1233 Gregg Araki’s Teen Apocalypse Trilogy

[domino harvey]

Take the conventions of the American teen movie, transpose them to Los Angeles’s freaky fringes, anchor them in an unapologetic vision of sexual fluidity, and top it all off with heavy doses of Gen X disillusionment, gonzo violence, and hallucinogenic surrealism, and you’ll end up with something like these audacious transgressions from New Queer Cinema renegade Gregg Araki. Gleefully mixing slacker irony with raw sincerity, Godardian cool with punk scuzz, the savagely subversive, hormone-fueled films that make up the Teen Apocalypse Trilogy pushed 1990s indie cinema into bold new aesthetic realms, while giving blistering expression to adolescent rage and libidinal desire.

New 2K digital restoration of Totally F***ed Up and new 4K digital restorations of The Doom Generation and Nowhere, supervised and approved by director Gregg Araki, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtracks
In the 4K UHD edition: One 4K UHD disc of The Doom Generation and Nowhere and two Blu-rays with all three films and the special features
New conversation between director Gregg Araki and filmmaker Richard Linklater
New audio commentary on Nowhere with Araki and actors James Duval, Rachel True, Nathan Bexton, Jordan Ladd, Sarah Lassez, Guillermo Diaz, and Jaason Simmons
Audio commentary on Totally F***ed Up with Araki, Duval, and actor Gilbert Luna
Audio commentary on The Doom Generation with Araki, Duval, and actors Rose McGowan and Johnathon Schaech
New documentary on the trilogy’s visual style featuring Araki, Duval, producer Andrea Sperling, cinematographer Jim Fealy, costume designers Cathy Cooper and SaraJane Slotnick, production designer Patti Podesta, art director Michael Krantz, and hair and makeup artist Jason Rail
James Duval’s Teen Apocalypse Archive, a new conversation between Araki and Duval
Q&As with Araki, moderated by filmmakers Gus Van Sant and Andrew Ahn
The Doom Generation video comic book
Trailers
English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
PLUS: An essay by critic Nathan Lee

New cover by Fred Davis

[domino harvey]

The Doom Generation was just released by Strand on Blu a couple months ago, wondering what the story is here

[zedz]

Maybe they were at the end of their licensing window and made the jump at the last minute?

There actually seems to be a decent slate of extras in this set, so it should be fun. I'd love to see Araki's earlier feature The Long Weekend again: has it ever been released on disc?

[beamish14]

Maybe they were at the end of their licensing window and made the jump at the last minute?

There actually seems to be a decent slate of extras in this set, so it should be fun. I'd love to see Araki's earlier feature The Long Weekend again: has it ever been released on disc?

Long Weekend (O’ Despair) popped up recently because NYU’s Asian-American film library is hosting it online. It has never been commercially released in any form.

[beamish14]

I’m really curious about the revisionist color timing on Totally Fucked Up

[Rupert Pupkin]

I have bought several month ago the Director's Cut Blu-Ray of The Doom Generation (which was announced to be a 4K restoration on Strand web-site) - I was a bit disappointed by the lack of film grain texture and HD details could be better (it wasn't shot on DV?)- if Criterion release it on UHD I don't see how a UHD could look good with this blu-ray release by Strand, so I'm really hoping that something was wrong for the Strand blu-ray and that they can get the big file of the 4K restoration.

Now that Criterion announce this movie in UHD, can we expect the same transfer or could Criterion get his hands on the pre-master of the 4K restoration and save us from this what looks to me like an average Blu-Ray (just "ok" not stunning).
For what is worth, on Criterion web page about The Doom Generation the pictures have more grain (if these are screenshots) than the Strand transfer on my blu-ray.

[andyli]

The Radiance Suzhou River looks much better than Strand's effort. So I wouldn't hesitate about Criterion doing it right.

[Rupert Pupkin]

The Radiance Suzhou River looks much better than Strand's effort. So I wouldn't hesitate about Criterion doing it right.

yes I was so disappointed to see Strand release of Suzhou River, until I bought the Radiance release; so let's cross the fingers. How Radiance can butcher a 4K restoration like this ? because "Doom Generation" is from the same 4K restoration that Criterion will use.
Nevertheless, I will wait until the Criterion box set is out and the tests to see if Criterion did a better use of the 4K restoration.

