The CriterionForum's recommendations for Criterion

[Dylan]

Jun-Dai, I edited my list. Hope you don't mind. Apply my revisions to the site, if you'd like.

Dylan

[cafeman]

1. The Restless by Kokan Rakonjac
2. Three by Aleksandar Petrovic
3. When I Am Dead and Gone by Zivojin Pavlovic
4. Permanent Vacation by Jim Jarmusch
5. Le Samourai by Jean-Pierre Melville (with 24 Hours in the Life of a Clown as an extra)

[denti alligator]

3. Samuel Beckett's Film - I know it's only 20 minutes...but there must be some way to make it happen - a 'Random Shorts' set or something?

There are his television plays, you know, none of which have been made available on video (as far as I know), and which were sadly left off the "Beckett on Film" series (because they aren't stage plays, I think). Without my Collected Shorter Plays on hand I can only say that there are something like five of these TV plays, two made for West German TV and a few others for the BBC. I've seen snippets of them and even a staged performance of them in Cambridge, MA (which was sued by the Beckett estate, as I understand, since they were NEVER to be staged-- only to be broadcast. I fact maybe that's why they haven't made it to video.).

[Fletch F. Fletch]

1. The Insider (a nice special edition a la Traffic)
2. Lost Highway
3. Double Indemnity
4. Battle Royale
5. Let's Get Lost

[Lemdog]

I would also like to change my list, as jules et jim is coming out, and Bottle Rocket is a lost cause.

1. Ashes of Time
2. Battle Royal Box Set I & II
3. Lost Highway
4. Olympia
5. Battleship Potemkin

[criterionradiohead]

I don't know who owns the rights to any of these movies. If they are not accessible to Criterion for whatever reason, just let me know and I will replace them with other titles.


1. Lost Highway - Lynch (1997)
2. The Game - Fincher (1997)
3. The Idiots - Von Trier (1998)
4. Le Samourai - Melville (1967)
5. The Red Ballon / White Mane - Lamorisse (1956 & 1952)

In addition does anyone know who holds the rights to Von Trier's Breaking the Waves and Neil Jordan's The Butcher Boy (I kow I've asked this before, but I think it was before the site crashed)?


Criterionradiohead

[Apu]

1) Lindsay Anderson trilogy (If..., O Lucky Man, Brittania hospital)
2) Anything by Aleksandr Sokurov (except Russian Ark)
3) Satantango (Bela Tarr)
4) De Sica Neorealist box-set
5) A Brighter Summer Day (Yang)

[mbalson]

Without question my two biggest recommendations for Criterion would be:
Eureka by Aoyama
and
Lost Highway by Lynch

[swingo]

1.- Canoa by Felipe Cazals

2.-Maria Candelaria by Fernandez

3.-Yol by Serif Goren & Yilmaz Guney

4.-Titicut Follies by Frederick Wiseman

5.-If by Lindsay Anderson

Axel.

[Gordon]

People keep listing Lindsay Anderson's Mick Travis films. If is owned by Paramount; O, Lucky Man! is owned by Warner. Britannia Hospital is owned by Anchor Bay.

Aren't Criterion rumoured to be working on This Sporting Life?

Criterion really ought to contact Frederick Wiseman about a boxed set, though...

[davida2]

1) Charulata Satyajit Ray (which is available for rental on film through an organization linked to Merchant-Ivory, and thus might conceivably be possible for Criterion to acquire, thanks to their M-I connection).

Oh if only - Sony did the VHS releases of the Apu trilogy, Music Room, Devi, Charulata, Mahanagar, Two Daughters and Middleman (Jana Aranya), and - last I'd heard (as of a year back), Criterion was "unable to get the rights" to any of these. In a perfect world, Criterion would give them the Ozu treatment, but I think it's an absolute no.

Sony's Apu DVDs are insultingly, appallingly bad, and they're sitting on the other films; I tried to email an inquiry to them and never got a response from anyone. Satyajit has vanished into some cinematic black hole, as far as R1 DVD prospects are concerned.

It's dire enough that I've started considering ordering VCDs of the others from India - may be the only way to see a number of his films for quite some time.

According to http://satyajitray.ucsc.edu/, several other Ray films have been restored, with no news of any commercial releases anywhere. Maybe Merchant Ivory could sue them away from Sony...

[backstreetsbackalright]

Difficult to narrow it down to five, but the promise of future Ozu releases helps narrow things down somewhat. Here are five aim-for-the-sky Criterion-releases-in-my-dreams:

(1) Chris Marker Set Three discs or more.

