Archived Criterion Forum Awards Discussion and Voting Thread

[domino harvey]

only a couple releases left so it's probably time to start cobbling this year's lists together?

[colinr0380]

OK, I'll follow domino's lead and add my choices out of those I've seen so far. I think I posted my choices around this time last year anyway! (I'm saddened though that davidhare's pithy statement on the law profession is no longer the final word in the thread!)

An interesting year (though 2008 is so far shaping up to be even better! Especially if Criterion releases Face To Face!) It was very exciting to see a number of big films enter the collection, even if at the same time there could be an argument that it might have been at the expense of a number of the lesser known titles. Luckily the new Eclipse line helped a little and I think Criterion took advantage of the new line to bring out a few more ‘populist' releases under their main label this year. There have been a number of Criterion releases I have not had the chance to pick up or get to watch so far this year, so I can't speak about the quality of Two-Lane Blacktop, Drunken Angel, the two Jim Jarmush sets, Mala Noche, The Milky Way, Sawdust and Tinsel, Cria Cuervos and Ivan's Childhood yet, but I should be picking these up as soon as I can afford them!


Release of the year

1. Berlin Alexanderplatz
2. The Threepenny Opera
3. La Jetee/Sans Soleil
4. Ace In The Hole
5. Breathless

I am only about halfway through Berlin Alexanderplatz but already it feels like the only choice for the top spot! (I got a little overwhelmed by RWF when the Criterion and the two boxsets of the 15 films I hadn't yet seen released by Arrow Films all arrived in the same week! I don't think the postman was too happy about the weight of them either!)

Best Boxset

This was very hard to choose between. The Hiroshi Teshigahara set was of the best films overall; the Monsters and Madmen set included the most exhaustive amounts of information about every aspect surrounding the four films – almost absurdly too much information for the lightweight sci-fi films but it was an excellent chance to commit these details and anecdotes to disc; and Paul Robeson: Portraits Of An Artist was the most archivally important set, bringing an eclipsed figure into wider recognition again, despite the films Robeson was involved with varying in quality (a testament to the control any actor has over the finished film?) I think the Paul Robeson set would be my choice but while there were no particularly poor boxsets this year I do not think either of the three reached the standard of the very best boxsets such as the BRD trilogy or Six Moral Tales sets. At least there was some choice this year compared to the one boxset of 2006!

(I've limited my boxsets choice to collections of films given equal weight in their treatment – I consider a release like Berlin Alexanderplatz or the Fanny and Alexander set to be an individual, though enormous, release with alternate cuts or additional films added as extras rather than to be thought of as completely different films on their own. The equivalents of the two Killers or Lower Depths films or the alternate cut of Brazil being judged together rather than apart.

The Eclipse releases could also count in the boxset consideration but since all the Eclipse releases are boxsets, and bare bones except for the liner notes at that, I felt it best to consider them in their own separate category)

Best Eclipse release

This was tight as all the sets so far have provided films I had yet to have in my collection. The Raymond Bernard set was of course the most important but I was extremely happy to pick up the Late Ozu set after having held off picking up the films for a long time (and to finally get to see the longer French version of Phantom India!). So my vote goes to Ozu, as I am sure Bernard will get a lot of other supporters!

Best Reissue

The Lady Vanishes!

The Hitchcock is such a favourite film even Third Man has to come second!

Most Disappointing Release

The only disappointing release I can think of this year would probably be Vengeance Is Mine, and that is only for not including the Tony Rayns commentary from the Masters of Cinema disc.

Best Commentary

The David Robinson and Malcolm McDowell commentary on If… just beat out the Tom Weaver and Stuart and Richard Gordon commentaries on each and every film in the Monsters and Madmen set.

Best Single Supplement

Volcano: An Inquiry Into The Life and Death Of Malcom Lowry almost took it but I'll have to go with the inclusion of the 1931 version of Berlin Alexanderplatz

Best Package Design

Difficult – So many great covers this year: the Monsters and Madmen set, When A Woman Ascends The Stairs, La Haine, Robinson Crusoe On Mars, Under The Volcano, Green For Danger and the Dusan Makavejev films. I decided to go for one of the matching pairs of covers – and while I liked The Burmese Harp and Fire On The Plains' covers a lot I thought Brute Force and especially Naked City were my favourites this year.

Best Surprise

Lots of different surprises to choose from this year: the first Paramount film in If…, the first Terence Malick, and Under The Volcano. The Two Of Us was also an interesting “I've not heard much about that filmâ€

[Napier]

Criterion re-released The Lady Vanishes, not 39 Steps.

