Forthcoming Lists Discussion and Random Speculation Vol.3

[ianungstad]

Most people have it pegged as The Miracle of Morgan's Creek.

They've probably licensed a bunch of new titles from Paramount. They've been upgrading all the Paramount titles to blu, so they've obviously inked at least a deal for that. Will probably see a wave after the MGM titles start to dwindle down.

[HistoryProf]

one more quick Rivette question: I've never seen a film of his, and netflix has The Duchess of Langeais and Around a Small Mountain streaming - which of the two is better to start with?

[Brian C]

Duchess

[zedz]

Though I'd say Mountain is the more characteristic of the two (and it's practically a short!)

[Brian C]

It probably is more representative, true, but I think that makes it a worse place to start. Would it have much value to someone who doesn't know Rivette? I'm not so sure.

[justeleblanc]

Duchess is better, but you may not appreciate it until you watch a weaker one, if that makes any sense. The first of his I watched was Va Savoir, which I found to be pretty weak, but I watched Celine & Julie several weeks later. The similarities between both films were apparent, but I appreciated C&J a lot more because I saw how these similar components were better executed in the film. So for those reasons I recommend starting with Mountain even though its slight.

[knives]

It probably is more representative, true, but I think that makes it a worse place to start. Would it have much value to someone who doesn't know Rivette? I'm not so sure.

It is one of only two of his films I've seen and I enjoyed it immensely. It's a fun little ride that does everything with ease and a cool calm. Basically I guess I'm saying it shouldn't matter which he does first though both is probably best.

[oh yeah]

Either of the two would be a fine starting point I think, though the ideal first Rivette (both in being a good characterization of his overall style and being fairly charming/easy to get into) might be Celine and Julie, despite its relatively daunting length.

I made a big mistake by watching The Story of Marie and Julien as my first Rivette, and thought it was pretty dull. Seeing it again one year and half a dozen other Rivette films later, I was utterly bowled over by it.

[Michael Kerpan]

Va savoir is a pretty good starting point. Yes, it is lighter than the average Rivette film -- but I (and my family) found plenty to like about it. (Our introduction to Rivette was Gang of Four -- which is a bit tougher, but met with general acclaim in our household).

[swo17]

A new forum member posted this elsewhere. With the delay some may have missed it:

From Bianca at the Rainer Werner Fassbinder Foundation:

thank you very much for your request. Actually, The Criterion Collection is just working on the US release of Fassbinder's WORLD ON A WIRE. The DVD will be available on the American market supposedly by the end of this year.
We will also inform about the release on our homepage, so simply check it from time to time.

[andyli]

I hope DVD is just the term they use loosely to indicate any home video disc.

[kaujot]

When was the last time for a DVD-only release that wasn't Eclipse? I'm sure it's both formats.

[Peacock]

It'll deff be both formats, I mean, there's a... beautiful.... French blu um..

[zedz]

It'll deff be both formats, I mean, there's a... beautiful.... French blu um..

Here's hoping that nobody has told Criterion about the existence of that high-definition abortion so they start from scratch.

EDIT: Oh, and didn't Criterion categorically rule out this film as a possibility some time back?

EDIT again: Doing a quick search, it looks like my 'off the Criterion table' impression came from the film being annouced for Olive Films.

And it is conceivable that Criterion could go DVD only on this, as the film is incredibly grainy - way more than most of the 16mm titles they've worked with so far - and the French attempt to digitally upgrade the image for HD was notably disastrous.

[HistoryProf]

Thanks for the feedback on Rivette folks....i've been awfully curious for years now, and I think its time I see what the fuss is about.

[Jean-Luc Garbo]

I'm very excited by that Fassbinder news. I've been looking forward to the R1 release for awhile now.

[fdm]

Good to finally see something unofficially official for the US market. Given how wonderful Alexanderplatz turned out considering, looking forward to some more hard core grain.

