to remind the room that Janus’ website attributes LOST HIGHWAY to France....
(as it was a french produced film)

We all know that all along but as I said ten posts above yours on the last page, neither Janus's front page nor the press release PDF are technically correct and/or consistent in exclusively assigning France and the US respectively. It's a co-production (and notably, it doesn't have any French producers listed in the credits). From FWWM onwards, all Lynch features have had French money attached but nobody (other than Janus's Lost Highway page) calls any of them French movies, never mind exclusively French (as Janus's LH page seems to imply). If you check Janus's page for Inland Empire, it says United States (which, if you wanted to be pedantic, isn't correct either, as IE has Polish and French companies as well as Lynch's own attached).

Criterion and by extension eerik almost certainly aren't thinking of Lost Highway as the 1997 French title to be revealed on Monday.

[FrauBlucher]

Don't get me wrong. I will watch a film I don't like a second and third time, much like I did with Arsenic and Old Lace and each time the feeling was no different. A fourth time is out of the question even a Criterion bluray will not change that. But for me to revisit a film I didn't like there has to be a reason. Maybe the critical response was very strong, or I was tired or distracted during the viewing or something else. So, I make an attempt to revisit. Case in point, Bellocchio's Fists in the Pocket is something I absolutely loathed. I had such a visceral angry feeling leaving the theater when I went to see the touring restoration. But you know what, that god damn thing stayed in my head since that time. I've needed to see it again. I'll get my chance next week when it screens at the IFC Center. But there has to be a point where the initial experience will not change, that said film will go in the not again bin.

btw... as I'm posting while TCM is playing It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World which is another film I find painfully unfunny. But it has a large audience who do love it.

[domino harvey]

Some films leave me under enthused or seething and eventually work their way back into my mind to give them a second chance years down the road. I would never let my mind trick me into a third if I still didn’t like it on second pass though

[therewillbeblus]

I don't think that's how Criterion assigns years, and besides, it's already on Criterion Channel as a 1996 film

I know, but I'm still holding you accountable for ruining my dreams (and that's how I got into an argument)

[domino harvey]

Can’t wait for Criterion to announce La verite si je mens!

[FrauBlucher]

Surely that would be included in a highly anticipated boxset

[mteller]

My "if I had my druthers" wishlist:

1968 USA - nothing I'm particularly keen on that hasn't already been released, so sure, Rosemary's Baby
1944 USA - Betrayed (When Strangers Marry)
1997 France - A Casa (more Lithuanian than French, but hey it's a wishlist)
1997 Japan - Hana-Bi
2019 Guatemala - I got nothing
1997 USA - Boogie Nights

[cdobbs]

If Lost Highway is the French film based on the Janus technicality (and I assume so because little else fits) then I’m guessing 1997 USA is Eve’s Bayou.

[Feego]

Several people are guessing Rosemary's Baby, but didn't that go out of print due to Paramount releasing their own Blu-ray (just like several other Paramounts)? Is there some indication that Paramount would let Criterion release it on 4K rather than putting it out themselves?

[Marwood]

1968 USA
1944 USA
1997 France
1997 Japan
2019 Guatemala
1997 USA

1968 USA - Targets
1944 USA - Arsenic and Old Lace
1997 France - On connaît la chanson
1997 Japan - The Eel
2019 Guatemala - La Llorona
1997 USA - Lost Highway

[rrenault]

Cure, Lost Highway, and La Llorona seem to be the obvious ones. The rest of them are anyone's guess as far as I'm concerned.

[MV88]

1968 USA - Targets
1944 USA - Arsenic and Old Lace
1997 France - On connaît la chanson
1997 Japan - The Eel
2019 Guatemala - La Llorona
1997 USA - Lost Highway

Targets was what I was thinking for the 1968 film as well. Night of the Living Dead is certainly plausible, but I’m far less convinced that it could be Rosemary’s Baby for several different reasons.

The Eel would be interesting, but if we know they’re releasing a Japanese film from 1997 — and in October, no less — and it’s NOT Cure, then I might suspect they’re trolling us with that movie at this point.

The real question is whether Lost Highway is the American or French film being referenced, because it would open up different possibilities depending on how they’re classifying it.

[ryannichols7]

Several people are guessing Rosemary's Baby, but didn't that go out of print due to Paramount releasing their own Blu-ray (just like several other Paramounts)? Is there some indication that Paramount would let Criterion release it on 4K rather than putting it out themselves?

I personally think we will see the Paramount Six™ all come back as UHDs. Paramount is definitely licensing again, as they allowed Criterion to do The Virgin Suicides (a big title, I may add!) and Kino is licensing tons of titles from them, as well as Indicator in the UK. I think they took the Six out as a silly little experiment but they'll come back..if Paramount was going to release Rosemary's Baby or Nashville on 4K themselves I think they would've done so already.

