The Criterion Collection

[aes3728]

Originally Posted by adamhopelies

Very disappointed by this news. Criterion have already filmed a bunch of extras for it too. Hopefully it's still coming, the film is one of 2015's best thus far.

Any insight to how you know Criterion has filmed extras?

[filmmusic]

Reading the new review of Farewell my Concubine, reminded me how I would LOVE a Criterion scanned in 4K:

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Farew...1495/#Overview

[Fabs]

Originally Posted by filmmusic

Reading the new review of Farewell my Concubine, reminded me how I would LOVE a Criterion scanned in 4K:

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Farew...1495/#Overview

Criterion just needs a Chinese film in the collection. An actual film from China, because while The Last Emperor is a good film, it's like saying The Godfather is a film from Italy.

[filmmusic]

Originally Posted by Fabs

Criterion just needs a Chinese film in the collection. An actual film from China, because while The Last Emperor is a good film, it's like saying The Godfather is a film from Italy.

Oh, it doesn't have a Chinese film?
I didn't know..

edit: Wait. In the Mood for love is Chinese.

[Fabs]

Originally Posted by filmmusic

Oh, it doesn't have a Chinese film?
I didn't know..

edit: Wait. In the Mood for love is Chinese.

It has The Last Emperor. But it's a co-production between Italy, the UK, and China. Sure, it's a good movie and certainly depicts Chinese history really well. But I wouldn't call it a film from China.

You could say that In the Mood is Chinese, but it's really from Hong Kong. IMO Hong Kong movies, among not having Mandarin as a language, have a different feel to them than films from Mainland China. Speaking of Hong Kong, Criterion could use more Hong Kong films lol

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

Just found out a local arts center (Brooklyn Academy of Music / Rose Cinema) are having an International B&W film series form May 29th - June 16th. I want to see them all

[Show spoiler]The 400 Blows
La Dolce Vita
Andre Rublev
The Red and the White
Marketa Lazarova
Fire on the Plain
When a Woman Ascends the Stairs
Jules and Jim
Shoot the Piano Player
Last Year at Marienbad
Lola
Our Man in Havana
Billy Liar
Siberian Lady Macbeth
Valley of the Bees
The Fifth Horseman is Fear
Is Paris Burning?
Onibaba
The Naked Island
The Innocents
The Damned
Sanjuro
Yojimbo
Red Beard
The Bad Sleep Well
Pale Flower
Samurai Rebellion

I think that Last Year at Marienbad would be one of the greatest movies ever to see on a big theater screen. I'm seriously envious.

I'm also tempted to see Red Beard again right now, since I'm going to the morning matinee of San Andreas tomorrow, and I'll have earthquakes on my mind.

[filmmusic]

Originally Posted by Fabs

It has The Last Emperor. But it's a co-production between Italy, the UK, and China. Sure, it's a good movie and certainly depicts Chinese history really well. But I wouldn't call it a film from China.

You could say that In the Mood is Chinese, but it's really from Hong Kong. IMO Hong Kong movies, among not having Mandarin as a language, have a different feel to them than films from Mainland China. Speaking of Hong Kong, Criterion could use more Hong Kong films lol

well, Farewell my Concubine is also Hong Kong.

[pedromvu]

Originally Posted by filmmusic

well, Farewell my Concubine is also Hong Kong.

Hmm i am not sure about that, at least the director is from China, wikipedia says the film is from China, but can't access imdb to check for sure.

Also i thought Fabs was talking about blu rays, but just checked and there isn't any Chinese film in the whole collection, well except for the one already mentioned, The Last Emperor.

[jlk5844]

I'm about to watch Au Revoir Les Enfants. Let's see if you guys are right about it being way better.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by jlk5844

I'm about to watch Au Revoir Les Enfants. Let's see if you guys are right about it being way better

I actually do think that Elevator to the Gallows is the best Malle film, but Au Revoir Les Enfants is a wondrous and powerful film in all the right ways.

[Bates_Motel]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I actually do think that Elevator to the Gallows is the best Malle film, but Au Revoir Les Enfants is a wondrous and powerful film in all the right ways.

I always preferred Alamo Bay and Atlantic City, myself.

[oildude]

Having recently finished a book about colonial French Indochina and also watching multiple Catherine Deneuve performances in the Jacques Demy set, I am really wanting a release of Indochine in the near future. Criterion, please make it happen.

[AaronJ]

Originally Posted by oildude

Having recently finished a book about colonial French Indochina and also watching multiple Catherine Deneuve performances in the Jacques Demy set, I am really wanting a release of Indochine in the near future. Criterion, please make it happen.

That would be terrific. She's always been one of my favorite actresses. The more Deneuve, the better I say.

[pro-bassoonist]

Originally Posted by filmmusic

well, Farewell my Concubine is also Hong Kong.

Hey filmmusic,

Farewell My Concubine is a Mainland production (a strictly Chinese film) shot in Mandarin. It was actually banned by the communists for some time. The only major Hong Kong connection is the late Leslie Cheung.

You could argue that Edward Yang's Yi Yi could be a Chinese film since the communist government does not exactly recognize Taiwan as an independent state, but obviously it is very much a Taiwanese film (in Mandarin).

Pro-B

[pro-bassoonist]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I actually do think that Elevator to the Gallows is the best Malle film, but Au Revoir Les Enfants is a wondrous and powerful film in all the right ways.