[dwk]

Criterion has updated the extras and it now includes the audio commentary on The Doom Generation with Gregg Araki, James Duval, Rose McGowan, and Johnathon Schaech from the Strand release.

[Marwood]

Can anyone confirm if the 2-disc non UHD blu-ray package is also in a digipack, or is it a regular amaray? Thanks

[therewillbeblus]

Can anyone confirm if the 2-disc non UHD blu-ray package is also in a digipack, or is it a regular amaray? Thanks

Chris linked pics in the packaging thread here

[yoloswegmaster]

Your link doesn't show the packaging for the Blu-only release, which is what Marwood was asking about. I'm presuming that Chris only got the 4K release.

[therewillbeblus]

Whoops, missed that, sorry

[cdnchris]

I don't have it, but it is a standard Scanavo 2 disc case.

[Rupert Pupkin]

I don't have it, but it is a standard Scanavo 2 disc case.

like the Bo Widerberg box set ? I was disappointed.
How come blu-ray.com shows a digipack in their thread ? (this is a photo of the Araki's box set in digipack and it really looks like it is the Criterion release); is there a digipack only for blu-ray and the UHD+BR would be a Scanavo case ? or Canadian = Scanavo US = digipack or vice-versa ?

I have read the blu-ray.com review of the "Doom Generation" and I can read some comparison with the previous Blu-Ray US Strand release (which I have bought last year), and was a kind of disappointment (to say the least) because of the lack of HD details and film grain texture (despite the fact that it was the 4K director's cut restoration). Has Criterion improved it on its box set ? the PQ note is not that high (4/5) thus I'm wondering if this is in the end the same picture quality.

[domino harvey]

That was a four disc set

[cdnchris]

I'm sorry, which are we talking about? I have the 4K, which is a digipak. I thought the question was about the Blu-ray only, which is a standard case.

And as to Doom's picture, I don't want to get too much into it here, but it's pretty middling as a 4K, which i blame more on the film elements.

[Rupert Pupkin]

I'm sorry, which are we talking about? I have the 4K, which is a digipak. I thought the question was about the Blu-ray only, which is a standard case.

And as to Doom's picture, I don't want to get too much into it here, but it's pretty middling as a 4K, which i blame more on the film elements.

ah ok now I understand; but isn't the 4K UHD a combo Blu-Ray + UHD disks; or UHD only ? (so far I did not think that it was possible to buy only a UHD edition like Arrow)

regarding "The Doom Generation" PQ you didn't had the Strand Blu-Ray release to do a quick comparison ?... because really the Strand Blu-Ray was not better than the WEB 1080 release (based on the 4K restoration). It really lacks film texture grain and I sincerely hope that Criterion can do something; otherwise that's just a matter of bonus for this movie (and the 2 other movies).
"Happiness" for instance is amazing in terms of PQ; film texture grain. (I lost my password at blu-ray.com so for the moment I can not see the vidcaps in their full blu-ray resolution).

[Matt]

I was confused by this release as well. The Blu-ray-only release is 2 Blu-ray discs. The UHD + Blu-ray release is those same 2 Blu-ray discs PLUS 1 UHD containing The Doom Generation and Nowhere. Totally F***ed Up is not on UHD because it was shot on 16mm and scanned at 2K.

[Rupert Pupkin]

ok, I pre-ordered the UHD/Blu-Ray; so this will be a digipack; we'll see.
I remember when Arrow was Arrow the 16mm grain restoration of Fucking Åmål. From what I understood they took the master used already for the blu-ray release but they did preserve the grain and color grading. This box set was really gorgeous. One of the best Arrow IMHO.

[cdnchris]

regarding "The Doom Generation" PQ you didn't had the Strand Blu-Ray release to do a quick comparison ?... because really the Strand Blu-Ray was not better than the WEB 1080 release (based on the 4K restoration). It really lacks film texture grain and I sincerely hope that Criterion can do something; otherwise that's just a matter of bonus for this movie (and the 2 other movies).

I didn't want to get too much into this but I'll just share my quick thoughts on this:

I don't have the Strand Blu-ray, so can't compare, but if it's close to what I saw streaming then yeah, this is better. Still, I'd say The Doom Generation is the weaker-looking of the three films, even in 4K. I'm blaming the elements more for this (softer image, weak black levels, a surprising amount of dirt and debris, etc.), but there are issues with the base master that are probably Strand's doing. Grain is a mixed bag. It's there but it's been filtered to varying degrees and isn't anywhere near as sharp or clean as it should be. I suspect since they used an interpositive grain was very heavy and they felt they had to tone it down. Though not perfect, the other two films, even Totally F***ed Up, look better in this area. Nowhere is probably the strongest looking one. I thought the colors in Doom were its strongest aspect.

