The Criterion Collection

[Scottie]

Originally Posted by Edward J Grug III

As much as I love it (A LOT) it isn't:

1 The Red Shoes
2 Black Narcissus
3 The Life & Death of Col Blimp
4 A Matter of Life & Death
5 I Know Where I'm Going
6 Tales of Hoffman

I've only seen the three released on BD by Criterion, but that is also my rating.

The Red Shoes is magnificent and if it wasn't so late, I'd probably throw it on right now.

[castor]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

Which directors in the CC, that you had either never heard of or knew very little about prior to delving into the Criterion library, have had the biggest impact on you?

Wong Kar-wei. I got hooked on him after seeing In the Mood for Love and Chungking Express.

Also, I just realized I have 6 Polanski Criterions now:
Knife in the Water
Repulsion
Cul-de-sac
Rosemary's Baby
Macbeth
Tess

[AaronJ]

Originally Posted by iScottie

I've only seen the three released on BD by Criterion, but that is also my rating.

The Red Shoes is magnificent and if it wasn't so late, I'd probably throw it on right now.

The Red Shoes is easily one of my favorite films. Like you, I'd put it in right now but I'm too tired to watch an entire movie. Heh.

It also was obviously an influence on Aronofsky when it came to Black Swan.

[Fabs]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

Which directors in the CC, that you had either never heard of or knew very little about prior to delving into the Criterion library, have had the biggest impact on you?

Yasujiro Ozu.

Ozu changed my whole perspective on film. Since I've discovered him, I've been more in-tune to the smallest details in films. Background sounds like insects, trains, chiming clocks. I'm more aware of actors' facial expressions and acting now because of Setsuko Hara's performances in his films. And shots of simple things like store signs, clouds moving, etc all affect me deeply now and have more meaning. Also, he started my love of Japanese film (and going deeper into other Asian countries).

I'm thankful for all the work Criterion did in getting Ozu out on disc in the US. I can always go back to these films and feel calm again.

[Namuhana]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

Which directors in the CC, that you had either never heard of or knew very little about prior to delving into the Criterion library, have had the biggest impact on you?

Powell and Pressburger - The Red Shoes was my first Criterion anything, so these two and their films are pretty special for me. The Red Shoes is my second favorite film of all time, with Black Narcissus not far behind. Colonel Blimp is great, but I have to be in the right mood for it. I'm hoping Tales of Hoffman will be released on BD via Criterion soon.

Bergman - I hadn't seen any of his films until I started going through the Collection, and now many of them are some of my favorites: Persona, Cries and Whispers, The Magician, Autumn Sonata, The Seventh Seal, Summer with Monika. They bring up important themes and questions, and I don't find them to be "lofty" or hard to connect to as some do.

Akira Kurosawa - God, his movies are great. He knew how to construct a film at every level. I still frequently think about Rashomon, even though I haven't seen it in a while. And Throne of Blood, Ran, Ikiru, Seven Samurai are all just marvels, essential pieces of cinema.

The films of Chaplin, Godard, Truffaut, and Demy continue to amaze me, too. I mostly watched American movies before I got into the Collection, but now it feels like my world's opened up tenfold.

[nitin]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

Which directors in the CC, that you had either never heard of or knew very little about prior to delving into the Criterion library, have had the biggest impact on you?

For me it would have to be Ray and Fassbinder.

I just finished watching Charulata and like every Satyajit Ray film I've seen so far...it was mesmerizing.

Six Ray films...six shiny, sparkling diamonds reflecting all the thousand points of human wonder inside of my unworthy head.

The man was simply amazing.

...I can only offer my humble gratitude to whatever supreme being exists that I discovered him.

Biggest impact would be someone like Kurosawa only because Criterion introduced me to his films, I was mainly an English movie only cinema watcher before then.

Biggest surprise was Larisa Shepitko, I had never heard of her previously and that set is still the greatest eclipse set in my eyes. My mind boggles at how good those 2 movies are.

[bwdowiak]

Just like Edward, I had figured that John Ford wasmt for me although I suppose The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance changed that more than the 2 CC titles.

...and of course, Satyajit Ray.

@ our Ray - definitely pick up his Eclipse set. The Stranger is a very thoughtful film that had me thinking about themes you'd expect to be explored by thoughtful sci-fi films.

The Home and The World was also a good watch. He really knew how to write engaging dialogue.

I haven't yet seen An Enemy of The People.

I've only seen 3 Ozu and really liked all of them. His style is very comforting.

..and I agree w/ the poster above about Tarkovsky. Something mesmerizing about his films even when they are not easily understood.

Outside of Pather Panchali, Tokyo Story, and Solaris, I couldn't tell you one other film directed by them just 5 years ago.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

Which directors in the CC, that you had either never heard of or knew very little about prior to delving into the Criterion library, have had the biggest impact on you?

