Tiny Furniture – The Criterion Collection #597 (a J!-ENT Blu-ray Disc Review)

February 6, 2012 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment

Lena Dunham’s award-winning independent film”Tiny Furniture” will be Criterion Collection’s first inclusion of mumblecore to their collection. A slice of life type of film that is enjoyable but equally frustrating. Nevertheless, showing promise for the filmmaking career of Lena Dunham.

TITLE: Tiny Furniture – The Criterion Collection #597

MOVIE RELEASE: 2010

DURATION: 99 Minutes

DVD INFORMATION: Color, 2:35:1 Aspect Ratio, 5.1 Surround

COMPANY: IFC Films/The Criterion Collection

RELEASE DATE: February4, 2012

Written and Directed by Lena Dunham

Produced by Kyle Martin, Alicia Van Couvering

Co-Produced by Alice Wang

Music by Teddy Blanks

Cinematography by Jody Lee Lopes

Edited by Lance Edmands

Art Direction by Jade Healy, Chris Trujillo

Starring:

Lena Dunham as Aura

Laurie Simmons as Siri

Grace Dunham as Nadine

Jemima Kirke as Charlotte

Alex Karpovsky as Jed

David Call as Keith

Merritt Wever as Frankie

Amy Seimetz as Ashlynn

Lena Dunham got her start making YouTube videos, but she emerged as a major talent thanks to the breakthrough success of this exceptionally sharp comedy, which garnered the twenty-four-year-old writer-director-actor comparisons to the likes of Woody Allen. Dunham plays Aura, a recent college graduate who returns to New York and moves back in with her mother and sister (played by the filmmaker’s real-life mother and sister). Though Aura is gripped by stasis and confusion about her future, Dunham locates endless sources of refreshing humor in her plight. As painfully confessional as it is amusing, Tiny Furniture is an authentic, incisive portrait of a young woman at a crossroads.

Mumblecore. The definition of mumblecore is an “American independent film movement that arose at the turn of the 21st century”.

And I have watched a few of these low-budget independent films and while there have been good films and many bad, it has always been debated of whether these films should be held with a high regard. Similar to what John Cassavetes was able to accomplish in in his career with his theater group and creating indie films that eventually had impact on filmmakers and are appreciated today. Creating cinema with a micro-budget. Can it be considered as cinema?

With the cost of DSLR’s and the popularity of these low-budget films on YouTube and other video streaming sites, I have read threads on various cinema sites if mumblecore should ever be featured on the Criterion Collection?

Even I had taken part in instigating such a discussion with a graphic I have made of Jay and Mark Duplas’ “Baghead” with a fake Criterion Cover. But my intention was not to say that “Baghead” should be a Criterion Collection film but it was for people to acknowledge that with today’s technology, people are making movies may it be on high end equipment or affordable equipment on Canon 7D or an iPhone 4S.

We have seen American low budget films appear on the Criterion Collection before. Sure, they may have been created decades ago but why not mumblecore? And I’m sure there are cineaste who may be shaking their head about any mention of mumblecore being included in the Criterion Collection but in Feb. 2012, the Criterion Collection will include Lena Dunham’s “Tiny Furniture”.

Daughter of artist and photographer Laurie Simmons, Lena Dunham’s 2010 film was created on a low-budget of $50,000, premiered at South by Southwest and it won “Best Narrative Feature”. The film was picked up by IFC films, given a theatrical release and not only has it made more than its money back, it also won “Best First Screenplay” at the 2010 Independent Spirit Awards.

While the film does share many aspects to mumblecore in terms of being shot on a low-budget, using Lena’s mother and sister as major characters in the film and also starring herself as the main protagonist, Dunham doesn’t really consider this film to be mumblecore because it was written on a “tight script” that the actors were faithful to.

But if there is one thing that many critics have noticed with “Tiny Furniture” is its ode to Woody Allen and Dunham’s appreciation for the filmmaker.

To describe “Tiny Furniture”, it’s a film that probably is best experienced than explained because just writing about it, may not seem flattering at all. In fact, it may seem like an average day of a college graduate trying to find out what to do with her life.

Lena Dunham plays the character of Aura, a liberal arts student with a film studies degree who just graduated and returns back to her home to see her family and decide on her future.

Lena is a student who is unsure about herself, about life in general, about what she wants to do for a living and just wants to live life day-by-day. She likes making YouTube videos and feels confident about her body which is ridiculed via comments on YouTube for her being overweight and doesn’t mind walking around the house in her underwear.

Aura’s mother Siri (played by Dunham’s real mother, Laurie Simmons) is a photographer of tiny furniture, while her sister Nadine (played by Grace Dunham) is the opposite of Aura and the two are often bickering at each other. Although, Laurie looks at Nadine much more positively because of her intelligence and her achievements. For Nadine, she is often disgusted by her sister’s lifestyle, especially how she posts videos of herself on YouTube which she thinks is her way of Aura craving attention.

One day, Aura discovers her mother’s diary and starts to see a side of her mother that she never knew. Learning how her successful mother also had uncertainties about life when she was younger.

Having had a failed relationship back in college and not knowing what to do, she takes a job as a hostess at a restaurant (a job in which she keeps coming late), she befriends a YouTube star named Jed (played by Alex Karpovsky).

Jed is an absolute stranger that Aura knows nothing about but because her mom and sister are going away for a little while, she allows Jed to stay at her home for a shortwhile. Meanwhile at work, she starts to fancy the chef named Keith (played by David Call) who tends to flirt with her.

Keith constantly talks about his on-and-off relationship with his girlfriend and for Aura, having a Jed stay at her place and now striking a friendship with Keith, she wonders if she has a chance with either of them.

Her best friend is Charlotte, a free spirit that loves to have fun and listens to Aura when she complains about life.

“Tiny Furniture” is a film about a young woman who is in the crossroad of her life, wondering what she will do next after graduating college. Take on odd jobs? Work for the money? Or pursue a passion towards filmmaking?

VIDEO:

“Tiny Furniture” is presented in 1080p High Definition (2:35:1 Aspect Ratio). For a low-budget film, Dunham worked with cinematographer Jody Lee Lipes and both decided to use the prosumer Canon 7D DSLR. The film was shot via 1080p High Definition, ISO 200 was used for the exterior and 400 ISO for interior nights while night exteriors were shot at ISO 600-2000 and shot in 24fps.

According to an article featured on the Filmmaker Magazine blog, Lipes learned the limitations of the DSLR while using prime lenses but converted the camera’s h.264 files to Apple Pro Res and edited on Final Cut Pro and from there on, Technicolor would create an up-res the Pro Res Quicktime to a 10-bit uncompressed 4:2:2 Quicktime and record it to HDcam SR. Color correcting the HDcam SR to HDcam SR using a Davinci 2K Plus system. And the master was used for exhibition, while Quicktime was used for electronic distribution.

The film was shot digitally while not having that digital-look that people stray away from. The colors are actually very good and goes to show how spending the extra money on having Technicolor doing the color correcting makes a pretty big difference from the original digital recording. I didn’t notice any high level noise during the night shots or any compression and for the most part, I was pretty content with the overall look of the film.

While Criterion does say it was shot with a Canon 5D (the 5D Mark II is a better camera), it was actually shot with a 7D according to Lipes in the Filmmaker interview. According to the Criterion collection, the final color-corrected DPX files were output to rec. 709 high-definition color space for BD and DVD release.

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

“Tiny Furniture” is presented in English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. Dialogue is crisp and clear, the music sounds great and according to the Criterion Collection, the film was master at 24-bit from the original digital audio master files using Pro Tools HD.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Tiny Furniture – The Criterion Collection #597″ on Blu-ray comes with the following special features:

Nora Ephron and Lena Dunham - (30:29) Nora Ephron and Lena Dunham talk about “Tiny Furniture” and discuss cinema, Woody Allen and shooting on a low budget.
Paul Schrader on Dunham – (7:41) film critic Paul Schrader talkes about mumblecore and the people who hate on “Tiny Furniture” and what he enjoyed about the film.
Introduction to Creative Nonfiction – (8:14) An introduction by Lena Dunham of the making of “Creative Nonfiction” and what she learned from that first experience.
Creative Nonfiction – (58:26) Lena Dunham’s first feature shot when she was a film student at Oberlin College.
Short Films – Featuring four short films by Lena Dunham:

- Pressure – (2006, 4:00) Three students and friends talk about having an orgasm in the school library.

- Open the Door – (2007, 4:54) – An improvised short film about a girl trying to have her mother say something on an intercom.

- Hooker on Campus – (2007, 4:47) A girl goes on college campus and tries to solicit herself for sex.

- The Fountain – (2007, 6:01) A girl uses the campus fountain to wash herself and brush her teeth but is confronted by police.

Trailer – The original theatrical trailer for “Tiny Furniture”.

EXTRAS:

“Tiny Furniture – The Criterion Collection #597″ comes with a 5-fold essay “Out There” by Phillip Logan.

Everyone has their start before making a major movie. Some are lucky to transition from film school to making a big budget film but many start out with an independent film and hopes it gets bought by a company for theatrical distribution and video.

Call her film a mumblecore film or a very good low-budget film or perhaps even lucky. The fact that “Tiny Furniture” has made it into the Criterion Collection is quite amazing and surprising!

“Tiny Furniture” is a film which I enjoyed for its quirkiness and while it is a slice-of-life film, I know many people like Aura who have graduated from college and are unsure about their lives during these tough economic times.

While the character of Aura may seem a bit unusual and awkward, may it be letting a stranger live with her while her family is away for a week or having sex with a guy inside a pipe, while watching this film, I appreciated Dunham’s witty style of acting but as far as the character goes, I was disturbed by her choices that she makes in her life.

Lena Dunham talked about how her passion for Woody Allen made her feel inspired in making “Tiny Furniture” but with Woody Allen films, there is a sense where the characters come full circle with the decisions they have made. For the main protagonist of Aura, while we do get witty banter, we are not entirely sure where her character is headed and the film’s focus on “uncertainty”. Woody Allen characters accept their choices, good or bad. In the case of “Tiny Furniture”, while there positive aspects that are learned from the film between mother and daughter, we are unsure what is wrong with Aura? Everyone has fears about life after college but for Aura, she has a way of thinking about her decisions (or lack of thinking).

And as mentioned, I’ve know people like Aura, who walk on the beat of their own drum, wanting to experience things no matter what people say. It’s just their way of living, no matter how frustrating it may be to others. And those people frustrate me in reality, so to watch a film of a character that frustrates me by her choices, while watching the film…all that went through my mind is, I hope there is some sort of resolution to her character, may it be happy or sad.

And as far as being a viewer, I’m sure there are some who will laugh at her misery. May it be her wearing her tight spanx to a guy she likes telling her how she sweats so much on the bed. I was not laughing, I was more on the side of…I hope something good happens to her because her lack of ambition was becoming a bit depressing.

Still, I do like the fact that this film kept things real. And the fact that she was able to get her mother and sister to be part of her film, the chemistry between the three is realistic and I enjoyed their constant banter.

As for the Blu-ray release, I felt that it was interesting to have this exclusive interview between Dunham and Nora Ephron discussing filmmaking and women making films. Also, seeing film critic Paul Schrader defending the film from the haters and you also have four Dunham shorts and Dunham’s first feature “Creative Nonfiction”.

Overall, I’m sure that “Tiny Furniture” will be hotly debated on whether or not this film should have been included in the Criterion Collection but for modern independent filmmakers and those who create mumblecore films, the inclusion of “Tiny Furniture” is quite significant.

For me, it’s great to see another female filmmaker featured in the collection featured but at the same time, would love to see more films from female filmmakers such as Chantal Akerman (who did receive Criterion’s Eclipse treatment), Maya Deren, Alice Guy-Blaché, Leni Riefenstahl, Jane Campion and Sofia Coppola be given the Criterion Collection treatment as well.

“Tiny Furniture” is an amazing step forward for the career of Lena Dunham. While I found the film to be good, I will say that I was surprised that it did receive the Criterion Collection recognition, but by saying that, I do look forward to seeing how her career progresses from the success and recognition from “Tiny Furniture” and that her next feature film is even better.

Belle de Jour – The Criterion Collection #593 (a J!-ENT DVD Review)

January 18, 2012 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment

“Belle de Jour” is just one of the cinema masterpiece in Luis Buñuel’s oeuvre, but it’s a magnificent film that showcased feminine sexuality in a way not seen in cinema at that moment of time. For those who love surrealism in cinema, especially coming from Luis Buñuel, they will find “Belle de Jour” to be a wonderful experience. For the cineaste, this film is recommended

TITLE: Belle de Jour – The Criterion Collection #593

FILM RELEASE DATE: 1967

DURATION: 100 Minutes

DVD INFORMATION: Color, French Monaural with English Subtitles

COMPANY: Janus Films/The Criterion Collection

RELEASED: January 17, 2012

Directed by Luis Bunuel

Based on the novel by Joseph Kessel

Adaptation and Dialogue by Luis Bunuel and Jean-Claude Carriere

Produced by Raymond Hakim, Robert Hakim

Cinematography by Sacha Vierny

Edited by Louisette Hautecoeur

Production Design by Robert Clavel

Set Decoration by Robert Clavel

Costume Design by Helene Nourry

Starring:

Catherine Deneuve as Severine Serizy/Belle de Jour

Jean Sorel as Pierre Serizy

Michel Piccoli as Henri Husson

Genevieve Page as Madame Anais

Pierre Clementi as Marcel

Francoise Fabian as Charlotte

Macha Meril as Renee

Muni as Pallas

Maria Latour as Mathilde

Catherine Deneuve’s porcelain perfection hides a cracked interior in one of the actress’s most iconic roles: Séverine, a Paris housewife who begins secretly spending her afternoon hours working in a bordello. This surreal and erotic late-sixties daydream from provocateur for the ages Luis Buñuel is an examination of desire and fetishistic pleasure (its characters’ and its viewers’), as well as a gently absurdist take on contemporary social mores and class divisions. Fantasy and reality commingle in this burst of cinematic transgression, which was one of Buñuel’s biggest hits.

