The Criterion Collection

[jmclick]

Originally Posted by AaronJ

Yeah, negative posts concerning L'Avventura initially break my heart. Then I realize that it's just one of those films that not everyone is going to connect with, and that's the way it is. It's way up on my list as well, for pretty much the same reasons. That entire trilogy is endlessly watchable and provocative. And Monica Vitti -- like I could ever get enough of Monica Vitti!

When you add in Red Desert, along with L'Avventura, L'Eclisse, and La Notte -- it's sort of amazing the run that Antonioni was on during the 60s.

It's interesting, the way that certain films rise and fall in favor over time. In the 1962 Sight and Sound Survey of critics, L'Avventura was named the second greatest film of all time, right behind Citizen Kane. In the 1972 Sight and Sound Survey, L'Avventura was still in the Top Ten, but in 5th place, behind Citizen Kane, The Rules of the Game, Battleship Potemkin and 8-1/2.

In 1982, it tied with The Magnificent Ambersons for 7th place behind Citizen Kane, Rules of the Game, Seven Samurai, Singin' in the Rain, 8-1/2 and Battleship Potemkin.

By 1992, L'Avventura had dropped out of the Top Ten; in 2002, it came in at 19. And in the latest poll, conducted in 2012, it tied for 21st place (out of 2,045 films named) in the general poll with Godard's Le Mepris and Coppola's The Godfather.

Not too shabby a record!

[oildude]

The Tati Box set is one of my desert island Criterions. It is phenomenal, and after watching every bit of it I can say that I have a deeper appreciation for French cinema than ever. Same with the Jacques Demy set - these two and Melville I can watch over and over again.

Given that I cannot pass up a chance to recommend Tati, I will repost what I have written here before about the box set. I describe the set in relation to Parade, his final film and the one most would consider the weakest. While that may be true, it is all relative, and I think on closer inspection Parade deserves more praise than it generally gets.

[Show spoiler]After watching the entire set in release order, I have become a huge admirer and ardent fan of Tati. His short films and movies are like a throwback to the silent era. So much merriment, charm, and brilliance are present in his homages to silent comedies with their slapstick and absurd situations. There is a love of life that just spills over the screen in all of Tati's work. In my opinion, all the films are good to great, with the best being PlayTime, Mon Oncle, and Monsieur Hulot's Vacation. Tati's final film, Parade, is the weakest, and also the most different, in a wonderful box set. Parade also has the worst PQ, since it was mostly shot on video for Swedish television, but if anyone can make video look decently good, it is Criterion. The colors were surprisingly vibrant on my plasma. But it is still mostly video so no getting around that.

I think the change in tone in Tati's films we see in Parade, and to a lesser extent in Trafic, are the lingering results of his bankruptcy due to the failure of PlayTime. So sad, because I realized after watching PlayTime in this set (my second viewing after the stand alone release from a couple of years ago), that it really is a masterpiece and one of the most stunningly choreographed, complex, and amazing films ever made. Watching the special features afterward and learning that every single item in that film was part of a magnificently constructed movie set, from the office buildings and escalators to the city streets to the dazzling interiors, just blew me away. Nine years in the making, nothing on such a scale had ever been attempted in France before. PlayTime was a cinematic marvel.... and a colossal commercial flop that ruined him financially. Tati's horizons were much smaller afterward.

I enjoyed Parade solely for what it is: a TV variety show featuring acrobats, jugglers, clowns, musicians, trained animals, silly skits starring Tati as himself, all with audience participation. Entertaining though it may be, it drags a bit here and there especially in the last half, and is only mildly funny. It's no Carol Burnett show (my go-to-example of a variety comedy skit show I grew up loving in the 1970s also shot on video) but in a kind of parallel universe, its heart comes from the same place. It's just that Tati's heart was well over 60 years old and no longer capable of filling the screen with big dreams anymore. The charm is there, in a more intimate setting, but Parade, when compared to Tati's previous films, reminds me of what happens to American stars whose best days are behind them as they wind up their careers appearing nightly in Las Vegas. But for all that, the biggest let down about Parade is that I was watching Tati the variety show host and not Tati as Monsieur Hulot, a character I have developed an immense fondness for after viewing all his films. Hulot was done, and Tati would never put him on the screen again.