I would love to see Imamura's The Eel see a release from Criterion, Arrow, or even Radiance (it got brought up a lot in that thread, thankfully) but I think we would know if it got a new restoration, which it obviously needs..

[rrenault]

For what it's worth regarding Paramount, the current masters of Days of Heaven and La Dolce Vita I'm not sure would gain from the UHD treatment, and we already have a stellar UHD of Don't Look Now. Rosemary's Baby and Nashville would certainly be good candidates. Days of Heaven needs a new master while my impression is La Dolce Vita is one of those titles with problematic source elements, since the OCN I think became heavily mold-damaged. I could be wrong though.

I'm not sure how problematic Rosemary's Baby would be from a sociopolitical standpoint, since it was directed by Polanski but stars a MeToo avatar. Does one cancel out the other?

[ryannichols7]

For what it's worth regarding Paramount, the current masters of Days of Heaven and La Dolce Vita I'm not sure would gain from the UHD treatment, and we already have a stellar UHD of Don't Look Now. Rosemary's Baby and Nashville would certainly be good candidates. Days of Heaven needs a new master while my impression is La Dolce Vita is one of those titles with problematic source elements, since the OCN I think became heavily mold-damaged. I could be wrong though.

yeah I was gonna say, someone followed up my post in the UHD thread with this info - glad you brought it here. Don't Look Now is definitely the lowest priority since it has the canal disc already, but I hope Criterion is able to follow through on the other two. I'd love if Malick stopped whatever it is he's doing to work on Days of Heaven (it's most in need, as Badlands is already from a 4K master at least), but I have a feeling it'll be a bit

[rrenault]

I think they took the Six out as a silly little experiment but they'll come back..if Paramount was going to release Rosemary's Baby or Nashville on 4K themselves I think they would've done so already.

Sounds like that "silly little experiment" where Criterion lost large chunks of the filmographies of Godard, Buñuel, and Melville, along with flagship Renoir and Kurosawa titles simply so that Lionsgate could release Terminator 2.

[ryannichols7]

I think they took the Six out as a silly little experiment but they'll come back..if Paramount was going to release Rosemary's Baby or Nashville on 4K themselves I think they would've done so already.

Sounds like that "silly little experiment" where Criterion lost large chunks of the filmographies of Godard, Buñuel, and Melville, along with flagship Renoir and Kurosawa titles simply so that Lionsgate could release Terminator 2.

precisely! and that did end up working out at least since we're getting good editions of what came back.

re: Rosemary's Baby - I think that and Chinatown are the two Polanski titles you can probably get away with, considering both have such big stature on their own. plus, Farrow is going to be in his new movie and is still on great terms with him, which...is really something, but that's for another thread

[swo17]

directed by Polanski but stars a MeToo avatar. Does one cancel out the other?

Yes, the involvement of Polanski--who hasn't spent the last 30+ years maintaining a big lie to save face no matter who it hurts--makes up for Mia Farrow's

[Maltic]

re: Rosemary's Baby - I think that and Chinatown are the two Polanski titles you can probably get away with, considering both have such big stature on their own.

Like you can rename Calhoun College, but not Yale itself?

[JakeStewart]

I can’t be the only one hoping 1968 USA is Petulia.

[Forrest Taft]

I can’t be the only one hoping 1968 USA is Petulia.

Be still my heart. The Eel would also make my day.

[rrenault]

Don't Look Now is definitely the lowest priority since it has the canal disc already, but I hope Criterion is able to follow through on the other two. I'd love if Malick stopped whatever it is he's doing to work on Days of Heaven (it's most in need, as Badlands is already from a 4K master at least), but I have a feeling it'll be a bit

It would probably cost 30-35 USD to import the standard Canal edition of Don't Look Now from the UK, so nothing scandalous in comparison to a domestically purchased Criterion UHD outside of sale time. I'm sure Criterion takes this sort of thing into consideration when deciding what to release on the format. None of the "WTF?! They released that on UHD while Criterion (still) only has a blu-ray" titles have been upgraded by Criterion (yet). I'm excluding Le Cercle Rouge, since it was OOP at the time, and the competing editions of both CK and MD were released simultaneously. And Criterion probably prioritized Le Cercle Rouge, due to Canal's atrocious encode.

P.S. I do wonder if Nashville, Rosemary's Baby, and Chinatown have a chance of getting UHD releases from Paramount themselves. Chinatown is one of the flagship "New Hollywood"/1970s titles along with Taxi Driver, A Clockwork Orange, The Godfather, Apocalypse Now, etc, so I'd think it's "big" enough to warrant a catalog UHD, unless the Polanski factor is holding it up. Raging Bull wasn't getting a catalog release, due to it being owned by MGM.