Criterion Discussion and Random Speculation Volume 7

[goblinfootballs]

I don't see special features posted for any of the new announcements besides von Trier

Probably why they took them down.

[therewillbeblus]

Yeah, I imagine something needed combing over

[The Narrator Returns]

They're leaving me in suspense about whether or not they'll address the Sarah Polley-shaped elephant in the room with Baron Munchausen.

[ryannichols7]

They're leaving me in suspense about whether or not they'll address the Sarah Polley-shaped elephant in the room with Baron Munchausen.

for real. between this and Von Trier being announced, they should've thrown in a Knife in the Water upgrade

[colinr0380]

I don't see special features posted for any of the new announcements besides von Trier

I'm very excited for the Europe Trilogy. Did you see the list of extra features and have they ported over the commentary tracks from the Electric Parc produced Zentropa/Tartan boxset?

[swo17]

Give me a sec and I'll post the specs.

Only UHD this month is Munchausen

[therewillbeblus]

If this Von Trier trilogy is due to be released, it seems more likely they'd be packaged like December's Zetterling and Haneke releases.

It's at the higher price point of 100 MSRP vs 80 on those three-movie sets, so likely the old box set packaging. It'd be nice to save $20 for different packaging though- I wonder who's making these choices. Maybe it's an experiment to see how well they sell when pitching price vs a more luxurious packaging?

[criterionsnob]

They're leaving me in suspense about whether or not they'll address the Sarah Polley-shaped elephant in the room with Baron Munchausen.

for real. between this and Von Trier being announced, they should've thrown in a Knife in the Water upgrade

Not to mention, Tim Roth was rumoured to have made a crew member cry, and Hansen-Løve"really struggled" with him on set.

[bainbridgezu]

Gilliam and von Trier? In this economy? I'm kvelling. Maybe they'll finally dust off that quietly-abandoned Ferris Bueller release from ages ago.

[domino harvey]

Broderick is too problematic because he killed two women

[therewillbeblus]

Marilyn Manson is in Lost Highway. If Criterion adopted an entirely squeaky clean slate they just wouldn't release movies anymore

[beamish14]

Broderick is too problematic because he killed two women

This has always stunned me. He drove (sober!) on the wrong side of the road, killed two and nearly ended Jennifer Grey’s life as well. He’s never really shown any remorse about it, and there were zero punitive measures taken against him

[swo17]

Uh, it's not hard to find accounts online of Broderick expressing remorse about it

[beamish14]

Uh, it's not hard to find accounts online of Broderick expressing remorse about it

I was just thinking back to his interview on one of those primetime news programs in the late 80’s where he seemed to keep emphasizing the fact that he had no memory of what had transpired. Per the families of the victims, he’s never returned to Ireland to speak with them, which he had apparently promised to do

[swo17]

This is just the first article that came up about it on Google. I think he meant "no memory" of the accident or the circumstances leading up to it before waking up in the hospital. He had suffered a concussion and was recovering there for a month afterward.

"We had to cut the side away from the American's car to give him first aid," Ken Ramsey, of the local fire brigade, said at the time. Ramsey added that, while Broderick was in pain, "his main concern was for the people in the other car." Ramsey recalled, "He kept saying 'Did I hurt them? Did I hurt them?'"

...

Martin Doherty, brother and son of the women who died, eventually forgave the actor. "He didn't kill my mother and sister deliberately," he said. Broderick, on the other hand, had a much more difficult time forgiving himself. "It was extremely difficult coming to grips with what happened, but in time I felt better about that terrible experience," he told Best magazine (via the New York Post). "Therapy helped."

[ryannichols7]

Marilyn Manson is in Lost Highway. If Criterion adopted an entirely squeaky clean slate they just wouldn't release movies anymore

I'm hoping this means they're changing position on this again. Lost Highway is an example I totally forgot to consider - I've posted before about the double standard Sweet Sweetback provided. it's not that I have an issue with these films being released, it's that I have an issue with something like that Knife in the Water upgrade I alluded to not being released. you either release everything problematic or nothing I'd say..

and if they are now adding Imitation of Life alongside High Sierra (which had a really good special feature contextualizing it) to the "classic Hollywood films that have problematic charicatures" in there, then maybe they are loosening a bit on all fronts

my speculation roundup will be later this evening, I haven't gotten to....roundup all the info

[swo17]

I can only assume twbb mentioned Manson as the problematic element of Lost Highway instead of Robert Blake because he condones uxoricide

[therewillbeblus]

I was being thick about my example, since obviously there's a difference in attention coming from a barely-recognizable cameo vs. the director or star of a film (as should be the case, since part of the issue from the opposition is 'who are we supporting with this purchase?' - certainly not Marilyn Manson, or Robert Blake, by buying Lost Highway!) But the point remains that Criterion are relaxing a bit by now. A better marker is that they passed on The House That Jack Built in 2019 but are willing to release LvT films again in 2022

[bainbridgezu]

A better marker is that they passed on The House That Jack Built in 2019 but are willing to release LvT films again in 2022

Not even passed, but got last-minute cold feet. The disc menus were completed! One of their bigger boners, for sure.

