Re: 2011 The Criterion Collection - Challenge #3 Discussion Thread
 

One's collections are just things, though.

My wife still thinks I'm crazy with my movie obsession, but I can see all the time that I've expanded her interests. My older son will watch just about anything with me, while my daughter and younger son will watch when something falls within their areas of interest-horror, sci-fi, cartoons, etc. I suppose that all of them are more interested in movies than most, maybe all, of their friends.

The best that we can do is to encourage others to share our interests, while recognizing that not everyone is ready to go as far as we are. Shared cultural interests can foster togetherness, knowledge, positive values and pleasure.

Re: 2011 The Criterion Collection - Challenge #3 Discussion Thread
 

My son and I watched Close-Up tonight. We had watched a prior movie by Abbas Kiarostami, The Traveler, from the same disc the night before. The influence of The 400 Blows on The Traveler was obvious, so I was surprised by how different Close-Up was. The people involved in a minor, but interesting, Iranian criminal case play themselves in the movie's retelling of the events, with the focus on the legal process. It raises interesting questions about issues like film, class, justice, truth, celebrity and reality.

Looking forward to the supplements on this one for more detail on the participants and what happened during and after the case.

Re: 2011 The Criterion Collection - Challenge #3 Discussion Thread
 

I'm almost done with I Am Curious (Yellow). I pretty much hate everything about it and I'm sure Blue isn't going to be much better, other than be shorter.

Re: 2011 The Criterion Collection - Challenge #3 Discussion Thread
 

I've been afraid of that. I've been trying to psych myself up to watch these movies, telling myself that they are probably in spirit of innovative filmmakers of the era like Godard and Makavejev. We watched Through a Glass Darkly, Winter Light and The Silence a couple of months ago. The other movie in that set is Ingmar Bergman Makes a Movie, directed by Vilgot Sjoman. I've been thinking for the last few days of watching that and following it with the I Am Curious movies. I used to have the book with the screenplays of both films, which had a lot of pictures, and my recollection is that there was quite a bit of nudity, a little sex, and a lot of pretension and incoherence.

I'm leaning towards something likely to be more worthwhile, possibly Les Miserables and a few other French movies from the 1930s.

Re: 2011 The Criterion Collection - Challenge #3 Discussion Thread
 

I watched one of those I Am Curious films a few years ago and didn't think much of it.

This thread took a bit of a dark turn there, but that seems appropriate.

Re: 2011 The Criterion Collection - Challenge #3 Discussion Thread
 

Speaking of French films, wow does Criterion has a boatload of them....

Re: 2011 The Criterion Collection - Challenge #3 Discussion Thread
 

There's a good amount but it's from the main girl who is a tab on the chunky side. My stance on watching non-porn films where the only redeeming quality is nudity is to not watch it at all because I can waste less time just going on the internet for free and then watching something decent.

I found the girl completely annoying but mostly because I'm not some die hard socialist. I was mostly annoyed when she was going around asking people random questions and then just getting into debates with them and asking them what they're going to do to change the system.

It was like watching a documentary about Peggy Hill where the director was on the pro side of her. At the end of Yellow, some reality hits her and to sum things up, she gets pissy. It didn't feel like the main body of the film fit in with the conclusion.

Minor annoyance at the beginning and end is them going on and on about how there's two films and this one is yellow and you not blue but you should buy them both and this is the first ever film that's two movies. I got the impression that it was two movies about things taking place at the same time but from different angles. Then I read that it was originally going to be one long film but got split and Blue is stuff that happens before and after Yellow.

I'm an hour into Blue and it's just more of the same. Eventually it'll end and then I'm be in more of a mood to watch Criterions again because these two films are really draining.

Re: 2011 The Criterion Collection - Challenge #3 Discussion Thread
 

Just finished watching I Was a Teenage Zombie, and while I have to admit it wasn't a bad film if watched as a cheesy 80s horror film, I do have to ask the question, how did a film like that make it into the Criterion Collection? Does anyone know the answer to that?

