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arsonfilms wrote:

gubbelsj wrote:Foster was impressed by the film and arranged for US distribution via her own Egg Pictures after viewing it at Cannes.

...And what a steller job she's done so far. I suppose it's never too late to redeem oneself?

Redeem oneself for what??? Taxi Driver? I don't follow.

Incidentally, Jodie Foster speaks French very well, and has cameos in a number of French movies (most recently A Very Long Engagement, IIRC).

jbeall wrote:

arsonfilms wrote:

gubbelsj wrote:Foster was impressed by the film and arranged for US distribution via her own Egg Pictures after viewing it at Cannes.

...And what a steller job she's done so far. I suppose it's never too late to redeem oneself?

Redeem oneself for what??? Taxi Driver? I don't follow.

Redeem herself for not distributing the film very well for the past twelve years? Where the fuck has it been all this time?

If she saw the film at Cannes and decided she wanted to release it in the US, it's taken her nearly twelve years to (drumroll please):

license it to someone else.

Sarcasm isn't nearly as effective if you have to explain it. Now that I know my audience I'll happily refrain.

She doesn't own a DVD company! The movie played theatrically in America and was released on VHS back in the day. It is odd its taken this long for a R1 DVD to emerge though.

I remember seeing the film on jodie's bfi's top five films ever (or ten?), and I always wondered why...[/not sarcasm]

arsonfilms wrote:If she saw the film at Cannes and decided she wanted to release it in the US, it's taken her nearly twelve years to (drumroll please):

license it to someone else.

Sarcasm isn't nearly as effective if you have to explain it. Now that I know my audience I'll happily refrain.

In Foster's defence, she licensed it in the '90s to Gramercy Pictures/Polygram... which ceased to exist shortly afterwards. A chunk of the time since this came out probably saw Universal (who obtained most of the Polygram titles) sitting on it for some reason or another. This is probably the earliest that another company could pry it away from them (or make a suitable sublicensing deal to get it out).

-BJ

I haven't been as excited for a release from Criterion in at least a year, can't wait.

arsonfilms wrote:If she saw the film at Cannes and decided she wanted to release it in the US, it's taken her nearly twelve years to (drumroll please):

license it to someone else.

Sarcasm isn't nearly as effective if you have to explain it. Now that I know my audience I'll happily refrain.

No need to be a jerk about it! As mikeohhh and buttery jeb explained, total control over [La Haine's[/i] dvd release clearly wasn't entirely in Foster's hands.

I've seen lots of great foreign films at festivals and the like that never see the light of day on R1 dvd, and I'm usually just grateful that somebody (like Jodie Foster) took the time and effort to make it available in a limited theatrical release. If a dvd release eventually follows, that's a bonus.

One of my favourite moments from this film is the nod to the ironic use of 'The World Is Yours' signs in the Scarface films when one of the characters sees a similar sign at one of the bleakest moments - the same character who does the opening narration of the molotov cocktail hitting the Earth!

jbeall wrote:No need to be a jerk about it! As mikeohhh and buttery jeb explained, total control over [La Haine's[/i] dvd release clearly wasn't entirely in Foster's hands.

I've seen lots of great foreign films at festivals and the like that never see the light of day on R1 dvd, and I'm usually just grateful that somebody (like Jodie Foster) took the time and effort to make it available in a limited theatrical release. If a dvd release eventually follows, that's a bonus.

I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to be quite so obnoxious about it. I shouldn't have taken out my frustration on you, and I appologize.

It's maddening that La Haine is only now becoming available, when its consistently been named as one of the most important films to come out of France in the last fifteen years. Even beyond the merits of the film on its own, Kassovitz and Cassel have become major figures in cinema worldwide, and I've always been stunned that the film that launched their careers has never been available here.

True, there are dozens of wonderful festival films that never see the light of day after their initial run. However, when a film wins Best Director at Cannes amidst a storm of controversy, and is shown to the French government as a warning of what might happen if the tension in the Paris ghettos doesn't improve, the situation is a little different. The best director at Cannes the following year was Joel Coen. The next, it was Wong-Kar Wai.
Putting a movie like La Haine in a few theaters isn't really a favor. This is a major work, and If Foster hadn't picked it up, I'm sure that someone else would have. If we can be critical of any other distributor not seeing the potential in a movie and botching the release, why would we defend this instance?

No worries. I was probably being a bit too defensive, for which I also apologize.

I agree that it's a fairly maddening situation when there are all these really important films being made, and the only foreign films that get released here are stereotypical heartwarmers like Joyeux Noel or Les Choristes (although I do like the latter film). Of course I'm overgeneralizing, but I'm irritated enough that I'm finally following the advice of numerous posters and getting a region-free dvd player so I can begin ordering non-R1 dvds. When the best source of Czech New Wave dvds in this country is Facets, you know it's a bad scene.