Luis Buñuel, is often referred to as a filmmaker who is a master of surrealism. A filmmaker who is known for his dark humor and one who works best when given that creative freedom.

With a several films in his magnificent oeuvre, Buñuel is known for films such as “Viridiana”, “Phantom of Liberty”, “That Obscure Object of Desire”, “The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie”, “The Exterminating Angel” to name a few.

But in 1967, Buñuel would direct a French film “Belle de Jour” (which translated to “daylight beauty”) starring popular French actress “Catherine Deneuve”, who had won the hearts of audiences with the Jacques Demy film “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg” in 1964 and the Roman Polanski film “Repulsion” in 1965.

For this “Belle de Jour”, Buñuel (along with screenwriter Jean-Claude Carriere) would create a film that was very different from the 1928 novel by Joseph Kessel and for those who have worked with him and know of his work, he typically creates films that are far from the screenplay and often injects surrealism, so in this case… What is real and what is fantasy? That is for the viewer to interpret.

The film begins with Séverine Serizy (played by Catherine Deneuve) and her husband, a doctor named Pierre (played by Jean Sorel) riding a carriage and she talks to him in a cold manner. Immediately he has his riders stop the carriage and orders them to drag her out into the middle of nowhere, ties her up and has her hanging from a tree. He removes her bra straps. He orders his men to flog her and immediately tells one of his men to have his way with his wife.

But it’s all a dream and although Pierre doesn’t know what the complete dream is all about, he knows that she keeps having these dreams of her in the carriage. The truth is that Séverine is a masochist and she wants to be fulfilled sexually but is not sure how to communicate it with her clean cut and very kind husband.

While the two go on vacation, they meet with their friends, including a free spirit named Monsieur Husson (played by Michael Piccoli) who makes Séverine feel uncomfortable because he keeps looking at her. As she and her female friend go on a ride, the two start discussing prostitution and how one of the women from their tennis club is known to have a double life.

The matter of prostitution stays in her mind and for some reason, she is bothered by it and asks her husband if he has done anything with prostitutes and what the experience is like. He tells her that his experience with them was in the past and explains a bit about it. She is disgusted and no longer wants to hear anymore from him.

One day, while going to play some tennis, she sees Husson once again and he tries to kiss her on the neck which she refuses. He then mentions the name of a high-class brothel and immediately, she starts having ideas of working at the brothel.

We are then given a few images through various short scenes of Séverine when she was younger. From a bearded man trying to kiss her when she was a young girl, to not accepting communion in church and more.

As Séverine decides to go into the hostel, she meets with Madame Anais (played by Genevieve Page) and she tells the Madame that she can work only on the afternoon between 2-5 p.m. Madame Anais gives her the name “Belle de jour” (because she only works afternoons) and immediately, Séverine begins her career pleasuring wealthy men.

She eventually becomes entangled with Marcel (played by Pierre Clementi), a young gangster who is able to give her all the thrills and excitement that she has fantasized. But when he becomes too demanding and becomes jealous of her marriage to Pierre, Séverine’s life becomes complicated to the point where she now wants to quit the brothel.

Which leads Séverine on a downward spiral…or not? Because of the film’s ambiguities, which scenes from the film are reality and which are just fantasy?

VIDEO & AUDIO:

“Branded to Kill” is presented in 1:66:1 aspect ratio, color and audio is presented in French monaural with English subtitles. It’s important to note that with the 2011 release of “Belle de Jour”, for those wanting the best picture and audio quality, you may want to opt for the Blu-ray because it is in HD.

For those who owned the old 2002 DVD release, the Criterion Collection 2011 DVD release is so much better than the original in terms of picture quality and content. While the Blu-ray release will definitely feature sharper and vibrant colors, the DVD still looks good when compared to the old 2002 DVD release. If anything, the picture quality looks fantastic for a film that is 45-years-old. Colors look very good but most importantly, there is no enhancement of DNR, and for the most part, picture quality looks very good. There is one scene that shows its age (as it did in the original 2002 Miramax DVD release) when Séverine is with Marcel and there is major nose. But that scene is fairly short. If anything, this is the best that “Belle de Jour” has looked on DVD.

According to the Criterion Collection, the new high-definition transfer was created on a Spirit Datacine from a 35 mm interpositive. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, warps, jitter and flicker were manually removed using MTI’s DRS and Pixel Farm’s PFClean, while Image System’s DVNR was used for small dirt, grain and noise reduction.

As for the monaural soundtrack, the new release was remastered at 24-bit from a 35 mm print. Clicks, thumps, hiss and hum were manually removed using Pro Tools HD. Crackle was attenuated using AudioCube’s integrated workstation.

Audio-wise, dialogue was clear and I detected no problems or crackle. Doing tests of the old 2002 Miramax DVD release and the 2011 DVD release, there is a slight distinction of clarity in audio but for the most part, the difference is more apparent in the video.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Belle de Jour – The Criterion Collection #593″ comes with the following special features:

Audio Commentary – Featuring a wonderful and insightful audio commentary by Princeton professor Michael Wood, author of BFI Films Classics Book “Belle de Jour”.
That Obscure Source of Desire – (18:08) A 2011 interview with activist Susie Bright (author of “Big Sex, Little Death”) and UC Berkeley professor Linda Williams (author of “Screening Sex”) discuss Belle de jour and the representation of feminine sexuality, themes of masochism and more.
Jean-Claude Carriere - (10:22) A 2011 interview with “Belle de jour” screenwriter Jean-Claude Carriere on how he and Luis Buñuel came up with the screenplay.
Cinema – (7:16) An excerpt from “Cinema”, which aired on Dec. 23, 1966 featuring interviews with Catherine Deneuve and Jean-Claude Carriere.
Trailer – The original theatrical trailer (2:41), the original U.S. trailer (1:47) and the U.S. re-release trailer (1:07).

EXTRAS:

32-Page booklet – Featuring a new essay titled “Tough Love” by Melissa Anderson and “Buñuel on Belle de jour” (an exerpt from “Objects of Desire: Conversations with Luis Buñuel”. by Jose de la Colina and Tomas Perez Turrent.

Luis Buñuel’s exotic masterpiece receives the Criterion Collection treatment and what a wonderful release it turned out to be!

Before discussing the film, what made “Belle de Jour” a film that attracted my attention was the fact that Luis Buñuel directed it. For anyone who has seen any of his wonderful films and have gravitated towards his work because of its surrealism, for me…I’m literally grinning while watching his films because he does not follow traditional filmmaking, nor does he want to compartmentalized a storyline and make it simple for the viewer. His films are notable because he does what he wants and while many question his choices of “why?”, his answer is typically “why not?” and if one had a different viewpoint of his filmmaking, he would answer with a “if you directed the film with what you want to see…then go for it!”.

He’s a filmmaker and a creative artist, and like an artist such as Salvador Dali, you view his films and enjoy it for what it is. There are too many critics who find Buñuel’s work so maddening because it’s not clear-cut but why should his work be banal? That is what I love about Buñuel films and make me slightly biased towards a more positive viewpoint because his films are non-traditional and quite enjoyable.

Which leads us to “Belle de Jour”. Sure, this is not the clearcut storyline that Joseph Kessel wrote in his 1928 novel about a woman named Séverine Sérizy who was molested at a young age and lives a double life of being a normal housewife and becoming a prostitute for a few hours in order to fulfill her sexual desires.

In the film adaptation, Buñuel does keep the theme, we are aware that Séverine Sérizy was molested and because of that, she has harbored sexual feelings of masochism that she is too afraid to ask her husband to do to her. But while Kessel’s book is quite straightforward of one woman pursuing that lifestyle and living a life of unhappily ever after, Buñuel shows us reality and shows us fantasy and at the end, both reality and fantasy come together as one.

One must remember that in 1967, this film was rather shocking to many people. For one, unlike today where one can psychoanalyze a person who has been molested and growing up to have some major issues, back then, it was an issue that was rarely discussed. And also, rarely do you find a film that focuses on a protagonist who has masochistic desires.

The film begins with Séverine Sérizy being led out to a car by her husband Pierre and is tied up, her bra removed and is whipped and is kissed by another man. A fantasy.

But then there are many other fantasies with Séverine going under the table with Monsieur Husson and while the table is shaking, her husband and friend are carrying on with a conversation. To being with a man who is interested in possibly using an insect and using it for some sexual pleasure to another man who has an unusual sexual desire by having Séverine in a coffin and even a scene where she is kissed by her madame.

And each fantasy, we see her sexual desire escalating and also introducing things that may be a bit bizarre but she she enjoys it until things become dangerous. And the way it is presented by Luis Buñuel is not clear-cut like the book but done with a great touch of surrealism with amazing efficacy.

And of course, Catherine Deneuve is absolutely wonderful in her performance. Bringing this calm but also sexually dangerous side to her character which was quite intriguing as she has considered herself as an introverted person, so to see her playing this role, I was quite amazed the first time I watched it and if you enjoyed this film, you definitely want to watch her next collaboration with Luis Buñuel in “Tristana” (and equally entertaining is reading “The Private Diaries of Catherine Deneauve” which she wrote about her daily experience on working on that film).

What I enjoyed about this Criterion Collection is how this film has meant a lot people and also for Luis Buñuel, to see how people have interpreted his film from the insightful audio commentary by Princeton professor Michael Wood and the focus on the feminine sexuality and impact of the film as discussed by activist Susie Bright and UC Berkeley professor Linda Williams. And also, the addition of the 2011 interview with screenwriter Jean-Claude Carriere and also the classic interviews with him and Catherine Deneuve made this release much more entertaining than the 2002 Miramax DVD release.

If anything, it is quite wonderful to finally see this film receiving the Criterion Collection treatment and while I am reviewing the DVD, if you have a Blu-ray player, I definitely recommend going for the HD version as it is the best version out there of this film with wonderful picture quality. Otherwise if you don’t own a Blu-ray player, this 2011 DVD release is still very good, much clearer, sharper than the 2002 DVD release and it looks fantastic for a 45-year-old film.

Overall, “Belle de Jour” is just one of the cinema masterpiece in Luis Buñuel’s oeuvre, but it’s a magnificent film that showcased feminine sexuality in a way not seen in cinema at that moment of time. For those who love surrealism in cinema, especially coming from Luis Buñuel, they will find “Belle de Jour” to be a wonderful experience.

For the cineaste, this film is recommended!

The Moment of Truth – The Criterion Collection #595 (a J!-ENT Blu-ray Disc Review)

January 11, 2012 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment

“The Moment of Truth” may not be as controversial as Francesco Rosi’s previous or even later films but it does show how far he was able to go when given that creative freedom and in the case of this film, that is to capture every detail of bullfighting. It’s definitely not a film for those who are compassionate about the treatment of animals or are bothered by violence towards an animal, but for those who look at bullfighting as a cultural tradition and artform and for those who want to watch a film from one of Italy’s legendary postwar neorealist filmmakers – Francesco Rosi, “The Moment of Truth” is worth recommending!

TITLE: The Moment of Truth – The Criterion Collection #595 (Il momento della verità)

MOVIE RELEASE: 1965

DURATION: 107 Minutes

DVD INFORMATION: Color, Italian with English Subtitles, Monaural, 2:35:1 Aspect Ratio

COMPANY: Janus Films/The Criterion Collection

RELEASE DATE: January 24, 2012

Directed by Francesco Rosi

Story by Pedro Beltran, Ricardo Munoz Suay, Pere Portabella, Francesco Rosi

Screenplay by Pedro Beltran, Ricardo Munoz Suay, Pere Portabella

Music by Piero Piccioni

Cinematography by Pasqualino De Santis, Gianni Di Venanzo, Aiace Parolin

Edited by Mario Serandrei

Starring:

Miguel Mateo “Miguelin” as Miguel Romero “Miguelin”

Jose Gomez Seillano as Don Jose, the Agent

Pedro Basauri “Pedrucho” as Himself, the Maestro

Linda Christian as Linda, American Woman

The Moment of Truth (Il momento della verità), from director Francesco Rosi, is a visceral plunge into the life of a famous torero—played by real-life bullfighting legend Miguel Mateo, known as Miguelín. Charting his rise and fall with a single-minded focus on the bloody business at hand, the film is at once gritty and operatic, placing the viewer right in the thick of the ring’s action, as close to death as possible. Like all of the great Italian truth seeker’s films, this is not just an electrifying drama but also a profound and moving inquiry into a violent world—and it’s perhaps the greatest bullfighting movie ever made.

When it comes to daring films, one of the filmmakers to emerge from post-neorealist Italian cinema and literally shake the film industry was Francesco Rosi.

Rosi was known to take on corruption in his films and in 1962, his film “Salvatore Giuliano” would earn him the “Silver Bear for Best Director” at the 12 Berlin International Festival and would continue to pursue controversial topics and subjects throughout his career, including his 1972 film “The Mattei Affair” which won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival.

And through his brave and bold filmmaking, in 2008, the Italian filmmaker was honored in 2008 with an Honorary Golden Bear for Lifetime Achievement.

But while Rosi is known for taking on mafia and government corruption films, in 1965, Rosi wanted to capture something new and different and that was to create a film around bullfighting. A film known as “Il momento della verità” (The Moment of Truth).

