Todd Haynes on Blu-ray

[James Luckard]

US releases



Only available on foreign BD

(there is a Canadian BD of I'm Not There, but it drops the bonus features)


Only available on DVD
(directed one episode)

[thatguamguy]

I see the blu-ray logo on 'Wonderstruck' -- did they press that somewhere? I thought it was a burned disc.

[Gacivory]

Originally Posted by thatguamguy

I see the blu-ray logo on 'Wonderstruck' -- did they press that somewhere? I thought it was a burned disc.

The British release is pressed, but in America it’s burned. The photo on the page has the Blu Ray logo.

[thatguamguy]

I thought I was just being an annoying pedant and I wound up getting useful information out of it! What an Internet specific phenomenon.

[Zarak]

I watched Dottie Gets Spanked a few weeks ago. It was wild.

[HipsterTrash]

Maybe Zeitgeist could partner with Kino and re-release Poison with Dottie Gets Spanked as a special feature.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by Zarak

I watched Dottie Gets Spanked a few weeks ago. It was wild.

I just watched it last night, which caused me to create this list.

I thought I owned all his films, but I discovered that one when I saw the Videotheque video store here in LA advertising on Instagram, and saw their Haynes section in a photo, where I saw that DVD. I was shocked there was a Haynes film I didn't have, and immediately ordered it from Amazon.

It's a weird little short film, but beautifully made. It's fascinating to see Haynes's early work, so raw yet still exploring the same themes.

A shame we'll never get "Superstar" on a legit release.

[HipsterTrash]

Is I'm Not There still owned by the Weinstein Company? Cause I know there was some Miramax titles that got released, maybe the same an be down with TWC titles. That would be a shame for some to be buried.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by HipsterTrash

Is I'm Not There still owned by the Weinstein Company? Cause I know there was some Miramax titles that got released, maybe the same an be down with TWC titles. That would be a shame for some to be buried.

Yep, the streaming version on Amazon is still credited to The Weinstein Company:

https://www.amazon.com/Im-Not-There-...dp/B017PG8FFI/

It looks like TWC's library is currently owned by Lantern, but currently controlled by Spyglass: https://variety.com/2019/film/news/g...gm-1203162530/

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by Gacivory

The British release is pressed, but in America it’s burned. The photo on the page has the Blu Ray logo.

I'm tempted to pick up the UK disc, the US disc I own is easily the worst BD I've ever seen. The compression is sickening, all dark scenes look like 1995 QuickTime files. The stream on Amazon looks MUCH better.

[Rzzzz]

I have this Dvd. It is my most wanted Todd Haynes film on blu....

[James Luckard]

That's a bootleg. "Superstar" has never had a legit release, and its distribution is legally forbidden by Richard Carpenter, who detests the film and sued Haynes over it.

The film uses original Carpenters recordings throughout, without permission. I could be wrong, but I believe Mattel also sued Haynes for using Barbie dolls throughout. Unfortunately, there's less than zero chance of it ever having a legit release of any kind. All copies online are illegal.

It's a shame, it's a BRILLIANT film, but it shows a side of The Carpenters that made Richard VERY upset.

[Gacivory]

Originally Posted by HipsterTrash

Is I'm Not There still owned by the Weinstein Company? Cause I know there was some Miramax titles that got released, maybe the same an be down with TWC titles. That would be a shame for some to be buried.

I asked Kino, earlier this year I think, if they had it and they said it’s with another label.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by Gacivory

I asked Kino, earlier this year I think, if they had it and they said it’s with another label.

Criterion?

It's not my favorite Haynes film, but he's a genius and all his films deserve the best presentation.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by HipsterTrash

Maybe Zeitgeist could partner with Kino and re-release Poison with Dottie Gets Spanked as a special feature.

Has Zeitgeist ever done any BDs on their own? It'd be easy to put both films on one disc, they're short.

Wikipedia says Zeitgeist actually has had a deal with KL since 2017:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeitgeist_Films

We should ask KL about it.

It would make sense to tie any BD release to whenever Haynes's next film might come out. They just announced yesterday that Apple bought his most recent project, a documentary on The Velvet Underground:

https://variety.com/2020/film/news/a...ry-1234812233/

[Gacivory]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

Criterion?

