Criterion & Eclipse Cover Art & Packaging Babble-on Vol.5

[felipe]

They ditched the sleeve? What does it look now? Does it come with a different sleeve, or simply a digipack with no sleeve?

It's in a boring figure 8 case now.

Have they redone any other digipack into figure 8 cases? I was going to buy some films in digipack soon (My own private Idaho, Battle of Algiers, Last metro, Spirit of the beehive, and some others), but now I'm afraid they might come in figure 8 cases. Should I buy used copies to garantee the digipack packaging?

[swo17]

I think they're only doing it to DVDs that used to be in the double wide cases, not to ones that are in digipaks.

[cdnchris]

And "more than likely"? In what work environment would it not be definitely? The Bang Bros. office?

It was admittedly a lame and not-too-successful attempt at mild humour.

At any rate:

Something Wild
(and no, there is no interior artwork, it's just pink.)

[thatobscurecharm]

Well, the colors definitely scream 1980s

I giggle at the fact that Melanie Griffith is in the collection.

[Chance Hale]

Something Wild
(and no, there is no interior artwork, it's just pink.)

Well I guess that dispels any hope of last minute(extras) additions to Something Wild. How long are the interviews?

[cdnchris]

Demme's is about 33-minutes. Frye's is over 9-minutes.

[felipe]

Something Wild
(and no, there is no interior artwork, it's just pink.)

They must have thought the cover art was so good that they needed to use it again, albeit with different colors, for the booklet.

[matrixschmatrix]

I like the disc art, but overall it does seem like kind of a half assed release.

[Murdoch]

I like the disc art, but overall it does seem like kind of a half assed release.

The disc art would've made a better cover IMO, Criterion sure is getting lazy with these interiors though.

[felipe]

I like the disc art, but overall it does seem like kind of a half assed release.

They used the same art for the cover and the booklet and none whatsoever for the interior, so, yeah, it does look half assed.

[knives]

Why did they even bother when this release seems to have had zero love put into it. It's nice to hear Demme speak, but this could have been a treasure trove considering all of the material possible just on the music end and it's not like this will be a low selling release. This art business is just the final nail for any love to be attributed to this release.

[matrixschmatrix]

Hell, I'll still buy it- it's a great movie, and it's still a lot better than the other release. It's disappointing, though.

[Doctor Sunshine]

In my day, interiors were black plastic. And if you didn't like it you had to type up an angry letter in Microsoft Outlook and electronically mail it to an imaginary man.

[colinr0380]

Not having seen the movie- devoid of context, the shot seems evocative but not overly exploitative. It definitely says 'art film' more than it does 'OldShepard bait' to me.

That shot was also in the DVD edition as well, in the fold out leaflet with the essay printed over it (and juxtaposed with Anaïs kissing the swimming pool ladder). I think it is perfectly appropriate for a film all about the moment of submission and of an adolescent 'giving themselves' over to a traumatic, defining experience. Is the relationship entered into in a spirit of submission, ignorance of the long term consequences or collusion?

Also Breillat's work of this period (most particularly Romance and Anatomy of Hell - while Fat Girl seems in a much more 'naturalistic' vein until the deus ex machina ending, it actually makes much more sense and seems less purely exploitative when seen in context with the other films) seems to focus a lot on the dichotomy between the close up 'body doubles' versus wide shots of the 'actual actors' (sex as something physical to submit to versus a purely emotional act that can be just as powerful), so this is quite a jarring, telling image in that sense.

There is actually an excellent short film, The Girl and the Almond from 1996 which is extremely reminiscent of Fat Girl: the passive-aggressive family confrontations around the dining table, a swimming pool scene, a scene by the sea, the Breillat-esque philosophical/miserablist voiceover from the teenage girl, the naked examination in the mirror - even the mother driving her kids back home getting surrounded and intimidated by, this time, a motorcycle gang while the daughter in the back seat seems more excited by them.

[cdnchris]

Diabolique
Pale Flower
Solaris
The Great Dictator

[Will Barks]

They couldn't resist paving the inside of "Dictator" with swastikas...

[TMDaines]

They couldn't resist paving the inside of "Dictator" with swastikas...

Why should they resist using them? They're not in Germany.

[swo17]

Thanks Chris for including photos of the spines.

[Murdoch]

The swastikas don't bother me, it's the RED that's an eyesore.

Thanks Chris for including photos of the spines.

Taken out of context this would be rather disturbing.

[domino harvey]

There aren't any swastikas in the movie, though

[Askew]

Before you guys mentioned it, all I could see were big red "x"s. Even now I find it hard to see them as swastikas since it's just so red.

[Murdoch]

They're not actually swastikas, they just serve as stand-ins for them in the film. Faux-stika might be more accurate?

[Roger Ryan]

That's actually a pretty clever design - it replicates the X's that Chaplin used in place of the swastikas in the film, but manages to create actual swastikas (in the black lines alone) by interweaving the X's.

Easily the best part of the package design, along with allowing for the double meaning of "Charles Chaplin's THE GREAT DICTATOR". Almost makes up for that bowler hat/Hitler haircut monstrosity.

[Cinephrenic]

"It's just a Tibetan good luck charm"

[colinr0380]

I think that interior design of Dictator is very nice, even if (like those magic eye pictures) it hurts my eyes to get them to see the swastika in that pattern!