The Criterion Collection

[SimBelm]

Originally Posted by Mansinthe

branded to kill
high & low
rashomon
three outlaw samurai
tokyo drifters
sansho
pale flower

what would you recommend / did you like the most or was the movie you would most likely watch more than 1 time

Pale Flower, no doubt about it.

[Monty70]

Originally Posted by SimBelm

Pale Flower, no doubt about it.

Right on.

[oildude]

I have become a huge fan of Asian, and especially Japanese, cinema over the past two years. I point to Kore-eda's Still Walking as the film that started me on that journey to explore beyond Kurosawa's Seven Samurai and Godzilla movies.

Japanese cinema Criterion blu-ray releases I highly recommend are:

Still Wallking (this is a low key but extremely well done modern family drama similar in style and feel to those made by the legendary director Yasujiro Ozu)
Sansho the Bailiff
High and Low
Pale Flower
Tokyo Drifter
Branded to Kill
Late Spring
The Samurai Trilogy
Hara-kiri
Yojimbo/Sanjuro set
Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (an Anglo-Japanese production, directed by the great Nagisa Oshima, set in a WWII Japanese POW camp)

and the following DVD Eclpse sets (some of the best Japanese cinema in the Criterion Collection are in the Eclipse series)

Eclipse Series 13: Kenji Mizoguchi's Fallen Women (contains the magnificent Women of the Night and Street of Shame)
Eclipse Series 17: Nikkatsu Noir
Eclipse Series 21: Oshima's Outlaw Sixties
Eclipse Series 28: The Warped World of Koreyoshi Kurahara

These Eclipse sets are also excellent in every way, very well acted, generally family-centered melodramas or whimsicial stories (and some are silent film collections):

Eclipse Series 3: Late Ozu
Eclipse Series 10: Silent Ozu - Three Family Comedies
Eclipse Series 26: Silent Naruse

Other Asian cinema blu-rays in the collection I very much like:

Yi-Yi
The Music Room

And to step outside of the Criterion Collection, I also highly, highly recommend a Chinese WWII film put out in the US by Kino (and overseas by another company - check blu-ray.com) called City of Life and Death. One of the most powerfully moving and unforgettable films I have ever seen. Among the best of world cinema, in my opinion.

[octagon]

Yup, Pale Flower was great.

I don't really even know why I loved it so much but love it I did.

[rkish]

Originally Posted by SimBelm

Pale Flower, no doubt about it.

No argument there either...I even got to show my 13 year old son the scene where they are playing Hanafuda. He has his own set of "cards" that he got as part of a Nintendo incentive. Before they designed video games, they made cards and card games.

[Mansinthe]

thanks for all the posts regarding my question

i got already some family drama from BFI.. tokyo story. will most likely get there Ozus too.

city of life and death i liked too. well made movie. but hard to watch more then once in a while. (flowers of war with christian bale is a good one too)

i will start with high & low + pale flower. and next month a few more.

[Page14]

Originally Posted by oildude

I have become a huge fan of Asian, and especially Japanese, cinema over the past two years. I point to Kore-ada's Still Walking as the film that started me on that journey to explore beyond Kurosawa and Godzilla movies.

Japanese cinema Criterion blu-ray releases I highly recommend are:

Still Wallking (this is a low key but extremely well done modern family drama similar in style and feel to those made by the legendary director Yasujiro Ozu)
<snip>

Still Walking is high on my list of Criterions to watch "next". I keep thinking that I need to be in the right frame of mind to see it, which is partly why I haven't gotten to it yet.

[fuwa]

Does anyone have an idea when the next one will occur?

[SimBelm]

Originally Posted by octagon

Yup, Pale Flower was great.

I don't really even know why I loved it so much but love it I did.

That's pretty much my reaction, kudos to Criterion for putting it on Blu because it looks gorgeous.

Originally Posted by rkish

No argument there either...I even got to show my 13 year old son the scene where they are playing Hanafuda. He has his own set of "cards" that he got as part of a Nintendo incentive. Before they designed video games, they made cards and card games.

That's a cracking scene. Interesting to hear that about Nintendo, my first exposure to Hanafuda was through a bootleg NES cartridge that featured it, although I never figured out how to play it.

[Hawkguy]

Le Cercle Rouge is now 'shipping soon' on amazon, so I'm a bit relieved.

..and another vote for Pale Flower being brilliant.

[retablo]

Originally Posted by Page14

Still Walking is high on my list of Criterions to watch "next". I keep thinking that I need to be in the right frame of mind to see it, which is partly why I haven't gotten to it yet.

I agree with oildude, Still Walking is one of the best Criterion releases and one of the best films I've seen in the past few years.

[Thebunk]

Ok, so watched Fanny and Alexander today on Hulu so it is the 3 hour version. Below are my thoughts.

[Show spoiler]
I really wasn't sure where the film was going in the first hour. It seemed to be almost character piece focused on the whole family with no apparent plot until Oscar dies. I really liked the last half of the film with the evil stepfather / bishop and even e supernatural and religious undertones.

