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04-17-2008, 03:09 AM
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#1 of 26 
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Ronald Epstein
Owner
Join Date: Jul 1997
Local Time: 09:26 AM
Local Date: 05-17-2008
Posts: 22,280
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Criterion Press Release: July 2008 Titles
Mon oncle Antoine
Claude Jutra’s evocative portrait of a boy’s coming of age in wintry 1940s rural Quebec has been consistently cited by critics and scholars as the greatest Canadian film of all time. Delicate, naturalistic, and tinged with a striking mix of nostalgia and menace, Mon oncle Antoine follows the everyday lives of both young Benoit, as he first encounters the twin terrors of sex and death, and his fellow villagers, living under the thumb of the local asbestos-mine owner. Set during one ominous Christmas, Mon oncle Antoine is a holiday film unlike any other, and an authentically detailed illustration of childhood’s twilight.
Info
• Directed by Claude Jutra (À tout prendre, Wow)
SPECIAL EDITION DOUBLE-DISC SET FEATURES:
• New, restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised and approved by director of photography Michel Brault
• On-Screen: “Mon oncle Antoine,” a 2007 documentary tracing the making and history of the film
• Claude Jutra, an Unfinished Story, a 2002 documentary that attempts to unravel “the Jutra mystery,” featuring interviews with Brault, Bernardo Bertolucci, actors Geneviève Bujold and Saul Rubinek. and actor-director Paule Baillargeon
• A Chairy Tale, a 1957 experimental short codirected by Jutra and Norman McLaren
• Theatrical trailer
• Optional English-dubbed soundtrack
• New and improved English subtitle translation
• PLUS: A new essay by film scholar André Loiselle
Title: Mon oncle Antoine
CAT: CC1759D
UPC: 7-15515-03082-3
ISBN: 978-1-60465-052-5
SRP: $39.95
Prebook: 6/3/08
Street date: 7/8/08
Trafic
In Jacques Tati’s Trafic, the bumbling Monsieur Hulot, outfitted as always with tan raincoat, beaten brown hat, and umbrella, takes to Paris’s highways and byways. For this, his final outing, Hulot is employed as an auto company’s director of design, and accompanies his new vehicle (a camper tricked out in all sorts of absurd gadgetry) to an auto show in Amsterdam. Naturally, the road is paved with modern-age mishaps. This late-career delight is a masterful demonstration of the comic genius’s expert timing and sidesplitting visual gags, and a bemused last look at technology run amok.
Info
• Directed by Jacques Tati (M. Hulot’s Holiday, Mon oncle, Playtime)
• Produced by Robert Dorfmann (Touchez pas au grisbi, Tristana, Le cercle rouge)
SPECIAL EDITION DOUBLE-DISC SET FEATURES:
• New, restored high-definition digital transfer
• In the Footsteps of Monsieur Hulot (1969), a two-hour documentary tracing the evolution of Jacques Tati’s beloved alter ego
• Interview from 1971 with the cast of Trafic, from the French television program Le journal de cinema
• “The Comedy of Jacques Tati,” a 1973 episode from the French television program Morceaux de bravoure
• Theatrical trailer
• New and improved English subtitle translation
• PLUS: A new essay by film critic Jonathan Romney
Title: Trafic
CAT: CC1756D
UPC: 7-15515-03032-8
ISBN: 978-1-60465-045-7
SRP: $39.95
Prebook: 6/10/08
Street date: 7/15/08
Vampyr
With Vampyr, Danish filmmaker Carl Theodor Dreyer’s brilliance at achieving mesmerizing atmosphere and austere, profoundly unsettling imagery (as in The Passion of Joan of Arc and Day of Wrath) was for once applied to the horror genre. Yet the result—concerning an occult student assailed by various supernatural haunts and local evildoers at an inn outside Paris—is nearly unclassifiable, a host of stunning camera and editing tricks and densely layered sounds creating a mood of dreamlike terror. With its roiling fogs, ominous scythes, and foreboding echoes, Vampyr is one of cinema’s great nightmares.
