The Criterion Collection

[shadedpain4]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

...and I thought Like Someone in Love was one of the worst films in the collection, but that's just 2 opinions on Kiarostami

I adore both Certified Copy and Like Someone In Love, but find Close-Up a bit of a grind to get through.

At least everyone seems to love *something* by Kiarostami.

[Namuhana]

Originally Posted by shadedpain4

I adore both Certified Copy and Like Someone In Love, but find Close-Up a bit of a grind to get through.

At least everyone seems to love *something* by Kiarostami.

I've only seen Certified Copy and Like Someone In Love and they didn't really do too much for me. But, different strokes for different folks, I guess.

[Andrew13]

One final pre-flash sale question for the wisdom of the crowd. Thoughts on the three Satyajit Ray films and Yi Yi, in terms of both quality and rewatchability?

[exolstice]

Originally Posted by Andrew13

One final pre-flash sale question for the wisdom of the crowd. Thoughts on the three Satyajit Ray films and Yi Yi, in terms of both quality and rewatchability?

I really love The Music Room, but I haven't seen the others.

[ceeece]

Originally Posted by Bates_Motel

There was one Feb 25... of last year. This year's sale hasn't happened yet.

Ah, thanks!!

[adrian333]

Originally Posted by Andrew13

One final pre-flash sale question for the wisdom of the crowd. Thoughts on the three Satyajit Ray films and Yi Yi, in terms of both quality and rewatchability?

Yi yi is a modern masterpiece and enormously rewatchable.

[DfndroftheFaith]

Originally Posted by adrian333

Yi yi is a modern masterpiece and enormously rewatchable.

I 100% agree. It's easily one of my favorite Criterion discoveries.

[Polaroid]

Would have been a nice digipak set - dunno why they made as two releases...?

[jw007]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

...and I thought Like Someone in Love was one of the worst films in the collection, but that's just 2 opinions on Kiarostami

I think Kiarostami's type of cinema belongs in the 20th century. Today's audiences don't have the attention spans to appreciate his subtle directing and acting. Personally, I like all his recent films but Close-Up is a challenge to get through.

[mande2013]

Somewhat off topic, but I recently fell upon a very small blemish towards the edge on my Pierrot Le Fou replacement disc, and I'm doubting my perhaps pressing a wee bit too hard with a fiber cloth would have caused it when I wiped it off a little, as it did arrive with some debris. I know deep down it has no effect on the playback, but is this something you guys would personally obsess over anyway? It's only noticeable at an angle under a bright light. With a fluorescent light you wouldn't see the blemish at all, and I could almost get away with selling the disc as 'like new' if I wanted to probably. I'm just wondering if worrying about something like this is taking things too far. Thanks.

It can be rather unpredictable though, since I've heard of discs with hardly a visible blemish hiccuping in the middle of the film, yet I've gotten some pretty sad looking discs from mail-in services like Netflix and Videofutur that played just fine.

As for Kiarostami, I'm generally a fan, and I thought Like Someone is Love was terrific, and And Life Goes On is a near masterpiece. However, I'd ultimately say he's a major minor figure if that makes sense, sort of "Far Side of Paradise" on the Andrew Sarris scale. He's not bringing cinema in a whole new direction in my view but brilliantly works within an already established mold.

[zeroman987]

Originally Posted by jw007

I think Kiarostami's type of cinema belongs in the 20th century. Today's audiences don't have the attention spans to appreciate his subtle directing and acting. Personally, I like all his recent films but Close-Up is a challenge to get through.

Maybe it was because I first saw it while taking a comparative law course, but I found Close Up incredibly fascinating. It is a valuable film because it provides a good amount of insight into a different sense of justice that some westerners might find completely foreign or difficult.

However, in terms of the film's value as a piece of narrative fiction/entertainment, I found the bonus film, The Traveler, is much more rewarding and interesting.

[ShellOilJunior]

Originally Posted by Andrew13

One final pre-flash sale question for the wisdom of the crowd. Thoughts on the three Satyajit Ray films and Yi Yi, in terms of both quality and rewatchability?

I own all 3 Ray films and recommend them all.

I've watched The Music Room a few times and it gets better with each viewing. The other 2 I need to revisit again very soon. You can't go wrong with any of them.

[dwk]

Originally Posted by mande2013

Well it's certainly in my top 100, but not necessarily among my top 3-5 favorities.

In that case, if you can find a good deal, the Criterion might be worth adding to your collection.

Originally Posted by Polaroid

Would have been a nice digipak set - dunno why they made as two releases...?

The films might belong to different companies, which would make a box set more of a hassle.

[Feiereisel]

Originally Posted by Polaroid

[Show spoiler]

Would have been a nice digipak set - dunno why they made as two releases...?

Complementary spines aren't unusual for Criterion: Yojimbo/Sanjuro, Branded to Kill/Tokyo Drifter, and the upcoming Costa-Gavras releases jump to mind immediately.

I assume the reasons are as varied as the releases. It could be rights issues, as previously stated, marketability (the individual releases may perform better for Criterion than a single box set--they'd potentially move twice the units, for one thing), the historical stature of the films (this one cuts both ways--highly-regarded films are sometimes used to drive box set sales), or even the preference of the filmmaker.

[Polaroid]

Ah right - just seems odd, especially with the similar style designs lol...

Oh well...

[yoyokid8]

So what are your guys thoughts on Seijun Suzuki's films? I saw Tokyo Drifter recently and loved it. What do you guys think?

[Bates_Motel]

Originally Posted by jw007

I think Kiarostami's type of cinema belongs in the 20th century. Today's audiences don't have the attention spans to appreciate his subtle directing and acting. Personally, I like all his recent films but Close-Up is a challenge to get through.

But that says more about the degradation of audiences than the filmmaker's style. If all art conformed to the standards and ideals of the masses, we'd never have Picasso's Cubism, or rock n roll, or films like Eraserhead. Audiences have to teach themselves how to watch certain films, or look at art that's different, or listen to music that doesn't adhere to basic 4/4 time.

Originally Posted by dwk

The films might belong to different companies, which would make a box set more of a hassle.

They were previously all boxed together for DVD, so its strictly an issue of splitting them for potentially better sales.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by yoyokid8

So what are your guys thoughts on Seijun Suzuki's films? I saw Tokyo Drifter recently and loved it. What do you guys think?

I love his films. I caught a retrospective of his work back in the 90s at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts Film Program. Based on the ones I saw, he seems to like making films about either gangsters or prostitutes. Personally, I prefer the latter: Gate of Flesh (in "retina-ripping colour") and Story of a Prostitute are both on DVD from Criterion, as are Youth of the Beast and Fighting Elegy.

As for the other film available on Blu-ray from Criterion, I'll haul out (again) a comment made (not by me) back in the day in a Usenet forum:

"BRANDED TO KILL, on the other hand, is like TOKYO DRIFTER's drunk, crack-addict cousin who just happens to have taken some acid on the day you run into him." (Rob Larsen)

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by jw007

I think Kiarostami's type of cinema belongs in the 20th century. Today's audiences don't have the attention spans to appreciate his subtle directing and acting. Personally, I like all his recent films but Close-Up is a challenge to get through.

That's rather a snotty attitude. One might argue that mass audiences wouldn't have the necessary attention spans to appreciate his work, but I don't think mass audiences would be at all interested in his work anyways, whether last century or this one. I suspect that people interested in current art cinema would be just as appreciative of his work as they would've 20-40 years ago.

[kataxu36]

Anyone have any thoughts on the movie Still Walking?