I am going to disagree, Owl

And give my vote to this film, with beautiful Lea Massari





Pro-B

[jlk5844]

Well, that was a great film. I do think Au Revoir Les Enfants is a slightly better film than Elevator to the Gallows, but the latter is more rewatchable to me. It's not even because of the affecting and powerful subject matter, well, it sort of is, but if it had been more affecting and powerful I'd probably like it even more. That's not to take away from the film, it's just a more subtle and simple drama than I was expecting. I do appreciate the avoidance of over-dramatization at the same time though. It's a very well told story with naturally woven in nuances and treats its characters with sensitivity and intelligence. It captures childhood and throws it a tragic curveball. This is accomplished by seizing the rare opportunity to glimpse the Nazi occupation of France from the perspective of a child. That period represented on film is a recipe for tears but Malle doesn't bow to sentimentality. The acting of the kids, particularly the lead, is impressive, you feel drawn to these two in their short friendship. Wonderfully done, I'm not sure if I would buy it, but worth the watch most definitely.

4.5/5

Evidently I need to seek out more Malle. I had heard of Atlantic City before but didn't realize it was by him until recently. Lacombe Lucien was on TCM the same day as EttG but I wasn't aware of it, I just knew of EttG from this thread.

[jw007]

On all this Malle discussion, I'd like to add that Black Moon is one of the most bizarre films I've ever seen. I think that could be Louis Malle's most polarizing film in all his filmography. If you haven't seen this, rent it first before buying. I ended up buying it, watching it, sold it at a local record shop, borrowed the film at the library, watched it again and bought it once again during a Criterion sale. It's uncannily re-watchable... and really weird. In a 2001: A Space Odyssey sort of weird way. Difficult to interpret and explain but somehow genius. The themes are very much futuristic and ahead of its time (telepathy/mind-reading, gender wars, mind over matter, human-animal communication, dystopia, etc.)

[oildude]

Originally Posted by jw007

On all this Malle discussion, I'd like to add that Black Moon is one of the most bizarre films I've ever seen. I think that could be Louis Malle's most polarizing film in all his filmography. If you haven't seen this, rent it first before buying. I ended up buying it, watching it, sold it at a local record shop, borrowed the film at the library, watched it again and bought it once again during a Criterion sale. It's uncannily re-watchable... and really weird. In a 2001: A Space Odyssey sort of weird way. Difficult to interpret and explain but somehow genius. The themes are very much futuristic and ahead of its time (telepathy/mind-reading, gender wars, mind over matter, human-animal communication, dystopia, etc.)

[Show spoiler]

I have high regard for Black Moon, although for me it happened on the first viewing as a blind buy. I think of it as Louis Malle’s homage to Lewis Carroll in an interpretation that is uniquely Malle. Think Alice in Wonderland re-imagined for the sexual revolution and the 1970s, set against a dystopian backdrop of an ultimate future war between the sexes, where a young teenage girl trying to escape the conflict falls down the rabbit hole. The film is filled with metaphors for a girl's sexual awakening. Lily navigates a tortuous path toward impending womanhood, in a Wonderland filled with Carroll-like nonsensical characters rich with satire and symbolism and sometimes nothing at all.

I agree Black Moon is ahead of its time, yet looking at it some forty years later I also feel it is dated by the passage of time as it reflects on the 1970s. It is one of my favorite Criterions that I find highly rewatchable, although it most definitely is not for everyone, and I do not recommend a blind buy unless someone is aware of what they are about to get into. The surprising thing about this for me is Black Moon is normally the kind of bizarre surreal film I stay far away from, yet I found it to be an amazingly rich experience that really clicked for me. I went into it completely oblivious. I think had I bothered to read up on it ahead of time, I might have steered clear of it thinking it would not be to my liking. This is a prime example of why I admire Malle and look forward to seeing more of his work. I can also point to his Vanya on 42nd Street, another type of film I would not normally consider watching, but decided to take a chance on and found it to be a master-class of acting and a fascinating exercise in minimalism. Stripped of everything except the barest staging, the characters and dialogue supply all that is needed for the viewer to imagine the wider world of a Russian country estate in which the story takes place.

Needless to say, I am looking forward to viewing My Dinner With Andre for the first time. Two guys sitting around a table talking. Who else but Louis Malle could take something so ordinary and potentially dull and turn it into an extraordinary film (or so I have read).

[jlk5844]

To be honest when I first scrolled down and saw that image I was expecting some joke post, thinking that it was a random wacky image pulled from deep within the internet or perhaps a source of memes. But nope, it's from a real movie, a Louis Malle movie no less! And in the Criterion collection.

You guys have me intrigued about it though, I'll have to check this out. Man, discovering new Criterion Blu-rays I never knew existed every month it seems.

[ravenus]

Originally Posted by oildude

I have high regard for Black Moon, although for me it happened on the first viewing as a blind buy. I think of it as Louis Malle’s homage to Lewis Carroll in an interpretation that is uniquely Malle. Think Alice in Wonderland re-imagined for the sexual revolution and the 1970s, set against a dystopian backdrop of an ultimate future war between the sexes, where a young teenage girl trying to escape the conflict falls down the rabbit hole. The film is filled with metaphors for a girl's sexual awakening. Lily navigates a tortuous path toward impending womanhood, in a Wonderland filled with Carroll-like nonsensical characters rich with satire and symbolism and sometimes nothing at all.

I much preferred Valerie and her week of wonders to Black moon as an Alice in Wonderland meeting sexual awakening riff. Despite its weirdness, BM actually got...dull for me.