Cohen Film Collection

[britcom68]

Did any of the Arbelos, Criterion, or Cohem team members reveal any upcoming titles for their respective labels?

Not at all. None of the above even hinted at anything except for Lanza's remarks on a Merchant-Ivory boxset. I do not think anyone from Cohen (or even Kino) had officially responded to any rumors of a Merchant-Ivory boxset before last night. Of course the way he phrased things, it was not meant to state that a boxset was in progress already or even scheduled to begin work but rather that he is hoping that they can clear rights and get things organized for a set in the future but no timeline was discussed, no specs detailed on what could be carried over from the stand-alone titles already released and nothing more was discussed beyond that.

[domino harvey]

Monsieur Hire coming later this year

[JSC]

Jean Chapot's The Burned Barns on August 23
Jacques Deray's Symphony for a Massacre on August 30.

Anyone know what happened to Gang of Four... or all those other Rivettes?

[therewillbeblus]

That and Haut bas fragile are definitely coming, but I don't think anyone expected they'd be coming quickly. Maybe Cohen is priming them as 4K titles- but that's really just me looking for an exciting reason to make the wait worth it

[senseabove]

They released a trailer for the Gang of Four restoration tour last Summer, and there still hasn't been a peep about a BD release that I know of.

At this point, I'm just hoping that since the Cohen deal predates their acquisition of Curzon/Artificial Eye, they do not have the UK rights and someone has or will pick them up (Radiance, maybe?), then just do a Vol. 1/Vol. 2/Vol. 3 box set á la Arrow's Fassbinder sets as the restorations trickle out. At this point, there are five French discs that have 0 UK and 2 US counterparts.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

They released a trailer for the Gang of Four restoration tour last Summer, and there still hasn't been a peep about a BD release that I know of.

Well, the tour itself hasn't actually happened yet. The Variety article linked earlier in the thread said both it and Love on the Ground would be 2022 releases. Cohen barely released anything theatrically last year, so my guess is they were over-optimistic about Covid or the personnel shakeup (they brought in a new head of Marketing and Distribution in October) messed up the schedule. But they already have theatrical releases planned through December and neither of the Rivettes are among them⁠—personally I'd rather they send them to video and take one-off bookings in lieu of a full theatrical tour if that's the only way we'll get them before 2023.

[mfunk9786]

It'd be great to know who holds the rights to Entre Nous, and whether Criterion has considered putting it out. The old non-anamorphic Fox Lorber disc has been out of print for almost a decade and it still sells for way too much. It's a great film that's worthy of a quality release.

If this wasn't my first post on the forum, it was close to it. Anyway, 12 years later, it's all come full circle...

And Cohen, all these years later, is putting it out...

[Finch]

Cohen titles off 50% through Kino

As per a Cohen rep on the other forum:

Rivette films, one per month beginning in January: GANG OF FOUR, LOVE ON THE GROUND, SECRET DEFENSE, and UP, DOWN, FRAGILE.

8/23 THE BURNED BARNS (1973) from a 4K restoration carried out by StudioCanal.

8/30 SYMPHONY FOR A MASSACRE (1963) from a 2K restoration from a 4K scan of the 35MM interpositive

09/06 ENTRE NOUS

9/27 KNIFE IN THE HEAD

Oct to Dec includes MONSIEUR HIRE, FELIX AND LOLA, and LOVE STREET, THE BALLAD OF THE SAD CAFE (1991), A FISH IN THE BATHTUB, and Raphael Silver films ON THE YARD and A WALK ON THE MOON.

[L.A.]

Knife in the Head is very much worth seeing, Bruno Ganz is terrific.

[therewillbeblus]

As per a Cohen rep on the other forum:

Rivette films, one per month beginning in January: GANG OF FOUR, LOVE ON THE GROUND, SECRET DEFENSE, and UP, DOWN, FRAGILE.

Wow, excellent news- glad to hear we have street dates and that they're pumping four great films out so quickly!

[senseabove]

I'm glad they've announced something more specific, but given that we were also told, via Variety, that Gang of Four and Love on the Ground were coming "next year" in October 2021... I will believe it when there is a specific release date and I can place a pre-order. (And in the meantime, I'll continue hoping Radiance has picked these up.)

[therewillbeblus]

Is Cohen historically shifty regarding their stated release dates?

[senseabove]

When it comes to Rivette, yes. Hence me mentioning that in October '21 we were told Gang of Four and Love on the Ground would be out "next year," and now well over halfway into that "next year," we're being told those same two movies will be out... next year. Add in that, per original press releases, GoF was supposed to be the first title released of all the Rivettes and soundchaser said upthread that the Cohen rep told them in April '21 that GoF was "coming soon."

