The Criterion Channel -- Film and Content Discussion

[beamish14]

The Lonely Passion Of Judith Hearne is the Hand Made film I am most interested in seeing, as it is difficult to find anywhere. I watched all of Clayton's films except that one in 2023.

It’s on a great disc from Indicator. If you haven’t read Brian Moore’s incredible novel, there is a fairly recent reissue from the New York Times Review of Books Classics

[MichaelB]

Here's the relevant Indicator thread, and while the original limited edition has sold out the standard edition is still in print and can be ordered here.

It's based on an in-house original-neg restoration that was overseen by cinematographer Peter Hannan, so it's pretty much definitive in terms of the feature presentation - I can't really see this film getting the 4K UHD treatment!

Although a possible deal-breaker is that it's locked to Region B.

[tolbs1010]

I should have said "difficult to find anywhere in the States". I do have a region-free player, so it is good to know a quality release is out there if I decide to purchase after seeing it. I own several Indicator releases and all have been outstanding.

[Matt]

Curious to see how The Devils looks and if it portends an eventual release.

It looks to be the same transfer that was licensed to the BFI 12 years ago for their DVD. Same old Time Warner logo. It’s been on and off various streamers for several years now.

The best indication of a forthcoming release would probably be a new transfer. My guess is that there’s no longer some censorious Catholic executive blocking its release (as was allegedly the case years ago) but there’s just no will to fund a full restoration. Maybe now that Guillermo del Toro is a multiple Oscar winner he can, uh, light a fire under Warner Bros.

[The Elegant Dandy Fop]

Can anyone comment on the quality of The Cat on the Criterion Channel? It’s a fun piece of gonzo Hong Kong filmmaking and would love to update my laserdisc copy.

[Matt]

It’s definitely better than laserdisc quality. Looks like a solid HD transfer, not overly cleaned up as there’s still some speckling visible. I don’t know the quality of the original film, but there’s a lot of grain that makes it look kind of noisy (as in I can’t tell what’s original grain and what’s digital noise). Either way it’s not smoothed out or obliterated by AI.

[dwk]

I did not see this mentioned in Criterion's announcement for January's lineup, Hell on Earth: The Desecration and Resurrection of The Devils was also added to the channel.

[brundlefly]

With The Upturned Glass coming to the channel next month, might that mean it's been restored? And eventually on its way to blu?

[TechnicolorAcid]

February 2024 Criterion Channel Lineup

[ando]

The Shirley Clarke and Jonathan Glazer features are top draws for me. Thanks.

[The Narrator Returns]

Yeast is very hard to find and very good, though sandpaper abrasive; it's funny to imagine fans of Gerwig's directorial work stumbling upon her doing the most hostile, obnoxious variation on what becomes the Frances Ha archetype. And while I can't say that It's All About Love is good or coherent, I'll be happy to puzzle through it a second time.

[ando]

Yesterday was Franz Schubert's birthday and I went searching for some kind of representation on the channel in honor of the composer. Didn't expect a horror film but that's what I got in Marie-Louise Iribe's silent film, The Erl King, a cinematic take on the Goethe ballad set to music by Schubert. The set up to the story was so chilling that I waited until tonight to finish it. Haven't done that in about 30 years.

[dwk]

March 2024.

Pretty loaded month, Dreadnaught, Hou Hsiao-hsien (Cute Girl (1980), The Green, Green Grass of Home (1982), The Boys from Fengkuei (1983)),Kinuyo Tanaka Directs, Green Porno and more by Isabella Rossellini. Oh, also Xanadu, Under the Cherry Moon, Cocktail, Barb Wire, Freddy Got Fingered, Swept Away (2002), Gigli (2003), and The Wicker Man (2006).

[therewillbeblus]

Freddy Got Fingered UHD confirmed

[beamish14]

Freddy Got Fingered UHD confirmed

Would be a Day One purchase for me. Tom Green is the closest we’ve come to a contemporary Bunuel

[therewillbeblus]

Freddy Got Fingered UHD confirmed

Would be a Day One purchase for me. Tom Green is the closest we’ve come to a contemporary Bunuel

Hey, same

[ryannichols7]

I hope the Tanaka group is a prelude for a boxset release, much like the Rohmer was. we've waited awhile for those ..

[The Narrator Returns]

Bunuel is what I always see people bring up in their (correct and righteous) defenses of Freddy Got Fingered, but I haven't noticed anybody point out that the sausages hanging from the ceiling are a direct lift from Daisies.

[TechnicolorAcid]

I’d actually argue that Freddy Got Fingered is actually the modern day equivalent to an Olsen and Johnson picture, chaotic, seemingly inept, crass, taboo (I imagine Hellzapoppin’ was), and hellish dissections of traditional storytelling until it becomes also a statement on “high brow”/“tasteful” art and how irrelevant it is truly is while almost passing off as alternate reality versions of the stories they’re lambasting that in a sense that just so happen to have stemmed from wildly successful comedy pieces. It’s especially telling how both Hellzapoppin’s and Freddy Got Fingered’s endings just sort of reject sentimentality and end on one final anarchic note. And also helps that both the work of Olsen and Johnson and Freddy Got Fingered were both financed by major studios and often have a slew of comedy character actors to desecrate.

[Matt]

I hope the Tanaka group is a prelude for a boxset release, much like the Rohmer was. we've waited awhile for those ..

Thrilled to see these coming to the Channel if not to a physical release. Perhaps this is a test run to see if such a release would sell.

[MaxBercovicz]

Has anyone noticed a change in the rewind/fast forward feature? Up until a few weeks ago one click back or forward (on fire stick remote) was about ten seconds and now it’s one whole minute. Frustrating when trying to rewind just a bit for missed dialogue. No clue if I’m able to adjust it on my end.

[unclehulot]

Has anyone noticed a change in the rewind/fast forward feature? Up until a few weeks ago one click back or forward (on fire stick remote) was about ten seconds and now it’s one whole minute. Frustrating when trying to rewind just a bit for missed dialogue. No clue if I’m able to adjust it on my end.

On my FireTV stick it skips back about 30 seconds, which does seem longer than in the past. On my Apple TV though, it’s only a few seconds (less than 10) for backward and forward clicks.


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[jwd5275]

Dreadnought by Yuen Woo-Ping starts with Criterion and Janus logos. As do all three early films by Hou Hsiao-Hsien and forty of the Green Porno+ short films by Isabella Rosellini (all but the two Darwin films).

[ftsoh]

Dreadnaught and Encounter of the Spooky Kind only have English opening and end credits. I wonder why they could not get a print with the original Chinese opening and end credits.

[dwk]

I re-checked the expiring titles last night and discovered that long time Hulu favorite Premiers Desirs was added to the list. Which got me wondering how many titles that start with the Criterion and Janus logos have left the service. I am certain of three: Premiers Desirs, The Murder of Mr. Devil, and Taboo. I am uncertain if von Trier's Europe trilogy and the OOP Soderbergh trio (Gray's Anatomy, And Everything was Going Fine, & Schizopolis) opened with the Criterion and Janus logos.