Re: 2011 The Criterion Collection - Challenge #3 Discussion Thread
 

I don't know the answer, but I can speculate.

The short answer is probably that it didn't. This challenge is permitting titles listed as Criterion on Hulu Plus to be counted as qualifying movies, and Hulu Plus lists it as Criterion, but that doesn't necessarily mean Criterion has any intention of doing anything with it.

It hasn't been released by Criterion on DVD or blu ray. It was released on DVD by Image, which formerly had a relationship with Criterion, so that could be the connection.

There apparently was indication on Hulu Plus that some, but not all, of the titles that they have listed as Criterion will be released by Criterion on discs. Maybe it is being seriously considered, although I doubt it. It is possible that it is available to Criterion for release as part of a package.

Just a few possibilities that occurred to me.

Re: 2011 The Criterion Collection - Challenge #3 Discussion Thread
 

Just finished streaming Kris [Crisis], Ingmar Bergman's directorial debut. My thoughts:

The first film directed by Ingmar Bergman, Kris [Crisis] is clearly the product of a playwright. It's a rather primitive story by Bergman standards, though even with this early work he's engaging some of the themes that would be explored more artfully throughout his filmography. 18 year old Nelly (Inga Landre) dreams of city life when her long absent mother, Jenny (Marianne Löfgren) drops in to retrieve the girl. Accompanying Jenny is fanciful scoundrel Jack (Stig Olin), who quickly sets about seducing his lover's daughter. Resistant, but powerless, is Ingeborg (Dagny Lind), the woman who has raised Nelly and fears how she will fare in her mother's seedy world.

The "pure rural" vs. "corrupt city" theme is the most obvious, though in Crisis Bergman makes a point of showing us how silly and self-important small towns can be as the town elders freak out when Jack, Nelly and some of the other youth begin playing jazz music during a town ball. Nelly is clearly the prodigal daughter whose return to her small town is inevitable. We understand why she elects to go with her mother--to whom she is never close, or even affectionate--and we see what she endures while away, but it's rather perfunctory and we're left to connect the dots ourselves, rather than watch Nelly process her life. Indeed, she rarely articulates anything herself, other than frustration.

The subplot of Ingeborg, whose only real reason for living is Nelly, was vintage Bergman and foreshadowed Wild Strawberries in its way, but it never quite coalesced for me. The nature of selfishness and contemplation of mortality are major themes of his filmography, but here they are sign posts along the road, rather than destinations unto themselves.

The early works of any artist are always curious in retrospect. They were just taking their first steps down a road whose direction we already know, and Crisis is no different. I found Crisis comparable to a distant relative; surely there are resemblances, but it's not quite familiar to me.

Re: 2011 The Criterion Collection - Challenge #3 Discussion Thread
 

They do some similar films, like the Monsters and Madmen box set. I like it because I can only take so many French films.

Re: 2011 The Criterion Collection - Challenge #3 Discussion Thread
 

I thought I'd be able to get through By Brakhage-Volume 2 in one night, but I gotta get some *Much-needed* shut-eye after Disc-2 (Program #3)
And I tell ya, I really started to fear for my eyesight after watching 23rd Psalm Branch. Man, there's a BIG difference between watching Stan's stuff on a little youtube-box compared to seeing it on 53"-screen. The flashing was INSANE! Thank god I haven't ran into anything else that resembles this thus far...

Re: 2011 The Criterion Collection - Challenge #3 Discussion Thread
 

Continuing with the Early Bergman Eclipse collection via Hulu, I just finished Hamnstad [Port of Call]. Here are my thoughts.

Not much to say about this early Bergman melodrama, really. Like Crisis, it bears the voice of a playwright rather than film-maker. The story centers on frequent runaway and self-destructive juvenile delinquent Berit (Nine-Christine Jönsson) and Gösta (Bengt Eklund), a young man who has come to find work in the port city where she lives. Gösta takes menial work unloading freight with roughnecks, but in his off time he wears nice suits, reads books and is generally a misfit in his part of the world. Cliches over Berit's checkered past drive the conflict between the two star-crossed lovers, which reaches a predictable crescendo when one of Berit's fellow delinquents, Gertrud (Mimi Nelson) experiences tragedy.

