If you’re curious to know what I’ve been watching during the fourth month of our lockdown well Chantal Akerman has been my primary companion. As I often do with certain directors I decide to plow through as many films as I can then spend the next decade wondering if I’ve seen ‘em all. Less glamorous is my bingeing of Top Chef which begs the question what if a cooking competition show was also trashy and dramatic reality TV? It is a harsh reminder that the mid-2000s were a godless time for men’s haircuts and facial hair. Elsewhere the slow going Wes Anderson re-watch project continued with The Life Aquatic which almost feels like Wes Anderson self-parody. I might enjoy it a little more than the first time, but it remains second-tier for me.
Yesterday (July 15) Criterion announced their upcoming October titles. After teasing Parasite and Memories of Murder back in February, Parasite was officially announced. The features are great and I will certainly be hunting for it when the November sale comes around. Even better is the long out of print Pierrot le Fou returning to the collection. This is my second favorite Godard film and it always irked me it went out of print before I was able to get it. Now if you missed my last post, scroll on down after this to see what I picked up on the first day of the sale. I’m getting to that point where I might have to place my obligatory online order, but not after I hit up one more location (Deerfield I’m coming for you). So last time I started my list with the collector sets, but I’ll just do the whole entry based on spine number.
Black Narcissus - When I had a few working VCRs and hundreds of tapes in my room (Including at least 5 rows deep under my bed) I wasn’t super keen on upgrading a lot of those titles. So looking at Criterion releases it was more important to get movies I had never seen because for some strange reason I primarily purchased movies I hadn’t seen. This has led to me owning a ton of movies that would have been much better to rent once and forget about forever. However after a long period of time I’ve looked at some of these old VHS titles and decided it’s time for an upgrade. I had several Powell-Pressburger titles on DVD, but this now joins A Matter of Life and Death as my only blu-rays from the dynamic duo. Curious to listen to the Powell and Scorsese commentary track.
The Lady Eve - Just as the Bruce Lee set was sold out everywhere I was legitimately surprised to find The Lady Eve staring at me. Nearly all of Sturges’ great comedies of the early 40s I recorded off of TCM so Unfaithfully Yours was the lone DVD I had of his work. A boxed set of his work came out which featured little to no special features and I remembered passing. Glad I did, since then I’ve picked up Sullivan’s Travels. The Lady Eve is certainly one of his best movies, and this release is quite stacked with features. I wish The Palm Beach Story had a little more on it, so I haven’t pulled the trigger on that yet.
Band of Outsiders - With the Pierrot le Fou announcement I was thinking how light my Godard collection was. The majority of his films are somewhat lacking in the extras department. Like Powell and Sturges most of Godard’s work I had on VHS, so when this originally was released I passed. Despite some great moments I always considered it a second tier film. I did however want to revisit it, and what better time than now? Slightly frustrating that one of the most fascinating filmmakers has such few audio commentaries on his releases.
Umberto D - Another VHS upgrade, sorry for the theme here. Umberto D was considered by many the last great Neo-realist film and it’s legacy was a little bittersweet. It usually pops up on the short list of best films ever made with or about dogs. I think I had a particular aversion to titles without audio commentary tracks, but that prejudice has largely elapsed. I remember so little of this film except that I enjoyed it quite a bit.
Eric Rohmer’s Six Moral Tales - One of the recent re-releases I meant to get. During the first day that fellow addict who left with a full box of titles took the only copy of the Rohmer set. To be honest I’m not sure I ever saw the first two parts of the Six Moral Tales. Fear not they aren’t a series in terms of connecting characters. Realizing this late I figured if it ever got the blu-ray treatment I’d bite the bullet. Well I got it and I’m curious to watch all the films again. Claire’s Knee is problematic in terms of it’s pedophilia, but the entire series always seemed like the type of movies intellectuals in their late 30s-50s would appreciate. So when I watched the last three installments at the age of 20 I assumed I was too young to really have them resonate. Perhaps time will change my initial perception. There area also a handful of early short films from Rohmer which make this a somewhat essential set for fans of the fab five Cahiers du Cinema crew.