[beamish14]

On the Yard is a must-buy. I’m so glad they’re handling the works of Joan Micklin Silver and Raphael Silver. Maybe their daughter Marisa’s film Old Enough is on the docket as well

[therewillbeblus]

I recently watched Chilly Scenes of Winter and found it uniquely naked in its willingness to be honest about an oft-depicted narrative that's typically glamorized in a psychologically protective manner, whereby the protagonist reflexively engages in his own non-pathetic fantasy of being a cool protagonist in a romantic story. Heard and Silver go for an authentic portrait, and it rides a subtle range of tones within that wheelhouse. It's funny and it gently stings in all the right places. If On the Yard or any of their other works are anywhere near on par with that, feed me recs please

[Quote Perf Unquote]

I recently watched Chilly Scenes of Winter and found it uniquely naked in its willingness to be honest about an oft-depicted narrative that's typically glamorized in a psychologically protective manner, whereby the protagonist reflexively engages in his own non-pathetic fantasy of being a cool protagonist in a romantic story. Heard and Silver go for an authentic portrait, and it rides a subtle range of tones within that wheelhouse. It's funny and it gently stings in all the right places. If On the Yard or any of their other works are anywhere near on par with that, feed me recs please

I'd say "Chilly Scenes" is their best, their most beguiling and troubling, and most complex despite its concentrated chamber-like focus. It's less of a recreative project like "Hester Street" or an Altman-esque tapestry like "Between the Lines." The latter is an excellent grimy antidote to the hero-making of other journalism films, though I guess being less plot-driven than those, that really wasn't its intention anyway. Just a great collection of characters in a milieu that stopped existing in any meaningful way about ten years ago. "On the Yard" is a very low-key prison film, somewhat akin to Young's "Short Eyes" but even milder, which if not what we think of as accurate to prison life at least it's refreshing or confounding. Heard is again excellent.

[dwk]

Ugh, Cohen has bough HanWay Films.

[DeprongMori]

Ugh, Cohen has bough HanWay Films.

I hope this doesn't bode ill for any of Criterion’s current licensing for Wenders, Cronenberg, Weir, Oshima, Frears, Roeg, Terence Davies, etc. I’m guessing it will affect future licensing on many other great films. Does Criterion have any history of licensing from Cohen?

[dwk]

I hope this doesn't bode ill for any of Criterion’s current licensing for Wenders, Cronenberg, Weir, Oshima, Frears, Roeg, Terence Davies, etc. I’m guessing it will affect future licensing on many other great films. Does Criterion have any history of licensing from Cohen?

I think Faces Places in the Varda set is the only one.

[ryannichols7]

exactly, this isn't quite the same as Shout buying Westchester. Criterion and Shout work together plenty, but Cohen isn't exactly nice to them. the Hanway titles are some big ones, taking a license hit there would be painful

[FrauBlucher]

Ugh indeed. I was hoping eventually Haynes's Carol would end up with Criterion. Maybe Kino will have a bigger hand in releasing the blu-rays. But my expectations for Cohen getting a lot of these out on bluray are not high. I suspect this is more for their streaming service.

I don't think there is a good relationship between the Cohen and Criterion. City of Women being left out of the Fellini box could be an indication of that. As for Faces Places Agnes Varda was still alive when the box was being worked on. Perhaps she had something to do with Cohen licensing to CC.

[domino harvey]

Ugh?

[FrauBlucher]

I think it’s the disappointment of Cohen slow walking their releases if they get released at all. Their potential was greater than their output has been. But maybe through Kino that will be rectified. And also, what what does this mean for the HanWay films Criterion already have?

[dwk]

Also, I've seen people reporting that some of Cohen's releases have pretty lousy subtitles. (plus the guy that owns the company is a billionaire asshole, but that is a different issue.)

[therewillbeblus]

On the Yard is a must-buy.

"On the Yard" is a very low-key prison film, somewhat akin to Young's "Short Eyes" but even milder, which if not what we think of as accurate to prison life at least it's refreshing or confounding. Heard is again excellent.

I really liked this as well- it's certainly restrained but feels like a realist take on the more fantastically-drawn prison exploitation films of the earlier 70s. There are the conspiring guards and theatrical elements, but everything is pared back and emotions are allowed to exist in omissions, since they're often hidden beneath the surfaces we can examine from a humble position. This isn't a hand-holding exercise with melodramatic stakes and surrogate involvement, and if we're wanting more of Heard's back story and personality, that seems entirely the point. He's so clearly a carefully drawn character with a rich background known to Heard and the filmmakers that we only get a glimpse of, and I was captivated by his presence whenever he's on screen. Everyone else is good too, but the film is loose and a bit directionless by design; the details more significant or interesting to the filmmaker than the core narrative of the kingpin's power being disrupted etc. I didn't love it, but I'm not sure it's working towards the adoration earned from large payoffs. As a slice of life with vivid textures in place of cheap contrivances that may serve some great narrative purpose but detract from the purpose of the film, this is a winner.