That said, I think the film could have been a lot tighter with editing out the sub plots of Oscars two brothers. I really do not think the story needed their storylines at all. Just seemed like filler. I just wished the film focused even more on the kids and mother with their situation and overall escape. Fanny seemed to have no lines at all in most of the film at all and it seemed to focus on Alexander which I thought was strange as well.

Some questions for those that have seen both versions of the film:

- what does the 5 hour version add? The 3 hour film already seems bloated (my opinion)

- what happened when the kids were in the trunk during the escape and the bishop runs up stairs and the kids appear to be there laying down. I missed something.

- what was up with grandmother being in a house that was all white during the middle of the movie? I first thought she was dead during her conversation with Oscar, then found that was not the case.

Anyway, overall it was a good film but just seemed unfocused with plotlines around the brothers, Fanny doing nothing but just looking around and the parts that were most interesting were not focused on enough (ie the puppet masters house, the interaction with the guy locked up, etc). I just think that it had some good ideas with good acting (especially the kids) but really not that great.

[P@t_Mtl]

You al forgot The Makioka Sisters

just saying

[oildude]

Originally Posted by Page14

Still Walking is high on my list of Criterions to watch "next". I keep thinking that I need to be in the right frame of mind to see it, which is partly why I haven't gotten to it yet.

I cannot recommend Still Walking highly enough. It was a blind buy, and the only reason I bought it at the time was because I had a gift card and this was the only Criterion available at Borders I did not already own. Reading the description on the back, it sounded like a slow-paced talkie film I would have to be in a certain mood to watch. I had my doubts about it but bought it anyway.

Was I ever wrong. The story centers around an extended Japanese family's annual gathering on the anniversary of the oldest son's death. The acting, dialogue, and family dynamic are superb. The whole film has an intimacy to it that is very real and touches all the right emotional chords of family life - joyous and talkative, sometimes irritable, sometimes sad and contemplative, often touchingly humorous, and ultimately redemptive. I especially liked how the director frequently used the camera to show detail and mood.

In my opinion, the film is brilliant. The director, Kore-eda, takes a low-key approach to a slice of everyday life, showing us the gathering of the family, their interactions over several meals, weaving in interpersonal tensions, quiet demons, and modern vs. traditional cultural themes, and makes such a totally compelling and identifiable story that it easily resonates with a non-Japanese audience. It is one of my absolute favorites in the Criterion Collection.

[ElliesDad]

That's some pretty strong support for Pale Flower! Time to do the research...

[SpiderBaby]

Originally Posted by P@t_Mtl

You al forgot The Makioka Sisters

just saying

And Gate of Hell, which I just received early in the mail. Criterion pre-orders always come before release date for me.

[SolidRaider]

Is this movie not on the blu-ray.com database?

[Hawkguy]

Originally Posted by SolidRaider

Is this movie not on the blu-ray.com database?

Yes it is. It's in the DVD section (since it's a DVD )

[SolidRaider]

That makes sense. I searched for it on Amazon and I just assumed it was Blu-ray. I really wanted to see that one but $30 for a DVD, no thanks.

[Fellini912]

Originally Posted by Thebunk

Ok, so watched Fanny and Alexander today on Hulu so it is the 3 hour version. Below are my thoughts.

[Show spoiler]
I really wasn't sure where the film was going in the first hour. It seemed to be almost character piece focused on the whole family with no apparent plot until Oscar dies. I really liked the last half of the film with the evil stepfather / bishop and even e supernatural and religious undertones.

That said, I think the film could have been a lot tighter with editing out the sub plots of Oscars two brothers. I really do not think the story needed their storylines at all. Just seemed like filler. I just wished the film focused even more on the kids and mother with their situation and overall escape. Fanny seemed to have no lines at all in most of the film at all and it seemed to focus on Alexander which I thought was strange as well.

Some questions for those that have seen both versions of the film:

- what does the 5 hour version add? The 3 hour film already seems bloated (my opinion)

- what happened when the kids were in the trunk during the escape and the bishop runs up stairs and the kids appear to be there laying down. I missed something.

- what was up with grandmother being in a house that was all white during the middle of the movie? I first thought she was dead during her conversation with Oscar, then found that was not the case.

Anyway, overall it was a good film but just seemed unfocused with plotlines around the brothers, Fanny doing nothing but just looking around and the parts that were most interesting were not focused on enough (ie the puppet masters house, the interaction with the guy locked up, etc). I just think that it had some good ideas with good acting (especially the kids) but really not that great.

Have you seen The Silence? I believe it shares many themes with Fanny and Alexander. It also has a sense of being plotless.

[Show spoiler]I remember watching the 5 hour version 4 years ago, it is kind of vague in my mind. I remember that the second half is better developed on the 5 hour version. There is cool scene when Alexander gets sent to the attic. The puppet master character has more scenes. The story in the end is better developed: a free artistic lifestyle vs an ascetic religious lifestyle, autobiographical in a sense. That scene where the children are laying on the floor, is an illusion (they are puppets) produced by the puppet master.

Fanny and Alexander was a film for television and the 5 hour version is the final product. I believe that Bergman, re edited the film for a wider international release. That is why at times, the theatrical release feels like it has gaps.

I revisit Persona and Seventh Seal much more than Fanny and Alexander. The cinematography is fantastic on that film.