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We all know how much I hate Salo, but that cover is one of Criterion's best

domino harvey wrote:We all know how much I hate Salo, but that cover is one of Criterion's best

Domino, nice to see our aesthetic sensibilities finding consonance.
I think the cover is perfect for the film.

Gotta grab the torture porn audience.

I should have elaborated on this, but yes, that is the point. I find the cover misleading. Obviously Criterion wants to capitalize on it, which may be good business, but my problem is the still shot used. They could have at least used the stair scene or better. I just don't find a skinny bitch eating shit ecstetic on a DVD cover, but that is my view.

denti alligator wrote:I think the cover is perfect for the film.

It really is. The random consumer is going to feel confronted by the cover as much as the viewer will be confronted by the film if they get that far, I will go so far as to say I could not imagine a better cover for this title. Even the aesthetic pleasures of the cover force you to question why you respond positively to what is essentially grotesque, horrific imagery-- Pasolini couldn't have been prouder.

Given the large number of booklet essays included and its high profile, I think Salo has a good chance of being a digipack; if the cover art is any indication, I think Criterion will do a lot with the overall design on this one.

Still haven't seen the film, but I definitely like the Salo cover best. Agreed with Domino and Denti all the way (or as much as it's possible to without having seen the movie).

The Ascent is the best use of the Eclipse template so far.

I agree. I actually like both Shepitko covers very much.

Is it just me or does Twenty-Four Eyes look like it's called Twenty-Four & Yes?

It looks like a MySpace page....for a 14 year old girl.

Whichever Mod reformatted those titles in the picture post ruined the color scheme the OP had going.

Matango wrote:Is it just me or does Twenty-Four Eyes look like it's called Twenty-Four & Yes?

Same for me.

I think Brand Upon the Brain! is my favorite cover this month, though the font on Twenty-Four & Yes is pretty sweet. Salo's captures the film real well and will probably make a bitchin' digipack but I still don't think I'm in love with the actual design itself. The real stinker is The Small Back Room though. Terrible, terrible font choice.

I haven't seen the film but its my understanding that the military font is more than appropriate, no?

LOVE Salo's artwork, reminds me of the amazing cover to Sweet Movie. Definitely going to pick up that and Brand Up The Brain.

I dunno, to me the Salo cover sort of looks like Criterion's way of telling their customers to eat shit

Count me in as another one who actually love the new Salo cover. One may think I'm sick in the head if I say this, but that blurry screen cap of Renata Moar crying and being forced to eat whasit is almost a turn-on. (Then again, that scene is always a personal favourite, if one can call that. Or perhaps I'm just excited about thef fact that 10 years of waiting is finally over, and wishful thinking that by the end of the year one might be able to pick up an authentic, second hand copy of the old disc for under 10 bucks on eBay.)

Love Brand Upon The Brain and fairly indifferent about the rest.

The font for 24 Eyes is absurdly whispy and romantic and not at all corresponding-- despite the emotional manipulation in the text-- to the film. It looks like a fucking Jane Austen novel or something.

Everything else not so bad.

I really like all this month's covers except for 24 Eyes--that font is awful (24 and yes indeed). The Shepitko covers are especially nice considering they're for Eclipse--the best Eclipse covers yet, IMO.

HerrSchreck wrote:It looks like a fucking Jane Austen novel or something.

I didn't think the characters in her books went much past the courtship stage!

Love the Salo and Shepitko covers, and like Brand and Small Back Room.

A great month though - the Shepitko is extremely exciting (while I'm also noting a little sadly the comments about this perhaps being the death-knell for her other films on DVD for a while), The Small Back Room is one of the Powell and Pressburger films I've not seen, Salo and Brand Upon The Brain are exciting and a little depressing in equal measure (I kind of hoped for more extras on Salo and would have liked more commentary tracks on Brand, though I admit that seven is a huge number!), Twentyfour Eyes is on the backburner - the extras sound interesting but I've got the MoC to get to for now.

sidehacker wrote:It looks like a MySpace page....for a 14 year old girl.

Sexy. Wait... oops!

Come to the Charlie Chaplin Filmmakers page. Child molesting goes there.

not for Polanski?

I think Salo is a perfect fit and Brand Upon the Brain is pretty cool. The Shepitko's are great and so is The Small Back Room.

My only gripe is Twenty-Four Eyes which, as mentioned, definitely looks like Twenty-Four & Yes and is way too sweetie-pie to boot. The Masters of Cinema has a much better cover.
By the way, how come so many MoC's selections end up as Criterions shortly thereafter?