I've only become something of a cinephile in the last two or three years, and it's only been about a year since I saw La Haine for the first time. If I'd known about it a decade ago, I'm sure I would share your frustration.

However, I'm not sure it's a given that somebody other than Jodie Foster would've been interested in giving it a nationwide theatrical release. Of course La Haine more than deserving of a huge release, but the biggest distributors in this country got that way by consistently appealing to the lowest common denominator of moviegoer, and my suspicion is that as great as La Haine is, most distributors looked at it and decided to take a pass.

arsonfilms wrote:Kassovitz... have become major figures in cinema worldwide

I remember he was supposed to do a sci-fi movie which was taking place in space, in the Space Station. Anybody knows what happened to it ?

I don't know about any space station movies, but Kassovitz is currently filming an adaptation of Babylon Babies from a novel by Maurice Dantec. (retitled Babylon A.D. for some odd reason) Kassovitz trying his hand at SF is very exciting -- except for, unfortunately, he's got Vin Diesel playing the lead. I hope he knows what he's doing!

arsonfilms wrote: Putting a movie like La Haine in a few theaters isn't really a favor. This is a major work, and If Foster hadn't picked it up, I'm sure that someone else would have. If we can be critical of any other distributor not seeing the potential in a movie and botching the release, why would we defend this instance?

How exactly is it Foster's fault that Gramercy Pictures/Polygram went bankrupt and the rights were tied up in endless legal battles? If we're going to gripe about some entity not allowing the film to be distributed correctly or become available on DVD in Region 1, shouldn't we be bitching about Universal? Or are we only limiting our moaning to Hollywood actresses?

Andre Jurieu wrote:

arsonfilms wrote: Putting a movie like La Haine in a few theaters isn't really a favor. This is a major work, and If Foster hadn't picked it up, I'm sure that someone else would have. If we can be critical of any other distributor not seeing the potential in a movie and botching the release, why would we defend this instance?

How exactly is it Foster's fault that Gramercy Pictures/Polygram went bankrupt and the rights were tied up in endless legal battles? If we're going to gripe about some entity not allowing the film to be distributed correctly or become available on DVD in Region 1, shouldn't we be bitching about Universal? Or are we only limiting our moaning to Hollywood actresses?

If you go back and reread my post, I think I'm being pretty inclusive about my bitching (warrented or otherwise). I'm not at all in favor of limiting my griping to Hollywood actresses. If I were to do that, I'd hardly gripe at all, and who would want that? (I'm being rhetorical, so put your hand down)

All I'm saying is that the film would have done fine without her involvement, and it is entirely possible it would have faired substantially better. There's really no way to know for sure though, so I'll happily drop the subject. The only reason any of my posts have been venomous so far at all is just that I really loved this film when I first saw it, and it's been driving me up a wall that it's gone this long without a DVD release. I'm genuinely anxious to hear what Ms. Foster has to say about the film, and if anyone has any evidence that suggests that she may have fought any battles to get this DVD to us, I'd be more than happy to appologize (to her personally even, if thats what the situation calls for).

Early contender for release of the year?

Definitely, best surprise of the year so far.

jbeall wrote:As I understand it, then-President Francois Mitterand showed this film to his Cabinet and said "Unless we do something, this will happen for real." It took almost ten years, but he was right.

Actually, it was Jacques Chirac, shortly after he took over from Mitterrand.

Which is an important distinction, because Chirac's been in charge ever since, and therefore bears much of the responsibility for failing to "do something".

arsonfilms wrote:Early contender for release of the year?

I haven't compared this directly with the R2, but since I don't particularly care for soundtracks, this Criterion sounds like the way to go...

zombeaner wrote:

arsonfilms wrote:Early contender for release of the year?

I haven't compared this directly with the R2, but since I don't particularly care for soundtracks, this Criterion sounds like the way to go...

I looked into the 3-disc edition, and aside from the soundtrack, I believe we're getting everything previously available that seemed worth hanging onto, along with some new (more scholarly) things. I got the distinct impression that the whole appeal of the "limited edition" region 2 was mostly just the tin case, the soundtrack, and the individual number on the bottom. Plus of course there's the fact that the transfer will have originated in NTSC, so the 4% speedup will be gone. Even if the transfer is identical, I think we're still looking at a vastly superior product.

Awesome! I first saw this around 1997-98 and have been wanting a decent version on DVD for a while, I can get rid of my R3K now.

those new specs are tempting. I'll probably grab this in the mid 07 ddd sale.

For those of you in the U.S. who haven't had a chance to see this movie yet, the FLIX channel is showing it periodically throughout the month.

tryavna wrote:For those of you in the U.S. who haven't had a chance to see this movie yet, the FLIX channel is showing it periodically throughout the month.

I DVRed it, but I haven't had time to watch it yet.