The Criterion Collection

[duggie walker]

Originally Posted by Romulus

What's everyone's opinion on The Long Day Closes? Probably one of the more intriguing titles I really want to check out.

Best way to describe it is THE TREE OF LIFE set in post-war Britain. It's a tonal poem about childhood, told in images and sound, rather than a solid narrative, though there is enough story to keep it from being inaccessible or obscure. It's pure cinema, full of slow Kubrickian camera moves, and deliberately leaves a lot of space for you to contemplate your own life as you watch it: Davies's genius is that - despite the film being set quite specifically in Northern England - it speaks a universal language (especially for those of us who love cinema).

If you remember the sound of your Mother singing, the warmth of a home, the sunlight shifting on a carpet, the rain on a window, the whirr of a cinema projector, you'll find something to love in this film. It's one of the greatest British films ever made, imo, and if you can bear space and silence in a film, I'd recommend it without hesitation.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by ShellOilJunior

I'm going to a screening of Blue is the Warmest Color on Friday at the local Cinematheque. Usually they show 35mm prints whenever possible. For this screening the format is blu-ray. I wonder if disc they'll show is the Criterion (even though the official release isn't until 2/25).

Have fun! I saw Blue is the Warmest Color at a local theater a couple of months ago and enjoyed it. The photography is incredible, and there's also a great reference to Louise Brooks in Pandora's Box.

I will not be purchasing the Blu-ray in February, because I'm happy to wait for the upcoming special edition.

[starman15317]

Originally Posted by ShellOilJunior

I'm going to a screening of Blue is the Warmest Color on Friday at the local Cinematheque. Usually they show 35mm prints whenever possible. For this screening the format is blu-ray. I wonder if disc they'll show is the Criterion (even though the official release isn't until 2/25).

Wait, you're from Pittsburgh too right? Where is it showing? I know the Hollywood Theater is showing it on Valentine's Day.

[baheidstu]

Originally Posted by RBBrittain

That's what I thought, till I noticed Criterion released Traffic about two years after Universal's original BD. It's been almost that long since Universal released The Deer Hunter on BD.

Dazed and Confused, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Brazil have all been released by Criterion, even though Universal already released their own versions. Universal are one studio which doesn't seem to mind licencing titles to other companies to put out releases in direct competition to their own (they also gave Halloween II and the Shadow to Shout!).

So, long story short, it's not unlikely at all that Deer Hunter could be on its way from Criterion. Time will tell I suppose.

[ShellOilJunior]

Originally Posted by starman15317

Wait, you're from Pittsburgh too right? Where is it showing? I know the Hollywood Theater is showing it on Valentine's Day.

Cleveland.

I'm hoping all this interest in 'Blue' gets people to watch Secret of the Grain - a terrific film!

[Banned User]

Not really Criterion related, but I found this very interesting and figured a few others here would as well. As hard as it may be to watch it would of made a excellent extra on the Foreign Correspondent release

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-en...d-9044945.html

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by Banned User

Not really Criterion related, but I found this very interesting and figured a few others here would as well. As hard as it may be to watch it would of made a excellent extra on the Foreign Correspondent release

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-en...d-9044945.html

I would be interested to see this, although I know that it would be a difficult viewing.

Billy Wilder's 1945 short film about the concentration camps, Death Mills, is included on the excellent Kino Blu-ray of Orson Welles's The Stranger. It's one the most horrifying documentaries that I've ever seen, and one viewing was plenty for me, but it does lend some context to the storyline in the main film.

[starman15317]

Originally Posted by ShellOilJunior

Cleveland.



I'm hoping all this interest in 'Blue' gets people to watch Secret of the Grain - a terrific film!

Oh never mind. For some reason I thought you were a Pittsburgher.

[bwdowiak]

Originally Posted by ShellOilJunior

Cleveland.

I'm hoping all this interest in 'Blue' gets people to watch Secret of the Grain - a terrific film!

You're in Cleveland and you call it the Cinematheque?

[bwdowiak]

Malle's Elevator to the Gallows is getting a theatrical run in England. I don't necessarily know that this is always true, but usually they would do something like this if there is a new print available, no? I thought about the jazz band in the Criterion cartoon, but I think that it is a stretch for it to be a reference to EttG or even Malle's Murmur of the Heart, in which the main character is very fond of Charlie Parker and other jazz artists from the time (the story takes place in the mid 50's.) I also google image searched Miles Davis and I didn't see any pictures where was performing in a hat like the 3 cartoon drawing band members are.

Elevator is definitely a worthwhile title, though, and I would imagine an upgrade is coming one of these days.

[Romulus]

Originally Posted by duggie walker

Best way to describe it is THE TREE OF LIFE set in post-war Britain. It's a tonal poem about childhood, told in images and sound, rather than a solid narrative, though there is enough story to keep it from being inaccessible or obscure. It's pure cinema, full of slow Kubrickian camera moves, and deliberately leaves a lot of space for you to contemplate your own life as you watch it: Davies's genius is that - despite the film being set quite specifically in Northern England - it speaks a universal language (especially for those of us who love cinema).

