Ferrara. Anything Ferrara did in the mid ninties.
Bad Lieutenant
Dangerous Game
The Addiction (especially this)
The Funeral
Also:
Pasolini’s Mythic Quartet should have a box set (Oedipus Rex, Teorema, Porcile, Medea), this also goes for the Trilogy of Life (Decameron, Caterbury Tales, Arabian Nights) the last two are in dire need of new transfers. It would also be good to have a commentary on at least one of Pasolini’s films.
Antichrist (Von Trier)
Stalker (Tarkovsky) New transfer and a commentary would be sufficient and cheap.
Warriors (Walter Hill) New transfer and no comic book effects. For some reason Hill ruined his amazing movie so preferrably the non-directors cut.
City of Women (Fellini)
Doesn’t the Mythic Quartet deserve a box set? Oedipus Rex, Teorema, Porcile, Medea are all great films in sub-par releases and for my money are better than his Trilogy of Life. Speaking of which, those three films also deserve to be saved from the slums. The transfers for Canterbury and Arabian nights are horrible and only on VHS in the US!
To pose a further question… why not have a commentary on at least on of his films? They beg to be discussed outside of essays and conversations with people who don’t know he made anything else besides Salo.
Lastly, why has Salo eclipsed all of his work?
Salo is more like psychological and political violence. Not so much blood and guts and death. Its just very oppressive.
On the other hand…
-Robocop. Criterion or the new special edition has both R and X
-Man Bites Dog has some pretty intense violence.
-Andy Warhol’s Flesh for Frankenstien and Blood for Dracula. Though the criterions are hard as hell to find, I think Image puts them out now. More funny/scary “movie” violence than death and gore.
-Hard Boiled is pretty intense for the shooting.
-Jigoku’s last half hour is nothing but blood, death, screaming, close ups of eviscerated bodies flailing in hell. Good stuff.
-Branded to Kill, Tokyo Drifter, Gate of Flesh, all those Suzuki movies.
-Straw Dogs is hellaboss.
His movies are chopped to pieces by producers and projectionists. They are cropped out of their original format. They are always poorly transferred. Generally his films are treated like the straight to dvd trash that they are mistaken for.
Ferrara deserves more recognition. Need proof? Read the monumental The Moral Vision by Brad Stevens. Read Nicole Brenez’s Abel Ferrara. Brenez alone speaks volumes. That is no small intellect taking on a figure as disregarded as Abel. There is no possible way that any filmmaker whose been in the buisiness as long has he has, whose love for Godard, Cassavetes, and Pasolini is no kept secret, is attempting to create anything but Art with each film he makes.
Watch any of his post-King of New York films. It is a string of masterpieces. Bad Lieutenant, Dangerous Game (Snake Eyes), Body Snatchers (which was okay, but the french fight to the death for it), The Addiction, The Funeral, The Blackout, New Rose Hotel, R’Xmas. Just pay attention to the tone, the editing, the careful handling of each scene. His characters are obsessively solipsistic. The performances match this perfectly.
Ferrara creates cinema that is for movie lovers, and yet his last four films are not available in any form in the US.
Criterion needs to step up. The rights to his films wouldn’t be that hard to get. Last time I checked his mastpieces The Addiction and The Funeral were owned by low budget distributors. The former isn’t even on dvd in the US. On Amazon a latin american version is going for upwards of $230! The latter I bought for 4 dollars in a bargain bin at Fry’s.
His movies are chopped to pieces by producers and projectionists. They are cropped out of their original format. They are always poorly transferred. Generally his films are treated like the straight to dvd trash that they are mistaken for.
Ferrara deserves more recognition. Need proof? Read the monumental The Moral Vision by Brad Stevens. Read Nicole Brenez’s Abel Ferrara. Brenez alone speaks volumes. That is no small intellect taking on a figure as disregarded as Abel. There is no possible way that any filmmaker whose been in the buisiness as long has he has, whose love for Godard, Cassavetes, and Pasolini is no kept secret, is attempting to create anything but Art with each film he makes.
Watch any of his post-King of New York films. It is a string of masterpieces. Bad Lieutenant, Dangerous Game (Snake Eyes), Body Snatchers (which was okay, but the french fight to the death for it), The Addiction, The Funeral, The Blackout, New Rose Hotel, R’Xmas. Just pay attention to the tone, the editing, the careful handling of each scene. His characters are obsessively solipsistic. The performances match this perfectly.
Ferrara creates cinema that is for movie lovers, and yet his last four films are not available in any form in the US.
Criterion needs to step up. The rights to his films wouldn’t be that hard to get. Last time I checked his mastpieces The Addiction and The Funeral were owned by low budget distributors. The former isn’t even on dvd in the US. On Amazon a latin american version is going for upwards of $230! The latter I bought for 4 dollars in a bargain bin at Fry’s.