Henri-Georges Clouzot (Diabolique, Wages of Fear)
Jean Cocteau (Beauty and the Beast)
Costa-Gavres (Z)
Samuel Fuller (The Naked Kiss, Shock Corridor)
Masaki Kobayashi (Kwaidan)
Max Ophüls (Lola Montes, Letter from an Unknown Woman)
Yasujirō Ozu (Floating Weeds, Early Summer, Good Morning)
Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger (49th Parallel, Black Narcissus, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp)
Jean Renoir (Grand Illusion, The Rules of the Game, The River)
Seijun Suzuki (Branded to Kill, Tokyo Drifter)
Andrei Tarkovsky (Andrei Rublev)
Jacques Tati (M. Hulot's Holiday, Mon Oncle)
François Truffaut (Shoot the Piano Player, The 400 Blows)

All back in the days of laserdisc...

[mrjohnnyb]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

Which directors in the CC, that you had either never heard of or knew very little about prior to delving into the Criterion library, have had the biggest impact on you?

Great question, Ray!

I have narrowed it down to these directors:

Henri-Georges Clouzot I had never heard of him prior to purchasing CC products. I own and re-watch both of his films currently in the blu-ray collection: The Wages of Fear and Les Diaboliques.

Michelangelo Antonioni I saw Blow-up for the first time on VHS when I was in my early twenties and hated it, for the exception of the incredible mise en scène. I remember finding the final scene

[Show spoiler]startling and disturbing.

While in my forties, I purchased Red Desert as a blind-buy and was mesmerized. I have since become a convert.

Andrei Tarkovsky The first time that I saw one of his films was when I purchased Solaris as a blind-buy. I own all of his films currently on blu-ray (with the exceptions of Stalker and Mirror,) although the only ones that are Criterion products are Ivan's Childhood and The Killers (on the supplements of The Killers 1946-1964.)

[shadedpain4]

Originally Posted by Fabs

Yasujiro Ozu.

Ozu changed my whole perspective on film. Since I've discovered him, I've been more in-tune to the smallest details in films. Background sounds like insects, trains, chiming clocks. I'm more aware of actors' facial expressions and acting now because of Setsuko Hara's performances in his films. And shots of simple things like store signs, clouds moving, etc all affect me deeply now and have more meaning. Also, he started my love of Japanese film (and going deeper into other Asian countries).

I'm thankful for all the work Criterion did in getting Ozu out on disc in the US. I can always go back to these films and feel calm again.

I know this seems like it's a subjective question, but this is the right answer.

[MifuneFan]

Ozu would be my choice too

[ravenus]

Saw Here Comes Mr. Jordan today on a cheap rental (not Criterion), and I thought a movie was a steaming pile of sap-crap. I like some of Capra's stuff but this one (directed by Alexander Hall, but essentially Capra mold) was sickeningly silly and pat, with not a single moment that came across as genuine to me. I gather the film was a huge success, but I found little artistic or emotional value. I loved the other Montgomery vehicle on CC, Ride The Pink Horse, a great antidote to this manufactured sugary pap

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by ravenus

Saw Here Comes Mr. Jordan today on a cheap rental (not Criterion), and I thought a movie was a steaming pile of sap-crap. I like some of Capra's stuff but this one was sickeningly silly and pat, with not a single moment that came across as genuine to me. I gather the film was a huge success, but I found little artistic or emotional value. I loved the other Montgomery vehicle on CC, Ride The Pink Horse, a great antidote to this manufactured sugary pap

I'm sorry you're dead inside

[Rich Pure Doom]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

I was upset that The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp isn't on Hulu.

...is that your favorite P&P?

The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp is one of the 5 or 10 greatest films ever made. It is easily P and P's greatest achievement as directors and a perfect film in nearly every way. Watch it twice.

[AaronJ]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

I'm sorry you're dead inside

Honestly, I'm not a fan of Capra either. Like ravenus said, everything is so pat and sappy. Those films just don't (usually, at least) appeal to me.

I'm more of a Blue Valentine or La Dolce Vita or Contempt sort of guy.

[shadedpain4]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

I'm sorry you're dead inside

When I was single I ended a lot of first dates with that statement.

[Scottie]

Frank Capra isn't even affiliated with Here Comes Mr. Jordan.

[bwdowiak]

Originally Posted by AaronJ

Honestly, I'm not a fan of Capra either. Like ravenus said, everything is so pat and sappy. Those films just don't (usually, at least) appeal to me.

I'm more of a Blue Valentine or La Dolce Vita or Contempt sort of guy.

That's all fine, but Mr. Jordan is not a Capra film.

[AaronJ]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

That's all fine, but Mr. Jordan is not a Capra film.

I know. But I was referring to the general feeling of Mifune's comment. Or, at least, what I thought he was referring to.

[jw007]

I finally realized now that I just cannot "get into" pre-Method acting cinema, with the exception of early silent films from Charles Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd.

After I saw Kazan's On the Waterfront, my life on cinema changed.

So the Strasberg Method school and onwards are my type of cinema.

And that is my answer to Ray Jackson's original question on directors I didn't know much about but had a big impact on me. Two words: Elia Kazan.