354 Clean, Shaven

[What A Disgrace]

Clean, Shaven



Lodge Kerrigan began his succession of utterly unique, visually and aurally dazzling character studies with the raw, ravaging Clean, Shaven. A compelling headfirst dive into the mindscape of a schizophrenic (played by the remarkable Peter Greene) as he tries to track down his birth daughter after he is released from an institution, Kerrigan's film brilliantly uses sound and image to lead audiences into a terrifying subjectivity. No one is left unscathed.

DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES:

• New, restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised and approved by director Lodge Kerrigan
• Audio commentary featuring Steven Soderbergh interviewing Kerrigan
• A Subjective Assault: Lodge Kerrigan's "Clean, Shaven", a new video essay, written and narrated by critic Michael Atkinson
• The film's original soundtrack, composed by Hahn Rowe, and selections from the film's final audio mix (all downloadable as MP3 files)
• Trailer
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Plus: A new essay by film critic Dennis Lim

Criterionforum.org user rating averages

Feature currently disabled

[Narshty]

I remember Channel 4 showing this once and I had to switch off at the point where

Spoiler

the chap is gouging out the top of his scalp with scissors about 15 minutes in

I'll watch it again though. And a commentary for $29.95!

[DDillaman]

I really loved this movie, and am dying to hear what the Soderbergh/Kerrigan commentary has to say. The sound design was a huge influence on the first short film that I did as well, so the MP3s are a cool idea (although "downloadable"? what does that mean? are they on the criterion site?). Hopefully we'll see more of this.

[John Cope]

Yeah, this is a great movie. To be honest, I've liked each of Kerrigan's movies less; sure, he's refined his technique but in doing so he has lost some of his strength as an artist. Clean, Shaven and Keane are similar in many respects and the latter film just feels like Kerrigan has been all too immersed in the Dardennes brothers (not by itself a bad thing). His first film, on the other hand, feels visionary and singular. It's not directly comparable to anything else--though the heightened attention paid to sound and cutting does, as always, remind one of Lynch and the headspace subjectivity shares a certain aesthetic with early Egoyan and some of Nina Menkes.

BTW, has everyone here heard the sad story of what happened to Kerrigan's presumptive third feature, In God's Hands? This was shot a few years before Keane and I was looking forward to it. It featured Peter Sarsgaard and Maggie Gyllenhaal. Anyway, it never emerged and apparently that was because only after principle shooting wrapped did it become clear that much of the footage was shot out of focus. Hard to believe, I know but that's the story as I've heard it. Too bad, too. It sounds like it might have been a more interesting movie than Keane.

[Matt]

Yeah, this is a great movie. To be honest, I've liked each of Kerrigan's movies less; sure, he's refined his technique but in doing so he has lost some of his strength as an artist.

Thank you for that. I've always felt like I was the only one who thought that.

Anyway, it never emerged and apparently that was because only after principle shooting wrapped did it become clear that much of the footage was shot out of focus.

He should have finished it anyway. With alienation and isolation so much of his themes, a movie that is largely out of focus seems like the kind of thing that Kerrigan would do intentionally. I mean, it couldn't possibly be as hard on the eyes as something like Julien Donkey-Boy (and I like the way that looks, so don't jump down my throat, fanboys).

He talks a bit about the film in this interview, but only says the film had "extensive negative damage."

[chaddoli]

YES! I have had this as a pipe dream for some time now. Clean, Shaven completely blew me away. Although I haven't seen Claire Dolan yet, I disagree that Keane was in any way inferior. Yes, it certainly had the whole Bresson/Dardennes thing going for it, but I thought it worked perfectly in the film. Keane was in my top 5 of last year.

[Jeff]

He talks a bit about the film in this interview, but only says the film had "extensive negative damage."

Yes, it was much worse than simply being out of focus (which they would have noticed in the dalies, and insurance wouldn't have covered). The entire negative was damaged during processing. Kerrigan doesn't like to talk about it, but says basically the same things about In God's Hands in this interesting interview as in the one Matt linked.

[colinr0380]

This release is brilliant news! I've got a recording of the Channel 4 showing that Narshty mentions (It was first shown in 1997 as part of the Cinema Extreme season) and I remember reading reviews of it in the TV listings that mention the scene Narshty talks about, although

Spoiler

isn't it also fingernails?

and in those reviews it was mentioned that people were fainting at the first cinema showing!

I think this is the perfect film to upgrade my VHS copy for purely just from the sound design point of view. My video copy has a constant background hiss (through the whole tape, not just through this film) and although I find it can add something to the film it would be great to hear the soundtrack the way it was intended - all those half heard snatches of voices and radio static!

I had casually wondered about what happened to Lodge H. Kerrigan. I haven't really been following his career since, so it's a shame he hasn't matched Clean, Shaven according to John Cope and matt.