[Tribe]

This year's eligibles:
362-Border Radio
363-Mouchette
364-Monsters and Madmen
365-The Haunted Strangler
366-Corridors of Blood
367-First Man Into Space
368-The Atomic Submarine
369-Paul Robeson: Portraits of an Artist
370-Paul Robeson--Icon:The Emperor Jones & Paul Robeson: Tribute to an Artist
371-Paul Robeson--Outsider:Body and Soul& Borderline
372-Paul Robeson--Pioneer:Sanders of the River & Jericho
373-Paul Robeson--Citizen of the World:The Proud Valley & Native Land
374-Bicycle Thieves
375-Green for Danger
376-49th Parallel
377-When a Woman Ascends the Stairs
378-Fires On the Plain
379-The Burmese Harp
380-The Naked City
381-La Haine
382-Overlord
383-Brute Force
384-Vengeance Is Mine
385-Army of Shadows
386-Sansho the Bailiff
387-La Jetee & Sans Soleil
388-The Two of Us
389-WR: Mysteries of the Organism
390-Sweet Movie
391-If...
392-Three Films by Hiroshi Teshigahara
393-Pitfall
394-Woman In the Dunes
395-The Face of Another
396-Ace In the Hole
397-Ivan's Childhood
398-Les Enfants Terribles
399-House of Games
400-Stranger Than Paradise
401-Night On Earth
402-The Milky Way
403-Cria Cuervos
404-Robinson Crusoe On Mars
405-The Threepenny Opera
406-Martha Graham: Dance On Film
407-Mala Noche
408-Breathless
409-Days of Heaven
410-Under the Volcano
411-Berlin Alexanderplatz
412-Sawdust and Tinsel
413-Drunken Angel
414-Two-Lane Blacktop

Eclipse:
Early Bergman
The Documentaries of Louis Malle
Late Ozu
Raymond Bernard
The First Films of Samuel Fuller
Carlos Saura's Flamenco Trilogy

EDIT: Could someone post the re-ssues for this year?

[colinr0380]

Criterion re-released The Lady Vanishes, not 39 Steps.

Whoops! Freudian slip there - I still have to pick up the Criterion edition of 39 Steps and was thinking of getting it with my next Criterion order! Goes to show you shouldn't post something while thinking about something else!

[domino harvey]

I was going to start a 2007 Awards thread once Two-Lane Blacktop is released. Please hold off listing your ballot until then.

Meanwhile, let me know if there are any objections to the following categories:

Release of the Year
Best Eclipse Release
Best Reissue
Most Disappointing Release
Best Commentary
Best Single Supplement (not a commentary)
Best Package Design
Best Surprise
Forum Member of the Year
Richard Cranium Award



Also, what were the reissues this year? Lady Vanishes, The Third Man....???

I think Collin was right to include a Best Boxed Set category, so I second that for inclusion.
And I'm reasonably certain that last year, people were voting before Symbiopsychotaxiplasm was released.

[Tribe]

A third for best boxset.

Tribe

[Tribe]

The only re-issues I can come up with are: The Lady Vanishes, The Third Man, Yojimbo and Sanjuro.

Tribe

[domino harvey]

Maybe it could be Best Reissue/Upgrade, putting House of Games, Two Lane Blacktop and Days of Heaven (LOL) in play.

[Matt]

I'd just like to once again register an objection to the "Most Disappointing Release" category. We spend the entire year complaining about Criterion, can't we keep the awards a recognition of what they do right?

[Tribe]

I'd just like to once again register an objection to the "Most Disappointing Release" category. We spend the entire year complaining about Criterion, can't we keep the awards a recognition of what they do right?

I hadn't noticed that category, but I agree with Matt. It just seems to bring out the most mean-spirited comments at times.

Tribe

[domino harvey]

I vote to keep it.

[Matt]

I will amend my objection with a recognition that we have had this category for the past three years of voting, and there were serious axes that needed grinding in at least two of those years. Looking over this year's eligible titles, I don't see anything that was nearly as offensive as Diary of a Country Priest's commentary track or Koko's transfer.

[domino harvey]

I will amend my objection with a recognition that we have had this category for the past three years of voting, and there were serious axes that needed grinding in at least two of those years. Looking over this year's eligible titles, I don't see anything that was nearly as offensive as Diary of a Country Priest's commentary track or Koko's transfer.

Three words: Days of Heaven

[Jeff]

There will be a new thread for the 2007 votes. It will be unlocked once Two-Lane Blacktop is released.