Archived Criterion Streaming Discussion

[htshell]

Having complete access to ATG titles would be a dream (Hani, Matsumoto, Terayama, Wakamatsu), but it seems like that's not likely.

[Rashomon66]

Great to see Walk Cheefully on Hulu. This is one of the few films by Ozu in which the camera moves and there are numerous dynamic shots. It's also a gangster movie of sorts, which is not typical of Ozu. I've seen it twice on the big screen at retrospectives. Glad it is available for all to see now.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

Shinoda's Himiko is also an ATG production, and that's been up for a while. So it looks like the floodgate might just be a trickle right now.

I was referring specifically to the Oshima ATGs, which have never been released on DVD (or possibly any form of home video) outside Japan -- including France, where Oshima has been better represented. Other directors' films don't necessarily pose the same problems, as shown by the availability (in one place or another) of Double Suicide, Funeral Parade of Roses, A Man Vanishes, Ecstasy of the Angels, the Yoshidas, etc.

[mfunk9786]

Watching a film on Hulu Plus tonight, was surprised to see this. This was on a Roku. Is this something that Hulu is actually doing now, or a glitch? Certainly doesn't look like a glitch.

[Perkins Cobb]

So Lincoln Center's Keisuke Kinoshita line-up has been announced, and amazingly, more than half of the films are not among the zillion on offer via Hulu. In fact, there's so little overlap, that I'm guessing Criterion has been holding most of these back, and that they'll pop up on Hulu soon after this is over (unless it's traveling to someplace else in the US). And my guess about DCP was wrong: happily, they're showing most of these on 35mm, which tips me toward going rather than waiting for Criterion.

ADDENDUM: Sadly, though, most or all of these appear to be screening in the Film Center across the street rather than the much larger Walter Reade (and, annoyingly, they're not specifying on the site whether the films will be in the medium-sized theater or the tiny one). I'd heard that they were going to experiment with moving the first-run films upstairs to the Walter Reade, and I guess that's keistering Kinoshita. Hopefully it won't be permanent, or my membership won't get renewed.

More importantly, what the fuck is up with that logo bug mfunk spotted? Please tell me that's not a permanent fixture now. That'd downgrade Criterion's whole Hulu project from dubious to worthless.

[jwd5275]

More importantly, what the fuck is up with that logo bug mfunk spotted? Please tell me that's not a permanent fixture now. That'd downgrade Criterion's whole Hulu project from dubious to worthless.

I was watching Le coup du berger on my roku last night and there was no Hulu logo....

[jwd5275]

The dispute between Janus and Merchant Ivory must not be going too well for Janus, since they recently yanked all the Merchant Ivory off of Hulu...

[zedz]

Isn't the 'dispute' a lawsuit? If so, they'd be foolish not to yank everything until it's resolved.

[kscotthandley]

A request for input on the output of Keisuke Kinoshita. Following up on these old comments:

I've not seen any of his work so I'll be certain to watch them all soon, but what are the best of those Keisuke Kinoshita films to see first?

Of the ones I've seen Phoenix is probably the best. Short, amazingly edited, and pretty great. It's like the sort of movie that Mizoguchi is accused of making.

and

Does anyone on the board have a real appreciation for Kinoshita? I've only seen 24 Eyes, but it drove me up the wall, and not (entirely) because of its politics. It was very pretty, but seemed to lack any reason for its pictorial beauty. I felt like I was watching a bad, stiff melodrama plumped up with a tourist's slideshow.

Pardon if this isn't the best place to ask, but could anyone provide a further shortlist of Kinoshita essentials? Doesn't have to be among the items streaming on Hulu, though it would be useful to know if any of those are must-sees, even for just seeing the best in/of KK's work. I was not especially engaged by TWENTY-FOUR EYES (though possibly for some different reasons than Ferdinand) or THE RIVER FUEFUKI; but then I saw SNOW FLURRY (another forum participant, sorry I forgot who, recommended it highly in passing), and it knocked me out. I just thought the elegant yet abrupt time transitions, the music, the framing....it was just a really moving experience for me, for reasons I haven't yet been able to hash out. I know some items of renown (the first CARMEN) aren't available on Hulu, others (BALLAD OF NARAYAMA) are on disc; whatever the source, I'd like to know if there's some other items that might be equally impressive as SNOW FLURRY was for me. There are so many KK films, even just in the Hulu collection, that I'd prefer not to approach them blindfolded.

I've seen brief positive references to A TRAGEDY OF JAPAN and (above) PHOENIX.

[Steven H]

kscotthandley, I highly recommend Kinoshita's 40s films (especially Broken Drum) and early 50s (especially Carmen Comes Home). I run hot and cold on most of his output, though mostly cold unfortunately.