If you remember the sound of your Mother singing, the warmth of a home, the sunlight shifting on a carpet, the rain on a window, the whirr of a cinema projector, you'll find something to love in this film. It's one of the greatest British films ever made, imo, and if you can bear space and silence in a film, I'd recommend it without hesitation.

Thanks for the response. Definitely just sold me on this film. Your second paragraph is definitely the vibe the film gave me when doing a little research about it.

[blkhrt]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

Malle's Elevator to the Gallows is getting a theatrical run in England. I don't necessarily know that this is always true, but usually they would do something like this if there is a new print available, no? I thought about the jazz band in the Criterion cartoon, but I think that it is a stretch for it to be a reference to EttG or even Malle's Murmur of the Heart, in which the main character is very fond of Charlie Parker and other jazz artists from the time (the story takes place in the mid 50's.) I also google image searched Miles Davis and I didn't see any pictures where was performing in a hat like the 3 cartoon drawing band members are.

Elevator is definitely a worthwhile title, though, and I would imagine an upgrade is coming one of these days.

It seems that recently one consensus is that the picture of the band and the dancers refers, in part, to Blake Edwards' The Party

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063415/?ref_=nm_knf_i1

The specific scene can be found here:

http://blog.criterioncast.com/post/7...-party-via-the

That is not to say that the clue can't refer to more than one film, and I would LOVE it if Elevator to the Gallows was released, as it is one of my most desired upgrades.

[jacobb1313]

Originally Posted by Banned User

Not really Criterion related, but I found this very interesting and figured a few others here would as well. As hard as it may be to watch it would of made a excellent extra on the Foreign Correspondent release

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-en...d-9044945.html

Thank you for sharing this. Although I anticipate an incredibly difficult future viewing, this is near the top of my radar.

[bwdowiak]

Originally Posted by blkhrt

It seems that recently one consensus is that the picture of the band and the dancers refers, in part, to Blake Edwards' The Party

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063415/?ref_=nm_knf_i1

The specific scene can be found here:

http://blog.criterioncast.com/post/7...-party-via-the

That is not to say that the clue can't refer to more than one film, and I would LOVE it if Elevator to the Gallows was released, as it is one of my most desired upgrades.

maybe the dancers.. MAYBE. although there are two dancers in the scene and 3 in the picture. I had to watch the clip w/ the sound off (at work,) so I don't know what they are dancing to and I am not familiar with the film, but it doesn't really seem likely. would Criterion have a cartoon hinting at something they've already announced because the dancers seem more reminiscent of the scene that had pictured for The Great Beauty.

I'm pretty sure the jazz band is something different, although it being a reference to Malle is probably not right either.

[blkhrt]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

maybe the dancers.. MAYBE. although there are two dancers in the scene and 3 in the picture. I had to watch the clip w/ the sound off (at work,) so I don't know what they are dancing to and I am not familiar with the film, but it doesn't really seem likely. would Criterion have a cartoon hinting at something they've already announced because the dancers seem more reminiscent of the scene that had pictured for The Great Beauty.

I'm pretty sure the jazz band is something different, although it being a reference to Malle is probably not right either.

I think the reasoning is that the band is the same (piano, sax, drums) and the girl with the pearls and the guy in the tie seem to match. I think other people were connecting the drawing to The Big Chill, but that might be just because we know it is coming at some point.

[nondiatonic]

In very short order Kieslowski has leapt into the highest ranks of my favorite directors.

I recently watched Blue and then semi-blind-bought Three Colors. Now, after having watched them all (and catching The Double Life of Veronique on Hulu) I'm looking forward to his documentaries included in the special features.

After a single viewing of each I think that White is the one I enjoyed most. We'll see how that changes after multiple viewings.

The Decalogue has become the set I most desire to be added to the Critter Collection.

[ShellOilJunior]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

You're in Cleveland and you call it the Cinematheque?

It's the Cleveland Cinematheque.

[fdm]

Originally Posted by shadedpain4

It's a suggestion box. I don't think replies are part of the deal.

I'm just assuming that when my suggestions were put out on disc, that was their reply.

Same for the ones that never happened.

[ShellOilJunior]

Criterion will eventually answer a suggestion if you're persistent enough. There was some dude on social media that asked them every day when Godard's Weekend was coming to blu-ray. They got tired of reading it and told him to be patient because it's eventually coming.

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by ShellOilJunior

Criterion will eventually answer a suggestion if you're persistent enough. There was some dude on social media that asked them every day when Godard's Weekend was coming to blu-ray. They got tired of reading it and told him to be patient because it's eventually coming.

And you wonder why they don't answer them...

{How many piles of fan "Will you release every Ghibli film and every Lynch film ever made in one big globule, with a lock of the director's hair?" lie still unanswered in their Inbox?)