Although I'm easy to please I'm very excited about October's releases with two films I've heard of and am excited to get on DVD: this one and Sweetie; and two films that I've never seen but really excited about! I'm really glad we are getting some more recent films added into the collection.

This is not to say that I'm not excited about the Rohmer boxset or the reissues, or Spirit of the Beehive, but I've already seen them so the main interest is in the extra material coming with them. Jigoku sounds amazing but we've been talking about that for years, so that was expected.

What is also exciting is how all of these announcements came as a complete surprise to me: I'd never thought of Clean, Shaven; I'd assumed Sweetie would have come out before An Angel At My Table not the other way round, so I'd given up on that; the Francesco Rosi comes a long time after Salvatore Giuliano - but is extremely welcome; and the Cuaron - well that completely blindsided me but if it is as well made as Y Tu Mama Tambien I'll be very happy.

[Doctor Sunshine]

...utterly unique...

I remember this being one of my high school english teacher's pet peeves, being that there are no degrees of unique, something is either one-of-a-kind or it's not. And while she's right, I still enjoy alliteration... so conflicted.

And while I'm at it, what's with all the missing bullet point, hey?

[John Cope]

I had casually wondered about what happened to Lodge H. Kerrigan. I haven't really been following his career since, so it's a shame he hasn't matched Clean, Shaven according to John Cope and matt.

Don't get me wrong, Claire Dolan is an excellent film and Keane is good (many seem to find it very good). I'm just disappointed that he's chosen to go down this particular aesthetic path. The bracing vitality of that first feature gave way first to an investigation of muted fear which was actually quite haunting but this last movie seems to confirm, or at least strongly suggest, that Kerrigan is now much more interested in minimalism, texture and internal rhythm. Once again, these are not bad things by any means, they just add up to something less arresting, at least for me. The alien quality of Clean, Shaven feels very much as though it's been converted into a far more familiar, less alienating technique; a technique, however, more conventionally suited to an indie world study of alienation. Clearly you can find worth in both approaches, but the similarity in subject matter and the shift in tonal empahases does not necessarily lend itself to an even handed comparison.

[colinr0380]

The alien quality of Clean, Shaven feels very much as though it's been converted into a far more familiar, less alienating technique; a technique, however, more conventionally suited to an indie world study of alienation.

I think I know what you mean. Is it that Clean, Shaven is so alien (I think a perfect word to describe the way the audience might feel being taken into the lead character's way of thinking), and such an interesting way of getting into the world of a schizophrenic, that the films that came after seem a disappointment from the point of view of wanting that style pushed even further, since the characters in the next films might be followed subjectively but are not in such an extreme psychic state as the lead in this film. The way of seeing the world by the characters in the following films is perhaps more conventional because they are not as troubled and oppressed by the outside world?

[justeleblanc]

Does anyone know anything about IN GOD'S HANDS, a film the director made but was banned?

[Jeff]

Not banned, ruined. Look at the posts by John Cope, Matt, and myself in this very thread.

[justeleblanc]

Thanks.

[exte]

My film teacher loved showing this film, and always used it as a jumping off point for the importance of sound in a film, etc. Whatever happened to Peter Greene? I know he has a fascinating history of drug dealing in New York before appearing as Zed in Pulp Fiction...

[Matt]

Whatever happened to Peter Greene?

If only there was some way of finding out...

[justeleblanc]

This one has better links.

[Oedipax]

Just noticed on Criterion's page for this that it's listed as 1.66:1 but non-anamorphic. Surely this is an error? Otherwise I'm really excited for this release.

[Napoleon]

Noted here, non-anamorphic is their database default. Although these days you can never be sure of anything with the cc.

[colinr0380]

DVD Beaver review

[Gigi M.]

Back cover and spine

[CSM126]

You gotta love that they put the wrong year on the back cover. Oh Criterion, you lovable fuck ups you.

[souvenir]

You gotta love that they put the wrong year on the back cover. Oh Criterion, you lovable fuck ups you.

This isn't the first time they've deviated from the year of release (Elevator to the Gallows and An Angel at My Table are both also one year prior to their IMDB/release year). It seems that they sometimes (maybe always?) go by the year the film was made instead of released. It's an odd way of doing things and I noticed that MoC's Toni was the same. I asked in that thread about the rationale, but never got a response.

[Spunky714]

I picked up a copy at Kim's in the East Village (NYC) and it's missing a booklet. I know they break the street date early, so not everyone might have gotten a copy yet, but has anyone else had this problem?

I just got my new Rohmer box the other day, so maybe I'll bug the person who shipped it from CC and see what happens.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

This isn't the first time they've deviated from the year of release (Elevator to the Gallows and An Angel at My Table are both also one year prior to their IMDB/release year).

Clean, Shaven premiered at Telluride in September 1993, so Criterion's dating is correct. Elevator to the Gallows doesn't seem to have gone on general release until 1958, but I suspect it premiered in '57, as it won the Prix Louis Delluc for that year. Angel at My Table is probably a genuine mistake, though.