Nic and Abel had a falling out. I believe Nic went on to the church in some way (pastor, preacher?). They had very different opinions about the themes in their work, i.e. religion. Also Ferrara’s encouragement of improvisation (though the dialogue is great both scripted and improvised) got under his skin I think.
I agree their collaberation is the best we’ll see this side of Scorsese/Schrader.
It would be great if The Addiction recieved the Criterion treatment. A doc on their work together would be epic. Also, I think Nicole Brenez doing a commentary on any of his films would annihilate most other commentaries, except for those by Ferrara (Driller Killer anyone?).
Genius needs instability. Ferrara is someone who needs to fight.
We, however, need to voice our opinions more and get his movies seen! This debate should be larger than just a couple posts on a forum. There should be retrospectives, easily available copies of his films, panel discussions etc.
Genius needs instability. Ferrara is someone who needs to fight.
We, however, need to voice our opinions more and get his movies seen! This debate should be larger than just a couple posts on a forum. There should be retrospectives, easily available copies of his films, panel discussions etc.
Regardless of Mel Gibson’s bloodstained controversy (one of the more interesting things a director has done to himself since Peckinpah made Straw Dogs [although one can hardly compare the two]), its films like The Passion of The Christ that have made the intellectual and political film non-existant. They have taken the thought and conscience of narrative and made it visceral and stylized. They are the reason filmmakers like Ferrara have to fight so hard to make films, let alone be seen.
What most ignore about Ferrara is this fact. His work maintains a visceral edge to it, a “clumsiness” and honesty that allows most viewers to glide over the content of his films. An occurance that by the look of things, has possibly remained steady and true over these years.
Ari, yes, hard to imagine. I was thinking of someone else and was confused. The word around is that after The Funeral, St. John quit and became a teacher. Still hard for you to believe?
Without 9 Lives he wouldn’t have been able to finance Driller Killer. Take to heart the fact that everyone involved used fake names and denied making it for close to a decade. Yes it is a porno. Yes it has cumshots. Yes it has a lot of Ferrara’s themes. It is not that great of a film though. A cash grab.
Why bemoan the greatness of Driller Killer? Combat Shock is in the same hard vein but is critically hailed. Just because a movie has fun with itself, has loud rocknroll, and isn’t afraid to make its main character a complete fuckup doensn’t mean automatic grounds for dismissal.
Interesting that you suggest Fear City over China Girl, especially the comparison to my favorite subgenre the Italian Giallo. No black gloves though. China Girl on the other hand, I always felt was a little too West Side Story for me, though done in the way I wish WSS would have been done.
The Addiction on DVD just jumped from $60 to over $200 on Amazon. Its the Latin American region 1. Bummer. I am really eager to see Chelsea in May. Haven’t been able to see anything newer than ’RXmas.
After St. John left and Ferrara started on his own, I think he went off in a very radical direction. Much more experimental.
St. John gave him the intellectual backbone that he could throw at the street, but I feel the elliptical storytelling he now embraces is much more fascinating and invites individual interpretation more so than early works.
Suprisingly I’m not a big fan of his 80s work. The exceptions being Driller Killer and Ms. 45, I never could get into his action/thriller pics.
But, again Bad Lieutenant (although lionsgate just put out the rerelease with a decent doc and a commentary from Ferrara and Kelsch) deserves a better transfer, Ms. 45 to be uncut, Dangerous Game, The Addiction and The Funeral all deserve better care and attention.
Yeah, New Rose Hotel is easily tracked down, but its full-frame, and I believe some scenes are missing. Bad Lieutenant would kill on BR. I got the special edition and its a straight transfer from the Artisan release, BUT, the commentary is awesome and the documentary is incredibly thorough. Not only covering all aspects of the film but also Ferrara’s current career limbo.
Movies That Should Be In the Criterion Collection over 2 years ago
Ferrara. Anything Ferrara did in the mid ninties.
Bad Lieutenant
Dangerous Game
The Addiction (especially this)
The Funeral
Also:
Pasolini’s Mythic Quartet should have a box set (Oedipus Rex, Teorema, Porcile, Medea), this also goes for the Trilogy of Life (Decameron, Caterbury Tales, Arabian Nights) the last two are in dire need of new transfers. It would also be good to have a commentary on at least one of Pasolini’s films.
Antichrist (Von Trier)
Stalker (Tarkovsky) New transfer and a commentary would be sufficient and cheap.
Warriors (Walter Hill) New transfer and no comic book effects. For some reason Hill ruined his amazing movie so preferrably the non-directors cut.
