I second the Ritwik Ghatak suggestion. Are there any more of his films available beyond the two released by the BFI?
The best candidates for an Eclipse set, it seems, are those filmmakers with distinctive bodies of work that can easily be divided into groups of five or less (as in Silent Ozu Comedies, Louis Malle Documentaries or the first films of Bergman and Fuller), but whose commercial prospects for a box set may be less sexy to the average Criterion consumer than, say, Rohmer’s Moral Tales. Hopefully it wouldn’t be unreaistic to someday see a set of Louis Garrel films or maybe one devoted to the German or French language films by Straub and Huillet, as has been done by Édition Montparnasse.
That’s good news about Pedro Costa, although, apperently, Criterion’s hogging of the film materials has thrown off Films We Like’s plans for a Canadian DVD of Colossial Youth.
I haven’t had the time to read all the posts, so forgive me if i repeat something someone has already said.
As much as I love some Criterion releases, it’s important not to buy too much into their hype about being the authority on art cinema. I know this site is in cahoots with them, but the reverence towards the company, not just here but across the entire internet, gives me pause. Perhaps some of their releases have revived the critical awareness of certain films and their makers, but for the most part they seem content to follow trends, not set them. I think consumers should not only become more vocal about the films that are unavailable on dvd, but should also become less dependent on commercial distribution.
Just about everything is available if you are a dedicated enough detective, and it is only by the circumvention of conventional, maybe even at times legal, channels of distribution that certain films will have the chance to accumulate the cultural currency that makes them a viable commercial and critical property.
Every films deserves to be seen in the best possible conditions, and I don’t mean to suggest that 5 Seconds To Live’s version of Four Nights of a Dreamer does the film the same justice as a Criterion release would. But taking the Criterion Collection’s name at its word is dangerous, because we risk their preference for European cinema at the exclusion of different but no less worthy film cultures being accepted as an accurate reflection of the best of cinema, rather than a specific strain of art cinema that they think will sell in Region 1.
What films would you like to see included in future ECLIPSE releases? over 3 years ago
I second the Ritwik Ghatak suggestion. Are there any more of his films available beyond the two released by the BFI?
The best candidates for an Eclipse set, it seems, are those filmmakers with distinctive bodies of work that can easily be divided into groups of five or less (as in Silent Ozu Comedies, Louis Malle Documentaries or the first films of Bergman and Fuller), but whose commercial prospects for a box set may be less sexy to the average Criterion consumer than, say, Rohmer’s Moral Tales. Hopefully it wouldn’t be unreaistic to someday see a set of Louis Garrel films or maybe one devoted to the German or French language films by Straub and Huillet, as has been done by Édition Montparnasse.
That’s good news about Pedro Costa, although, apperently, Criterion’s hogging of the film materials has thrown off Films We Like’s plans for a Canadian DVD of Colossial Youth.
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Can Colored Folks Get Some Love at Criterion too? almost 3 years ago
I haven’t had the time to read all the posts, so forgive me if i repeat something someone has already said.
As much as I love some Criterion releases, it’s important not to buy too much into their hype about being the authority on art cinema. I know this site is in cahoots with them, but the reverence towards the company, not just here but across the entire internet, gives me pause. Perhaps some of their releases have revived the critical awareness of certain films and their makers, but for the most part they seem content to follow trends, not set them. I think consumers should not only become more vocal about the films that are unavailable on dvd, but should also become less dependent on commercial distribution.
Just about everything is available if you are a dedicated enough detective, and it is only by the circumvention of conventional, maybe even at times legal, channels of distribution that certain films will have the chance to accumulate the cultural currency that makes them a viable commercial and critical property.
Every films deserves to be seen in the best possible conditions, and I don’t mean to suggest that 5 Seconds To Live’s version of Four Nights of a Dreamer does the film the same justice as a Criterion release would. But taking the Criterion Collection’s name at its word is dangerous, because we risk their preference for European cinema at the exclusion of different but no less worthy film cultures being accepted as an accurate reflection of the best of cinema, rather than a specific strain of art cinema that they think will sell in Region 1.
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