Inspired by Ernest Hemingway’s book, “Death in the Afternoon”, about the ceremonial and traditions of Spanish bullfighting including the fear and courage of the toreador, Rosi wanted to capture this in film. So, after receiving the go-ahead, Rosi headed to Spain in which he would meet a young man named Miguel Mateo, who would be the lead actor in the film but also would become a real-life bullfighting legend.

Rosi and two members of his film crew documented actual bullfighting, a tradition in Spain (and other countries) in which a matador/toreador (or torero) use a variety of moves that they learned from training and is considered an art form as they use a variety of maneuvers around a live bull. Because the torero is in close range, they can easily be gored or trampled to death.

During the event, the torero would use a morillo to stab the bulls neck and show which side is actually injured, before leading to the final moment with the bull, the torero lunges a sword into the bull (a movement known as “estocada”) and one strike can kill the bull. Once the bull is down, the crowd runs down to the bull and typically they celebrate the toredor’s win.

The other event shown is when a large crowd gathers inside the arena and a young bull is unleashed at them and many run around trying to avoid being gored (some trying to grab and hold the bulls horns).

The film would be one of the first major films to capture live bullfighting on camera and incorporated to a film. And while the film was well-received back in the mid ’60s, the film has been out of circulation for a long time, until now.

The Criterion Collection will be releasing the “The Moment of Truth” on Blu-ray and DVD, the third Rosi film to be included in the Criterion Collection after his 1962 film “Salvatore Giuliano” and his 1963 film “Hands over the City”.

“The Moment of Truth” begins with funeral procession and then transitions to a bullfight ceremony and everyone enjoying the festivities. Among those enjoying the festivities is Miguel Mateo, a young man who is tired of living in the country and tilling the farm area with his father. He wants to make good money, so he decides to move to the city and see what kind of job he is able to get.

Immediately, Miguel learns that getting a job is not easy and learns from other guys that the best way is to go through middleman. But working this way, Miguel learns that he is no different in a position when he was living in the country. All work, no life, nothing to show for all the hard work.

One night, while going out with a few guy friends to a bar, he finds out that a torero is training people on how to become a toreador. While Miguel doesn’t have much money, he figures that perhaps by training hard, he can become a toreador and make a lot of money. And sure enough, through hard training, he becomes well recognized.

In fact, he becomes so good that he catches the eye of a professional toreador manager and is signed to a lucrative contract and now, Miguel Maeo “Miguelin” becomes a big attraction to these bullfighting events. And as he manages to kill bull after bull, he has a long tour in front of him and one day, he is nearly gored and trampled. But he manages to survive another day.

But the life of being a toreador starts to get the best of him as he becomes exhausted, especially as Miguelin is being wakened by nightmares that if he does not stop what he’s doing, he will someday die.

His manager tries to tell him that it’s a fear that all toreadors face but was that nightmare just a part of fear or was the nightmare a sign that he must stop immediately?

VIDEO:

“The Moment of Truth” is presented in 1080p High Definition (2:35:1 aspect ratio). It’s important to note that the film was shot in a variety of ways. For one, footage comes from the many live bullfighting events in which Rossi and his cameramen would document these major events, the other is footage from actual parts of the film. Capturing the countryside, a party that Miguelin attends, etc.

With that being said, picture quality tends to vary as the theatrical portions hold up quite well, while those shot in the bullfighting arena does show its age, shows quite a bit of noise but at times, there is quite a bit of detail, from the blood running through the bull after it is stabbed, to the dripping blood coming out of the bull’s mouth or neck and later when the bull’s neck is slit and blood flows all over the ground.

For the most part, picture quality for this film is good in the fact that this film showed no flickering, no major film damage, discoloration or excessive aging of the film elements.

According to the Criterion Collection, the new high-definition digital transfer was created on a Spirit Datacine from a 35 mm interpositive. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, warps, jitter and flicker were manually removed using MTI’s DRS and Pixel Farm’s PFClean, while Image Systems’ DVNR was used for small dirt, grain and noise reduction.

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

“The Moment of Truth” is presented in Italian monaural. The dialogue is clear through the center channel and you can hear the crowd screaming in support of the toreador. I didn’t hear any hissing, crackling or any negative issues with the audio soundtrack for this film.

According to the Criterion Collection, the original monaural soundtrack was remastered at 24-bit from the 35 mm optical soundtrack negative. Clicks, thumps, hiss and hum were manually removed using Pro Tools HD. Crackle was attenuated using AudioCube’s integrated workstation.

Subtitles are presented in English SDH.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“The Moment of Truth – The Criterion Collection #595″ on Blu-ray comes with the following special feature:

Francesco Rosi - (13:52) An exclusive interview with director Francesco Rosi from 2004. Rosi explains of how he was inspired by Hemingway’s book, filming the bullfighting sequences and discovering Miguel Mateo but also how Mateo was actually injured during an actual bullfight scene that is in the film.

EXTRAS:

“The Moment of Truth – The Criterion Collection #595″ comes with an 20-page booklet featuring image stills from the film and the essay “The Blood of Beasts” by Peter Matthews.

“The Moment of Truth” is one of those hybrid films that is half documentary and the other half is an actual film. And while the film about one man’s escape from poverty to take on a cultural tradition that is highly dangerous for the money may contain a similar banality of a innercity youth trying to make a name for himself as a boxer, filmmaker Francesco Rossi does not want to recreate the risk, he and his crew film wanted to capture what takes place at bullfighting down to the most ultimate, including gruesome details as much as possible.

Already known for his post-neorealist work in Italy, Francesco Rosi does continue to capture the neorealism by showcasing a young man wanting to escape poverty by moving to the big city and to learn that things are not as great as he expected it to be. Until he finds out that toreador’s can make great money and is willing to take on the bull, as long as he gets paid.

But Miguel starts to learn through his training and then his newfound career is that it’s one thing to make a lot of money, but day in and day out, chances of him not surviving a clash with a bull can happen. And just like a bull, who is cheered and then forgotten, so are the toreadors.

It’s an interesting juxtaposition to see the human and the animal. Both being caught up in a longstanding cultural tradition to entertain the masses, but in the end…is it all worth it?

And while many in America may not know the full details of what transpires during a bullfight, suffice to say, “The Moment of Truth” is a film that captures the cultural event with enough detail that even one of Rossi’s main crew members was sickened by it.

I think that Ernest Hemingway best explained bullfighting as “anything capable of arousing passion in its favor will surely raise as much passion against it.”

I was pretty amazed myself of how much detail and footage of the actual bullfight was incorporated in the film. Every bloody moment of it but I can see how that footage helped enhance the character of Miguel. The viewer needed to see his progression as a toreador and to make it authentic, it worked well for Rosi to cast a real-life torero.

And Rosi knew the danger that his talent would be in as he would have to feature footage after footage of him taking on a bull and in today’s films, there is no way an actor will be risking their life onscreen. In the case of “The Moment of Truth”, there is a scene where Miguel Mateo was gored and injured, bloodied in all…suffice to say, this film could have turned out tragic realistically as the main star was injured.

But it’s because we see Miguel Mateo being pitted against the bull, no re-enactment, no special effects, it’s the real deal and Francesco Rossi and his crew of cinematographers were there to capture it all, as it’s not just a film, the actor is also risking his life in this film.

While the film does featuring the rags to riches storyline in the beginning of the film and also Rosi manages to squeeze in some screentime for the first Bond girl, American actress Linda Christian, the scenes that people will remember the most of this film are the actual arena footage. From Miguel to other toreadors taking on the bulls, or to see a crowd of people running around the arena trying to dodge a bull that runs astray, gorging anything that it comes into contact with and see people injured.

It sure seems barbaric, especially if you are a person that cares about animals, but this is a long-standing cultural event that has continued since the 1700′s and possibly even before that. Man vs. animal but what was more of sports entertainment, it’s now become tradition in Spain, Portugal, southern France and other countries.

There is no denying that Miguel Mateo and his elegance of swinging the red drape around the bull, close up to the point where he puts his arm to the bulls face with grace and a bull responding by rushing after him. And to hear the audience react with applause or gasp, for me…I can see how many can be entertained by it.

But because the many scenes of the actual killing of various bulls and watching blood flow through the back, to see them so energetic and suddenly collapse or seeing the bull’s throat slit with blood pouring out of it, once again, this film is not for the squeamish.

As for the Criterion Collection Blu-ray release of “The Moment of Truth”, while I have never watched the film before in any previous format, because of the HD treatment and Criterion Collection’s dedication to quality releases, I have no doubt in my mind that this is probably the best version of this film to be released on video thus far. It may not contain the plethora of special features that one is accustomed to seeing in a Criterion Collection release but nevertheless, it’s a film that is worth watching. One can only hope that Francesco Rosi’s other two films in the Criterion Collection (“Salvatore Giulliani” and “Hands Over the City”) will also receive the HD treatment but for the cineaste, “The Moment of Truth” is a film worth watching.

Overall, “The Moment of Truth” may not be as controversial as Francesco Rosi’s previous or even later films but it does show how far he was able to go when given that creative freedom and in the case of this film, that is to capture every detail of bullfighting. It’s definitely not a film for those who are compassionate about the treatment of animals or are bothered by violence towards an animal, but for those who look at bullfighting as a cultural tradition and artform and for those who want to watch a film from one of Italy’s legendary postwar neorealist filmmakers – Francesco Rosi, “The Moment of Truth” is worth recommending!

Filed Under: Blu-ray Reviews, THE CRITERION COLLECTION

Branded to Kill – The Criterion Collection #38 (a J!-ENT DVD Review)

December 15, 2011 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment

Unique and brilliant, Seijun Suzuki’s masterpiece… “Branded to Kill” is a film that was ahead of its time, misunderstood but now highly appreciated. This 2011 DVD release improves upon the original 1999 DVD in picture quality clarity and detail but also comes with wonderful special features as well! “Branded to Kill” (2011) is another highly recommended Criterion Collection release!

TITLE: Branded to Kill – The Criterion Collection #38 (Koroshi no Rakuin)

FILM RELEASE DATE: 1967

DURATION: 91 Minutes

DVD INFORMATION: Black and White, Monaural in Japanese with English Subtitles, 2:35:1 Aspect Ratio

COMPANY: Janus Films/The Criterion Collection

RELEASED: December 13, 2011

Directed by Seijun Suzuki

Written by Hachiro Guryu, Takeo Kimura, Chusei Sone, Atsushi Yamatoya

Produced by Kaneo Iwai, Takiko Mizunoe

Music by Naozumi Yamamoto

Cinematography by Kazue Nagatsuka

Edited by Matsuo Tanji

Art Direction by Sukezo Kawahara

Starring:

Jo Shishido as Goro Hanada

Koji Nanbara as No. 1

Isao Tamagawa as Michiko Yabuhara

Anne Mari as Misako Nakajo

Mariko Ogawa as Mami Hanada

Hiroshi Minami as Gihei Kasuga

When Japanese New Wave bad boy Seijun Suzuki delivered this brutal, hilarious, and visually inspired masterpiece to the executives at his studio, he was promptly fired. Branded to Kill tells the ecstatically bent story of a yakuza assassin with a fetish for sniffing steamed rice (the chipmunk-cheeked superstar Joe Shishido) who botches a job and ends up a target himself. This is Suzuki at his most extreme—the flabbergasting pinnacle of his sixties pop-art aesthetic.

“Branded to Kill”, Seijun Suzuki’s masterpiece but also a film that led to the filmmaker’s firing.

While we are graced with films with visual style, humor and coolness by Beat Takeshi, Takashi Miike, Kazuaki Kiriya to name a few… Seijun Suzuki was part of the Nikkatsu company that churned two movies a week and had to work with a low budget, be creative and churn out a film within 25 days. Needless to say, executives didn’t understand Suzuki’s style, they criticized him, they talked down to him but what they didn’t know was that his style was not being rebellious, it was his style.

Perhaps Suzuki’s style was too surreal because what Nikkatsu wanted was traditional Japanese films that they were used to making. Seijun Suzuki who created 40 B-movies for the company between 1956 and 1967 was anything but traditional, not necessarily a rebel but he created films that he wanted to make,each film being different and now respected as films that were ahead of its time.

Prior to releasing his final film, “Branded to Kill”, for Nikkatsu, they were growing tired by his inability to create traditional films that the executives were used too. But by the end of “Branded to Kill”, the executives of the company had enough of Suzuki’s style of filmmaking. While he never complained, he was fired from his job. And Suzuki was not a man to let the studio run all over him. In fact, he successfully sued the company for wrongful dismissal but in Japanese business tradition, if you sue an entertainment company, you will be blacklisted (which still goes on today in Japan) and in this case, Suzuki was blacklisted for ten years.

In Japan, because he stood up to the big entertainment company, he became a counterculture icon and his films were shown at midnight screenings to a packed audience.

In America, many cinema fans appreciated Suzuki’s work because of its visual, surreal style that was not as common to see in Japanese gangster films.

And while his two better known films, “Tokyo Drifter” and “Branded to Kill” have been released in America on LD and DVD from the Criterion Collection, in Dec. 2011, the Criterion Collection released both of Seijun Suzuki’s films “Tokyo Drifter” and “Branded to Kill” on Blu-ray and DVD which features improved video quality plus a new interview with Seijun Suzuki done exclusively by the Criterion Collection in 2011.

“Branded to Kill” is a film about an assassin named Goro Hanada (played by Jo Shishido), better known as assassin No. 3 in rank.

Whenever someone needs to be killed, these assassins are called in. But if they mess up a job, they immediately will become a target. And there are some who are concerned by their rankings. You want to be No. 1, you have to kill No. 1. Problem is… no one really knows who No. 1 is.

