The street date for ECLIPSE SERIES 9: THE DELIRIOUS FICTIONS OF WILLIAM KLEIN now moves from 4/8 to 5/20. This one should stick.
In addition to the information already announced on Paul Schrader‘s MISHIMA: A LIFE IN FOUR CHAPTERS, it should also be noted that the release features a new, restored high-definition digital transfer of the director’s cut, supervised and approved by director Paul Schrader and cinematographer John Bailey, and optional English and Japanese voice-over narrations, the former by Roy Scheider, the latter by Ken Ogata.
And finally, the SRP on PATRIOTISM changes from $29.95 to $24.95.
Full information on these three titles is below.
ECLIPSE SERIES #9 - THE DELIRIOUS FICTIONS OF WILLIAM KLEIN
William Klein’s explosive, challenging New York street photography made him one of the most heralded artists of the fifties. An American expatriate in Paris, Klein has also been making challenging cinema for over forty years, yet, with the exception of his acclaimed 1969 documentary Muhammad Ali, the Greatest, his film work is barely known in the United States. In his three fiction features—Who Are You, Polly Maggoo?, Mr. Freedom, and The Model Couple—he skewers the fashion industry, American imperialism, and middle-class complacency with hilarious, cutting aplomb. Today, Klein’s politically galvanizing and insanely entertaining social critiques seem even more ahead of their time than works of the more famous New Wavers that overshadowed them: colorful, surreal antidotes to all forms of social oppression.
THREE-DISC BOX SET FEATURES:
Who Are You, Polly Maggoo? (1966)
After a nearly decade as Vogue’s most subversive fashion photographer, William Klein made this wild, pseudo-vérité peek into the world of Parisian haute couture—and was summarily released from his contract at the magazine. Elegant, scathing humor ties together the various strands of this alternately glamorous and grotesque portrait of American in Paris Polly Maggoo (Dorothy MacGowan), a mannequin-like supermodel who becomes the pin-up plaything of media hounds and the fragmented fantasy of haunted Prince Igor (Sami Frey). Klein’s first fiction film is a daring deflation of cultural pretensions and institutions dressed up in ravishing black-and-white.
Mr. Freedom (1969)
William Klein moved into more blatantly political territory with this hilarious, angry Vietnam-era spoof of imperialist American foreign policy. Mr. Freedom (John Abbey), a bellowing good ol’ boy superhero, decked out in copious football padding, jets off to France to curtail a Commie invasion from Switzerland. A destructive, arrogant patriot in tight pants, Freedom joins forces with Marie-Madeleine (satirically sexy Delphine Seyrig) to combat lefty freethinkers, as well as insidious evildoers Moujik Man and the inflatable Red China Man, culminating in a gloriously star-spangled showdown of kitschy excess. Delightfully crass, Mr. Freedom is a trenchant, rib-tickling takedown of gaudy modern Americana.
The Model Couple (1977)
In 1977 France, the Ministry of the Future chooses two average, white, middle-class citizens, Claudine (Anemone) and Jean-Michel (Andre Dussolier), for a national experiment. They will be monitored and displayed for six months in a model apartment outfitted withstate-of-the-art products and nonstop surveillance—the template for “a new city for the new man.” An unusually prescient depiction of the breakdown of individual freedoms in the face of an increasingly mechanized consumer culture, William Klein’s The Model Couple deftly satirizes a modern age out of control.
Info
Directed by William Klein (Muhammad Ali, the Greatest; Eldridge Cleaver)
Starring Sami Frey (Band of Outsiders, Cléo from 5 to 7, Sweet Movie)
Starring Delphine Seyrig (The Milky Way, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie)
Starring Philippe Noiret (La Pointe Courte, La Grande bouffe, Cinema Paradiso)
Starring André Dussolier (Un Coeur en hiver, Amélie, Private Fears in Public Places)
Title: The Delirious Fictions of William Klein (series #9)
CAT: ECL041
UPC: 7-15515-02852-3
ISBN: 978-1-60465-024-2
SRP: $44.95
Prebook: 2/19/08
Street date: 5/20/08
MISHIMA: A LIFE IN FOUR CHAPTERS
Paul Schrader's visually stunning, structurally audacious collage-like portrait of acclaimed Japanese author and playwright Yuko Mishima (played by Ken Ogata) investigates the inner turmoil and contradictions of a man who attempted an impossible harmony between self, art, and society. Taking place on Mishima's last day, when he famously committed public seppuku (ritual suicide), the film is punctuated by extended flashbacks to the writer's life as well as gloriously stylized evocations of his fictional works. With its rich cinematography by John Bailey, exquisite sets and costumes by Eiko Ishioka, and unforgettable, highly influential score by Philip Glass, Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters is a sincere tribute to its subject and a bold, investigative work of art in its own right.
