Electric Shadow

Criterion Collected: December 2012 Release Slate

Criterion have bucked the trend of December being a "quiet" month, releasing their second "Trilogy of Life" box set in as many months, the original film adaptation of The Talented Mr. Ripley, Christopher Nolan's first feature, and a long-awaited Blu-grade of Brazil.

I'm trying a new format for these posts, let's see how you like it. I've got comments on each release, followed by a full listing of all extras further down.

4 December

#637
Purple Noon (dir. René Clément, 1960)
Blu-ray & DVD

The original "Mr. Ripley" movie features a brilliant performance by French legend Alain Delon in the central role of the con man who betrays a friend. A nice little set of extras accompany a movie that has been hard to find in decent quality for some time. This was a surprise.

#51
Brazil (dir. Terry Gilliam, 1985)
Blu-grade

One of the most iconic early Criterion releases was their handsome slipcase 3-disc set for this one. This 2-disc Blu-ray upgrade replicates all of the extras previously available (aside from swapping in a new essay in the booklet), along with a full HD upgrade of the director's final cut. Buy it blind, whether you've seen it or not. This set is truly "film school in a box".

11 December

#638
Following (dir. Christopher Nolan, 1999)

Blu-ray & DVD (technically a Blu-grade)

Previously available in a now long-OOP DVD, this one has been about as long in production as David Fincher's The Game (which arrives later this month). Nolan's first feature is inventive, interesting, and plays with chronology. It's also completely done in black and white, and in my opnion, very representative of Nolan's films to come afterward.

Vintage 2001 commentary from Nolan, a chronological cut of the movie, and a screenplay side-by-side feature are all retained, and we're also getting a newly-recorded interview with the director, as well as a 1997 short film he made starring Jeremy Theobald.

#639-642
The Qatsi Trilogy (dir. Godfrey Reggio)
Koyaanisqatsi (1983)
Powaqqatsi (1988)
Naqoyqatsi (2002)

Blu-ray & DVD

This beast of a release is one of the most-anticipated sets to bear fruit from Criteiron's deal with MGM. Godfrey Reggio is inarguably an activist, and his trilogy of films documenting his view of world domination by technology in our lives is nothing short of staggering. The trilogy uses images and a score by Phillip Glass, along with various filmmaking techniques, to tell the story of technology's spread like a terminal global pandemic. The titles, taken from the Hopi language, translate to "life out of balance", "life in transformation", and "life as war".

In the first, his signature is fast timelapse, while the second employs slow motion. The third film uses a balance of both, combined with computer graphics to reveal how fully our world has transformed from nature to artifice. It's a staggering achievement.

The spread of extras include what amounts to a few hours of interviews, panels, and discussions of the films with Reggio, Glass, and cinematographer Ron Fricke, including an afterword on the trilogy by the director. Most fascinating to me is the 40-minute cut of the first film with an Allen Ginsberg voiceover track.

 

Extras

Purple Noon (dir. René Clément, 1960)

  • New digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
  • New video interview with René Clément scholar Denitza Bantcheva
  • Archival interviews with actor Alain Delon and novelist Patricia Highsmith, on whose book The Talented Mr. Ripley the film was based
  • Original English-language trailer
  • PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film critic Geoffrey O’Brien and a reprinted interview with Clément

Brazil (dir. Terry Gilliam, 1985)

  • Restored high-definition digital transfer of Terry Gilliam’s 142-minute director’s cut, supervised by Gilliam, with DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 surround soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
  • Audio commentary by Terry Gilliam
  • What Is “Brazil”?, a thirty-minute on-set documentary by Rob Hedden
  • The Battle of “Brazil”: A Video History, a sixty-minute documentary by author and film writer Jack Mathews about the controversy surrounding the film’s release
  • The “Love Conquers All” version of Brazil, a ninety-four-minute cut of the film produced by the studio in an attempt to make it more commercial, with commentary by Brazil expert David Morgan
  • The Production Notebook, a collection of supplements featuring a trove of Brazil-iana from Gilliam’s personal collection: a short documentary on the screenplay, featuring interviews with screenwriters Gilliam, Charles McKeown, and Tom Stoppard; Gilliam’s storyboards for unfilmed dream sequences, animated and narrated by Morgan; visual essays on the film’s production design and special effects; a visual essay on Brazil’s costumes, narrated by costume designer James Acheson; and interviews with Gilliam and composer Michael Kamen on the score
  • Trailer
  • PLUS: An essay by Jack Matthews on the DVD edition and a booklet featuring an essay by film critic David Sterritt on the Blu-ray edition

Following (dir. Christopher Nolan, 1999)

  • New, restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised by director Christopher Nolan, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the
    Blu-ray edition
  • New 5.1 surround sound mix by sound editor Gary Rizzo, presented in DTS-HD Master Audio on the Blu-ray edition
  • Audio commentary by Nolan
  • New interview with Nolan
  • Chronological rendering of the story
  • Side-by-side comparison of three scenes in the film with the shooting script
  • Doodlebug (1997), a three-minute film by Nolan, starring Jeremy Theobald
  • Trailers
  • PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film critic and programmer Scott Foundas

The Qatsi Trilogy (dir. Godfrey Reggio)

  • New, restored high-definition digital transfers of all three films, approved by director Godfrey Reggio, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtracks on the Blu-ray editions
  • Essence of Life, an interview program with Reggio and composer Philip Glass on Koyaanisqatsi
  • New interview with cinematographer Ron Fricke about Koyaanisqatsi
  • Early forty-minute demo version of Koyaanisqatsi with a scratch soundtrack by Allen Ginsberg, along with a new introduction by Reggio
  • New interview with Reggio about Koyaanisqatsi’s original visual concept, with behind-the-scenes footage
  • Impact of Progress, an interview program with Reggio and Glass on their collaboration
  • Inspiration and Ideas, an interview with Reggio about his greatest influences and teachers
  • Anima Mundi (1992), Reggio’s twenty-eight-minute montage of images of over seventy animal species, scored by Glass
  • Video afterword by Reggio on the trilogy
  • The Making of “Naqoyqatsi,” a brief documentary featuring interviews with the production crew
  • Panel discussion on Naqoyqatsi from 2003, with Reggio, Glass, editor Jon Kane, and music critic John Rockwell
  • Music of “Naqoyqatsi,” an interview with Glass and cellist Yo-Yo Ma
  • Television spots and an interview with Reggio relating to his 1970s multimedia privacy campaign in New Mexico
  • Trailers
  • PLUS: A booklet featuring essays on the trilogy by film scholar Scott MacDonald, Rockwell, and author and environmentalist Bill McKibben