Goro is calm, cool and collected and excellent with a gun. But he also has an unusual fetish of sniffing rice before he can engage in sex with his wife Mami Hanada (played by Mariko Ogawa), a woman who appears to be having sex with his friend Michihiko (played by Isao Tamagawa) and a woman that Goro only sees as a plaything.

But this is the underworld, a life of making money through killing people and for Goro, this is the life that he has lived and has no problems on taking a job.

One day after successfully killing a list of people, he is contacted by a mysterious woman named Misako Nakajo (played by Anne Mari). She is attractive, sexy but shows no emotion and immediately, Goro is sexually attracted to her. But she knows something about him, and that makes him wonder about her.

Misako asks for him to assassinate a man that she is with but he only has a three second window and he would be paid quite nicely.

But Goro’s sniping skills is disturbed by a butterfly and he ends up killing an innocent woman, while Misako ends up shooting the man but not killing him.

When Misako and Goro encounter each other, she tells him that because of his mistake, he will be killed. And it is revealed that Misako maybe an assassin herself and also has an unusual fetish of butterflies in her room and also a fetish of using poisonous needles which she has killed several of her birds with. And when he tries to threaten to kill her, she pulls out her poisonous needles and tells him that she knows he won’t kill her because he wants to ravage her. And she plays mind games with Goro, making him think that he can engage in sex with her but also teasing him that if he does, he will die.

Meanwhile, Goro’s wife hates Misako with a passion and is angered that her husband has found a new “plaything”.

But it doesn’t take long for Goro to know that No. 1 will be responsible in killing him and from there on, No. 1 starts to use psychological tactics to make Goro uneasy. Torturing him by teasing and even putting a movie of a nude Misako bounded and being threatened by flames.

Goro knows there are assassins after him, including No. 1 who tries to wear him down.

But in unusual fashion, No. 1 goes straight to Goro’s home and doesn’t kill him immediately. In fact, No. 1 stays with him in his apartment using psychological tactics to make sure that Goro knows not to pull anything while he’s there. Even when they are sleeping, Goro feels uneasy as No. 1 sleeps with his eyes open.

But as No. 1 tries to use these tactics to instill fear in Goro, Goro who is slowly losing it realizes, if he kills No. 1, he will then become No. 1.

Who will emerge victorious and become the #1 killer?

VIDEO & AUDIO:

“Branded to Kill” is presented in 2:35:1 aspect ratio, black and white and audio is presented in monaural. It’s important to note that with the 2011 release, the release signifies the HD release of “Branded to Kill” on Blu-ray and for those wanting the best picture and audio quality, the Blu-ray is the version to buy.

But many may wonder if they owned the older 1999 DVD release and don’t own a Blu-ray player, should they upgrade to the 2011 DVD release? I can tell you right now that the 2011 version takes advantage of newer remastering technology. The contrast is much better, whites and grays are well-contrast while black levels are nice and deep. The picture quality is so much better than the older DVD but if you can, I highly recommend going for the Blu-ray release as you will get more detail and clarity.

According to the Criterion Collection, the new high-definition transfer was created on a Spirit Datacine from a fine-grain master positive. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, warps, jitter and flicker were manually removed using MTI’s DRS and Pixel Farm’s PFClean, while Image System’s DVNR was used for small dirt, grain and noise reduction.

As for the monaural soundtrack, the new release was remastered at 24-bit from the original soundtrack print. Clicks, thumps, hiss and hum were manually removed using Pro Tools HD. Crackle was attenuated using AudioCube’s integrated workstation.

Audio-wise, dialogue was clear and I detected no problems or crackle. Doing tests of the 1999 DVD release and the 2011 DVD release, there is a slight distinction of clarity in audio but for the most part, the difference is more apparent in the video.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Branded to Kill”, the 2011 DVD release comes with the following special features:

Seijun Suzuki and Masami Kuzuu – (12:10) A 2011 Criterion Collection interview with director Seijun Suzuki and assistant director Masami Kuzuu discussing “Branded to Kill”.
Joe Shishido - (11:01) An interview with main actor Joe Shishido conducted in July 2011 by the Criterion Collection.
Seijun Suzuki – (14:07) An interview with director Seijun Suzuki recorded during a retrospective of his work by the Japan Foundation and the Los Angeles Film Forum at the Nuart Theatere in Los Angeles in March 1997.
Trailer – (3:09) The original theatrical trailer for “Tokyo Drifter”.

EXTRAS:

20-Page booklet – Featuring a new essay titled “Reductio Ad Absurdum: Suzuki Seijun’s Branded to Kill” by film critic Tony Rayns.

This is the film that defied Nikkatsu and led to Seijun Suzuki’s termination with the studio. But it’s also the film that can be considered Seijun Suzuki’s greatest masterpiece!

While “Branded to Kill” could have been the typical banal yakuza film and be the “King of the Mountain” type of story of individual assassins try to reach the #1 position in killer rating, that would have made a fine traditional Japanese gangster film. But for those who are familiar with Seijun Suzuki’s work, Suzuki is not your traditional filmmaker. Many look at his work as surreal filmmaking, even though Suzuki never thought of it that way. It was just his style, of being creative and not wanting his films to be just like any other film. And in this case, making each film different and doing the best he can no matter how much Nikkatsu would cut from his budget or force him to shoot in black and white as a sort of punishment for not following their rules.

From the opening scene, we are treated with the usual stoic man, full of bravado, suave and cool with his Rayban sunglasses and excellent shooting, but its the characters that literally make things surreal.

From when you are reminded of Goro’s fetish with sniffing rice, the film would then become a showcase of kinky sex and surreal violence. Goro Hanada is a killer, an assassin who will take on the best paying assignments and typically succeeds. During his offtime, he can always find his wife fully nude, and whether he’s having sex with her in various positions or slapping her around, this is the character that Suzuki focuses on.

What about the other characters such as Misako, the emotionless and beautiful killer who also has a fetish with her poisonous needles as we see her dead birds penetrated with needles or her love for butterflies. Or even No. 1, the #1 ranked assassin who uses psychological tactics to the point where he confronts Goro at his home and even stays with him, including making sure they go to the bathroom a certain way… together.

With intriguing editing, compositions and creative camera angles, Suzuki is able to merge commercial mainstream filmmaking with avant garde style. Making a gangster film artistic and despite the film being a violent film, especially for 1967 audiences, he manages to pull off one hell of a perverse, surreal, violent but yet fantastic film that is unlike other gangster films, especially films coming from Nikkatsu.

I have watched “Branded to Kill” countless times before including Suzuki’s film “Tokyo Drifter”, as these two films were ahead of its time. If people can respect the David Lynch, Takashi Miike and the Quentin Tarentino style of films today, they will love Seijun Suzuki’s films. This is a man who worked for a studio that made things as difficult as possible for him to be successful but because he and his crew were good at adapting to their economic situations, they used creative styles of storytelling, filming, costume and set design in order to achieve success in their mind, even if the studio execs felt Suzuki’s films were “incomprehensible”.

As for this latest 2011 release on Blu-ray and DVD, personally…the point of this new release is the Blu-ray! Criterion Collection has done a magnificent job of remastering this film in HD but since I’m reviewing the DVD version, I’m confident to say that this film is still worth it (especially if you don’t own a Blu-ray player) as the DVD looks great, especially compared to the old Criterion Collection 1999 DVD which lacks the color, detail and clarity. This DVD’s picture quality is much better than the original DVD and you get more special features as well!

Overall, “Branded to Kill” is a unique, brilliant masterpiece from Seijun Suzuki and a Criterion Collection release that is highly recommended!

Filed Under: Asian Cinema DVD/Blu-ray, DVD Reviews, THE CRITERION COLLECTION

Tokyo Drifter – The Criterion Collection #39 (a J!-ENT DVD Review)

December 13, 2011 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment

Stylish, cool and all-out entertaining! Seijun Suzuki’s classic gangster film “Tokyo Drifter” is magnificent! And for those who owned the original 1999 DVD, the Criterion Collection’s 2011 release of “Tokyo Drifter” is a major improvement in picture quality and special features. Definitely recommended!

TITLE: Tokyo Drifter – The Criterion Collection #39 (Tokyo Nagaremono)

FILM RELEASE DATE: 1966

DURATION: 82 Minutes

DVD INFORMATION: Color, Monaural in Japanese with English Subtitles, 2:35:1 Aspect Ratio

COMPANY: Janus Films/The Criterion Collection

RELEASED: December 13, 2011

Directed by Seijun Suzuki

Written by Kohan Kawauchi

Produced by Tetsuro Nakagawa

Music by Hajime Kaburagi

Cinematography by Shigeyoshi Mine

Edited by Shinya Inoue

Production Design by Takeo Kimura

Starring:

Tetsuya Watari as Tetsuya “Phoenix Tetsu” Hondo

Chieko Matsubara as Chiharu

Hideaki Nitani as Kenji Aizawa

Ryuji Kita as Kurata

Tsuyoshi Yoshida as Keeichi

Eimei Esumi as Otsuka

Tamio Kawaji as Tatsuzo, the Viper

Eiji Go as Tanaka

Tochiko Hamakawa as Mutsuko

Isao Tamagawa as Umetani

Michi Hino as Yoshii

Shuntaro Tamamura as Koyanagai

In this jazzy gangster film, reformed killer Tetsu’s attempt to go straight is thwarted when his former cohorts call him back to Tokyo to help battle a rival gang. Director Seijun Suzuki’s onslaught of stylized violence and trippy colors is equal parts Russ Meyer, Samuel Fuller, and Nagisa Oshima—an anything-goes, in-your-face rampage. Tokyo Drifter is a delirious highlight of the brilliantly excessive Japanese cinema of the sixties.

In Japan, what kind of film would ever feature a stoic, cool tough former gangster that can whistle or sing a song while guns are pointed at him?

The answer is “Tokyo Drifter”, the 1966 film directed by Seijun Suzuki who has earned a worldwide following of cinema fans due to his experimental visual style, humor and nihilistic coolness that his style of films were ahead of its time.

You can call his style “surreal” but what Nikkatsu wanted was traditional-style filmmaking, Seijun Suzuki who created 40 B-movies for the company between 1956 and 1967 and he was anything but traditional.

After “Tokyo Drifter”, he created two movies including his masterpiece “Branded to Kill” and the company had enough of Suzuki’s style of filmmaking. While he never complained, he was fired from his job and successfully sued the company for wrongful dismissal but in Japanese business tradition, if you sue an entertainment company, you will be blacklisted (which still goes on today in Japan) and in this case, Suzuki was blacklisted for ten years.

In Japan, because he stood up to the big entertainment company, he became a counterculture icon and his films were shown at midnight screenings to a packed audience.

In America, many cinema fans appreciated Suzuki’s work because of its visual, surreal style that was not as common to see in Japanese gangster films.

And while “Tokyo Drifter” and “Branded to Kill” have been released in America on LD and DVD from the Criterion Collection, in Dec. 2011, the Criterion Collection released both of Seijun Suzuki’s films “Tokyo Drifter” and “Branded to Kill” on Blu-ray and DVD which features improved video quality plus new interviews conducted by the Criterion Collection in 2011.

As for “Tokyo Drifter”, the film was to be made to propel the career of pop star Tetsuya Watari (who sang the theme song “Tokyo Nagarerumono”) and according to Suzuki, he only had 28-days to shoot the film including editing and post-production. Because Nikkatsu was growing tired of Suzuki’s bizarre visual style, they cut the film’s budget in hoping that it would make things much more simpler for the filmmaker. But instead, it pushed Suzuki and art director Takeo Kimura to look for creative ways to making the film look cool.

For the intro, he wanted to experiment with expired film and because they were shooting on a low-budget, in order to be creative using a single set, they used a variety of colors. And also, Suzuki wanted to stray away from the typical yakuza film by giving the main protagonist warmer colors instead of wearing the typical black suit.

Suffice to say, once again, upon completion, Nikkatsu executives were not pleased. They felt that the film did not promote Tetsuya Watari and that the film was “incomprehensible” and he was ordered to reshoot the ending.

Needless to say, the film was ahead of its time and it introduced many cinema fans of his work and also creating demand for his older Nikkatsu films.

“Tokyo Drifter” is a film that revolves around Tetsuya “Phoenix Tetsu” Hondo, a former yakuza member who has gone straight along with his boss Kurata (played by Ryuji Kita). Out of loyalty, Tetsu has done everything that his boss has told him and not to get involved in any fights that would cause harm.

In the beginning of the film, he is assaulted by a gang led by rival boss Otsuka (played by Hideaki Esumi), who do all they can to recruit Tetsu into their organization by beating on him but Tetsu continues to remain loyal to Kurata. For Otsuka, Tetsu has become the major thorn on his side in winning the war against his rival Kurata and thus, it is important to get Tetsu to join their gang or eliminate him.

As Tetsu tries to live the straight-life and doing business legit for his boss and also maintain a relationship with a singer named Chiharu (played by Chieko Matsubara), Otsuka wants to inflict revenge on his rival Kurata by taking over a building that they are leasing from a businessman named Yoshii (played by Michio Hino).

Kurata intends to buy the building but instead, Otsuka organizes a sham meeting with Yoshii, who is leaving to meet with Kurata.

Yoshii finds out that Otsuka has lied and wants him to sign documents saying that Otsuka has bought the building and thus Kurata must make payments to Otsuka. Yoshii refuses but when he is beaten and threatened to be killed, Yoshii has no choice but to sign.

When Tetsu catches word that Yoshii has sold Otsuka the building, Tetsu knows something is awry and goes to confront Otsuka. But when he arrives, Otsuka has shot Yoshii to death and when Tetsu tries to get at them, he falls into a hidden pit and is unconscious, Otsuka and his gang use the Yoshii deal and Tetsu capture as leverage against Kurata.

