The Criterion Collection

[SpiderBaby]

Originally Posted by Yami

Is it any good? I've seen some differing opinions regarding it

It's very interesting with social topics, the filmmaking process, and very experimental, so don't expect to see another 50's Ray film. Pretty much for the curious, or huge Ray fans, or experimental fans in general.

Here is a little write up someone on Mubi did if your curious:

http://mubi.com/notebook/posts/suici...-go-home-again

[jcs913]

Originally Posted by *DrStrangelove*

Hugh Jackman is also in The Prestige, your point?

Thanks for reminding me of another movie that could have been better without him..

[BohemianGraham]

Originally Posted by jcs913

Thanks for reminding me of another movie that could have been better without him..

[Show spoiler]

I like the cut of your jib, sir.

[*DrStrangelove*]

Originally Posted by jcs913

Thanks for reminding me of another movie that could have been better without him..

He wasnt great but he wasn't bad. His performance doesn't affect the film in a negative way at all. Just cause you don't like him doesn't mean he was terrible in it.

[ROclockCK]

Originally Posted by oildude

I hear ya, rkish. Thanks for sharing the memory of Apollo 11. I was alive then, but too young to remember it. My first space program memories are of Apollo 17 (what turned out to be the last moon mission) and the later Apollo-Soyuz linkup.

I was transfixed by the Apollo program from start to finish. While some of my peers were schlepping off to Woodstock for a drug-addled musical mudbath, nothing could pry me away from the real meta-story of our age. It was a privilege to be alive while this great adventure was unfolding.

Originally Posted by oildude

BTW, the Apollo 18 Saturn V rocket is on display at the Johnson Space Center, not far from where I live. It is laying on its side with each stage separated and visible. It is enormous, a true marvel to behold.

Before the first Apollo launch, the gallows humour circulating at the time was "Either the Saturn V would go up, or Florida would go down."

I've owned Criterion's For All Mankind on Laserdisc, DVD, and now Blu-ray, and it's an evergreen treasure. Great documentary, and the best possible entry point for anyone unfamiliar with NASA's Apollo Moon program.

[oildude]

I finished watching another of my Eclipse sets last night. This time it was Kenji Mizoguchi’s Fallen Women. As I did for the Oshima’s Outlaw Sixties and The Warped World of Koreyoshi Kurahara sets a few months ago, I thought I’d post my impressions of the Mizoguchi set. Once again, this is a winner, very enjoyable but very grim, as each film is a social commentary on Japanese society that opens a door into a world of broken dreams and despair. They are all good, but one film in particular - Street of Shame - ranks among the best films I have ever seen.

The four films in the set feel very real and identifiable. Like many of the characters in the Oshima and Kurahara sets, the characters in the Mizoguchi set are living on the edges or the underbelly of society. There are two pre-war and two post-war films in the set. As the title suggests, the subject matter is fallen women, how they got there, how their lives play out, and how they are viewed by others. Mizoguchi does a masterful job of exposing some of the darker aspects of Japanese society, where geishas, consorts, and prostitutes are both revered and reviled, an element of the culture that is closer to the surface and more an accepted part of everyday life than in many Western countries.

One theme persistent through all four films is that many of these women got to be who and where they are through the callous actions of inconsiderate and selfishly manipulative men. With a few exceptions, the men involved are not consciously cruel or violent; in fact, none of them is exceptional in any way, which makes these films all the more hard hitting and socially enlightening. The men portrayed are ordinary, basically acting out their traditional roles in Japanese society. I can imagine that in the time these films were made, for a film maker to take on these subjects must have been daring.

Osaka Elegy and Sisters of the Gion (1936) - Both of these pre-war films are well done with engaging stories. One memorable character from Osaka Elegy is the father of one of the women, an oafish man whose bad financial decisions have led his daughter to support him any way she can, including compromising herself in a destructive relationship as the mistress of her boss. Despite the degradations she endures, the father shows no remorse or even recognition of his role in the whole mess. He despises her, as does her sister and brother.

One thing I liked is that both films offer time capsule views of Osaka before the war. Vibrant neon nights portrayed in black and white, details of the city streets, shops, and homes, music and puppetry performances, people interacting in every day exchanges, all of it has an intimacy to it similar to what I felt watching People on Sunday. There is no hint that Japan was in the death grip of militancy at that time, just richly detailed human stories set in urban environments.

PQ for Osaka Elegy and Sisters of the Gion is rough, as might be expected for their age. Both need restoration and I would be interested in hearing how the Artificial Eye blu-rays of these two films look.

Women of the Night (1948) – This is a terrific and memorable hard-luck tale of two sisters trying to survive in the aftermath of Japan’s defeat in WWII. The film immediately establishes itself as noticeably darker in theme than the pre-war films. The story begins soon after the surrender, when soldiers and civilians posted in Korea and China are demobilizing and being repatriated home, many of them mental wrecks. One of the sisters is living with her in-laws while her husband is away overseas. She is caring for her own sick baby while helping to support her husband’s family, including a wastrel brother-in-law who is an ex-soldier drinking away bad memories instead of looking for work. About twenty minutes into the movie an event occurs that is immensely sad and moving, and the story shifts ahead a couple of years. I found Mizoguchi’s direction superb; he establishes so much human detail in the first minutes of the film that the viewer is swept away by unfolding events and plunged into the emotional turmoil that follows. This is an exceptional film, really well done.

