Early Ozu
Hm. Don’t have that one yet.
The Delirious Fictions of William Klein.
It was one of those experiences like “wow — this guy thinks like I think, just, you know, forty years removed.”
^ I agree. So far, it would have to be “The Delirious Fictions of William Klein” for me as well. It totally threw me for a loop as to how much I liked it and each movie I watched I was going “This deserves it’s own Criterion release packed with extra!” “Mr. Freedom” is in my top 10 movies ever.
Any opinions on the Aki Kaurismaki set? worth picking up?
The Kaurismaki set is amazing, and definitely worth picking up if you’re a fan. He’s a long time favorite of mine.
Other than the above mentioned set, the Larisa Shepitko release is the best, simply because it finally made The Ascent available on DVD. It’s one of the greatest films of all time and really should have been given the full Criterion treatment, but I’m grateful that it’s available at all.
I have seen the Fuller, Early Ozu, Late Ozu, Early Bergman and Mizoguchi eclipse series. My favorites are Early Bergman and Late Ozu. Earlier Bergman movies are so lyrical and contrast with his later movies so much that I think it is really worthwhile. The Late Ozu set is also amazing just because all of his movies after Late Spring really belong to an all different level. The one that disappoint me the most was the Mizoguchi one.
I’m a little unsure about getting the Korda set. I’ve taped a few off TCM already. And not completely sure how it measures up (i’m thinking not as much) to the other Eclipse sets.
Larissa Shepitko THE ASCENT and WINGS
1. Early Bergman – mandatory, the most positively awesome way possible to introduce a new line of dvds (5/5)
2. The Documentaries of Louis Malle – this is honestly a fantastic collection to have all in one set…however…I tend to “binge” on movies and this set did not allow me to do that. It was too intense and heavy and knocked me out. Given time I was able to watch each of the films independently and found them all to be quite enjoyable. (3/5)
3. Late Ozu – mandatory as well, this fills in all the gaps in my Ozu fixation left open by CC…(5/5)
4. Raymond Bernard – ya know…when this came out I had never seen anything by this man, so I watched both of these films with a completely open mind and was immediately in love. I love times when I fall in love with someone new (5/5)
5. The First Films of Samuel Fuller – thank you! mandatory! i am absolutely enthralled with Fuller’s films…I have never been disappointed by them and they stand up to numerous repeat viewings deliciously…(5/5)
6. Carlos Saura’s Flamenco Trilogy – eh…this is the first one I bought that I kinda could have lived without, however…I needed #6 in the series…I don’t know, they were beautiful films to watch…I just can’t handle all that music, it gets annoying to me for some reason (2/5)
7. Postwar Kurosawa – positively fantastic…thank God for Kurosawa, really…that’s all there is to say about that (5/5)
8. Lubitsch Musicals – ahem…please refer to #6 (2/5)
9. The Delirious Fictions of William Klein – this is another one of those times when I hadn’t really seen much from this guy (or heard of him…gasp, I know)…and was immediately impressed, yay! (5/5)
10. Silent Ozu – Three Family Comedies – I love silent movies in any shape or form, especially Ozu (see obsessive fixation comments from #3) … (5/5)
11. Larisa Shepitko – mandatory…so wonderful that these are available to own on dvd finally (5/5)
12. Aki Kaurismäki’s Proletariat Trilogy – these were cute comedies…I wasn’t prepared for it and found them adorable…which took me off guard. I watched them a 2nd time and liked it a lot (5/5)
13. Kenji Mizoguchi’s Fallen Women – wonderful series to watch on a sick day or when you have several empty hours to fill, as a whole they are a nice collection all put together really well thematically. I am really enjoying all the new Mizoguchi adventures CC is taking me on lately (5/5)
14. Rossellini’s History Films: Renaissance and Enlightenment – this was difficult to get through, I’ll let you know more how I feel the next time I watch these…(3/5)
15. Travels with Hiroshi Shimizu – this is @#)($* awesome, I love love love this one… Don’t badger me for details at this point my fingers hurt…I can’t explain it, it’s just great (5/5)
16. Alexander Korda’s Private Lives – hmm…I don’t really find this one fantastic overall. A couple of the films are good, but the others are just eh…(2/5)
17. Nikkatsu Noir – oh lord I’m not even supposed to have this one yet…nevermind, nevermind (5/5)
Late Ozu and post-war Kurosawa are my favorites. The Larisa Shepitko films are also excellent.
Can’t wait to get hold of William Klein, Hiroshi Shimizu, and especially Nikkatsu noir.
Yeah, “Nikkatsu Noir” may be the one to beat. My eye is definitely on it.
Bernard. Wooden Crosses is one of the best war films I’ve seen, and his adaptation of Les Mis is the best and most inclusive I’ve seen.
Kurosawa. I Live In Fear alone makes this box set worth it.
I’m stoked for the Nikkatsu Noir, especially with all this buzz I’m reading. Thanks guys.
A bit off topic, but can someone tell me how thick (in average DVD lengths) the Early Bergman set is? I’m trying to see if I need to get another book shelf before I get it delivered on Monday.
I picked up the Kurosawa boxset back during the half-off Criterion sale at B&N, but sadly haven’t watched any of the films yet. Don’t worry, I’ll get around to them. In the meantime, the Nikkatsu Noir box set looks tasty.
I think the Dusan Makavejev set will give some to these a pretty good run for their money. I’m very happy to see that set announced.
The Louis Malle documentaries
Larisa Sheptiko
I am not independently wealthy, so I only own one Eclipse set and I just picked it up on Monday: series 12, Aki Kaurismäki’s Proletariat Trilogy. Since then, I have watched all three twice (I pride myself that it’s not too obsessive since they are about an hour long each). I bought this entirely on a whim and I am very, very, very, very glad I did. These movies are hilarious, dark, bad-ass and prole-ific. I have amassed a bunch of DVDs this year and could consider one day selling some, but this set is an absolute treasure that will go to jail with me, if need be ;)
And my favorite of the set, right now, is “Ariel”. Could “Fargo”, “Reservoir Dogs”, or “Bottle Rocket” exist without it?
I have only one and that is The Documentaries of Louis Malle which is absolutely fascinating experience.
I would like to own the Kaurismaki Proletariat Trilogy someday.
Besides the Mizoguchi one, the Malle one is the only other one that really whets my cravebone.
late ozu
late ozu
Personally, Mizoguchi’s “Fallen Women” was a disappointment to me. “Women of the Night” was the only one of the four that I would put in the 3.5-4 star range on a 5 point scale.
Well, JT, I have already seen “Street of Shame” and loved that, so that’s 2 out of 4 if I am to go on your reccomendation. So far, I hain’t met a ‘guchi I didn’t smoochy
I’m just loving the ‘Travels with Hiroshi Shimizu’. I knew the Mizoguchi and Ozu films and, yeah, those are great as well. But I knew nothing about this Shimzu guy and he has some delightful films.
The only thing that irks me about the Kaurismäki set is that I want a billion special features for it, like making-of, actor interviews, director’s commentary, probably none of which exist anyway. I want to see all of this guy’s movies, I can’t imagine any of them being bad
I would have to say early Ozu as well.
Casey
Thoughts on what you think the best Criterion Eclipse set is so far.