And as Otsuka tries to blackmail Kurata, in the process, Kurata tries to shoot at one of Otsuka’s gang members but instead, shoots his girlfriend to death. Now Otsuka threatens to call the police, but Tetsu manages to escape from the pit and rescue his boss from harm.

Showing loyalty to his boss, Tetsu tells him that he will take the fall for the woman’s death and to stop causing problems for his boss, he will become a drifter and leave immediately.

As Tetsu leaves his former life behind, including his girlfriend Chiharu, Tetsu is unaware that Otsuka’s gang is on his tail and are planning to eliminate him.

Will the Tetsu, the “Tokyo Drifter” survive against the rival gang?

VIDEO & AUDIO:

“Tokyo Drifter” is presented in 2:35:1 aspect ratio, color and audio is presented in monaural. It’s important to note that with the 2011 release, the release signifies the HD release of “Tokyo Drifter” on Blu-ray and for those wanting the best picture and audio quality, the Blu-ray is the version to buy.

But many may wonder if they owned the older 1999 DVD release and don’t own a Blu-ray player, should they upgrade to the 2011 DVD release? I can tell you right now that the 2011 version takes advantage of newer technology. Colors and detail are more apparent than the older DVD and you also get newer special features. The picture quality is so much better but if you can, I highly recommend going for the Blu-ray release as you will get more vibrant colors and better picture quality.

According to the Criterion Collection, the new high-definition transfer was created on a Spirit Datacine from a 35 mm low-contrast print. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, warps, jitter and flicker were manually removed using MTI’s DRS and Pixel Farm’s PFClean, while Image System’s DVNR was used for small dirt, grain and noise reduction.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Tokyo Drifter”, the 2011 DVD release comes with the following special features:

Seijun Suzuki and Masami Kuzuu – (12:12) A 2011 Criterion Collection interview with director Seijun Suzuki and assistant director Masami Kuzuu discussing “Tokyo Drifter”.
1997 Interview - (20:12) The following interview with Seijun Suzuki recorded during a retrospective from 1997 courtesy of the Japan Foundation and the Los Angeles Film Forum.
Trailer – (2:47) The original theatrical trailer for “Tokyo Drifter”.

EXTRAS:

16-Page booklet – Featuring a new essay titled “Catch My Drift” by writer Howard Hampton.

Visually stylish and cool, “Tokyo Drifter” was an avante garde film that was ahead of its time!

Each time I have watched “Tokyo Drifter”, it’s one of those films that I never grown tired of watching. When I was younger, I used to equate “Tokyo Drifter” almost like a James Bond film. Stylish in presentation, suave protagonist that is always calm, cool, collected and great with a gun and isn’t afraid in getting into a brawl.

Granted, the film is a yakuza story after all, but what I enjoyed about this film is its presentation that is so awkward and sometimes unusual, but in a very cool way!

For example, the introduction of the film is shown in black and white. But the contrast of the black and white is done in a way that looks nothing like your typical B&W film and then he spots a toy gun in red, how often do you see a gangster film with this type of artistic presentation. Never.

Another scene features an accidental shooting as one of Otsuka’s gang member’s girlfriend is shot and killed. Typically, you would see the girl shot, perhaps a closeup of the face and then the character falling to the ground. For Suzuki, we get a shot from high above. She gets up, feels the shot, rips the top of her dress up, falls and dies and then we get a close up shot as we see the blood flowing down the top of her breast.

Another shot features Tetsu walking through a snowy path with his light blue suit, on white snow but on the right is a red mailbox. There are several of these artistic shots that I absolutely love looking at.

And then you have the action, from the perfectly posed Tetsu shooting off his gun at an enemy to a scene where the enemy thinks they got him down, but then he starts singing or whistling his “Tokyo Nagaremono” song and eventually escapes death.

This is your bonafide anti-hero and while he looks like a normal guy, it’s how he’s characterized. Cool, focused and no matter if he gets shot, hit and falls on the ground multiple times…his suit is still pristine and he’s still singing before kicking some ass!

Even the other characters have their own distinction. Otsuka is shown primarily with the camera focused on his sunglasses, his henchman Tatsuzo, known as the Viper, is often seen with his silencer, Keiichi the loner is seen with his forest green jacket and Umetani, a friend of Kurata is seen with his suit and leather gloves.

And the set design, while the same set is used, Suzuki and his art director went for creative lighting in order to continue to give this impressive visual style despite the studio cutting their budget in hopes that Suzuki would not be so creative and kept to traditional filmmaking.

So, suffice to say, I love this film! From the first time I watched it to so many multiple viewings leading up to this 2011 release, I’m so thrilled that the Criterion Collection has chose to give the film the HD treatment.

Granted, I’m not reviewing the Blu-ray release, but since I owned the original release and now reviewing this 2011 release, I can tell the difference in quality as this 2011 DVD looks very good and I can only think that the Blu-ray is so much better! The vibrant colors, the clarity and detail…I’m impressed of how this film looks compared to the original DVD release.

And also you get special features which is a major bonus!

Overall, “Tokyo Drifter” is a film that is worth the purchase, mainly for those who love classic Japanese cinema, especially the gangster films. But in this case, it’s not your typical banal yakuza film, it’s stylish, visually creative and surreal and it’s a wonderful film from filmmaker Seijun Suzuki. And for those who thought the old DVD release from Criterion Collection was not that great in picture quality, well…you’re going to love how this film looks with this latest release on DVD, especially on Blu-ray!

“Tokyo Drifter” is definitely recommended!

Filed Under: Asian Cinema DVD/Blu-ray, DVD Reviews, THE CRITERION COLLECTION

Design for Living – The Criterion Collection #592 (a J!-ENT Blu-ray Disc Review)

December 6, 2011 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment

Ernst Lubitsch’s boldest film! “Design for Living” is a very loosely-based film adaptation of Noel Coward’s original play, “Design for Living” is a rare, radical, audacious yet well-performed film. And not only does this Blu-ray release look and sounds better than the original Universal DVD release, but also included is a 1964 Noel Coward teleplay version. Overall, a fantastic Criterion Collection release!

TITLE: Design for Living – The Criterion Collection #592

MOVIE RELEASE: 1933

DURATION: 91 Minutes

DVD INFORMATION: Black and White, Monaural, 1:33:1 Aspect Ratio

COMPANY: Universal/The Criterion Collection

RELEASE DATE: December 6, 2011

Directed by Ernst Lubitsch

Based on the play by Noel Coward

Produced by Ernst Lubitsch

Cinematography by Victor Milner

Starring:

Fredric March as Thomas B. “Tom” Chambers

Gary Cooper as George Curtis

Miriam Hopkins as Gilda Farrell

Edward Everett Horton as Max Plunkett

Franklin Pangborn as Mr. Douglas, Theatrica Producer

Isabel Jewell as Plunkett’s Stenographer

Jane Darwell as Curtis’ Housekeeper

Wyndham Standing as Max’s Butler

Gary Cooper, Fredric March, and Miriam Hopkins play a trio of Americans in Paris who enter into a very adult “gentleman’s agreement” in this continental pre-Code comedy, freely adapted by Ben Hecht from a play by Noël Coward and directed by Ernst Lubitsch. A risqué relationship story and a witty take on creative pursuits, the film concerns a commercial artist (Hopkins) unable—or unwilling—to choose between the equally dashing painter (Cooper) and playwright (March) she meets on a train en route to the City of Light. Design for Living is Lubitsch at his sexiest, an entertainment at once debonair and racy, featuring three stars at the height of their allure.

Bold, stylish and a pre-code non-musical film by Ernst Lubitsch, “Design for Living” receives new life with the Criterion Collection’s Blu-ray release of a film which showcases radicalism but a wonderful performance by its talent Fredric March, Gary Cooper and Miriam Hopkins.

It was 1932 when filmmaker Ernst Lubitch’s contract with Paramount had run out. Having completed the musical film “One Hour with You” with Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald (featured in Criterion’s “Eclipse Series #8: Lubitsch Musicals”), Lubitsch was a hot filmmaker which United Artists and Columbia were going after.

But for Lubitsch, he wanted to try something different. He wanted to direct for the stage in New York City but instead re-signed with Paramount for a three-film contract and what is most significant about this contract is the two films that he developed that were non-musical romantic comedies. One was his masterpiece “Trouble in Paradise”(as part of the Criterion Collection #170) and his other was “Design for Living” (1933).

“Design for Living” is loosely based on Noel Coward’s play and features a screenplay and earlier work by legendary screenwriter Ben Hecht (“Scarface”, “Notorious”, “Wuthering Heights”, “Spellbound”, “His Girl Friday”).

While the film has been released on DVD as part of Universal’s “The Gary Cooper Collection”, this is the first time the film has received a Blu-ray release and unlike the DVD version which had three movies on each disc and was compressed, this is the best version of the film released on video to date.

“Design for Living” was known back then as Lubitch’s first film dealing with contemporary morals. A film literally about a menage a trois, three people involved in a relationship. Needless to say, this was shot prior to Hollywood’s Hays Code which would ban indecency in films. But a year later, after the Production Code Administration initiated the code, the film would be banned by the Catholic Legion of Decency and was denied a PCA for re-release.

“Design for Living” would feature three people who would meet on a train in Paris and become more than friends.

Thomas B. “Tom” Chambers (played by Fredric March, “A Star is Born”, “The Best Years of Our Lives”), a screenwriter who is best friends with painter George Curtis (played Gary Cooper, “Meet John Doe”, “High Noon”, “Mr. Deed Goes to Town”, “Sergeant York”).

One day while sleeping on a train, a young woman named Gilda Farrell (played by Miriam Hopkins, “Trouble in Paradise”, “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”, “The Heiress”), an artist for an American advertising company owned by Max Plunkett (played by Edward Everett Horton, “Top hat”, “Shall We Dance”, “Arsenic and Old Lace”) sits on the seat across them and immediately, she becomes smitten with both men and both men become smitten with her. Eventually, Tom would have a sexual relationship with Gilda, as George has with her as well.

One day, Max Plunkett visits both men individually and tells each to end their relationship with Gilda. He tells each of them, “Immorality may be fun, but it’s not fun enough to take the place of 100 percent virtue and three square meals a day.”

When both men find out from each other that Plunkett has talked to them, each men decide that they shouldn’t let a woman ruin their friendship. But when Gilda comes to visit the men, both know they are very much in love with her, as she is with them.

Gilda tells them, “You see, a man can meet two, three, or even four women and fall in love with all of them, and then by a process of interesting elimination, he is able to decide which he prefers. But a woman must decide purely on instinct-guesswork-if she wants to be considered nice.”

But as the two are jealous of each other in competing for her affection, they come to a “gentleman’s agreement” in which she would move-in with both men and would critique their work but as long as she lives there, they would have to concentrate on work and not have sex.

But what happens when Tom goes to London to supervise a production of one of his plays and Gilda is left alone with George?

Needless to say, it will test their “Gentleman’s agreement” and in the end, which man will end up with Gilda?

VIDEO:

“Design for Living” is presented in 1:33:1 black and white. According to the Criterion Collection, this new high-definition digital transfer was created on a Spirit 1K Datacine from a 35 mm fine-grain master positive. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, warps, jitter and flicker were manually removed using MTI’s DRS and Pixel Farm’s PFClean, while Image System’s DVNR was used for small dirt, grain, and noise reduction. Image Mill’s steady was also used to reduce film weave.

For those who owned the original Universal “The Gary Cooper Collection” DVD set, one of the things that I disliked about the Universal release and a practice used on a few of their older films was putting these movies (in this case, three of them) on a DVD. In fact, I knew before watching the Criterion Collection Blu-ray release that the picture quality would definitely be much better than this DVD release by a large margin and I was right.

The original Universal DVD looked blurry, a lot of white specks, blemishes, occasional flickering and while there was grain, this Blu-ray release not only looks beautiful, the film damage seen on the DVD version is literally non-existent when watching it on Blu-ray. The clarity and detail faces are noticeable, while the DVD is noticeable for its blurriness. Even objects and structures look blurry and lack detail. The Blu-ray release showcases the detail. Grays and whites and overall contrast is beautiful. Blacks levels are very nice!

Hands down, this is the best looking version of the film-to-date. Granted, I wouldn’t throw away your copy of the “The Gary Cooper Collection” as there are five movies worth watching in that set. But for “Design for Living”, the Criterion Collection Blu-ray release is the best looking version of the film to date.

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

“Design for Living” is presented in monaural. According to the Criterion Collection, the original monaural soundtrack was remastered at 24-bit from a fine-grain soundtrack print. Clicks, thumps, hiss and hum were manually removed using Pro Tools HD. Crackle was attenuated using AudioCube’s integrated workstation.

Dialogue is crisp and clear, and I detected no hiss or crackle. Nothing that distracted me while viewing.

Subtitles are presented in English SDH.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Design for Living – The Criterion Collection #592″ on Blu-ray comes with the following special features:

The Clerk - (2:21) A very short segment of the 1932 omnibus “If I Had a Million” in which Ernst Lubitsch directed one of the scenes featuring Charles Laughton.
Selected-Scene Commentary – (36:31) Film professor William Paul, author of “Ernst Lubtisch’s American Comedy” talks about the production history of the film and his analysis of various scenes.
Joseph McBride: The Screenplay -(22:08) An interview with film scholar and screenwriter Joseph McBride who talks about the differences between Noel Coward’s play and Ben Hecht’s script (and his approach to adaptation) and also what made the film so special.
Play of the Week: A Choice of Coward – (1:13:31) A 1964 British ITV television production of the original “Design For Living” featuring an introduction by original creator Noel Coward.

EXTRAS:

“Design for Living – The Criterion Collection #592″ comes with an 24-page booklet featuring image stills from the film and the essay “It Takes Three” by Kim Morgan.

