The Criterion Collection

[HipsterTrash]

The announcement of Human Condition, a completely shocking announcement if you ask me, has made me want to get Harakiri and Kwaidan even more now.

[bwdowiak]

Originally Posted by CelestialAgent

Being woke is no bad thing. Neither is having an "agenda" of including more Black cinema, especially when the existing collection is pretty underrepresented.

If you say so, but that is not everyone's opinion. I don't see any posts that were critical of the releases, so I assume they were removed. Even as someone who danced in the streets on November 7th, I think we're dangerously close to being out over our skis if we haven't already crossed that point.

I didn't decide to post this to criticize these choices. Pariah, especially, sounds like a good film. If I have the opportunity to see it, I will. There are so many films right now, though, that are "socially important" and most films like that don't age well, IMO.

I had the opportunity to see Paul Schrader's Blue Collar for the first time recently. Before Kino putting it on sale, I had never even heard of it. It's unfortunate that, at least in the short term future, new films like that won't be financed, or if they are made independently or on a small budget, won't find audiences.

[Vinyl]

Originally Posted by HipsterTrash

The announcement of Human Condition, a completely shocking announcement if you ask me, has made me want to get Harakiri and Kwaidan even more now.

Those are such great movies!

Originally Posted by Hellspawn28

I'm glad that I can finally upgrade my HC DVDs. I hope Jigoku and Onibaba will be upgraded from DVD to Blu-Ray next.

I just saw that my Onibaba dvd is out of print! I love Shindo’s movies and think adding more and upgrading Onibaba would be great.

Speaking of adding and upgrading films, what about TESHIGAHARA? I loved The Face Of Another and would love to see that and more be released.

[DukeTogo84]

Originally Posted by HipsterTrash

The announcement of Human Condition, a completely shocking announcement if you ask me, has made me want to get Harakiri and Kwaidan even more now.

You don't have those on Blu-ray? Epic films, especially Hara-Kiri. Easily one of the best Japanese films of all time. Nakadai's best performance.

[HipsterTrash]

Love the films. I just never grabbed them. It's pricey for Canadians to get Criterion.

[Cinematt]

Originally Posted by Vinyl

I just saw that my Onibaba dvd is out of print! I love Shindo’s movies and think adding more and upgrading Onibaba would be great.

Onibaba isn't out of print, it's just waiting for another print run.
I didn't realise Criterion hadn't upgraded this, it has been out on BD in the UK for years from Eureka.

[Vinyl]

Originally Posted by Cinematt

Onibaba isn't out of print, it's just waiting for another print run.
I didn't realise Criterion hadn't upgraded this, it has been out on BD in the UK for years from Eureka.

Oohhhh ok. Didn’t know what all the different verbiage meant. So does that also apply to Shoot the Piano Player, that says currently unavailable?

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by Vinyl

Oohhhh ok. Didn’t know what all the different verbiage meant. So does that also apply to Shoot the Piano Player, that says currently unavailable?

Assuming we're talking about the Criterion website...

If it says "currently unavailable", that means that they have no copies in stock, and will be having more pressed.

If a title is out of print, it will explicitly say "Out of Print". A recent example would be Nashville:

https://www.criterion.com/films/28427-nashville

[HipsterTrash]

Originally Posted by jayembee

If a title is out of print, it will explicitly say "Out of Print". A recent example would be Nashville:

https://www.criterion.com/films/28427-nashville

So happy I started my Altman collection few months ago.

[mmarczi]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

If you say so, but that is not everyone's opinion. I don't see any posts that were critical of the releases, so I assume they were removed. Even as someone who danced in the streets on November 7th, I think we're dangerously close to being out over our skis if we haven't already crossed that point.

I didn't decide to post this to criticize these choices. Pariah, especially, sounds like a good film. If I have the opportunity to see it, I will. There are so many films right now, though, that are "socially important" and most films like that don't age well, IMO.

I had the opportunity to see Paul Schrader's Blue Collar for the first time recently. Before Kino putting it on sale, I had never even heard of it. It's unfortunate that, at least in the short term future, new films like that won't be financed, or if they are made independently or on a small budget, won't find audiences.

The Criterion Collection is full of "socially important" movies made throughout the past century. Apparently they age just as well as any other type of film.

[bergman864]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

If you say so, but that is not everyone's opinion. I don't see any posts that were critical of the releases, so I assume they were removed. Even as someone who danced in the streets on November 7th, I think we're dangerously close to being out over our skis if we haven't already crossed that point.

I didn't decide to post this to criticize these choices. Pariah, especially, sounds like a good film. If I have the opportunity to see it, I will. There are so many films right now, though, that are "socially important" and most films like that don't age well, IMO.

I had the opportunity to see Paul Schrader's Blue Collar for the first time recently. Before Kino putting it on sale, I had never even heard of it. It's unfortunate that, at least in the short term future, new films like that won't be financed, or if they are made independently or on a small budget, won't find audiences.