And then something happens right at the end of the film that made me realize Parade had actually been worth it, that this may be lesser Tati but it is still something I will always treasure as part of his works. The two little kids from the audience seen throughout the film come on stage after the show is over and begin playing with the props as the actors are breaking down the sets. So simple a closing scene, yet so heartwarming, beautiful, and, I felt, the most absolutely perfect curtain drop on Jacques Tati's film career. Life goes on. Another generation is coming after. And they will be inspired. What a wonderful way to end it.

Vive Jacques Tati

[AaronJ]

Originally Posted by jmclick

It's interesting, the way that certain films rise and fall in favor over time. In the 1962 Sight and Sound Survey of critics, L'Avventura was named the second greatest film of all time, right behind Citizen Kane. In the 1972 Sight and Sound Survey, L'Avventura was still in the Top Ten, but in 5th place, behind Citizen Kane, The Rules of the Game, Battleship Potemkin and 8-1/2.

In 1982, it tied with The Magnificent Ambersons for 7th place behind Citizen Kane, Rules of the Game, Seven Samurai, Singin' in the Rain, 8-1/2 and Battleship Potemkin.

By 1992, L'Avventura had dropped out of the Top Ten; in 2002, it came in at 19. And in the latest poll, conducted in 2012, it tied for 21st place (out of 2,045 films named) in the general poll with Godard's Le Mepris and Coppola's The Godfather.

Not too shabby a record!

Heh, no not too shabby at all.

Though both Contempt and L'Avventura are in my Top 10 -- presently at #1 and #3 respectively, though my list is constantly in state of flux.

[pedromvu]

Weird that the day I decided to start watching L'Avventura supplements everyone started talking about it in here, I wasn't floored by it but I still liked, probably because I have seen all his other alienation films before this.

Watched the Olivier Assayas essays, pretty good info there, everyone on the fence should check it, not that it would turn you over but it certainly gave me more reasons to rewatch, although I was already planning to.

[pro-bassoonist]

Death by Hanging Blu-ray REVIEW



Outstanding 4K restoration!

If possible, see the film without reading any reviews that discuss in great detail its style and structure. Your viewing experience will be much better

Pro-B

p.s. We do not have packaging photos yet, but when the market version arrives we will update the review and the thread

[AaronJ]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

Death by Hanging Blu-ray REVIEW



Outstanding 4K restoration!

If possible, see the film without reading any reviews that discuss in great detail its style and structure. Your viewing experience will be much better

Pro-B

p.s. We do not have packaging photos yet, but when the market version arrives we will update the review and the thread

So, how the heck am I supposed to read the review?!

[octagon]

Originally Posted by AaronJ

So, how the heck am I supposed to read the review?!

I think you just did

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by mja345

There are a lot tales of people in seemingly good fortune who are unhappy/unsettled in the Criterion Collection. "8 1/2", the Antonioni films, "The Leopard", "The Royal Tenenbaums", "Safe", "Belle Du Jour", "Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant", "The Fisher King", "The Rules of the Game", "Under the Volcano", "Harold and Maude" (the Harold character), "Crumb" (a real life account), etc.

Not to completely disagree with Ray, because there are parts of his sentiments I agree with, but think about how many stories are based around the simple premise of people given plenty of wealth and privilege being unhappy. A lot of Shakesperian stories are based upon that simple premise. "Macbeth" and "Hamlet" in particular. One of the most famous and beloved film series of all-time, "The Godfather", is based upon the unhappiness and disagreements that arise among a family who has the world in its palm, albeit by very violent, dishonest means.

One of my all-time favorite quotes is, "If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, then we'd grab ours back."


