Criterion Collection
-
Behind-the-Scenes of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg’s Digital Restoration
In conjunction with the release of The Essential Jacques Demy box set, Criterion has offered up a supplemental look inside the 2013 digital restoration of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. Above, Agnès Varda, the couple’s children, Mathieu and Rosalie, and technical specialists discuss the intricacies of upgrading the film’s sound, color, and image for the modern viewer. It’s depressingly easy to see why so many films fall by the wayside as prints run obsolete, and digital projection cements its spot as the industry standard. The attention to detail is, as Criterion notes, painstaking, to say nothing of the expense.
by Sarah Salovaara on Jul 22, 2014 -
The Hands of Robert Bresson
Filmmakers, how much attention do you pay to a single body part, to a gesture? This elegantly beautiful supercut on “the tactile world of Robert Bresson” by Kogonada for Criterion shows the great French director’s notoriously precise skill is applied even at the slightest hand gesture. There are no faces in this video yet the drama of these scenes is palpable.
by Scott Macaulay on Jun 19, 2014 -
Errol Morris on Stephen Hawking and A Brief History of Time (and Yo Yo Ma and Cello Playing)
The pairing of the finest scientific mind of his generation with one of America’s best documentarians and the preeminent composer of his time should, one would think, have made more of a lasting impression on the cinematic landscape. However, 20-odd years after its release, Errol Morris’ 1992 A Brief History of Time – a (liberal) adaptation of Stephen Hawking’s all-time bestseller, with a score by Philip Glass – is a title receiving a much-needed revival thanks to its release on DVD and Blu ray through Criterion. Morris’ movie, which cannily interweaves Hawking’s own compelling history with the astrophysicist’s theories of the […]
by Nick Dawson on Mar 19, 2014 -
Behind The Scenes At The Criterion Collection
You’d be hard pressed to find a modern movie lover who doesn’t own at least one DVD/Blu-ray from The Criterion Collection. With a catalogue of hundreds of auteur and contemporary titles, Criterion is just as much about preservation as it is curation. This video from Gizmodo takes you behind the scenes at Criterion’s Gramercy office and inside the process of restoring Alfred Hitchcock’s Foreign Correspondent. Beginning with a negative from the Library of Congress, the print is scanned, color corrected, retouched and sound edited before making its way into one of the company’s signature disc covers. I recently visited the office to interview […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Feb 14, 2014 -
Up All Night With Robert Downey Sr.
Robert Downey Sr.’s films are ribald, socially-conscious, highly experimental works that make Richard Lester’s oeuvre seem polite and Godard’s plot-heavy. Though he achieved cult success with 1969’s Putney Swope, some of Downey’s other, more radical works from the period are arguably more interesting, and their revival by way of an Eclipse box set is exceptional news. Up All Night With Robert Downey Sr. brings together five early films which show the director at his unhinged best, and if nothing else should prove a hedge against Downey becoming a mere footnote to his more famous son’s career. A part of New […]
by Eddie Mullins on Jun 14, 2012 -
Ingmar Bergman Interviews Ingmar Bergman
Ingmar Bergman was not known for being a particularly lighthearted or funny fellow, but it turns out he was not always as dark and brooding as his movies may have lead us to believe. As part of the DVD release package of Summer with Monika, the Criterion Collection has included a translated conversation, first published in the Swedish publication Filmnyheter, in which Bergman interviews himself about his movie. And it’s really funny! You can check out the entire playful dialogue (or should it be monologue?) at the Criterion Current. What was it like making Monika? I didn’t make Monika. [Source novel […]
by Nick Dawson on Jun 7, 2012 -
Paul Thomas Anderson and Robert Downey Sr. on Babo 73
Here’s friends and fellow directors Paul Thomas Anderson and Robert Downey Sr. talking about Babo 73, one of the five early Downey features included on Criterion’s new box set from their no-frills Eclipse series, Up All Night with Robert Downey Sr., which comes out next week on DVD.
by Nick Dawson on May 18, 2012 -
What’s In My Instapaper: Sunday Morning Links, 4/8/2012
It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these, but now that the new issue is shipped and off to the printer, here’s what I’m catching up on. What’s one measure of good dialogue? According to the Physics arIXv Blog at MIT, it’s the memorability of its quotes. A Cornell University study found that there’s a reason lines like “You had me at hello,” “You can’t handle the truth” and “Hasta la vista, baby” lodge themselves in our memories. “The cloud” — that system of networked and very terrestrial computers that store and stream are data — may have […]
by Scott Macaulay on Apr 8, 2012 -
Filmmaker Magazine Holiday Subscription Drive Is Underway
If you’re looking for a gift to give a film lover this holiday season or just want to treat yourself, our annual holiday subscription drive is now online. From today to Dec. 25 you save over 40% when subscribing to Filmmaker. That’s $10 for a 1 year subscription, $18 for 2 years and $6 for a 1 year digital subscription. And here’s where it gets good, all new subscribers will be entered into a drawing for free gifts ranging from an Oscilloscope Circle of Truth subscription, box sets from Factory 25 and Focus Features, a signed Melancholia poster by Lars […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Dec 1, 2011 -
Slacker — A Hammer to Nail Review
(Richard Linklater’s seminal indie feature was released 20 years ago this summer. In celebration, 24 Austin-based filmmakers have crafted Slacker 2011, a collage/montage/homage, which premiered on August 31 at the Austin Film Society. For our part, we’re posting Nelson Kim’s essay on the film, which originally ran at Hammer To Nail on January 5, 2009. Buy the Criterion edition on DVD, or watch it at Amazon Instant.) A young man (the then-31-year-old writer, director, and producer) gets off a bus in Austin, hails a cab, and tells the driver about his theory that every choice we make in life creates […]
by Nelson Kim on Sep 1, 2011