***SPOILER ALERT FOR ANYONE READING E-MAIL***

Re: 2011 The Criterion Collection - Challenge #3 Discussion Thread
 

Love that you do this Travis! I interact with the forum almost entirely through email, and most people don't know that the spoiler tags don't work in the email notifications. I've used this technique before, but need to be more consistent with it.

About to watch my Bergman of the month, my first viewing of Through a Glass Darkly.

Re: 2011 The Criterion Collection - Challenge #3 Discussion Thread
 

Hey, I get e-mails, too and I hate spoilers! I meant to begin watching films from Asia with this year's challenge, but so far that hasn't happened. I'm currently working my way through the Early Bergman Eclipse collection via Hulu, having gone gaga over the Bergman movies I watched for last year's challenge. It's a lot like watching David Lean's early work with, and from the works of, Noel Coward. I can sort of follow the line of evolution from the plays to the masterpieces, but it's really weird to go from The Bridge on the River Kwai and Lawrence of Arabia back to early work like Brief Encounter or Summertime. So too with going from The Seventh Seal and Wild Strawberries to Crisis and Port of Call.

Re: 2011 The Criterion Collection - Challenge #3 Discussion Thread
 

Not to put you off watching the rest of the Eclipse set, but, outside of Torment (which Bergman scripted, but didn't direct), I found all four of the other films a bit... Clunky. To Joy is probably my favorite of the bunch, since I connected with the story of a young person struggling with the realization that he's probably never going to be able to do all the things he's dreamed of doing - but it still lacks the power and focus of a lot of his later efforts, in my opinion. There's still some good stuff there, but, unlike his best later works, I don't really have any desire to revisit any of them.

From what I've seen, I'd probably rank "Monika" (which Criterion hasn't released yet) and "Sawdust and Tinsel" as his first "really good" efforts.

I can also see the comparison with Lean's filmography, in that there seems to be a pretty sharp division between his early output and his later films - however, unlike the early Bergman films, I consider some of Lean's early works (specifically Brief Encounter and Great Expectations) every bit the equals of his later great epics, even if they are much, much smaller in scale.

Re: 2011 The Criterion Collection - Challenge #3 Discussion Thread
 

That's pretty much what I had already surmised based on the two I've watched. Like I've noted in my responses to them, it's easy to tell they were the work of a playwright; not only in terms of structure and scale, but content. There's little in the way of subtext or symbolism to be found; such things are difficult to convey on the stage. It's hard for actors to be nuanced while speaking in stage voice. I find these early works intriguing more for providing me with a sense of his evolution than anything else.

I'm glad I can stream these movies. Once should be sufficient for me. I won't be making an effort to buy this box set, though if I should begin building a Bergman library I would eventually look for a good deal on this collection.

I concur, though it's worth noting that Bergman wrote his own material whereas Lean came to direct established, tested material by someone as prolific as Noel Coward (with whom he co-directed his first two films), and adapting Dickens is a bit of a different world entirely from working from original material. I don't believe Lean directed a single original work; they were all adaptations of books or they were plays first.

This is not to slight Lean in any way, mind you; I'm well aware that adaptations present their own unique challenges, not least of which is preexisting ideas among the audience of what everything in the film ought to be. I'm merely arguing that his early films had a key advantage over Bergman's based on the nature of the material. And it's not that Bergman's early works are bad, so much as primitive relative to the rich, captivating works for his filmography is identified.

Re: 2011 The Criterion Collection - Challenge #3 Discussion Thread
 

Just saw that the two films Criterions has released that were made this decade, Carlos and Life During Wartime, are not available on Hulu yet.

Skipped the last B&N sale, so thought I'd have to pay $20 to find one of the BDs. That's twice what I like to pay, and luckily realized that I had a $5 Amazon Instant Video credit sitting there. Used it on Life During Wartime, so it looks like I'll probably complete the checklist this week.

Re: 2011 The Criterion Collection - Challenge #3 Discussion Thread
 

Carlos is streamed at Netflix, if you have an account.

Re: 2011 The Criterion Collection - Challenge #3 Discussion Thread
 

Renting isn't for me. But thanks, that will help other checklist completists.

Re: 2011 The Criterion Collection - Challenge #3 Discussion Thread
 

Oh my God! You must make this your signature right now!

Re: 2011 The Criterion Collection - Challenge #3 Discussion Thread
 

Fell off the wagon there, but just watched Broadcast News, which I really enjoyed back in the day and enjoyed again now. Was too cheap to spring for the BD so am watching Qwikster's crappy non-anamorphic DVD. As noted earlier, an interesting period study of media, fun dialogue, and great cast. I got very smitten with Holly Hunter at the time, and Joan Cusack was way young.

Re: 2011 The Criterion Collection - Challenge #3 Discussion Thread
 

I watched MISHIMA: A LIFE IN FOUR CHAPTERS (1985) today. I have the Warner Bros. disc released in 2001 and not the Criterion edition. I started reading books by Yukio Mishima this year—“The Sound of Waves” earlier this year and “Spring Snow,” just recently, which I’m in the middle of right now—and I’m bowled over by how great a writer he was. I intend to read more of his works. I have real problems with the movie, but more on that in a minute. First off, I watched it with an English narration track, not knowing there was a Japanese language narration track with subs., which is how I would have preferred to watch it. Second, the English narration, supposed to be the voice of Mishima, is read by a nondescript Midwestern-twanged male voice, which kind of threw me out of the movie. (All the spoken dialogue in the movie is in Japanese, with subs.) Third, the narration is credited to Roy Scheider, but that sure in hell isn’t Roy Scheider’s voice. Who is it?

So, to those of you who own the Criterion edition, here’s a question: Has Roy Scheider’s English narration track been restored?

Onto the film. After watching it, I started it again to listen to Schrader’s commentary track as I was looking up info on the film on the web. He tells us more pertinent info about Mishima in the first five minutes of his commentary than he does in the entire two-hour film! If I hadn’t read some Mishima before seeing the movie, I would probably have sworn off ever reading him at all. The man comes off as severely delusional and acts like a buffoon in some scenes. The actor playing him, Ken Ogata, a tough guy type, doesn’t look like Mishima at all and doesn’t seem to have any of his charisma either. How would this man, as portrayed in the film, have become a popular public figure able to convince so many bright young men to follow him and his fanatical cause? We simply don’t see how. And when Ogata is “youthened” to play Mishima as a beauty- and body-obsessed young man in his 20s, the result is laughable. He was 47 at the time and looks OLD! (Schrader does touch on this in the commentary, although not quite allowing himself to admit that it simply didn’t work.)

The film uses an odd structure, with events on the last day of Mishima’s life, November 25, 1970, forming the basic underlying narrative, with black-and-white flashbacks to earlier stages of his life, done in a fairly realistic style, and color dramatizations of scenes from three of his novels done on extremely stylized and theatrical sets. This just didn’t work for me. I’d rather know more about him from a conventional narrative structure and then see other movies that are based on his works. We don’t get nearly enough info about him from this film. Nor do we get any kind of historical or social context for his extreme actions.

It was a pleasant surprise, though, to spot Yasuaki Kurata in a bit part. He was well-known at the time for his work in Hong Kong kung fu movies, e.g. LEGEND OF A FIGHTER (1982), and he did some martial arts roles in Japanese films and TV shows as well. (In his commentary, Schrader refers to him only as a “famous Japanese body builder.”)

I haven’t listened to the whole audio commentary but after about 40 minutes, there was still no mention of why it’s not Scheider we hear doing the narration.

Re: 2011 The Criterion Collection - Challenge #3 Discussion Thread
 

Carlos has also been airing on the Sundance channel. It's on this afternoon as well.

;)
 

rotfl I would, but impractical signatures aren't for me.

Edit to add response to below and minimize OT posts:

Done! You're crafty.