In Criterion news, I received my Blu-rays of Bitter Rice and The American Friend in the mail yesterday.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

To this day the only performance by Patricia Arquette that I was ever impressed by was in True Romance.

She was great in that.

...underwhelming in everything else imo.

I liked her a lot in Beyond Rangoon, but, yeah, I've not been particularly impressed by her either (or her sister, or their brother).

[shadedpain4]

Originally Posted by jayembee

I've not been particularly impressed by her either (or her sister, or their brother).

I hear Will Smith feels the same.

[joie]

For those who haven't seen enough of Monica Vitti, there is a Blu-ray release of "Modesty Blaise."

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Modes...lu-ray/125712/

edit: The importance of "Modesty Blaise" should not be underestimated. Vincent Vega gets caught reading the novel in the bathroom, in "Pulp Fiction."

[llj]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

I still get tired of watching Monica Vitti lament how unhappy she is in every Antonioni film she was in.

I think it's hot! And the more stylish she is, the better it gets for me.

No joke, my reasons for liking watching her doing the same things over and over probably borders on fetish...

[Nuck Horris]

Originally Posted by jayembee

I liked her a lot in Beyond Rangoon, but, yeah, I've not been particularly impressed by her either (or her sister, or their brother).

Lost Highway.

I think you're supposed to be more impressed by the breast genes in that family than their acting....

Rosanna has been in better films (After Hours, 8 Million Ways to Die, Black Rainbow, Pulp Fiction, Crash, Buffalo '66) but both of them have done mostly bad third rate dramas. Yet Patricia seems to be having the better career with the TV shows.

David was in Ravenous and Airheads... don't remember what else.

[kuro_sawa]

Originally Posted by Nuck Horris

Lost Highway.

I think you're supposed to be more impressed by the breast genes in that family than their acting....

Rosanna has been in better films (After Hours, 8 Million Ways to Die, Black Rainbow, Pulp Fiction, Crash, Buffalo '66) but both of them have done mostly bad third rate dramas. Yet Patricia seems to be having the better career with the TV shows.

David was in Ravenous and Airheads... don't remember what else.

I mentioned it yesterday, but check out Michel Gondry's Human Nature. Beside Patricia being great in it, it's a great film with a script by Charlie Kaufman starring Tim Robbins.

[Ray Jackson]

Originally Posted by llj

I think it's hot! And the more stylish she is, the better it gets for me.

No joke, my reasons for liking watching her doing the same things over and over probably borders on fetish...

Yeah she's pretty hot.

...I actually think she looks better as a brunette.

[ShellOilJunior]

Mastroianni sure did work with some beautiful women throughout his career. His mistress wasn't too bad either.

[Namuhana]

Originally Posted by ShellOilJunior

Mastroianni sure did work with some beautiful women throughout his career. His mistress wasn't too bad either.

And Marcello's not too bad looking...

[SammyJankis]

I have nothing to add other than the fact that I have two Monica Vitti prints, one of which is the Criterion poster, framed in my apartment. So.. yeah.

Ah, the perks of keeping in touch with your favorite professor. Future Criterion releases, I hope.

[Show spoiler]

[ShellOilJunior]

Originally Posted by Namuhana

And Marcello's not too bad looking...

Their daughter has good genes.

[shadedpain4]

Originally Posted by SammyJankis

I have nothing to add other than the fact that I have two Monica Vitti prints, one of which is the Criterion poster, framed in my apartment. So.. yeah.

Ah, the perks of keeping in touch with your favorite professor. Future Criterion releases, I hope.

[Show spoiler]

Nice! Some of those domestic Hou Hsiao-Hsien releases can be hard to find/expensive these days.

I've managed to acquire English friendly copies of all of his films except the first 3 (Cute Girl, Cheerful Wind, and The Green Green Grass of Home) and his 1987 film Daughter of the Nile. The search continues...

He really does feel like a no brainer for Criterion. I know they like him, I wonder if they have been unable to get the rights for the one(s) they want?