I don't quite understand your issue with Pariah, a film you admittedly haven't seen. And why do you think it's only inclusion is because it's "socially important"?

Like mmarczi said, Criterion has plenty of socially important films already in the collection that age just fine.

[bwdowiak]

Originally Posted by mmarczi

The Criterion Collection is full of "socially important" movies made throughout the past century. Apparently they age just as well as any other type of film.

that's painting with a broad brush. can you give me a few examples?

Originally Posted by bergman864

I don't quite understand your issue with Pariah, a film you admittedly haven't seen. And why do you think it's only inclusion is because it's "socially important"?

Like mmarczi said, Criterion has plenty of socially important films already in the collection that age just fine.

I don't have any issue with Pariah and I'm sure that it has enough merit to warrant its inclusion in the CC. I replied to the poster who said that its ok to have an "agenda" to fix underrepresentation. I don't agree with that. Its my opinion that the last decade of film has produced the least amount of great films of any decade in film history. There hasn't been a shortage of films that deal with social issues, though.

Look at the best reviewed films (the top 20 or so) on RT from 2020. Most of them deal with social issues.

https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com...ovies-of-2020/

[bergman864]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

that's painting with a broad brush. can you give me a few examples?



I don't have any issue with Pariah and I'm sure that it has enough merit to warrant its inclusion in the CC. I replied to the poster who said that its ok to have an "agenda" to fix underrepresentation. I don't agree with that. Its my opinion that the last decade of film has produced the least amount of great films of any decade in film history. There hasn't been a shortage of films that deal with social issues, though.

Look at the best reviewed films (the top 20 or so) on RT from 2020. Most of them deal with social issues.

https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com...ovies-of-2020/

Those are quite a few different things. CelestialAgent specifically mention that Criterion has released a lot more Czech films in the same time frame, which is an "agenda" to release more Czech films in the broadest sense of the term. No one complains about that agenda. It's only the ones that fall along race and gender that people complain about.

As for the amount of great films in the last decade, that's a misnomer since not only were a lot of films lost in the first few decades of film history, a lot of older films aren't available for people to critique the same way new films are. I wonder which decade(s) you've seen the most films from.

And when it comes to socially conscious movies being the best reviewed, that's always been the case. Because they deal with such issues specifically.

[mmarczi]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

that's painting with a broad brush. can you give me a few examples?

If you need examples of socially-forward films from The Criterion Collection then I have to assume that you're either not trained to see subtext or you're not overly familiar with their catalogue. Everybody from Renoir to Buñuel to Kurosawa to Fassbinder and Denis and Petzold and Kassovitz and so on and so forth produce films that address both historical and contemporary social issues. Just off the top of my head while I'm out for a stroll and typing on my phone.

[RCRochester]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

that's painting with a broad brush. can you give me a few examples?

I recently picked up Desert Hearts. That could be considered a "socially important" movie considering its director and subject matter. It's also a great movie that has aged well.

[bwdowiak]

Originally Posted by bergman864

Those are quite a few different things. CelestialAgent specifically mention that Criterion has released a lot more Czech films in the same time frame, which is an "agenda" to release more Czech films in the broadest sense of the term. No one complains about that agenda. It's only the ones that fall along race and gender that people complain about.

As for the amount of great films in the last decade, that's a misnomer since not only were a lot of films lost in the first few decades of film history, a lot of older films aren't available for people to critique the same way new films are. I wonder which decade(s) you've seen the most films from.

And when it comes to socially conscious movies being the best reviewed, that's always been the case. Because they deal with such issues specifically.

I'm not sure I understand what you're saying. Older films aren't available to critique? What do lost films have to say about the quality of the ones that survived?

I don't know what it has to do with anything, but I'm a late gen X'er and most of my favorite films were made before I was born.

Regarding what you said about socially conscious movies being the best reviewed.. You're right. I don't think it is debatable that right now we are at the highest state of social consciousness that we've ever been, so all of the attention is on movies of this ilk.

Most movies from the 70's could not be made now - not just because of political correctness, but because the loudest voices in society don't seem to have a taste for movies that don't deal with social issues.

[bwdowiak]

Originally Posted by mmarczi

If you need examples of socially-forward films from The Criterion Collection then I have to assume that you're either not trained to see subtext or you're not overly familiar with their catalogue. Everybody from Renoir to Buñuel to Kurosawa to Fassbinder and Denis and Petzold and Kassovitz and so on and so forth produce films that address both historical and contemporary social issues. Just off the top of my head while I'm out for a stroll and typing on my phone.

Yes. That's what it is.

If you have a film to cite as an example, I'll take it under consideration. If the best you can do is condescension, then I'll carry on discussing with bergman and anyone else who wishes to chime in.

[jw007]

If people petition Criterion to release an all-African American directors month and they end up doing that, would that satisfy many people or just cause more controversy?

[MifuneFan]

...

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by RCRochester

I recently picked up Desert Hearts. That could be considered a "socially important" movie considering its director and subject matter. It's also a great movie that has aged well.

Not to mention Do the Right Thing.