Filmed a few years after the war, Women of the Night has little of the urban vibrancy of the 1936 films. Dilapidated buildings and bombed-out rubble are the backdrop. Life is recovering, the Japanese are rebuilding, businesses are struggling and attempting to grow, but the economy is precarious. It would not be until the Korean War years that Japan roared back, and this film shows life on the ground in Osaka a couple of years before.

Street of Shame (1956) - Absolutely brilliant!! A masterpiece of Japanese cinema. Street of Shame has no one main character, but instead focuses on five prostitutes working in the same brothel during a time when Japanese society is changing in its views toward prostitution, becoming less accepting and even debating laws to close the “comfort” houses. The debate is part morality campaign and part attempt to improve the standing of women in Japanese society by making prostitutes seek more useful and what is seen as less degrading employment. Mizoguchi's subtle direction shows how misguided these attempts are, that while seemingly well intentioned they are in fact causing misery and even greater despair and hardship in the lives of the women.

Mizoguchi also shows us a theme of social consciousness driven by a male point of view, and that not much will change in these women’s prospects even if the law passes. The women themselves recognize they have no skills that can gain them employment that pays anything close to prostitution, and yet they are trapped in a world of exploitation, perpetually in debt to men, whether it is the brothel owner, a husband who is unable to work, or a father who has enormous financial burdens.

There is so much depth of character in this film that each of the women stands on her own. One is a she-devil who uses her customers for financial gain to the point of ruining their lives, yet she is coldly calculating and perhaps the smartest of them all. Another is older, aware of her fading looks, and trying to maintain a relationship with a teenage son who cannot understand what she has gone through in life and hates her for being a prostitute despite all she has sacrificed for him. Another is a loving mother and wife, forced to make as much money as she can with her limited job prospects to support an unemployed husband and their baby. The husband is mentally defeated in his outlook on life, suicidal, and suffering from a sickness requiring expensive medicine. His problems are not specifically diagnosed, but he appears to be a war veteran suffering from malaria and post-traumatic stress.

The ending of Street of Shame is one of the greatest I have ever seen in a film. Simply devastating in its quiet, dramatic impact.


All of these films are on hulu plus last time I checked. Do yourself a favor and check them out, especially Street of Shame, even if you have no interest in buying the Eclipse set. PQ for the two post-war films is quite good, a great improvement over the two pre-war films. These films depict grimy reality with a sympathetic and respectful portrayal of women who have few economic choices in Japanese society. Taken all together, they are a damning critique of culture and tradition. Highly recommended, and another reason to lament that many of the best films in the collection are relegated to the Eclipse series with little prospect of a blu-ray upgrade by Criterion.

[jeloid]

thank you oildude for a studied and insightful portrait of these mizoguchi films. it is sad that these films may never be restored or offered on blu ray. but it is a pleasure to have them on dvd.

[zeroman987]

Originally Posted by jeloid

thank you oildude for a studied and insightful portrait of these mizoguchi films. it is sad that these films may never be restored or offered on blu ray. but it is a pleasure to have them on dvd.

Both Sisters of the Gion and Osaka Elegy have a blu-ray release in the UK. I am holding out hope for a blu-ray of Street of Shame.

[EddieLarkin]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Akasen-Chita...4442449&sr=8-1

There's a good chance this will get upgraded to Blu as MoC are upgrading their Ugetsu/Oyu-sama and Sansho/Gion bayashi this month. Akasen Chitai is the Japanese title of Street of Shame btw.

[Hawkguy]

Looks like I'm getting Late Spring whether I wanted to or not...I forgot to cancel the order and amazon shipped it already....still, am looking forward to it.

[santasangria]

So is the April announcement Friday?

[billzfan]

I was thinking of picking up Days of Heaven. Has anyone here seen it and can give me a recommendation yay or nay? I loved Badlands and Tree of Life

[Hawkguy]

Originally Posted by billzfan

I was thinking of picking up Days of Heaven. Has anyone here seen it and can give me a recommendation yay or nay? I loved Badlands and Tree of Life

I think you gave enough reason to buy it right there

[SolidBlu]

when is the next B&N sale? I remember it's twice a year? thanks

[alvarez468]

I was wondering has criterion ever had issues or defects on their releases cause I own a few releases. Just asking out of boredom lol

[nmycon]

I'm sure there has been the odd case of a bad batch of pressings or video/audio glitches.

However they are very good with offering replacements.

I bought Videodrome a while ago and the slipbox was in not-the-greatest condition, I emailed them and received a perfect replacement in about a week.

They even sent out replacement packaging for some of their earliest blu-ray releases (which were in cardboard digipacks). When they switched over to the clear plastic cases they issued replacement cases and cover inserts for these discs, so that they would match with the newer releases.

[Sinthetic]

Anyone who hasn't seen Close-up really needs to. I went into it not knowing a thing about it and found it an amazing watch. The fact that the release comes with another movie as an Extra makes picking it up much sweeter.

[IronFingaz]

Carlos (Disc 2), White from the Three Colors Trilogy and Walkabout are the one's i know off and have had replaced.

[billzfan]

Originally Posted by Roninblues

1 vote for nay. (I like the others of his I've seen.)

Thanks for the input. I was debating because it's still only $20 on amazon

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by billzfan

Thanks for the input. I was debating because it's still only $20 on amazon

Please jump on that price. I was hesitant about blind buying it years ago. I saw it soon after and bought it at a higher price. It's just about the most beautiful film ever made.