The Criterion Collection

[ravenus]

There is no BD so far and even the DVD was not a Criterion release, but I just thought folks here might be interested in catching this kind of movie:

Saw a 2003 Iranian film called Crimson Gold on Prime. This one was made by Jafer Panahi who first made his name in 1995 with the wonderful White Balloon. White Balloon was a hopeful realist fable, but Crimson Gold (scripted by Abbas Kiarostami) is much bleaker a tale.

The film begins with a scene of a robbery in a jewelry shop in which the perpetrator attacks the shop owner while his accomplice waits outside with a bike. He demands to see a jewel, and then asks for the safe keys. The attempt ends in the shop owner's murder, after which the criminal is pointing the gun to his own head.

The film shifts to a few days earlier, and we see the criminals Hossein and his sycophantic companion Ali. They are wage workers at a pizza delivery. Hossein is a war veteran and is apparently taking medication for PTSD. Ali's sister is to marry Hossein. When they go to a high-end jewelry store they are turned out by the proprietor, advised to go to cheaper gold stores.

We then follow Hossein in various situations as he makes his deliveries: One customer turns out to be a former war comrade, who embarrassedly hands him a huge tip. In another place he is held up by the police staking out an apartment to arrest party-goers. One day, on his way to work, he sees a fellow pizza delivery man killed in an accident.

He then makes a delivery to a posh apartment, only for the customer to tell him that the girls he ordered pizza for abruptly left. The young man invites Hossein to come in and share the pizza, and proceeds to tell him his woes. He whines about the fickleness of women. He has come from America where his parents have shifted because he felt homesick for Tehran, and now finds himself a stranger in this country, living alone in an all too large house. For a while Hossein experiences the life of the rich, drinking wine from the man's fridge, even jumping into his swimming pool.

Something triggers in him, and the next scene we see is the beginning of the robbery attempt that the film opened with, before the credits roll.

Panahi's film looks at class differences in his country and suggests that each class feels isolated and disenfranchised in its own way. There is an entropy that arises from a sense of collective hopelessness. This is a dark film - none of the characters seem to have any scope of real happiness. Hossein as a medicine-dazed ex-soldier slaving in a low-paying job where he is hassled by the police is representative of the abandonment of the people by those in power.

Kiarostami's script includes his favored motif of people driving around, and several scenes are conducted as bike rides through the city. It's definitely not a cheerful experience, but it's an interesting watch.

Crimson Gold - a film by Jafar Panahi - YouTube

[mmarczi]

Originally Posted by ravenus

There is no BD so far and even the DVD was not a Criterion release, but I just thought folks here might be interested in catching this kind of movie:

Saw a 2003 Iranian film called Crimson Gold on Prime. This one was made by Jafer Panahi who first made his name in 1995 with the wonderful White Balloon. White Balloon was a hopeful realist fable, but Crimson Gold (scripted by Abbas Kiarostami) is much bleaker a tale.

I saw this on the Criterion Channel a few years back. Very good film and would love to see it in the Collection someday.

[The Sovereign]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

Haha, some of these were actually filmed a while back. That latest one with Manuel was from last July!

Of course. Why should we be surprised that it takes Criterion almost a year to release a closet video?

[ravenus]

Originally Posted by The Sovereign

Of course. Why should we be surprised that it takes Criterion almost a year to release a closet video?

Yep, it takes time to come out of the closet.

[Jexes23]

Originally Posted by hamsterburger

Regular Lovers/Les amants réguliers (2005) by Philippe Garrel, with his son Louis Garrel and Clotilde Hesme in the leads, is specifically about the french student riots.

Also The Dreamers (2003) by Bernardo Bertolucci covers some of the same events.

Both are available on good UK R2 DVDs with English subs.

It's about to be regionless on 4K. While The Dreamers does cover the student protests, it's brief, and it's not why any of us watch the film.

[DukeTogo84]

Posted this over in the films thread, but figured I'd post it here as well regarding Floating Weeds. Finished watching this last night and really enjoyed it. It takes a few minutes to really get going, but in typical Ozu fashion the film is about human drama. Ozu is a master as that his films usually delve into deep topics and that can be very dark, but at the end of his films you feel calmed and relaxed. It's perplexing to say the least.