It's not my favorite Haynes film, but he's a genius and all his films deserve the best presentation.

Oh man, it’s my favorite of his! I feel like Criterion, but I would’ve expected them to announce it with Rolling Thunder. Maybe they’ll pair it with Company and some others and have a music themed month.

[Gacivory]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

Has Zeitgeist ever done any BDs on their own? It'd be easy to put both films on one disc, they're short.

Wikipedia says Zeitgeist actually has had a deal with KL since 2017:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeitgeist_Films

We should ask KL about it.

It would make sense to tie any BD release to whenever Haynes's next film might come out. They just announced yesterday that Apple bought his most recent project, a documentary on The Velvet Underground:

https://variety.com/2020/film/news/a...ry-1234812233/

Two of their Jarman releases were Zeitgeist. So I hope this is on their list! I been wanting it for awhile!

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by Gacivory

Oh man, it’s my favorite of his! I feel like Criterion, but I would’ve expected them to announce it with Rolling Thunder. Maybe they’ll pair it with Company and some others and have a music themed month.

My favorite Haynes film is Carol. It's funny, because his entire style involves this sort of post-modern, self-reflective, examination of the medium of film within the films, but Carol is by far the least "Haynesian" of his films.

In Carol, he takes all his monumental technical skills and applies them to a melodrama that does not have one ounce of irony. The emotions are all true and direct and not mediated in any way. It's material that was perfectly suited to him, but he was a director-for-hire on a project written by someone else, which he didn't develop, so it's different from his own projects.

I think it's tied with The Talented Mr. Ripley as the best performance Cate Blanchett has ever given, which is funny, since they're both Patricia Highsmith stories (although, in fairness, her character in Ripley doesn't exist in the novel, which is radically different).

My favorite films of his are his trio of "women's melodramas," Far From Heaven, Mildred Pierce and Carol, and it's fascinating to see how they evolve from hyper-stylized to deeply grounded.

I got to see him speak at a Q&A for Dark Waters, such an intelligent and thoughtful filmmaker. The world needs more Todd Haynes films.

[Gacivory]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

My favorite Haynes film is Carol. It's funny, because his entire style involves this sort of post-modern, self-reflective, examination of the medium of film within the films, but Carol is by far the least "Haynesian" of his films.

In Carol, he takes all his monumental technical skills and applies them to a melodrama that does not have one ounce of irony. The emotions are all true and direct and not mediated in any way. It's material that was perfectly suited to him, but he was a director-for-hire on a project written by someone else, which he didn't develop, so it's different from his own projects.

I think it's tied with The Talented Mr. Ripley as the best performance Cate Blanchett has ever given, which is funny, since they're both Patricia Highsmith stories (although, in fairness, her character in Ripley doesn't exist in the novel, which is radically different).

My favorite films of his are his trio of "women's melodramas," Far From Heaven, Mildred Pierce and Carol, and it's fascinating to see how they evolve from hyper-stylized to deeply grounded.

I got to see him speak at a Q&A for Dark Waters, such an intelligent and thoughtful filmmaker. The world needs more Todd Haynes films.

Carol is my number 2. I’m Not There is one I saw as a teenager and the style and what he did just blew my mind. And the montage set to “I Want You”, is one of my favorite moments in cinema. I think I always like when he goes for the weird like Safe and Velvet Goldmine.

Was it at the Landmark? I saw him talk there after both Wonderstruck and Dark Water!

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by Gacivory

Oh man, it’s my favorite of his! I feel like Criterion, but I would’ve expected them to announce it with Rolling Thunder. Maybe they’ll pair it with Company and some others and have a music themed month.

I think part of the reason I didn't get into I'm Not There was that I knew absolutely zero about Bob Dylan going in, except that he was a famous musician from the 60s, and the film is not actually a literal biopic about Dylan, it's a commentary on a biopic of him.

All the segments, as far as I understand it, are fictionalized reflections of portions of his life, much like Velvet Goldmine. Unfortunately, since I didn't know any of the true episodes in his life that each episode was based on, I was kind of bewildered by the entire film.

I would need to read up on Dylan more to be able to enjoy it properly, I think. I totally recognize that it's not the film, it's me, I just didn't have the foreknowledge necessary to be able to receive the film.