When you watch an Ernst Lubitsch film, I pretty much know that I’m going to have a great time.

He has a way of approaching a storyline and directing and utilizing his talent with enormous efficacy, it’s no surprise of why he is considered such a legendary filmmaker. But while he is remembered for films such as “Ninotchka”, “Shop Around the Corner”, “Trouble in Paradise”, “To Be or Not to Be” to name a few, “Design for Living” is an interesting and unique Lubitsch film because it takes on social morals and in this case, not love by two people but love by three people.

You are not going to find many films within the last 90-years that features a menage a trois as part of a romantic comedy storyline. Even in today’s society where you may see the banal gigolo with his women, in this case, its two men who love the same woman and woman who loves both men.

How do you approach a story with that kind of relationship. For one, that was the challenge for filmmaker Ernst Lubitsch and earlier in his career, Ben Hecht. In Hecht’s adaptation, both men would not follow Noel Coward’s film verbally, but still maintain the adventure of the three individuals. While, the film adaptation would feature Max Plunkett as forgettable man.

But its the performances that manage to take this film and literally make it entertaining. We know that Tom is the more decent man of the three, Tom is more of the man who can’t wait to have sex with Gilda and Gilda is a woman who is very intelligent, carefree and she manages to hold these two men on a string, making them part of her Bohemian lifestyle and acknowledging that they have their own ethics, their own lifestyle.

There really is no true or threatening drama, no risky high point that challenges the three on their morals. No government, not society telling them what they are doing is indecent. Only Max Plunkett, Gilda’s boss and the film’s clown.

So, the film is audacious, its absurd but it’s witty and mischievous to the point that that makes you intrigued that a Hollywood film like “Design for Living” was ever created. And yet, it possible was a film that was ahead of its time, or maybe easily to take in today than it was then. While the film did do well in the box office as many came to see a Noel Coward film, like the critics, reviews were mixed because this film was nothing like Noel Coward’s play. But at the same time, it probably was best that Hecht did stray from the original as the fear was that people watching film would not understand Noel Coward dialogue.

But I felt it was a smart move on Lubitsch’s part to have Hecht craft the screenplay and distance themselves from Noel Coward’s work. From various books that I have read, this was a film he agonized about for quite a while before taking it on. And the only reason why he took it on was because he didn’t have to make the film adaptation exact to the original play. So, all that does remain of Noel Coward’s play is just the title and the theme.

As for the Blu-ray release, once again, this is the definitive version of the film-to-date and picture and audio quality far surpasses the original DVD version from Universal’s “The Gary Cooper Collection”. In fact, because of the quality that Criterion Collection has put into this release, I can only hope that Universal considers the Criterion Collection on taking on some of their classic hits, because this film on Blu-ray looks absolutely fantastic! And in Criterion Collection fashion, you also get the benefit of special features as well (which Universal was never known for in their older classic DVD releases).

But the winner for me was the inclusion of the Ben Hecht featurette but most importantly, the 1964 play of “Design for Living” based on Noel Coward’s play. We not only get an introduction by Coward but with all the talk of the differences between Lubitsch and Hecht’s version of “Design for Living” compared to the original play, now viewers can watch the play and see how things differed greatly. So, I felt that Criterion Collection including this as part of the special features was fantastic! Similar to what the Criterion Collection did with “12 Angry Men” release by including the teleplay, I was quite thrilled to find out that the teleplay was included.

Overall, “Design for a Living” is one of the bolder Ernst Lubitsch films out there. In fact, with the release of “Design for a Living”, one can only hope that “Trouble in Paradise” will also be considered for a Blu-ray release in the near future. But I’m very pleased that the Criterion Collection has released a Lubitsch title on Blu-ray and in keeping with the Criterion Collection’s goal of focusing on important classic and contemporary films, “Design for Living” is a style of film with subject manner that you’re not going to see in an American romantic comedy ever again.

“Design for Living” is definitely recommended!

Filed Under: Blu-ray Reviews, THE CRITERION COLLECTION

The Rules of the Game – THE CRITERION COLLECTION #216 (2011 Release) (a J!-ENT DVD Review)

November 24, 2011 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment

Jean Renoir’s failed masterpiece of 1939 has become one of the greatest films ever created of all time. The 106-minute 1959 re-release of “The Rules of the Game” is digitally restored, remastered and in Criterion Collection fashion, loaded with special features. Highly recommended!

TITLE: The Rules of the Game – The Criterion Collection #216 (2011 Release)

FILM RELEASE DATE: 1939

DURATION: 106 Minutes

DVD INFORMATION: Black and White, Monaural in French with English Subtitles, 1:33:1 Aspect Ratio

COMPANY: Janus Films/The Criterion Collection

RELEASED: November 15, 2011

Directed by Jean Renoir

Scenario and Dialogue by Jean Renoir

Written by Carl Koch

Cinematography by Jean-Paul Alphen, Jean Bachelet, Jacques Lemare, Alain Renoir

Edited by Marthe Huguet, Marguerite Renoir

Production Design by Coco Chanel

Starring:

Nora Gregor as Christine de la Cheyniest

Marcel Dalio as Robert de la Cheyniest

Julien Carete as Marceaux

Roland Toutain as Andre Jurieux

Gaston Modot as Edouard Schumacher

Jean Renoir as Octave

Paulette Dubost as Lisette

Mila Parely as Genevieve

Odette Talazac as Madame de la Plante

Claire Gerard as Madame de la Bruyere

Pierre Magniere as Le General

Eddy Debray as Corneille

Anne Mayen as Jackie

Lise Elina as Radio Reporter

Widely regarded as one of the greatest films ever made, Jean Renoir’s masterpiece The Rules of the Game (La Règle du jeu) is a scathing critique of corrupt French society cloaked in a comedy of manners. Although the original negative was destroyed during World War II, this edition features the fully reconstructed version embraced by audiences and critics around the world as a timeless representation of Renoir’s genius.

It was 1939 and World War II and the Nazi Germans was coming. What does director Jean Renoir (“The Grand Illusion”, “The River”) do? He creates a film titled “La Regle du jeu” (The Rules of the Game) that is part of an adaptation of Alfred de Musset’s “Les Caprices de Marianne” and a film that was so far ahead of its time, it received an audience reaction that the filmmakers nor the crew/talent were expecting.

When the film was screened in front of audiences in Paris, the controversial film was boo’ed, led to fights in the theater and people burning their newspapers and leading theater owners to demand that Renoir cut the film. The 94-minute film that was screened in theaters, then became 81-minutes and unlike “Grand Illusion” which lasted three months in theaters, “The Rules of the Game” lasted only three weeks. It was the worst reception that Renoir had ever had for a film and was considered a massive failure. The upper class had an incredible disdain because of the actions of the characters in the film and because the film was a comedy that turns tragic, it was a film that defied normal standards of how storylines of films were at the time.

World War II came, Renoir fled to Rome (since he was a target by the Nazi’s) and as for the film, it was banned by the French government. When the film was sealed in a room with other films, because of World War II, that room was bombed and the original 94-minute cut of the film was destroyed.

And decades later, when two cinema fans Jean Gaborit and Jacques Durand wanted to fix the film back to its 94-minute glory, despite the original film being destroyed, the duo worked on the prints and compared with the 81-minute version. And lo and behold, canisters of the unedited footage of the film were found and when the two were done, a 106 minute version was created and is the version of the film that the world has seen. With the French New Wave in full force in France, many film critics, filmmakers and cinema magazines have called “The Rules of the Game” as one of the best films created of all time.

It was a film that was ahead of its time when released in theaters that was jarring to the audience but for the young and upcoming filmmakers who had experienced the back in 1939, the film was nothing like they have ever seen in their lives and help shape French cinema during the 1950′s and 1960′s.

“The Rules of the Game” is a film about eight individuals. The film begins with aviator Andre Jurieux (played by Roland Toutain) landing at Le Bourget Airfield. Hailed as a hero by his countrymen for crossing the Atlantic on his plane, unlike other pilots who would be happy about their conquering of such a feat., that is not how Andre feels. Andre hears from his good friend Octave (played by Jean Renoir) that the woman he did this challenge for, Christine, has not shown up to greet or congratulate him. He did this only for her and because she is not there, it is the most disappoint day of his life.

Andre is so devastated by this and even one time, he crashes his car in such a depression that Octave knows that he must do something. So, Octave decides to help his friend by visiting Christine (played by Nora Gregor). Christine is a socialite, married to the rich Robert de la Cheyniest (played by Marcel Dalio). Octave begs Christine to see Andre because of his current state and he later begs Robert to make it happen and thus a planned party is created to welcome the hero Andre after his aviation accomplishment. We learn that both Octave and Christine grew up with each other and she wants to see her dear friend happy.

We are then introduced to Christine’s maid Lisette (played by Paulette Dubost) who loves working for Christine and is married to Schumacher, the gamekeeper at the country estate.

As people come to party and stay at Robert de la Cheyniest’s mansion, the group go on a hunt on the grounds for rabbits and birds. As Schumacher checks out the traps on the grounds, he encounters a poacher named Marceau (played by Julien Carrette) who is trying to steal the rabbit. Schumacher is angered and when Robert de la Cheyniest discovers the two arguing, instead of kicking him off the grounds, he hires him as a servant. And during this hunt for animals, we learn about “The Rules of the Game”.

We are then introduced to other characters and we see that Robert de la Cheyniest is having an affair with Genevieve de Marras (Mila Parely), Christine has her affairs with other men, Lisette is now enamored with Marceau (which Schumacher has a feeling that there is something going on with his wife and the servant) and as for Andre, he is introduced to Christine’s niece Jackie who starts to fall for him, but for Andre, he has his eyes only on Christine.

The film seems very complex and we see how there are sexual affairs that are happening with the key individuals, but when they are all together at the celebration and everything starts off with happiness and fun, the night ends with tragedy and life for some of these characters will never be the same again.

VIDEO & AUDIO:

Before I get into my review of the DVD, it’s important to note that in 2011, a Blu-ray release for “The Rules of the Game” was released. If you want the best clarity and detail of the film to date, definitely go for the Blu-ray release!

“The Rules of the Game” is presented in black and white (1:33:1 aspect ratio). Many may wonder what is the difference between this 2011 version on DVD versus the 2004 DVD release. The answer is technology. With today’s 2011 technology as opposed to 2004, there are better hardware today that are used to remove scratches and dust but also for better sound remastering.

According to the Criterion Collection, the original negative for the film was destroyed during a World War II bombing raid. In 1959, with Jean Renoir’s approval, the movie was reconstructed by Jean Gaborit and Jacques Durand, result in today’s renowned 106-minute version. In preparation for the original DVD release of “The Rules of the Game”, Criterion searched at length for a 35 mm fine-grain master processed directly from the negative of Gaborit and Durand’s reconstruction and one was finally located at the French film lab GTC in 2003.

Criterion Collection made a high-definition transfer of the fine-grain master created on a Spirit Datacine. Due to the nature of the reconstruction, which is comprised of elements from various sources, there are noticeable variations in quality, nonetheless, this version is made from the best existing materials. Thousands of dirt, debris and scratches were removed using MTI’s DRS both in the 2003 and 2011 editions of “The Rules of the Game”.

The Criterion Collection did a very good job on the remastering. Many times you can see the original footage (during the comparison footage) and you can see how much sharper and clearer the video is. The picture quality is not perfect as you do see some film warping, dust and scratches at times but considering the negative sources, it is to be as expected. The picture quality also appears much cleaner than the 2004 DVD release.

As for the audio, audio is Monaural French and the dialogue is clear. According to the Criterion Collection, the soundtrack was mastered at 24-bit from a 35mm magnetic audio track and audio restoration tools were used to reduce clicks, pops, hiss and hum were manually removed using ProTools HD. Crackle was attenuated using AudioCube’s integrated workstation. So, the 2011 edition definitely received another remaster using today’s 2011 technology versus what was available back in 2003.

Subtitles are in English.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“The Rules of the Game” comes with plenty of special features. Included are:

DISC 1:

Renoir Introduction – (6:30) Director Jean Renoir introduces the film and talks about how it was a failure at the theaters and how people reacted to it back then. Also, how he felt when the 106-minute cut of the film was screened at the Venice Film Festival.
Audio Commentary - The audio commentary is not exactly filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich’s own personal comments but him reading the essay of Renoir scholar Alexander Sesonske, author of “Jean Renoir: The French Films, 1924-1939). Because the essay is timed with the film, Bogdanovich has to speed up the reading quite a bit. But it’s important to note that this is a reading of an essay but not a true audio commentary by Bogdanovich.
Playing by Different Rules: Version Comparison - (13:05) Historian Chris Faulkner, co-author with Olivier Curchod of an annotated edition of the original shooting script shows a comparison between scenes from the 81-minute version of the film and the 106-minute version of the film and what was cut out in the short version of the film.
Short Version Ending – (8:32) The ending to the 81-minute version of the film and showing how many scenes featuring Octave were removed.
Scene Analysis – (5:28) Chris Faulkner, who has researched the film “The Rules of the Game” for the last 15 years recorded a commentary on selected scenes “Public and Private” (5:28) and “Corridor” (2:40) from the film.