City of Women (Fellini)
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Pasolini needs more Criterion Love! over 2 years ago
Doesn’t the Mythic Quartet deserve a box set? Oedipus Rex, Teorema, Porcile, Medea are all great films in sub-par releases and for my money are better than his Trilogy of Life. Speaking of which, those three films also deserve to be saved from the slums. The transfers for Canterbury and Arabian nights are horrible and only on VHS in the US!
To pose a further question… why not have a commentary on at least on of his films? They beg to be discussed outside of essays and conversations with people who don’t know he made anything else besides Salo.
Lastly, why has Salo eclipsed all of his work?
Go to Comment
If you could go back in time and eat one director, who would it be? over 2 years ago
I would eat Werner Herzog. Right after he finished eating his shoe.
Go to Comment
most violent criterion? over 2 years ago
Salo is more like psychological and political violence. Not so much blood and guts and death. Its just very oppressive.
On the other hand…
-Robocop. Criterion or the new special edition has both R and X
-Man Bites Dog has some pretty intense violence.
-Andy Warhol’s Flesh for Frankenstien and Blood for Dracula. Though the criterions are hard as hell to find, I think Image puts them out now. More funny/scary “movie” violence than death and gore.
-Hard Boiled is pretty intense for the shooting.
-Jigoku’s last half hour is nothing but blood, death, screaming, close ups of eviscerated bodies flailing in hell. Good stuff.
-Branded to Kill, Tokyo Drifter, Gate of Flesh, all those Suzuki movies.
-Straw Dogs is hellaboss.
Go to Comment
Abel Ferrara needs some Criterion. over 2 years ago
His movies are chopped to pieces by producers and projectionists. They are cropped out of their original format. They are always poorly transferred. Generally his films are treated like the straight to dvd trash that they are mistaken for.
Ferrara deserves more recognition. Need proof? Read the monumental The Moral Vision by Brad Stevens. Read Nicole Brenez’s Abel Ferrara. Brenez alone speaks volumes. That is no small intellect taking on a figure as disregarded as Abel. There is no possible way that any filmmaker whose been in the buisiness as long has he has, whose love for Godard, Cassavetes, and Pasolini is no kept secret, is attempting to create anything but Art with each film he makes.
Watch any of his post-King of New York films. It is a string of masterpieces. Bad Lieutenant, Dangerous Game (Snake Eyes), Body Snatchers (which was okay, but the french fight to the death for it), The Addiction, The Funeral, The Blackout, New Rose Hotel, R’Xmas. Just pay attention to the tone, the editing, the careful handling of each scene. His characters are obsessively solipsistic. The performances match this perfectly.
Ferrara creates cinema that is for movie lovers, and yet his last four films are not available in any form in the US.
Criterion needs to step up. The rights to his films wouldn’t be that hard to get. Last time I checked his mastpieces The Addiction and The Funeral were owned by low budget distributors. The former isn’t even on dvd in the US. On Amazon a latin american version is going for upwards of $230! The latter I bought for 4 dollars in a bargain bin at Fry’s.
What say you Auteurs?
Go to Comment
Abel Ferrara needs some Criterion over 2 years ago
His movies are chopped to pieces by producers and projectionists. They are cropped out of their original format. They are always poorly transferred. Generally his films are treated like the straight to dvd trash that they are mistaken for.
Ferrara deserves more recognition. Need proof? Read the monumental The Moral Vision by Brad Stevens. Read Nicole Brenez’s Abel Ferrara. Brenez alone speaks volumes. That is no small intellect taking on a figure as disregarded as Abel. There is no possible way that any filmmaker whose been in the buisiness as long has he has, whose love for Godard, Cassavetes, and Pasolini is no kept secret, is attempting to create anything but Art with each film he makes.
Watch any of his post-King of New York films. It is a string of masterpieces. Bad Lieutenant, Dangerous Game (Snake Eyes), Body Snatchers (which was okay, but the french fight to the death for it), The Addiction, The Funeral, The Blackout, New Rose Hotel, R’Xmas. Just pay attention to the tone, the editing, the careful handling of each scene. His characters are obsessively solipsistic. The performances match this perfectly.
Ferrara creates cinema that is for movie lovers, and yet his last four films are not available in any form in the US.
Criterion needs to step up. The rights to his films wouldn’t be that hard to get. Last time I checked his mastpieces The Addiction and The Funeral were owned by low budget distributors. The former isn’t even on dvd in the US. On Amazon a latin american version is going for upwards of $230! The latter I bought for 4 dollars in a bargain bin at Fry’s.
What say you Auteurs?