[Rupert Pupkin]

Well, I received the combo UHD+Blu-Ray digipack Criterion - Gregg Araki.
I can not see any obvious or remarkable improvement at all (in terms of grain of HD details) for the Doom Generation (I have compared it with the blu-ray Strand release). If this is the case, this would be a really really fine grain texture which can only been seen on some close-up. It reminds me (sort of) the Wong War Wai restoration for the grain. That said the color grading for the G.Araki is "reliable" and exactly what you could have expected.

"Nowhere" is way better; it has some grain texture/film like and looks like Criterion OK standard.
It's really a disappointment because "Doom..." was my favorite movie of the two, and regarding the "emotional (grain) rescue" with "Suzhou River" (first released by Strand, then by Radiance (and with even some French subs) (a restoration of the 16mm movie) I was almost sure that Criterion would do the same "rescue" than Radiance for the "Doom Generation". Otherwise I would have waited for the test.
Trust broken (fortunately Happiness and All of US Strangers are amazing).

The bonus are nice (the Q&A interview with G.Van Sant); love the "Doom..." cartoon, but the idea of split screen is not that good, I would have preferred to see it in plain screen.
I did not check the bitrate, etc...; but considering that the Radiance was probably a single layer BR and Criterion put 2 movies + bonus on a single blu-ray I'm not that sure that the bitrate is higher. I was surprised that blu-ray.com did not refer or A/B compared with the Strand release (because it's a recent release, the uncut and restored one from 4K source).
And if this is the case, I can't barely see a difference of picture quality while watching the Strand or Criterion release.
I would even dare to say that Radiance with his stunning transfer and bonus is more like Criterion standard than the whole G.Araki box set.

[tenia]

I'm lost : what does Radiance has to do with those Araki movies ?

[Marwood]

I'm lost : what does Radiance has to do with those Araki movies ?

I belive he's talking about the film "Nowhere" and ment to refer to the Strand release.

[Rupert Pupkin]

The Doom Generation was initially released by Strand on blu-ray (based on the 4K restoration (see their web site) and this is G.Araki's director's cut); the Criterion transfer has the Strand release logo and looks as "good" as the Strand release = looks like a carbon copy of the Strand release.

If the Strand release was good this wouldn't be a problem for me. The film lacks totally a natural film grain texture; it looks like a WEB release. I know that it sounds paradoxal to talk about film texture and grain when Blu-Ray and UHD is a matter of digital; but the movie was not shot on DV, and (hence the confusion of my post) when "Suzhou River" was released (from a 4K restoration - movie was shot in 16mm) the Strand Blu-Ray has been washed from its grain; but the later Radiance release on blu-ray (using the same restoration) "restored" (so to speak) the beautiful natural grain from the 16mm movie making it really a pleasure in terms of details, film texture and colors.
Another example which comes to my mind is when Arrow announce that it would release "Fucking Amal", they were able to bring back all the grain texture of the movie (contrary to the Swedish Blu-Ray).

In the past Criterion was able to do such "rescue"; and I don't see the point of assembling 3 G.Araki movies in a box set; adding just a few bonus; and missing the opportunity to "rescue" a good restoration but ruined in a post-restoration step.
In the past they were even able to go back in the heavy detraining when releasing some Gaumont masters such as "Bande à Part" (Godard) and "La Peau Douce" (Truffaut) comes to my mind. Of course there is the long "Madame de..." story; so perhaps they were not able to get their hands on the Strand digital mater.
Perhaps I'm too picky; There has been many Kino release recently with some superb picture quality; I have been really pleased by Criterion's picture quality of "Happiness"; sometimes Criterion can also "save" an old DVD release : remember the amazing picture quality of Todd Haynes's "Safe".
Sometimes I prefer to wait a very long time before a box set comes out; because I don't want at all a "missed opportunity".
Keep in mind that since the WEB Strand release of The Doom Generation + the Strand blu-ray which was released last year (I bought it) we were able to see this movie in its glorious vivid colors and correct ration and uncut. So we could have wait a little more.