DISC 2:

Jean Renoir, Le Patron – (31:13) Featuring a program from “La Rele et l’exception” produced in 1967 by Jacques Rivette for Cineastes de notre temps. Renoir discusses “The Rules of the Game” with Rivette and Andre Labarthe. Renoir discusses Munich and the war, shooting the film, casting the main characters, improvisation and the final scene of the film.
Jean Renoir BBC Documentary – (59:58) David Thompson made a two-part BBC documentary on Jean Renoir back in 1993. The first part featured is about “From La Belle Epoque to World War II” and his upbringing up to his career through “The Rules of the Game” and the people in his life and how he managed to pay for creating his films.
Production History: Chris Faulkner – (8:18) A video essay by “The Rules of the Game” historian Chris Faulkner who offers a condensed look at the history of the film, Renoir’s inception, production, and original release through its 1959 reconstruction.
Production History: Olivier Curchod – (27:39) A new featurette for this 2011 release featuring N.T. Binh, film scholar Olivier Curchod expands on the the history of “The Rules of the Game”.
Production History: Gaborit and Durand – (10:05) An excerpt from a 1965 television interview from “Les Ecrans de la ville”, Jean Gaborit and Jacques Durand, the duo responsible for the reconstruction of the film discuss how it came about, what happened during reconstruction and more.
Interview: Max Douy – (9:05) An interview from 2003, production/set designer Max Douy talked about how the film crew respected Renoir and trying to complete the film before World War II.
Interview: Mila Parely – (16:17) An interview from 1995 produced by Jacques Motte for his documentary film “Histoires d’un tournage en Sologne” with Mila Parely. Mila who played the character Genevivie de Marras talks about working with director Jean Renoir and behind-the-scenes moments of “The Rules of the Game”.
Interview: Alain Renoir – (18:18) An interview from 2003. Alain talks about his father and working on the set as an assistant cameraman on “The Rules of the Game”.

EXTRAS:

42-Page booklet – Featuring “Everyone Has Their Reasons” by Alexander Sesonske, “The Rules of the Game: Scenario” by Jean Renoir, Jean Renoir on “The Rules of the Game”, Henri Cartier-Bresson remembers, “Director’s Cut” by Bertrand Taverner, “In Truffaut’s Words” and “Tributes”.

“The Rules of the Game” is considered a masterpiece and one of the greatest films of all time. Ranked high by several film institutes and shown at film schools, the film was a bonafide flop during its theatrical run and only 20 years later, was the film truly appreciated and recognized.

The upper class and viewers of the film despised Renoir’s film as many felt it was a middle finger to the upper class, nor were cinemagoers expecting a tragedy when they thought the film would be a comedy. This is no different today especially how prestigious of a title this film has had since it’s 106-minute theatrical re-release back in 1959. Many viewers have approached the film almost similar to “Citizen’s Kane” questioning why this film is so highly regarded.

For one, people must recognized what Renoir created. During a time when many director’s were politically affiliated with the left or the right, most films favored the Burgeois. Renoir grew up with the rich courtesy of his famous father, painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir. This film was Renoir wanting to show what he has experienced with the upperclass. Men and women who had sexual liasons with other partners and things that are done without remorse. Needless to say, the upperclass nor was the French government enthusiastic about the film. They outright banned it.

Renoir created a film that featured beautiful cinematography, well-paced but it took the viewer from its comedic ties to an ending that shocked viewers to the point they were disgusted, boo’ed and threw items on the front of the screen because they were upset. How could a film that could have been happy and a have a happy ending not be happy? With World War II approaching and Nazi Germany, the French viewers had no tolerance for such a film during that time and unfortunately, because of its failure, Renoir moved to Rome and then to the United States knowing he would be targeted or used by the Nazi’s.

Bare in mind, this was before the French New Wave. Before Godard, Chris Marker, Agnes Varda, Francois Truffaut, Eric Rohmer and others who would make their mark for their accomplishments for their works in cinema and doing their own thing. Going against what was normal in cinema and against what people typically expected. It was an exciting time in the 1960′s and these director’s praised the work of Jean Renoir and Jean Vigo.

For Alain Resnais and even Francois Truffaut, “The Rules of the Game” was significant as it showed them before their own careers of what cinema is capable of. In 1939, Jean Reno paid the price and although hailed for being one of the best masterpieces of all time, as much as Reno was happy, he paid the price. First, being forced to cut the film down to 81-minutes and then that version not surviving in the theater for a month and of course, losing the original cut of the film during World War II. It seemed too much but eventually he would rebound over a decade later when he worked on his first color film “The River”.

“The Rules of the Game” is a film that challenged social convention. In terms of cinematography, it was unique as lighting was timed, characters in the background walking and reacting are timed perfectly with the main talent seen on camera. Was this camera work inspirational to Orson Welles for “Citizen Kane”. Possibly. But technically, the film looked so free flowing and cuts were well-done. Call it avante-garde or call the film the inspiration for the French New Wave, this 106-minute version of the film is a version that people around that many French didn’t see.

A version that we get to see digitally remastered and restored and of course, with The Criterion Collection treatment, we get a lot of special features bundled with this release. It’s a fantastic release and its one of those films that may require several viewings but also helps to learn the backstory of the film and why it is so important in the history of cinema.

For those who owned the 2004 DVD release, many may wonder if the upgrade to the 2011 release is important? I do believe that the upgrade to the Blu-ray release is definitely worth it! But to upgrade from the 2004 DVD to the 2011 DVD, maybe and maybe not.

The main difference aside from the new technology used for remastering lies in the special features. Gone from this 2011 DVD release are the “Analysis of the Shooting Script” (text-based feature) and the “Tributes” (another text-based segment) but what you gain in this 2011 DVD release is the 27-minute Olivier Curchod Production History featurette. While I definitely would take a 27-minute featurette over a text-based special feature, it is all subjective to the viewer. But for the most part, this re-release was to bring “The Rules of the Game” for Blu-ray and for those who are new to Jean Renoir and don’t own a Blu-ray player, would get to enjoy the film via this new release.

I’m not going suggest you to watch or own this film because critics call it one of the greatest films of all time. But I do hope people watch this film, know its impact as a failed masterpiece in 1939, but then 20-years-later, becoming a golden masterpiece that was way ahead of its time and it took that long to be appreciated.

It’s quite interesting because Renoir and Orson Welles became good friends in Hollywood. Renoir told Welles that “an artist must be 20 years head of his time but it was harder for an artist of the cinema because the cinema insists upon being 20 years behind the public”. Like father, like son. Jean Renoir’s “La Regle du jeu” (The Rules of the Game) is a masterpiece and over 70-years later, is still on top of the list for many cinema polls as one of the greatest films of all time.

“The Rules of the Game” is highly recommended!

Filed Under: DVD Reviews, THE CRITERION COLLECTION

12 Angry Men – The Criterion Collection #591 (a J!-ENT DVD Review)

November 24, 2011 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment

Masterfully created, Sidney Lumet’s film adaptation of Reginald Rose’s wonderful teleplay is a true classic. A film that relies on its intelligent screenplay, powerful performances and creative cinematography, “12 Angry Men” will continue to be a beloved courtroom drama that will have its relevance in today’s society as it did in the past, but also in the future. The Criterion Collection release of “12 Angry Men” is magnificent and is definitely a 5-star release! Highly recommended!

TITLE: 12 Angry Men – The Criterion Collection #563

RELEASE OF FILM: 1957

DURATION: 96 Minutes

DVD INFORMATION: 1:66:1 Aspect Ratio, Black and White, Monaural

COMPANY: Twentieth Century Fox/The Criterion Collection

RELEASED: November 22, 2011

Directed by Sidney Lumet

Story and Screenplay by Reginald Rose

Produced by Henry Fonda, Reginald Rose

Associate Producer: George Justin

Music by Kenyon Hopkins

Cinematography by Boris Kaufman

Edited by Carl Lerner

Art Direction by Bob Markel

Starring:

Martin Balsam as Juror #1

John Fiedler as Juror #2

Lee J. Cobb as Juror #3

E.G. Marshall as Juror #4

Jack Klugman as Juror #5

Edward Binns as Juror #6

Jack Warden as Juror #7

Henry Fonda as Juror #8

Joseph Sweeney as Juror #9

Ed Begley as Juror #10

George Voskovec as Juror #11

Robert Webber as Juror #12

12 Angry Men, by Sidney Lumet, may be the most radical courtroom drama in cinema history. A behind-closed-doors look at the American legal system that is as riveting as it is spare, this iconic adaptation of Reginald Rose’s teleplay stars Henry Fonda as the dissenting member on a jury of white men ready to pass judgment on a Puerto Rican teenager charged with murdering his father. The result is a saga of epic proportions that plays out over a tense afternoon in one sweltering room. Lumet’s electrifying snapshot of 1950s America on the verge of change is one of the great feature film debuts.

“12 Angry Men”, the classic Sidney Lumet film that featured one of the most riveting, thought-provoking courtroom dramas in cinema history.

But before the 1957 film was made, writer Reginald Rose would create a teleplay of “12 Angry Men” for Westinghouse Studio One, a CBS live production that aired back in Sept. 20, 1954.

This was during a time when people were buying television to move away from radio programming to teleplays featured on both CBS and NBC and the response that the teleplay received was tremendous and would go on to win three Emmy Awards for Rose, director Franklin Schaffner and Robert Cummings for “Best Actor”. Suffice to say, the teleplay’s success would lead to a play adaptation in 1955.

With the success of the teleplay, actor Henry Fonda wanted to bring “12 Angry Men” to the big screen and working with Reginald Rose, the two decided to go for it. The only challenge was to keep things within the budget of $350,000 and so that meant finding a director that was talented but not expensive. And so, they went with a television director named Sidney Lumet (who would go on to direct “Network”, “Dog Day Afternoon”, “Before the Devil Knows Your Dead”), who never directed a film before, but had the experience to make this teleplay work on film.

With the film primarily using one set, the film dependent on the actors. And while Henry Fonda (“The Grapes of Wrath”, “Once Upon a Time in the West”, “On Golden Pond”) was the lead actor and the best known actor of the film, “12 Angry Men” would also star Joseph Sweeney and George Voskovec (both who were featured in the Westinghouse Studio One teleplay) and star Ed Begley (“The Unsinkable Molly Brown”, “Hang ‘Em High”), the film debut of Jack Klugman (“The Odd Couple”, “Quincy”, “Days of Wine and Roses”), Jack Warden (“Shampoo”, “Heaven Can Wait”), Martin Balsam (“Psycho”, “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”, “Tora! Tora! Tora!”), John Fiedler (“The Odd Couple”), Lee J. Cobb (“The Exorcist”, “On the Waterfront”, “The Virginian”), E.G. Marshall (“The Defenders”), Edward Binns (“North by Northwest”, “Patton”) and Robert Webber (“The Dirty Dozen”, “10″).

The film did very well in the box office and would be nominated for three Academy Awards (“Best Director”, “Best Picture” and “Best Writing of Adapted Screenplay”) and was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” in 2007.

Decades later, the original teleplay would inspire a 1997 TV film adaptation by William Friedkin, as well as other adaptations in different parts of the world.

And now, “12 Angry Men” will received its Criterion Collection Blu-ray and DVD release in November 2011. The release will include both the 1954 teleplay and the 1957 film adaptation.

“12 Angry Men” begins with the final arguments being presented to the jury and the judge instructing the jury to decide whether or not a young man is guilty of murdering his father. If he is found guilty, the guilty verdict will be accompanied by a mandatory death sentence.

As each men gather in the deliberation room during a hot humid afternoon, the 12 jurors must vote on whether or not the young man is guilty. For a guilty verdict, all 12 jurors must vote guilty. Otherwise if one doesn’t, it will be a hung jury and the case will need to be retried.

Nearly all of the jurors are confident that the boy is guilty with the exception of one juror, juror number 8 (played by Henry Fonda).

Juror number 8 feels that instead of everyone rushing into a decision, a young man’s life is in stake and what they are deciding is his fate. He doesn’t know if the young man killed the father but because he has “reasonable doubt”, he is voting not guilty.

This angers some of the jurors who are confident that the young man killed his father. One, because there is one witness, a woman who saw him doing it. Two, another witness who saw a young man running from the building and three, he used a knife that is one of a kind, used in the murder of the father.

What was presented was the young man was punched by his father, the young man stabbed him, was seen by a woman, he ran out of his apartment building and was seen by an older man. The young man came back to his home around 3:00 a.m. and was arrested by detectives.

Because the jurors must deliberate, they must convince juror #8 why each of them feels that the young man is guilty and everyone feels that the young man is guilty because of the evidence at witness. But when juror #8 explains why he doesn’t believe the knife evidence (of it being one of a kind), juror #8 presents the same knife in front of everyone. He has broken the rule by going to the neighborhood near the young man’s home and finding the same “hard to find knife” at a nearby gift shop, therefore eliminating the “evidence” as credible.

This continues to anger some of the jurors who feel that juror #8 is grasping at straws in defending the young man but when juror #8 asks for a revote, this time they do it by secret ballot. And this time, juror #9 (played by Joseph Sweeney) has now voted “not guilty” because of “reasonable doubt” and wants further discussion. But the other witnesses feel that no matter what he says, it’s not going to change anything. One man continues to say that anyone who grew up from the slum is guilty no matter what. That’s how they are! Others voice their opinion that if there are witnesses, it is a clear-cut case.

This angers the other jurors but they continue to deliberate. Juror #8 and #9 then takes on the witnesses. When they examine the older witness who said he saw a boy running from the home within “15 seconds” of him hearing a noise. Juror #9 talks about how the older witness had problems walking. This then catches everyone’s attention to the point that they try to do a mock example of the timing of someone with a leg injury getting from one spot to the other, in order to view the boy running from his home. And through their mock example, they feel that the witness is not credible because with his injury it would have taken him over 40 seconds to get from point A to point B.

Immediately, the other witness then begin to have “reasonable doubt”. Juror #5 (played by Jack Klugman) who grew up in the slum now votes “not guilty”, juror #11 (played by George Voskovec) then changes his vote to “not guilty”.