[dwk]

The menus were done by someone that works with Criterion who assumed they were going to release The House that Jack Built. They were not done in house. It is entirely possible that IFC offered it to Scream Factory first. Or maybe Criterion planned on releasing it, but the decesion makers hated the film when they saw it. We just don't know what the happened.

[DeprongMori]

There seems to regularly be a lot of assertions on the forum about “Criterion won’t release this because of some ‘woke’ reason or other”, but it is incredibly rare that such assertions are backed up with even a shred of evidence. (For example, why Knife in the Water hasn’t been upgraded yet - not to pick on this one claim. There are many.)

In the meantime, Criterion are regularly releasing Lars von Trier, Haneke, blackface in Swing Time, Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song, Terry Gilliam, Lost Highway with Marilyn Manson, etc., etc., etc. and all sorts of other films that fly in the face of this hypothesizing.

It all seems like some combination of political posturing and “Why won’t they release what I want?” After all, there are plenty of films on DVD in the Collection that have not yet been upgraded yet, and unlike Knife in the Water many already have 2K or 4K restorations available (for example, I Know Where I’m Going), and far more opportunities for inclusion of other films than possible given their release schedule.

So, I hope in the future any such assertions of “woke” about Criterion not releasing something on some particular arbitrary timeline are accompanied by actual evidence for it. In the vast majority of cases, it is more likely due to scheduling, source materials, priorities, whether a film has an internal champion, etc. In some cases, such as (perhaps) Sixteen Candles, they may have course-corrected to a less problematic John Hughes film in light of new perspectives from the lead actress near the time of intended release. I don’t see this as a bad thing either. Another alternative would have been to release it, and include a reprint of Molly Ringwald’s reappraisal of her work with Hughes (since that was one of the key films leading to her reappraisal), but they’d likely rather not saddle Hughes with the contextual baggage in their first release of his.

There is definitely a push by Criterion to release more films by historically underrepresented or marginalized groups to provide a better foundation of “film canon”, and that is a good thing. And, based on what seems to have already been in Criterion’s release pipeline when the conversation was pushed to the forefront in the New York Times article in 2020, it looks like Criterion was already working on addressing this issue well before the article was published.

My primary complaint about Criterion releases over the past few years has been the general reduction of printed material and far fewer contextual supplements, rather than the films they’ve been releasing. That’s probably down to economics, and likely an unfortunate fact of life.

[ryannichols7]

Knife in the Water (Nóż w wodzie) has received a 4K restoration

[therewillbeblus]

They aren't "regularly" releasing LvT, and the blackface in Swing Time happened before the zeitgeist's effect banished stuff like 30 Rock and Community episodes that were either directly addressing the issue or had nothing to do with blackface purely as risk management erasure. The only movie including blackface to be released by them since was a satire of it by Spike Lee. Context is important, as is the timeline, and if you can't see the difference between releasing something with a canceled cameo like Manson and a Roman Polanski feature, well, I don't know what to tell you. I think the messaging in this thread is that Criterion is not as guarded around this as they once were, but... this wasn't a "Criterion thing," it was a most-media thing across networks and streaming platforms making safe choices in line with the pulse of the nation

[Finch]

I can only assume twbb mentioned Manson as the problematic element of Lost Highway instead of Robert Blake because he condones uxoricide

Lost Highway does feel like a rogue's gallery, what with Manson, Blake, Busey (with the recent sexual harassment allegations on a contemporary film) and Eppolito. Not that you can hold that against Lynch or the film, of course. If there's an element of Lost Highway you could call problematic, I'm thinking more of how Patricia Arquette reportedly wasn't comfortable with some of the things she was asked to do. I don't know if she had concerns during filming (and if so, if she brought them up or not, and if she did bring it up if it had been addressed appropriately; let's remember this was filming in 1996, decades before on-set support for intimate scenes was even a thing) or if she had regrets in hindsight but I did notice she was one of two or three collaborators who reportedly declined to be interviewed for Room to Dream.

[DeprongMori]

Knife in the Water (Nóż w wodzie) has received a 4K restoration

That’s excellent news. I couldn’t find any info on it earlier, and haven’t yet found a date when the restoration was completed. Do we know for certain that Criterion will *not* be releasing the upgrade, or is that speculation? The same rationale for not releasing the upgrade could be made for letting his other films in the Collection go OOP. (I’m guessing Criterion is not happy about losing the rights to Rosemary’s Baby.)

FWIW, I greatly admire Polanski’s filmmaking, have many/most of his films in my collection, and also would not weep if he were imprisoned for what is a pretty serious crime. The content of his films is not the problem, he is.