The Last Emperor - When Bernardo Bertolucci and Nicholas Roeg died I naturally started thinking of their films. Roeg was very well represented by Criterion, but Bertolucci was more sporadic. I lamented the fact that none of Bertolucci’s best work was part of the collection, then I remembered that the 5 star film of his that won best picture in 1987 very much was part of Criterion. Yes I had the double VHS tape of this film, so that trend continues. It is loaded with enough special features to satisfy the pickiest of critics, and well it’s been a good 19-20 years since I’ve seen it. Bonus points for being referenced in The Simpson’s Stonecutters episode. Now just put out Last Tango in Paris and The Conformist.
3 Silent Classics by Josef Von Sternberg - Like Rohmer’s set, this was another older collection that went out of print. It represents the three films where Von Sternberg really emerged as a powerhouse force in film. Underworld got a lot of attention for taking the gangster film mainstream, and the Last Command did quite well in the very first Academy Awards ceremony. The Docks of New York I was not a fan of when I originally watched it, but I wanted to give it another look. Of all the films I’ve purchased since the sale began Underworld is the only one I’ve watched so far, which goes to show my priorities. A little sparse on special features they are still important films and considering the overall lack of silent classics on the collection I’ll take all I can get. I don’t see myself getting the Dietrich/Von Sternberg set however considering I already own several of those on DVD and The Blue Angel isn’t included. I really appreciated the visual essay on Underworld that goes into detail on how Von Sternberg came to be.
The Four Feathers - Along with The Thief of Baghdad, this is the pinnacle of the Korda families many lavish and exotic productions. Having watched a few of these titles during quarantine, it made me think about how long it had been since watching The Four Feathers. Perhaps because it was a British production it doesn’t get nearly the type of iconic love that other glorious Technicolor spectacles from 1939, even if it’s still well regarded. For a brief time it did seem as if Hollywood could have some competition, and this is well worth checking out.
The Great Beauty - I have a noticeable bias towards modern films. This particular sale I wanted to make a point to contemporize my collection. The Great Beauty was one of my favorite films of 2013 and a spiritual descendant of the Italian cinema of La Dolce Vita. It was released in that odd limbo period where Criterion was putting out dual format versions of their films, so I have a useless DVD copy of it now for no extra cost.
Phoenix - Christian Petzold is running largely unopposed as Germany’s best contemporary director, although Maren Ade is arguably one more great film away from challenging. This is a film that I thought of more and more after seeing his latest Transit. It imagines a unique post WWII that hearkens back to Fassbinders’ Marriage of Maria Braun with more smoke and shadows. At some point in time I will put together a list of the best films of the 2010s and this will be essential re-watching.
Dheepan - Continuing my Dave doesn’t just buy old movies trend is Jacques Audiard’s stunning 2015 feature. I have little memory of A Prophet and The Beat that My Heart Skipped but Dheepan stuck with me. Easily one of the best French films of the past decade I was a little embarrassed to learn of it’s existence when Criterion announced it was joining the collection. It’s been a few years since I watched it, and it has proven worthy of adding.
Holiday - The other great Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn comedy from 1938. Holiday is a classic film that I’ve always had a soft spot for. I think Cary Grant’s carefree vacationer would fit in well with today’s transient working culture. His character might seem novel and eccentric in 1938 (or in the also included original version from 1930). Perhaps a lovely double feature with this and The Philadelphia Story is in order. I can’t bring myself to get Woman of the Year considering it was one of the first DVDs I ever purchased and it has been viewed approximately once. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give it a shot.
As you can surmise, Silence of the Lambs and The Naked Kiss have proven harder to locate then expected. Not sure how many big hauls I got in me this month, but I already have enough titles for a year.
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