Wonder if there is a chance yet for Alexanderplatz to make it to blu-ray. It's a shame my (not particularly serious) prediction that it would be Criterion's first blu-ray didn't pan out.

[kawest]

EDIT again: Doing a quick search, it looks like my 'off the Criterion table' impression came from the film being annouced for Olive Films.

Janus will be touring a new 35mm print of the WORLD ON A WIRE later this year. They most certainly have this.

[rrenault]

2 questions:

1) Given Janus did its theatrical run of The Soft Skin in the spring, when is it safe to assume the criterion release will come out?

2) Do people find it plausible Criterion may have the rights and the ability to release many films they simply don't want to for lack of the balls they may have to release a certain film on blu ray at this point?

[rrenault]

When was the last time for a DVD-only release that wasn't Eclipse? I'm sure it's both formats.

I think L'Enfance Nue was the last mainline DVD-only release. Add to that Louie Blue and the Sternberg Set, since all three release came out in August 2010.

[Cinephrenic]

Sci-fi Fassbinder? Is WORLD ON A WIRE good?

[zedz]

2) Do people find it plausible Criterion may have the rights and the ability to release many films they simply don't want to for lack of the balls they may have to release a certain film on blu ray at this point?

Well, it's safe to say that Criterion have the rights to a whole lot of films that they aren't going to release any time soon (swathes of Japanese titles that they need to pace, for example), and a large number that probably aren't easily releasable (e.g. the lesser Kordas that are starting to slip out on Hulu - even an Eclipse grab-bag may be overegging some of these titles), and I have no doubt that a certain number of secured titles keep getting put on the back-burner because they have no local champion / they're hoping for better elements to turn up / they're having trouble finding extras, but I think 'lack of balls' is too prosaic and unlikely an excuse. There are simply too many precedents to cite (let's call this "The Symbiopsychotaxiplasm Test"). However, they do have to be financially responsible, so we can't expect more than a handful of commercially risky titles per annum (and if Out 1 is indeed coming, then that will probably be it for whatever year it lands in!), and there will be some titles (e.g. ones in need of major photochemical restoration, with no deep-pocketed partners on the horizon) where the numbers just won't add up no matter what they try to do.

As for the BluRay part of the equation, I'm assuming that the production costs will gradually come down and at some point (maybe already) Criterion might definitively decide to release all new titles on the format, whether it's technically justified or not. By this I mean that if, say, Hoop Dreams were a new title, it might be issued on Blu Ray simply for form's sake (with some kind of proviso in the booklet), even though the resolution will be DVD-quality. Personally, I'd much rather they continued to release some mainline titles on DVD only if the materials or market justified it, since a good DVD release of the Rossellini films, L'Enfance nue and The Human Condition is better than no release at all, if that's the alternative.

EDIT: Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if Out 1 - if it's coming at all - were announced as DVD only. It will be a massive set, pricey to produce and no doubt a tough sell, and it was shot in 16mm, so it could be argued that it won't benefit as much from HD (although personally I love the look of 16mm on Blu if it's well done). Unless the transfer was done with Blu in mind (and the German release seems to be DVD only) Criterion definitely couldn't justify re-transferring the whole thing.

[rrenault]

One thing that bothers me is the fact they couldn't release La Notte, because they couldn't secure an extra, at least that's the claim according to a post somewhere on this forum. Why don't they just release it with what they have to get the 1080p transfer out there, considering they haven't been so hesitant to put out films with few features recently.

[rrenault]

Probably true about Out1, but I'm sure films like La Belle Noiseuse and Celine and Julie Go Boating would have blu rays if CC managed to release them.

[matrixschmatrix]

A lot of the arguments- about what they have or don't, what they can and can't get, what they'll put out and when- are based on thirdhand reports, speculation, and extrapolation. It's bootless to get into the 'well hypothetically if they are making this decision, isn't that a stupid decision?' kind of argument.