Go to Comment
Abel Ferrara needs some Criterion over 2 years ago
Nic and Abel had a falling out. I believe Nic went on to the church in some way (pastor, preacher?). They had very different opinions about the themes in their work, i.e. religion. Also Ferrara’s encouragement of improvisation (though the dialogue is great both scripted and improvised) got under his skin I think.
I agree their collaberation is the best we’ll see this side of Scorsese/Schrader.
It would be great if The Addiction recieved the Criterion treatment. A doc on their work together would be epic. Also, I think Nicole Brenez doing a commentary on any of his films would annihilate most other commentaries, except for those by Ferrara (Driller Killer anyone?).
Go to Comment
Abel Ferrara - genius or degenerate? over 2 years ago
Genius needs instability. Ferrara is someone who needs to fight.
We, however, need to voice our opinions more and get his movies seen! This debate should be larger than just a couple posts on a forum. There should be retrospectives, easily available copies of his films, panel discussions etc.
Go to Comment
Abel Ferrara - genius or degenerate? over 2 years ago
Genius needs instability. Ferrara is someone who needs to fight.
We, however, need to voice our opinions more and get his movies seen! This debate should be larger than just a couple posts on a forum. There should be retrospectives, easily available copies of his films, panel discussions etc.
Go to Comment
Abel Ferrara needs some Criterion over 2 years ago
I thought it’d be cool for Blue Underground to do that box set idea. If Criterion can’t ever do it, BU could just do the movies bare bones.
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Abel Ferrara needs some Criterion over 2 years ago
A documentary about Zoe would be awesome. She was so important to both his success and vision. Without her or Nick St. John, Ferrara would be nowhere.
I just emailed a friend who knows Bill Lustig to try and get the ball rolling haha.
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Abel Ferrara needs some Criterion. over 2 years ago
Regardless of Mel Gibson’s bloodstained controversy (one of the more interesting things a director has done to himself since Peckinpah made Straw Dogs [although one can hardly compare the two]), its films like The Passion of The Christ that have made the intellectual and political film non-existant. They have taken the thought and conscience of narrative and made it visceral and stylized. They are the reason filmmakers like Ferrara have to fight so hard to make films, let alone be seen.
What most ignore about Ferrara is this fact. His work maintains a visceral edge to it, a “clumsiness” and honesty that allows most viewers to glide over the content of his films. An occurance that by the look of things, has possibly remained steady and true over these years.
Go to Comment
Abel Ferrara needs some Criterion over 2 years ago
Ari, yes, hard to imagine. I was thinking of someone else and was confused. The word around is that after The Funeral, St. John quit and became a teacher. Still hard for you to believe?
Without 9 Lives he wouldn’t have been able to finance Driller Killer. Take to heart the fact that everyone involved used fake names and denied making it for close to a decade. Yes it is a porno. Yes it has cumshots. Yes it has a lot of Ferrara’s themes. It is not that great of a film though. A cash grab.
Why bemoan the greatness of Driller Killer? Combat Shock is in the same hard vein but is critically hailed. Just because a movie has fun with itself, has loud rocknroll, and isn’t afraid to make its main character a complete fuckup doensn’t mean automatic grounds for dismissal.
Interesting that you suggest Fear City over China Girl, especially the comparison to my favorite subgenre the Italian Giallo. No black gloves though. China Girl on the other hand, I always felt was a little too West Side Story for me, though done in the way I wish WSS would have been done.
Go to Comment
Abel Ferrara - genius or degenerate? over 2 years ago
The Addiction on DVD just jumped from $60 to over $200 on Amazon. Its the Latin American region 1. Bummer. I am really eager to see Chelsea in May. Haven’t been able to see anything newer than ’RXmas.
Go to Comment
Abel Ferrara needs some Criterion over 2 years ago
After St. John left and Ferrara started on his own, I think he went off in a very radical direction. Much more experimental.
St. John gave him the intellectual backbone that he could throw at the street, but I feel the elliptical storytelling he now embraces is much more fascinating and invites individual interpretation more so than early works.
Suprisingly I’m not a big fan of his 80s work. The exceptions being Driller Killer and Ms. 45, I never could get into his action/thriller pics.
But, again Bad Lieutenant (although lionsgate just put out the rerelease with a decent doc and a commentary from Ferrara and Kelsch) deserves a better transfer, Ms. 45 to be uncut, Dangerous Game, The Addiction and The Funeral all deserve better care and attention.
Go to Comment
Abel Ferrara needs some Criterion. almost 2 years ago
Yeah, New Rose Hotel is easily tracked down, but its full-frame, and I believe some scenes are missing. Bad Lieutenant would kill on BR. I got the special edition and its a straight transfer from the Artisan release, BUT, the commentary is awesome and the documentary is incredibly thorough. Not only covering all aspects of the film but also Ferrara’s current career limbo.
Go to Comment