Specs were all good. While the colors might seem initially dull, you quickly adapt to it and the detail overall is really good. Listening to Roger Ebert every so often was also nice as I grew up listening to him, so it was a nice surprise to hear his voice again after so long.

A solid release, and hopefully this sells well enough so Criterion will continue to give us classic Japanese films on Blu-ray. They are long overdue from them.

[willtopower]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

Haha, some of these were actually filmed a while back. That latest one with Manuel was from last July!

I'm patiently waiting for Béla Tarr's video (unless I missed its release?)

[Cremildo]

[Dr. Zaius]

Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Closet Picks - YouTube

[dwk]

Originally Posted by Cremildo

hmmm, Eric Bana and a recent visit form Frederick Elmes can only mean one thing, Ang Lee's Hulk is getting a Criterion

[Axl Rose]

Originally Posted by dwk

hmmm, Eric Bana and a recent visit form Frederick Elmes can only mean one thing, Ang Lee's Hulk is getting a Criterion

Ahh the superhero movie that forever killed my interest in superhero movies.

Ive seen other Ang Lee films and liked them but Hulk was dreadful.

[ravenus]

Originally Posted by Axl Rose

Ahh the superhero movie that forever killed my interest in superhero movies.

Ive seen other Ang Lee films and liked them but Hulk was dreadful.

I thought it had some very interesting moments, visually and dramatically. Yeah, poodle fight wasn't one of my favorite moments, but the father-son conflict and those passages in the desert where you have this almost mournful music while he is rampaging through IMO lifted up what was originally a B-grade Jekyll and Hyde inspired character. It was definitely not the cookie cutter movie Marvel churned out after they made their formula.

[jw007]

RIP Roger Corman.

1926-2024

Weird I was just talking about him on here a few weeks ago. Guess I sensed the end was near for him.

[Member-682067]

'Birth' from 2004. Jonathan Glazer. It's with Warner, wonder if anyone has tried to get the license.

[Shane Rollins]

Originally Posted by jw007

RIP Roger Corman.

1926-2024

Weird I was just talking about him on here a few weeks ago. Guess I sensed the end was near for him.

RIP Roger Corman.

I grew up with his films. I was first introduced to his films by mistake, when I bought a bargain bin DVD of LSOH because it looked weird and prominently listed Jack Nicholson in the cast, and I loved his work ever since. What a shame his films never made it into the Collection during his lifetime.

This loss really hurts. Not only did Corman himself produce and direct many of my favorites, but he also produced many of the talents who would go on to act in, produce, and direct many of my other favorites. Well over half of the films I love either wouldn't exist or would be radically different without Corman.

With his death, we have lost one of the few remaining directors we could truly call a legend. Mere hours after I got the news, it's already a different Hollywood without him.

[Shane Rollins]

Originally posted by Mike0284 on October 20:

Roger Corman's Closet Picks - YouTube

His films deserve a spot in that closet.

Edited to add: On YouTube, a commenter left this post:

I remember i saw him at the airport once and i went up to him " Mr. Corman i grew up watching your movies" and he replied " You must have had a bad childhood then" we both started laughing... he was so nice to me and I'll always remember that.

[bonehica]

Originally Posted by Dr. Zaius

Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Closet Picks - YouTube

This dude just fleeced the closet. Borderline crime scene. He scored a Demy box set! I've been trying to get one of those for the past few sales, but it's always "unavailable". B&N or CC flash. Impressive haul to say the least!

[Taylor3978]

Watched this on TCM last night (one of guest Patty Jenkins' choices) and amazed it only has an indifferent release from Sony from 2009.



Surely if any film from this century should be in the Criterion Collection, this should be. A 4K UHD was in the Sony Pictures 30th Anniversary Columbia Classics Collection from a few years ago. So far we've only seen standalone US releases from that box of Lawrence of Arabia and Dr Strangelove. Taxi Driver now coming in the UK.

[koberulz]

"A few years ago"? It was a year and a half, and didn't have any of the other titles you mentioned.

[Richard--W]

Only 53 days to go until the release of

Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid.