slowcloud

I'm glad to see Eraserhead coming to Blu, and those shorts included are fantastic, too. It'll make one of the creepiest ever disc in the Criterion Collection.

However, my heart skipped a beat to see Sundays and Cybčle on the list. It's never been on DVD, and I never even entertained the thought to write to Criterion to suggest it as a title they should release. It's one of the more obscure French New Wave films but has hardly a wasted shot and the film's story is devastating. I don't think I ever wept so much during a film I saw in my college years.

gryffinmaster

Beyond excited about these two.

Josh Z

Yes, Criterion's in-house film transfers are 2k.

I'm fairly certain that Eraserhead will use the same Lynch-approved master as the Blu-rays from Europe and Japan. It's a fine-looking transfer, so no worries there.

I'm excited that his short films are being remastered in HD. That's new. Although some of the imports included those shorts, they were in cruddy-looking SD.

Jaymole

Good month and very happy that Sundays and Cybčle will finally be coming out...Serge Bourguignon is the very definition of film one hit wonder.

slop101

I would buy Eraserhead, but besides watching it once to see how it looks in HD, I honestly don't see myself ever watching it again. It's a movie I appreciate that I don't really want to see again. Although, it is one of those movies you put in to watch with a girl you're seeing, who you don't want to ever see again.

rocket1312

I'm not sure I follow. Color correction is completely separate from the scanning of the elements.

Living Deadpan

I think I'm the one that didn't follow. Don't know what was going through my mind. D'oh!
Oh good, I'm not the only philistine. Eraserhead's one of those films I feel like I'm supposed to love more than I do. I definitely appreciate Eraserhead from a distance, like I'm watching some experimental art gallery exhibit. That's the best way I can describe it. I feel like I'm watching something that was meant to be exhibited at a hip art gallery rather than an immersive cinematic experience. Whereas, say, Bunuel's early surrealist films immediately draw me into their wonderful strange worlds.

slop101

Yeah, totally. Bunuel was brilliant because his stuff was equally artistic and entertaining, and extremely re-watchable. I'd be hard pressed to classify Eraserhead as even remotely entertaining.

rocket1312

I'll throw my hat into the ring re: Eraserhead. I'm a huge Lynch fan, but in 10 years I've only watched my dvd once. I need to watch it again before the blu-ray comes out (I barely even remember the film, it's been so long), but as it stands, Eraserhead is way down at the bottom of my personal Lynch rankings.

slop101

I should point out that all the Lynch short films on that are pretty enticing. I've seen a few, but not all of them.

TheDuke

Those shorts are everything that was included on the Short Films of David Lynch DVD right?

Solid Snake

I think Eraserhead is one of the greatest films ever. It ain't my bag of fun but it fascinates me. The audio and then the visual. That's a director blowing his load kind of film.

stvn1974

Eraserhead is one of my most watched films. I can see how it is not easy for people to re-watch even if they do like it. I used to work the midnight shift and on my days off would watch Eraserhead, Videodrome and Naked Lunch starting at midnight until the morning. Now I will have all three in great presentations from Criterion.

inri222

Lynch's Eraserhead makes for a good triple feature with Cronenberg's The Brood & Zulawski's Possession.

Philzilla

same here

rocket1312

The Cowboy and the Frenchman is missing from the new blu-ray. I own the short films dvd and yet can't recall a single thing about it. The synopsis on wikipedia leads me to believe that it's a rights issue that's keeping it from being included (it was made for a French tv show), but that tonally it doesn't really fit in with the rest of the work anyway. I'll have to pop my dvd in one of these days and revisit.

Mondo Kane

Eraserhead's one of my most favorites, but I'm more interested in owning Macbeth (I expected a better cover though)

Josh Z

It's the "Short Films of David Lynch" (minus The Cowboy and the Frenchman, as rocket1312 points out), plus Lynch's short from the "Lumiere and Company" project.

The Cowboy and the Frenchman was an embarrassing failure for Lynch. It's a single lame joke (French people are weird, and they eat weird stuff like snails!) dragged out to 35 agonizing minutes. There's really nothing to recommend about it, other than the perspective of watching Lynch fall flat on his face at attempting comedy.

big e

I agree with you and slop101 on Eraserhead. I appreciate it from an artistic standpoint, but it's not something I feel a urge to revisit, although I probably should since my viewings of it were years ago.

This is pretty much how I feel not only about Eraserhead, but a lot of the films Criterion releases as well as anything labeled experimental/avant-garde/art film. A lot of these types of films I've seen do feel like they were meant to be viewed as exhibit pieces and not entertainment, which is probably why I don't find many of them interesting. They may have interesting ideas behind them from an art perspective, but from a cinema perspective, they don't really do anything for me.

rocket1312

The Lumiere short isn't on that dvd? I could have sworn it was. I know I've seen it. I remember liking it quite a bit even though it was only ~1 min.

stvn1974

I can do without The Cowboy and the Frenchman being on this since it is as mentioned 35 minutes of grueling pain to sit through. Only seen it once and don't hate myself to sit through it again. The other shorts are all fantastic and glad they will be here in HD.

Josh Z

You're right, it was on the Short Films of David Lynch DVD. I had forgotten, and assumed it was only available in the Lumiere and Company DVD.

Lynch's piece was the best of all the Lumiere shorts, IMO.

inri222

I will be getting Eraserhead and watching it more than once.

Living Deadpan

I've been pondering the concept & wording of "entertaining". While I may not be a a huge fan of ERASERHEAD, there are lot of films I do like that I wouldn't consider "entertaining". I've always associated the word "entertainment" with frivolity, as in "it's just entertainment, nothing to think about."

I'm used to hearing "art" and "entertainment" posed as binary opposites. Too much time on IMDB I suppose; if I expressed my feelings on ERASERHEAD there, I'd be told to "stick to watching Michael Bay films!" (Which I do NOT find entertaining!)

Open question to anyone: What's a good word to use instead of "entertaining" to explain one's enjoyment of a film? Engaging, perhaps? VIDEODROME is one of my all-time favorite films but I've never thought of it as "entertaining" (even if part of my reaction to it is being entertained). Often when I talk about my favorite film/music/lit, I'll say something "resonates" with me, or I find it "compelling." It "sticks with me."

I'm not trying to be pretentious. I just try to find words that don't have such binary baggage. Good vs Bad, Artistic vs Entertaining... To me, film appreciation (like anything else) has a middle ground.

Solid Snake

If you're enjoying something it kind of follows that you're being entertained. I think you're over simplying the idea that to be entertained it has to resonate positive in nature to you.

Entertainment can be whatever the fuck you want.

We've had films that hit the art and entertainment combo category before. It's not all that amazing but it can be in some forms.

Eraserhead doesn't entertain me but it does interest me as a work. I think it is an amazing film that I derive no actual pleasure from but it does get my attention.

I'll buy the BD for sure cuz it is such an interesting film to me.