Info
• Directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer (The Passion of Joan of Arc, Day of Wrath, Ordet)
• Cinematography by Rudolph Maté (Stella Dallas, Foreign Correspondent, Gilda)
SPECIAL EDITION DOUBLE-DISC SET FEATURES:
• New, restored high-definition digital transfer of the 1998 film restoration by Martin Koerber and the Cineteca di Bologna
• Optional all-new English-text version of the film
• Audio commentary featuring film scholar Tony Rayns
• Carl Th. Dreyer (1966), a documentary by Jörgen Roos chronicling Dreyer’s career
• Visual essay by scholar Casper Tybjerg on Dreyer’s influences in creating Vampyr
• A 1958 radio broadcast of Dreyer reading an essay about filmmaking
• New and improved English subtitle translation
• PLUS: A booklet featuring new essays by Mark Le Fanu and Kim Newman, Martin Koerber on the restoration, and an archival interview with producer and star Nicolas de Gunzburg, as well as a book featuring Dreyer and Christen Jul’s original screenplay and Sheridan Le Fanu 1871 story “Carmilla,” a source for the filmTitle: Vampyr
Title: Vampyr
CAT: CC1757D
UPC: 7-15515-03042-7
ISBN: 978-1-60465-046-4
SRP: $39.95
Prebook: 6/17/08
Street date: 7/22/08
High and Low
Toshiro Mifune is unforgettable as Kingo Gondo, a wealthy industrialist whose family becomes the target of a cold-blooded kidnapper in Akira Kurosawa’s highly influential domestic drama and police procedural High and Low. Adapting Ed McBain’s detective novel King’s Ransom, Kurosawa moves effortlessly from compelling race-against-time thriller to exacting social commentary, creating a diabolical treatise on class and contemporary Japanese society. Criterion is proud to present High and Low (Tengoko to jigoku) in this new high-definition digital transfer.
Info
• Directed by Akira Kurosawa (Seven Samurai, The Bad Sleep Well, Yojimbo)
• Starring Toshiro Mifune (Rashomon, Seven Samurai, Red Beard)
• Starring Tatsuya Nakadai (When a Woman Ascends the Stairs, The Face of Another, Ran)
• Starring Takashi Shimura (Ikiru, Seven Samurai, The Hidden Fortress)
SPECIAL EDITION DOUBLE-DISC SET FEATURES:
• New, restored high-definition digital transfer, with newly restored original
four-track surround sound
• New audio commentary by Akira Kurosawa scholar Stephen Prince
• A 37-minute documentary on the making of High and Low, created as part of the Toho Masterworks series Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create
• Rare archival interview with Toshiro Mifune
• New video interview with actor Tsutomu Yamazaki, who plays the kidnapper
• Theatrical trailers from Japan and the U.S.
• New and improved English subtitle translation
• PLUS: A booklet featuring a new essay by critic Geoffrey O’Brien and a reprinted essay by Japanese film scholar Donald Richie
• More!
Title: High and Low
CAT: CC1760D
UPC: 7-15515-03092-2
ISBN: 978-1-60465-053-2
SRP: $39.95
Prebook: 6/17/08
Street date: 7/22/08
ATTN CANADA: MON ONCLE ANTOINE AND TRAFIC ARE AVAILABLE IN THE US ONLY. VAMPYR AND HIGH AND LOW ARE AVAILABLE IN ALL CANADA.
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04-17-2008, 05:01 AM
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#2 of 26
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Member
Join Date: Mar 2001
Local Time: 08:26 AM
Local Date: 05-17-2008
Posts: 14,164
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Re: Criterion Press Release: July 2008 Titles
Cool. I've never seen Trafic, but I'm hoping it's up to Tati standards, and will be making an extremely rare blind purchase.
I might also upgrade High & Low, though I'll wait for reviews before deciding.
"Movies should be like amusement parks. People should go to them to have fun." - Billy Wilder
"Subtitles good. Hollywood bad." - Tarzan, Sight & Sound 2012 voter.
"My films are not slices of life, they are pieces of cake." - Alfred Hitchcock
San Antonio Spurs MVP: Tim Donaghy
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04-17-2008, 10:55 AM
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#3 of 26
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Member
Location: Alexandria, VA
Join Date: Nov 2003
Local Time: 09:26 AM
Local Date: 05-17-2008
Posts: 3,783
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Re: Criterion Press Release: July 2008 Titles
Great month from Criterion! A proper release of High and Low has been a long-desired re-release, and I'm sure it'll have been worth the wait. I've heard about Vampyr for a long time without having managed to see it, so I'll definitely check it out. I'm sure Trafic will be worth seeing, and let's hope that Criterion also has a release in the works for Jour de Fete, Tati's first feature, which I loved when I got to see it a screening.
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04-17-2008, 11:04 AM
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#4 of 26
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mike kaminski
Member
Location: Toronto
Join Date: Jul 2006
Local Time: 08:26 AM
Local Date: 05-17-2008
Posts: 208
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Re: Criterion Press Release: July 2008 Titles
High and Low just made me pee my pants.
We've been sorely needing a better transfer, and I don't think theres ever been an interview with Mifune on a Criterion disk. Only question now is will the transfer still be cropped like before or will they have found a new print with the full OAR? We can only hope yes.