(2) Something by Chantal Akerman. Ideal and Criterion-appropriate choices include Jeanne Dielman or Les Rendez-Vous d'Anna.

(3) Rossellini War Set Someone mentioned this earlier, and I'm all for it. Barring that, just something from Rossellini, maybe Europa 51 or Stromboli. Actually, Stromboli could be a perfect Criterion title, and could include both versions of the film and some commentary or interviews pertaining to its torrid production.

(4) Viridiana

(5) Love Affair, or Case of the Missing Switchboard Operator by Makavejev.

Films I would equally love to see Criterion produce include Yellow Earth, Satantango, Erice's South, Histoires du Cinema, La Chinoise, Rosetta, Visconti's White Nights, and anything by Rocha, Duras, Eustache, Jean Rouch, Michael Snow, or Nicholas Ray....

[swingo]

LA PERLA (!!!!!!!!!!!) by Emilio Fernández.


Axel.

[shirobamba]

Satyajit has vanished into some cinematic black hole, as far as R1 DVD prospects are concerned.

Not so in R2-Euroland! Artificial Eye has announced the release of 3 Rays for 2005:

The Chess Players (Satyajit Ray, India) Artificial Eye [R2-UK]
Days and Nights in the Forest (Satyajit Ray, India) Artificial Eye [R2-UK]
Devi (Satjajit Ray, India) Artificial Eye [R2-UK]

[oldsheperd]

Let's not forget White Dog

[solaris72]

You should probably take Paris, Texas out of list eligibility, as it has gotten a mighty fine R1 release from Fox.

[Sai]

You should probably take Paris, Texas out of list eligibility, as it has gotten a mighty fine R1 release from Fox.

Also, Sword of Doom is getting released. And Bad Day at Black Rock is going out via Warner.

[Jun-Dai]

done, done, and done. much thanks.

[Zumpano]

1. They All Laughed (P. Bog)
2. Nickelodeon (b&w version) (P. Bog)
3. Hellzapoppin (H.C. Potter)
4. Nothing Lasts Forever (T. Schilling)
5. H.E.A.L.T.H. (R. Altman)

[DrGerbil]

Spanking the Monkey (1994) Dir. David O. Russell
http://imdb.com/title/tt0111252/

Kings of the Road (1976) Dir. Wim Wenders
http://imdb.com/title/tt0073152/

Le Samourai (1967) Dir. Jean-Pierre Melville
http://imdb.com/title/tt0062229/

The Game (1997) Dir. David Fincher
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0119174/

[backstreetsbackalright]

The Game (1997) Dir. David Fincher
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0119174/

This request seems to come up a lot in Criterion fan circles. I plead ignorance in advance here, but since there is already a recent DVD release of this title, I'm wondering why so many think its due for a Criterion treatment. Are there problems with the current DVD release?

[DrGerbil]

Its the only Fincher film without a Special Edition on DVD. Frankly, that was reason enough for me to include it. Any collection without a film of his is lacking, afaic.

[Jeff]

The Game (1997) Dir. David Fincher
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0119174/

This request seems to come up a lot in Criterion fan circles. I plead ignorance in advance here, but since there is already a recent DVD release of this title, I'm wondering why so many think its due for a Criterion treatment. Are there problems with the current DVD release?

Well, the current DVD is pretty lame, but that's only part of the issue. Criterion issued a fine laserdisc of this title, and has (had) a relationship with current rights-holder Universal. It has been rumored forever, and was hinted at by Peter Becker years ago. Obviously, that never came to pass.

[dx23]

I forgot to add to my list The Brave directed by Johnny Depp, which doesn't have a R1 release and although the movie is not that great, it has several stars like Marlon Brando, Iggy Pop, Luis Guzman and Depp himself. It could be a good seller just for star power.

[Jun-Dai]

PS: Are we ever going to send these in?

That was never part of the plan, but you may.

Also Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead is scheduled for release by Image Ent. on 3/22.
. . .
Duck Soup <- already out

I'm not invalidating Image titles, because I'm not certain that there isn't some sort of connection wherein Criterion could potentially get the film, if they wanted it badly enough. Also, Duck Soup is a pretty minimal release from Universal, which I figure means Criterion might be able to negotiate it if (again) they really wanted to.

I forgot to add to my list. . .

Well, you've already put in seven, and the format only includes five, so unless you wanted to displace on of your top five picks, it wouldn't get counted anyhow.

Also, rather than deleting the old posts in this thread, I'm moving them to the other, locked recommendations thread, which is here:
http://www.criterionforum.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=628