As a side note, I've been enjoying all the HD Criterion flicks funneled through my Roku. I do wish it was easier to sort though. Rather than hunting and clicking, a "Criterion &/only HD" sort would make my day.

edit: ah, just saw and remembered that the first Carmen isn't on there (shame). Morning for the Osone Family and The Good Fairy are worth seeing.

[bamwc2]

A criterion channel update should be coming "any day now" per Mulvaney.

[albucat]

Update meaning interface will no longer be terrible (oh please) or meaning new films?

[bamwc2]

Update meaning interface will no longer be terrible (oh please) or meaning new films?

The latter

[Buttercream]

Not sure if this has been mentioned somewhere else, but there are a quite a few new titles on Criterion's Hulu page, including several by Fassbinder, Ozu, Koji Shima, and Oshima, as well as a few by Godard, Rohmer, Kobayashi, Shinoda, and even more Kinoshita.

Excited to see Odd Obsession and Rossellini's Fear. Also nice to see Diary of Shinjuku Thief available. One of my favorite Oshima's that I recall a lot of people having a hard time tracking down.

[jwd5275]

Added today:
Odd Obsession - Ichikawa
Beware of a Holy Whore - Fassbinder
Fear of Fear - Fassbinder
Effi Briest - Fassbinder
Satan's Brew - Fassbinder
Gods of the Plague - Fassbinder
Mother Kusters Goes to Heaven -Fassbinder
Chinese Roulette - Fassbinder
Ronin-Gai - Kuroki
The Oil-Hell Murder - Gosha
The Phantom Horse - Shima
The Golden Demon - Shima
The Lady and the Beard - Ozu
Record of a Tenement Gentleman - Ozu
Where Now are Dreams of Youth- Ozu
What did the Lady Forget? - Ozu
A Mother Should be Loved - Ozu
That Night's Wife - Ozu
An Inn in Tokyo - Ozu
Beautiful Days - Kobayashi
Diary of a Shinjuku Thief -Oshima
Ceremony - Oshima
The Man Who Left His Will on Film - Oshima
Shadow Within - Nomura
The Demon - Nomura
Fear - Rossellini
Ironfinger - Fukuda
An Enemy of the People - Ray
The Scandalous Adventures of Buraikan - Shinoda
Eternal Return - Delannoy
Carmen Comes Home - Kinoshita
Night Drum - Imai

[bamwc2]

Excellent. There are some titles on there that I've been looking for, for some time. It's also great to see which Fassbinders Criterion got their hands on.

[TMDaines]

Rossellini's Fear is huge considering the currently available options. You can either watch the Italian distributor's edit or the English language version in a really low quality DVD-R, which isn't being shared too much. I think I'll have to use a VPN to watch.

[Jean-Luc Garbo]

I've been looking forward to the Oshima being added, but all that Ozu and Fassbinder is a great surprise. I recall that awhile ago Ebert had tweeted about the paucity of streaming Fassbinder.

[Steven H]

Great to see Imai getting some attention. Of course those are some of Oshima's best films.

[Perkins Cobb]

Great to see Imai getting some attention. Of course those are some of Oshima's best films.

Most of this stuff feels very Eclipse-y but I sure hope those three Oshimas, and the Ichikawa, are still candidates for Blu-ray.

[triodelover]

Great to see Imai getting some attention. Of course those are some of Oshima's best films.

Most of this stuff feels very Eclipse-y but I sure hope those three Oshimas, and the Ichikawa, are still candidates for Blu-ray.

Along with Death by Hanging.

[albucat]

That's pretty amazing, a whole pile of movies I've wanted to see for ages now easily available. I wonder what their methodology for deciding hulu availability is, since it seems like it would've been easier and more advantageous to trickle these out and highlight a new film or two every week rather than giving us an enormous block all at once.

[zedz]

Great to see Imai getting some attention. Of course those are some of Oshima's best films.

Good timing for US-based participants in the 60s list!

[Steven H]

Great to see Imai getting some attention. Of course those are some of Oshima's best films.

Good timing for US-based participants in the 60s list!

Oshima should crowd the top ten now. No excuses.

[Buttercream]

That's pretty amazing, a whole pile of movies I've wanted to see for ages now easily available. I wonder what their methodology for deciding hulu availability is, since it seems like it would've been easier and more advantageous to trickle these out and highlight a new film or two every week rather than giving us an enormous block all at once.

I'm curious if their thinking is along the same lines as Netflix with regards to releasing all the episodes of their programing at once rather than slowly trickling them out. Seduce potential subscribers with an overwhelming library of titles. Now that I think of it, I really have no excuse for not subscribing to Hulu+ anymore. This latest crop sure beats the hell out of any bootleg, custom sub versions I've seen of many of these films.