Info
• Directed by Paul Schrader (American Gigolo, Affliction, Auto Focus)
• Music by Philip Glass (Koyaanisqatsi, The Hours, Notes on a Scandal)
• Cinematography by John Bailey (Cat People, The Big Chill, Groundhog Day)
• Starring Ken Ogata (Vengeance Is Mine, Ballad of Narayama)
DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION DOUBLE-DISC SET FEATURES:
• New, restored high-definition digital transfer of the director’s cut, supervised and approved by director Paul Schrader and cinematographer John Bailey
• Optional English and Japanese voice-over narrations, the former by Roy Scheider, the latter by Ken Ogata
• New audio commentary featuring Schrader and producer Alan Poul
• The Strange Case of Yukio Mishima, a 55-minute BBC documentary about the author
• New interviews with Donald Richie and John Nathan, collaborators and friends of Yukio Mishima
• New interviews with Bailey, producers Tom Luddy and Mata Yamamoto, composer Philip Glass, and production designer Eiko Ishioka
• A new audio interview with coscreenwriter Chieko Schrader
• A video interview excerpt featuring Mishima talking about writing
• Theatrical trailer
• New and improved English subtitle translation
• PLUS: A booklet featuring a new essay by critic Kevin Jackson and a piece on the film’s censorship in Japan
Title: Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters
CAT: CC1752D
UPC: 7-15515-02972-8
ISBN: 978-1-60465-040-2
SRP: $39.95
Prebook: 5/13/08
Street date: 6/17/08
PATRIOTISM
Playwright and novelist Yukio Mishima predicted his own suicide with this ravishing short feature, his only foray into filmmaking (codirected with Domoto Masaki), yet made with the expressiveness and confidence of a true cinema artist. All prints of Patriotism (Yukoku), which depicts the seppuku (ritual suicide) of a naval officer, were destroyed after Mishima's death in 1970, though the negative was saved, and the film resurfaced thirty-five years later. New viewers will be stunned at the depth and clarity of Mishima's vision, as well as his graphic depictions of sex and death. The film is presented here with a choice of Japanese or English intertitles.
Info
• Written and directed by Yukio Mishima (“The Temple of the Golden Pavilion,” “Kyoto’s House”)
SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES:
• New, restored high-definition digital transfer of the Japanese and English versions, with optional Japanese or English intertitles
• A 45-minute audio recording of Yukio Mishima speaking to the Foreign
Correspondents' Association of Japan
• A 45-minute making-of documentary, featuring crew from the film's production
• Interview excerpts featuring Mishima discussing war and death
• New and improved English subtitle translation
• PLUS: A new essay by renowned critic and historian Tony Rayns, Mishima's original novella, and Mishima's extensive notes on the film's production
Title: Patriotism
CAT: CC1753D
UPC: 7-15515-02982-7
ISBN: 978-1-60465-041-9
SRP: $24.95
Prebook: 5/13/08
Street date: 6/17/08
In addition to the information already announced on Paul Schrader‘s MISHIMA: A LIFE IN FOUR CHAPTERS, it should also be noted that the release features a new, restored high-definition digital transfer of the director’s cut, supervised and approved by director Paul Schrader and cinematographer John Bailey, and optional English and Japanese voice-over narrations, the former by Roy Scheider, the latter by Ken Ogata.
And finally, the SRP on PATRIOTISM changes from $29.95 to $24.95.
Full information on these three titles is below.
ECLIPSE SERIES #9 - THE DELIRIOUS FICTIONS OF WILLIAM KLEIN
William Klein’s explosive, challenging New York street photography made him one of the most heralded artists of the fifties. An American expatriate in Paris, Klein has also been making challenging cinema for over forty years, yet, with the exception of his acclaimed 1969 documentary Muhammad Ali, the Greatest, his film work is barely known in the United States. In his three fiction features—Who Are You, Polly Maggoo?, Mr. Freedom, and The Model Couple—he skewers the fashion industry, American imperialism, and middle-class complacency with hilarious, cutting aplomb. Today, Klein’s politically galvanizing and insanely entertaining social critiques seem even more ahead of their time than works of the more famous New Wavers that overshadowed them: colorful, surreal antidotes to all forms of social oppression.
THREE-DISC BOX SET FEATURES:
Who Are You, Polly Maggoo? (1966)
After a nearly decade as Vogue’s most subversive fashion photographer, William Klein made this wild, pseudo-vérité peek into the world of Parisian haute couture—and was summarily released from his contract at the magazine. Elegant, scathing humor ties together the various strands of this alternately glamorous and grotesque portrait of American in Paris Polly Maggoo (Dorothy MacGowan), a mannequin-like supermodel who becomes the pin-up plaything of media hounds and the fragmented fantasy of haunted Prince Igor (Sami Frey). Klein’s first fiction film is a daring deflation of cultural pretensions and institutions dressed up in ravishing black-and-white.
Mr. Freedom (1969)
William Klein moved into more blatantly political territory with this hilarious, angry Vietnam-era spoof of imperialist American foreign policy. Mr. Freedom (John Abbey), a bellowing good ol’ boy superhero, decked out in copious football padding, jets off to France to curtail a Commie invasion from Switzerland. A destructive, arrogant patriot in tight pants, Freedom joins forces with Marie-Madeleine (satirically sexy Delphine Seyrig) to combat lefty freethinkers, as well as insidious evildoers Moujik Man and the inflatable Red China Man, culminating in a gloriously star-spangled showdown of kitschy excess. Delightfully crass, Mr. Freedom is a trenchant, rib-tickling takedown of gaudy modern Americana.