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04-17-2008, 11:55 AM
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#5 of 26
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Member
Join Date: Sep 2002
Local Time: 06:26 AM
Local Date: 05-17-2008
Posts: 2,260
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Re: Criterion Press Release: July 2008 Titles
High and Low should be the last of the Kurosawa remasters. All of them have good-to-great transfers now.
I've always wanted to see Vampyr, and Trafic is a nice (though unsurprising) addition, but I would have rather got Tati's Jour de fete instead, which is also on the production schedule.
Never heard of Mon oncle Antoine before, but "Best Canadian film of all time" is pretty high praise.
My DVD/BD Collection
"A man just naturally can't take the law into his own hands and hang people without hurtin' everybody in the world, 'cause then he's just not breaking one law but all laws. Law is a lot more than words you put in a book, or judges or lawyers or sheriffs you hire to carry it out. It's everything people ever have found out about justice and what's right and wrong. It's the very conscience of humanity. There can't be any such thing as civilization unless people have a conscience, because if people touch God anywhere, where is it except through their conscience? And what is anybody's conscience except a little piece of the conscience of all men that ever lived? I guess that's all I've got to say except kiss the babies for me and God bless you." - Martin's letter, The Ox-Bow Incident
Criterion DVDs Owned: 46, Total DVDs Owned: 567, Blu-ray Discs Owned: 85
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04-17-2008, 12:27 PM
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#6 of 26
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Member
Join Date: Sep 2002
Local Time: 09:26 AM
Local Date: 05-17-2008
Posts: 1,805
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Re: Criterion Press Release: July 2008 Titles
Did anyone guess the cartoon in their new newsletter? About Pascal, etc?
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04-17-2008, 12:31 PM
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#7 of 26
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mike kaminski
Member
Location: Toronto
Join Date: Jul 2006
Local Time: 08:26 AM
Local Date: 05-17-2008
Posts: 208
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Re: Criterion Press Release: July 2008 Titles
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Brandon Conway
High and Low should be the last of the Kurosawa remasters. All of them have good-to-great transfers now.
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As a Kurosawa fan I would argue that Throne of Blood and Hidden Fortress are below todays standards, but if the old DVD's stick around I can live with them. IMO they should just do them over so that they have a consistent catalog in their Kurosawa packages. I suppose whenever the heck Criterion goes BluRay these will get a new deal, but who knows when that will be (if ever).
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04-17-2008, 12:40 PM
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#8 of 26
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Member
Join Date: Sep 2002
Local Time: 06:26 AM
Local Date: 05-17-2008
Posts: 2,260
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Re: Criterion Press Release: July 2008 Titles
Throne of Blood and Hidden Fortress are fine, IMO. There could be improvement, but it would be insubstantial by comparison to the improvements for Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, Sanjuro, and (presumably) High and Low.
My DVD/BD Collection
"A man just naturally can't take the law into his own hands and hang people without hurtin' everybody in the world, 'cause then he's just not breaking one law but all laws. Law is a lot more than words you put in a book, or judges or lawyers or sheriffs you hire to carry it out. It's everything people ever have found out about justice and what's right and wrong. It's the very conscience of humanity. There can't be any such thing as civilization unless people have a conscience, because if people touch God anywhere, where is it except through their conscience? And what is anybody's conscience except a little piece of the conscience of all men that ever lived? I guess that's all I've got to say except kiss the babies for me and God bless you." - Martin's letter, The Ox-Bow Incident
Criterion DVDs Owned: 46, Total DVDs Owned: 567, Blu-ray Discs Owned: 85
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04-17-2008, 12:45 PM
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#9 of 26
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Brian Saur
Member
Join Date: Apr 2008
Local Time: 08:26 AM
Local Date: 05-17-2008
Posts: 16
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Re: Criterion Press Release: July 2008 Titles
Quote:
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Originally Posted by george kaplan
Cool. I've never seen Trafic, but I'm hoping it's up to Tati standards, and will be making an extremely rare blind purchase.
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I am very excited for this release. Though Trafic is(for me) not as good as Playtime, it is still worthy of Tati's other films.
Last edited by Brian Saur : 04-17-2008 at 12:52 PM.
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04-17-2008, 04:35 PM
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#10 of 26
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Member
Join Date: Oct 2001
Local Time: 09:26 AM
Local Date: 05-17-2008
Posts: 3,012
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Re: Criterion Press Release: July 2008 Titles
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04-17-2008, 05:36 PM
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#11 of 26
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Member
Join Date: Jul 1998
Local Time: 09:26 AM
Local Date: 05-17-2008
Posts: 850
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Re: Criterion Press Release: July 2008 Titles
Wow ! I had no idea they were working on High and Low. This is the only Kurosawa Criterion that I don't own and yet it is among my favorites (I decided to pass on the original cropped, non-anamorphic release). I am sure the new release will be worth the wait.
-D
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