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There were a shit load of great releases this summer, The Furies, Mishima, Vampyr, Mon Oncle Antoine, Salo, High and Low and a couple good obscure films in Before the Rain and Brand upon the Brain. This summer was pretty tight.

domino harvey wrote:More like a good month for Criterion fans. When was the last month every title was worth buying? Did such an event even occur this year?

It happened this month. Two Melvilles, Missing, and an Eclipse set of four Mizoguchi films. (Short Cuts re-release doesn't count!)

Stop answering my rhetorical question!

Should we expect another Rossellini history set in the future? The teaser cartoon earlier this year specifically mentioned Socrates and implied Augustine of Hippo. They could combine those two with "The Messiah" for a "Rossellini's History Films: Classical Civilization" box.

Rossellini: 2009's Ozu

It all comes down to personal taste about owning the releases from a certain month, and the releases in general. To me, July or August this year had must haves across the board, while in January I will look at purchasing 1 or 2, while others must have them all.

In another six hours, I bet we get our scheduled monthly diatribe about Criterion's purpetuation of cultural hegemony in cinema. Someone will always find a reason to complain.

Criterion must hate Asians, no Japanese or Chinese releases this month, blah.

When I first started skulking around this board maybe four years or so ago, most of the routine complaints were that we STILL weren't getting any Ozu or Mizoguchi. Ah, how times have changed.

This is the first monthly slate of releases in a very long time that really seem to be comprehensive, solid explorations of the films being put out. While there have certainly been some great things that came out this summer in particular, there hasn't been a lot that really stood out as classically Criterion. January though... ah, January...

psufootball07 wrote:Criterion must hate Asians, no Japanese or Chinese releases this month, blah.

Yeah that must be it.

(>Phew<)

Tom Hagen wrote:In another six hours, I bet we get our scheduled monthly diatribe about Criterion's purpetuation of cultural hegemony in cinema. Someone will always find a reason to complain.

Lol, then you're admitting there must be a reason. =D>

BTW, not that it bothers me, but I have yet to see someone recapitulate my argument correctly on this forum; I even gave up on Jeff of all people.

Good guesses this month, though, you guys were spot on. Actually, you usually are. So what's coming in Feb.?

I guess I have to find some small pleasure with the lack of their fulfilling their French/Japanese quota...sometimes the stars align. It's a small consolation, but contrary to what Tom Hagen writes, it's a compelling reason for me not to complain for now.

You so crazy!

Thomas J. wrote:Good guesses this month, though, you guys were spot on. Actually, you usually are. So what's coming in Feb.?

Just filling their Buñuel quota. And their Greenaway quota.

Thomas J. wrote:BTW, not that it bothers me, but I have yet to see someone recapitulate my argument correctly on this forum; I even gave up on Jeff of all people.

In other words, you make your arguments so ineffectively that nobody can figure out what you're trying to say. How Palinesque of you.

Oh some of this stuff from this month is just "not quota yet" quota...soo predictable. Seriously, people joke about there finally being a month with no Asian films? How many Chinese films have Criterion released again? MoC now owns my heart...of my wallet.

domino harvey wrote:Rossellini: 2009's Ozu

If we get another Eclipse set (as the newsletter clue suggested) and the War Trilogy in 2009, Roberto will be dominating the year's releases like no other filmmaker has before, but for me that's a positive. Not because I'm particularly fanatical about Rossellini over other potential candidates, just that I think this is a more effective and interesting approach than Criterion's traditional drip-feeding technique, which seems to frustrate fans and detractors in roughly equal measure (viz the interminable 'more Bergman / Kurosawa / Ozu' - 'not more Bergman / Kurosawa / Ozu' gripes).

Look at it this way: between this and the Lionsgate releases, Rossellini's availability on DVD just tripled at the beginning of 2009. That's good for everyone

it's about %^&^%@#$!! time

So did Rossellini's work essentially go up for sale recently? That's the only way I can imagine why Janus/Criterion is suddenly galvanized to release a shit load of his works. It seems similar to what happened with Malle. We may need to start a Rossellini and Criterion thread in order to keep track of all Rossellini speculation.

There was a major Rossellini retro in London last year, and the recent centenary, which might have prompted some belated sorting out of the notoriously messy rights issues surrounding his films, and identifying decent elements (another major concern with a lot of them, I believe, and some of the screenings I caught at the NFT seemed to confirm this). Despite his stature as a filmmaker, a lot of these films have been stuck in the 'too-hard basket' for years.

Yeah, for Rosellini fans yeah, a good month. How about those that arent? I'm not and Open City would have been great, all we got were historical films from him. January looks like a sucky month for those that were expecting the big ones.

canti10 wrote:Yeah, for Rosellini fans yeah, a good month. How about those that arent? I'm not and Open City would have been great, all we got were historical films from him. January looks like a sucky month for those that were expecting the big ones.

You rang?

canti10 wrote:Yeah, for Rosellini fans yeah, a good month. How about those that arent?

Well this is a film board, so you probably walk alone

I'm not especially stoked about the Rossellini films, mainly because I haven't seen them, and the one Rossellini I saw from that era: The Rise to Power of Louis XIV was pretty meh. But with any luck it might be the start of Rossellini getting Ozu-esque representation in the collection, and that would be a great thing.

Europa '51 is the Rossellini I would love to see released, but I have my doubts that it's coming any time soon.

I find it funny that people say January is the first month with no Asian releases. Are there any Asian releases in December and I didn't notice it?

And as for Japanese films in particular, there is nothing in November either.

So, we are talking about 3 months in a row with zero Japanese films.

Anyway, at least we get the Rosselini Eclipse set out of the way (which we knew it was coming) so in the following months in the Eclipse line we can finally see the promised Naruse and Imamura sets.