The Model Couple (1977)
In 1977 France, the Ministry of the Future chooses two average, white, middle-class citizens, Claudine (Anemone) and Jean-Michel (Andre Dussolier), for a national experiment. They will be monitored and displayed for six months in a model apartment outfitted withstate-of-the-art products and nonstop surveillance—the template for “a new city for the new man.” An unusually prescient depiction of the breakdown of individual freedoms in the face of an increasingly mechanized consumer culture, William Klein’s The Model Couple deftly satirizes a modern age out of control.
Info
Directed by William Klein (Muhammad Ali, the Greatest; Eldridge Cleaver)
Starring Sami Frey (Band of Outsiders, Cléo from 5 to 7, Sweet Movie)
Starring Delphine Seyrig (The Milky Way, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie)
Starring Philippe Noiret (La Pointe Courte, La Grande bouffe, Cinema Paradiso)
Starring André Dussolier (Un Coeur en hiver, Amélie, Private Fears in Public Places)
Title: The Delirious Fictions of William Klein (series #9)
CAT: ECL041
UPC: 7-15515-02852-3
ISBN: 978-1-60465-024-2
SRP: $44.95
Prebook: 2/19/08
Street date: 5/20/08
MISHIMA: A LIFE IN FOUR CHAPTERS
Paul Schrader's visually stunning, structurally audacious collage-like portrait of acclaimed Japanese author and playwright Yuko Mishima (played by Ken Ogata) investigates the inner turmoil and contradictions of a man who attempted an impossible harmony between self, art, and society. Taking place on Mishima's last day, when he famously committed public seppuku (ritual suicide), the film is punctuated by extended flashbacks to the writer's life as well as gloriously stylized evocations of his fictional works. With its rich cinematography by John Bailey, exquisite sets and costumes by Eiko Ishioka, and unforgettable, highly influential score by Philip Glass, Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters is a sincere tribute to its subject and a bold, investigative work of art in its own right.
Info
• Directed by Paul Schrader (American Gigolo, Affliction, Auto Focus)
• Music by Philip Glass (Koyaanisqatsi, The Hours, Notes on a Scandal)
• Cinematography by John Bailey (Cat People, The Big Chill, Groundhog Day)
• Starring Ken Ogata (Vengeance Is Mine, Ballad of Narayama)
DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION DOUBLE-DISC SET FEATURES:
• New, restored high-definition digital transfer of the director’s cut, supervised and approved by director Paul Schrader and cinematographer John Bailey
• Optional English and Japanese voice-over narrations, the former by Roy Scheider, the latter by Ken Ogata
• New audio commentary featuring Schrader and producer Alan Poul
• The Strange Case of Yukio Mishima, a 55-minute BBC documentary about the author
• New interviews with Donald Richie and John Nathan, collaborators and friends of Yukio Mishima
• New interviews with Bailey, producers Tom Luddy and Mata Yamamoto, composer Philip Glass, and production designer Eiko Ishioka
• A new audio interview with coscreenwriter Chieko Schrader
• A video interview excerpt featuring Mishima talking about writing
• Theatrical trailer
• New and improved English subtitle translation
• PLUS: A booklet featuring a new essay by critic Kevin Jackson and a piece on the film’s censorship in Japan
Title: Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters
CAT: CC1752D
UPC: 7-15515-02972-8
ISBN: 978-1-60465-040-2
SRP: $39.95
Prebook: 5/13/08
Street date: 6/17/08
PATRIOTISM
Playwright and novelist Yukio Mishima predicted his own suicide with this ravishing short feature, his only foray into filmmaking (codirected with Domoto Masaki), yet made with the expressiveness and confidence of a true cinema artist. All prints of Patriotism (Yukoku), which depicts the seppuku (ritual suicide) of a naval officer, were destroyed after Mishima's death in 1970, though the negative was saved, and the film resurfaced thirty-five years later. New viewers will be stunned at the depth and clarity of Mishima's vision, as well as his graphic depictions of sex and death. The film is presented here with a choice of Japanese or English intertitles.
Info
• Written and directed by Yukio Mishima (“The Temple of the Golden Pavilion,” “Kyoto’s House”)
SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES:
• New, restored high-definition digital transfer of the Japanese and English versions, with optional Japanese or English intertitles
• A 45-minute audio recording of Yukio Mishima speaking to the Foreign
Correspondents' Association of Japan
• A 45-minute making-of documentary, featuring crew from the film's production
• Interview excerpts featuring Mishima discussing war and death
• New and improved English subtitle translation
• PLUS: A new essay by renowned critic and historian Tony Rayns, Mishima's original novella, and Mishima's extensive notes on the film's production
Title: Patriotism
CAT: CC1753D
UPC: 7-15515-02982-7
ISBN: 978-1-60465-041-9
SRP: $24.95
Prebook: 5/13/08
Street date: 6/17/08