The other jurors who then switched to “not guilty” begin to take on the other witness and other key arguments that the prosecution delivered and slowly chip away to reveal flaws in the case which then begin to make other jury members realize that perhaps, the evidence was not as 100% as it seems.

While other jurors grow irritated that others are switching their vote when it’s a clear-cut case.

By their self-imposed deadline of 7:00 p.m., through deliberations, what will be the final vote for the 12 jurors in the case?

VIDEO:

“12 Angry Men” is presented in 1:66:1 black and white. Before I go into the picture quality of “12 Angry Men”, it is important for me to mention that if you want the best picture quality possible, you may want to consider the Blu-ray version over the DVD version of the film. With that being said, I will say that I have watched this film many times before on DVD and on cable and one thing that I noticed about this film is that there is more clarity and the DVD does give slight detail when it comes to the closeup of the men (from sweat beading on their forehead to the stitching in their clothing). Black levels are nice and deep and very good contrast with the white and grays. I can imagine that on Blu-ray, the detail on the skin of the characters, especially their clothing would be quite visible. There is also a good layer of grain that can be seen as well.

According to the Criterion Collection, this new high definition digital transfer was created on a Spirit 2K from a 35 mm fine-grain master positive. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, warps, jitter and flicker were manually removed using MTI’s Digital Restoration System and Pixel Farm’s PFClean system, while Image Systems’ DVNR system was used for small dirt, grain and noise reduction.

With that being said, if you want the best presentation of this film, you will definitely want to get the Blu-ray release. But I will say that this DVD release is fantastic, especially when comparing the picture quality to the 2001 DVD release. The PQ looks a lot cleaner and doesn’t look aged at all. I would assume that since the film is shot outdoor for many scenes, that the Blu-ray release will be much more vibrant but still, this is a really good presentation of the film on DVD and fans of the film should be happy.

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

“12 Angry” is presented in its original monaural soundtrack. While the Blu-ray definitely has the edge with its lossless LPCM 1.0 soundtrack, because it is 1.0 and limited in dynamic amplitude, the DVD monaural track is very clear. Dialogue is understandable and I detected no hiss or crackle while watching the film.

According to the Criterion Collection, the soundtrack was remastered at 24-bit from a restored 35 mm magnetic track and clicks, thumps, hiss and hum were manually removed using Pro Tools HD. Crackle was attenuated using AudioCube’s integrated workstation.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“12 Angry Men – The Criterion Collection #591″ DVD comes with the following special features:

Disc 1:

The Television Version – (50:43) Frank Schaffner’s 1954 television version that aired on Westinghouse Studio One (on CBS back in Sept. 1954)
The Television Version – Introduction by Ron Simon - (14:03) Ron Simon, curator at the Paley Center for Media looks at the importance of the teleplay and its impact on live television.
12 Angry Men: From TV to Big Screen – (25:32) Film scholar Vance Kepley looks at the evolution of “12 Angry Men” form teleplay to film.
Original Theatrical Trailer – (:30) The original theatrical trailer for “12 Angry Men”.

Disc 2:

Sidney Lumet – Archival interviews with director Sidney Lumet by his friend and collaborator Walter Bernstein. ”Lumet on Lumet” (22:54) and “Reflections on Sidney” (9:24).
On Reginald Rose – (14:59) Ron Simon, curator at the Paley Center for Media examines Rose’s importance.
Tragedy in a Temporary Town - (55:11) A teleplay (aired on NBC as part of “The Alcoa Hours” back on Feb. 19, 1956) directed by Lumet and written by Rose.
On Boris Kaufman – (38:20) New interview with cinematographer John Bailey in which he discusses cinematographer Boris Kaufman

EXTRAS:

Included is a 24-page booklet featuring the following essay “Lumet’s Faces” by Thane Rosenbaum.

Riveting and thought-provoking, “12 Angry Men” is a film that captivates viewers from beginning to end. From its powerful ensemble performances, wonderful screenwriting and its creative cinematography, there is no doubt in my mind why this film continues to live on, discussed and analyzed.

My first introduction to “12 Angry Men” was in psychology class when I was a teenager and over the years, I have seen this film on video, on cable television and now watching the Criterion Collection release of this important film, it’s a film that continues to succeed in many levels and has its relevance today.

Clever writing that goes to show how many people are quick to judge. Even today, with many high profile cases, many wonder how people are able to acquit an individual on charges and I always think about this film. What we are presented in media is one thing, but the burden of sending one to prison for life or for a death penalty, it requires a group of jurors to be in unison and not have “reasonable doubt”.

The 1957 film does a magnificent job in showing viewers how people are quick to judge but even goes further than the teleplay in giving us the character’s background but also to bring in more character development in order to show the viewers why the jurors think they way they do.

For example, juror #7 (played by Jack Warden) is a man who is more bothered by he heat and humidity and worry about not missing a baseball game than the actual case, so he goes with the flow of “guilty” and is seen as a man with no moral scruples. While juror #10 (played by Ed Begly) is a man who will automatically vote “guilty” because of the young man’s upbringing. He grew up in the slum, thus he is automatically a deviant. And then there is juror #3 (played by Lee J. Cobb), a man who worked hard all his life but the viewer is tipped off that there was some sort of disagreement that led to him and his son not talking, and thus this case of a son murdering his father tends to have some influence on his anger to push for “guilty”.

“12 Angry Men” is a title that explains the emotions that come out during the deliberation. Juror #1 (played by Martin Balsam) ends up being the man in charge of getting everyone to vote. And we see his temper being tested when people speak out of turn. Juror #5 (played by Jack Klugman) starts of quietly until he hears juror #10 continue his ranting of how people from the slum are bad people and then finally speaking out and telling everyone that he is from the slum. When a juror #3 starts yelling at the older juror #9, juror #6 is offended how anyone can disrespect and elder and comes to the point where he wants to defend the older man by fighting juror #3.

What writer Reginald Rose was effective in his screenplay was to develop 12 characters and making the viewer interested in them. Intelligently written, wonderful performances by its talent, then you have the cinematography of Boris Kaufman (“On the Waterfront”, “Splendor in the Grass”, “The Pawnbroker”) who is able to use a variety of shots in the single room to make us feel the uncomfortable humid heat the the jurors are facing.

From the shots of the broken fan, the beads of sweat that are flowing through the heads of the individuals, the sweat that is showing on their necks and underarms. But also the efficacy of showing us emotion through facial characterizations. Scenes showing characters looking directly at the camera, scenes showing us anger and despair. And to imagine that all this is happening in one room.

It’s truly amazing how captivating this film is. A film that is low-budget, required no magnificent costume design, no major set design. It’s a film that relies on the actor’s performance and a screenplay that gives the actor their moment to grow their character.

The Criterion Collection’s release of “12 Angry Men” is a magnificent release. It’s one thing to have a Blu-ray and DVD release that features this wonderful film but also to include the original 1954 teleplay is fantastic. And then it goes even further by showing its respect to filmmaker Sidney Lumet, writer Reginald Rose and cinematographer Boris Kaufman via its lengthy and wonderful special features.

The Criterion Collection release of “12 Angry Men” is magnificent and is definitely a 5-star release! Highly recommended!

Filed Under: DVD Reviews, THE CRITERION COLLECTION

The Phantom Carriage – The Criterion Collection #579 (a J!-ENT Blu-ray Disc Review)

September 21, 2011 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment

The Swedish silent film that would inspire filmmaker Ingmar Bergman, “The Phantom Carriage” was a film at the time that could be seen as psychological and quite haunting but also an early silent film that explored human misery, melancholy and the psychology of its characters. An important film of Swedish cinema and another fantastic inclusion for the Criterion Collection.

TITLE: The Phantom Carriage – The Criterion Collection #579

MOVIE RELEASE: 1921

DURATION: 106 Minutes

DVD INFORMATION: Tinted Color, Silent, Swedish Intertitles with English Subtitles, 1:37:1 Aspect Ratio

COMPANY: Janus Films/The Criterion Collection

RELEASE DATE: September 27, 2011

Directed by Victor Sjöström

Based on the novel by Selma Lagerlof

Written by Victor Sjöström

Produced by Charles Magnusson

Cinematography by Julius Jaenszon

Starring:

Victor Sjöström as David Holm

Hilda Borgstrom as Mrs. Holm

Tore Svennberg as Georges

Astrid Holm as Edit

Concordia Selander as Edit’s Mother

Lisa Lundholm as Maria

Tor Weijden as Gustafsson

The last person to die on New Year’s Eve before the clock strikes twelve is doomed to take the reins of Death’s chariot and work tirelessly collecting fresh souls for the next year. So says the legend that drives The Phantom Carriage (Körkarlen), directed by the father of Swedish cinema, Victor Sjöström. The story, based on a novel by Nobel Prize winner Selma Lagerlöf, concerns an alcoholic, abusive ne’er-do-well (Sjöström himself) who is shown the error of his ways, and the pure-of-heart Salvation Army sister who believes in his redemption. This extraordinarily rich and innovative silent classic (which inspired Ingmar Bergman to make movies) is a Dickensian ghost story and a deeply moving morality tale, as well as a showcase for groundbreaking special effects.

A psychological film that probes into the mental anguish and misery of a character, “The Phantom Carriage” is a film that inspired filmmakers such as Ingmar Bergman but also a film that would be the precursor of Bergman’s probe into the psyche of his characters throughout his oeuvre.

“The Phantom Carriage” (Körkarlen) is a silent film from 1921 that is a film adaptation of the novel “They Soul Shall Bear Witness!” by Nobel-prize winning Swedish author Selma Lagerlöf (the first female writer to win the prize and is best known for her children’s book “The Wonderful Adventures of Nils”).

The film would be directed by Victor Sjöström who would also play the lead role of the film.

Known for directing films in the U.S. during the 1920′s, it’s unfortunate that for a talented filmmaker and actor, the majority of his films are considered as lost. Fortunately, those that did survive are his film adaptations of Lagerlöf novels such as the “Sons of Ingmar” (1919), “Karin, Daughter of Ingmar” (1920) and “The Phantom Carriage” (1921). The latter which received restoration courtesy of the Archival Film Collections of the Swedish Film Institute.

And now, “The Phantom Carriage” will receive its HD treatment on Blu-ray and also standard DVD release courtesy of the Criterion Collection.

“The Phantom Carriage” begins with a dying Salvation Army worker named Edit (played by Astrid Holm) making one last wish for her friend Maria (played by Lisa Lundholm)to do something for her and that is to find David Holm.

When we see David Holm (played by Victor Sjöström), we see an alcoholic that is sitting with two other alcoholics as they talked about their friend Georges and a story Georges used to tell about Death’s carriage. According to Georges, the last person who dies at the end of the year has to work under Death and collect the souls of those who die the following year. Interesting enough, Georges told the story and he was the last person to die last year.

Meanwhile, as Maria and her friend Gustafsson (played by Tor Weijden) try to look for David, when Gustaffson tries to convince him to see her, he refuses. His alcoholic friends try to get him to go but he gets upset and starts fighting them and ends up dying before midnight.

David is now dead and coming by carriage is a driver who has come to collect souls and sure enough, it happens to be Georges.

As David’s soul leaves its body and joins Georges and in the process, Georges reminds David how his life with his wife Anna (played by Hilda Borgström) and his two daughters used to be happy but when David started to associate with bad people and started to drink a lot of alcohol, it became too much.

David would become an alcoholic and would be responsible for driving away his wife and children. A year ago, now sick with tuberculosis, sick from his illness and because of his alcoholism, he was taken care of by the Salvation Army worker named Edit. Despite how badly David treated her, she would pray for him and believed that he would change for the best and get well.

Not being a God-believing person, David promised her that after a year, he would let her know whether her prayers worked for him or not.

As David and Georges go to see Edit (as she is about to die), we see another flashback of how Edit tried her best to stop David from drinking and how his friend Gustafsson became a believer of God and submitted to God and stopped drinking. Of course, David doesn’t believe any of it. But as Edit tries to get him to attend a Salvation Army meeting, also in attendance is David’s wife who hoped that David would change his way.

But one night, drunken and coming to Edit and the kid’s home, he became a danger to them. So, badly that when Edit and the kids tried to escape once again, she locks him in a room and tries to escape. But David finds an axe and chops down the door and confronts her and we get to see the worst in David.

Needless to say, Georges shows David on how his actions have affected his wife and children but also Edit. But how will David react when he finds out the true reason of why Edit needed to see him so badly and also what effect he had on his wife and family, that may very well end in tragedy for his wife and children.

VIDEO:

“The Phantom Carriage” is presented in High Definition, tinted color and the fact that earlier versions that many people have watched this in the past were not in the greatest condition and considering the fact that the original film elements were not fully complete, I was quite amazed to see how beautiful this film looked on Blu-ray.

The film also utilized double exposures made in the camera but used in a greater form for the film in order to create the ghost characters. A very challenging special effect for its time.

Presented as a color-tinted silent film, “The Phantom Carriage” on Blu-ray is the best version of the film to date. Is it pristine? The answer is no. You can see occasional white specks, hairs or tears on the original film element, flickering but with that being said, none of these will ruin one’s viewing of the film. In fact, the fact that it’s complete, not hindered by any nitrate composition or any degradation, for a film that is 90-years-old, if you are a silent film fan, you can’t help but be appreciative that the film look so good and that the Criterion Collection has chosen to release this film on Blu-ray.

According to the Criterion Collection, the restoration of “The Phantom Carriage” was undertaken by the Archival Film Collections of the Swedish Film Institute. A new film master was created from two source elements, an incomplete black-and-white nitrate print with Swedish intertitles and an incomplete color-tinted nitrate with print with English intertitles. From these source elements, a new black-and-white duplicate negative with Swedish intertitles was completed in 1975. New 35 mm polyester viewing prints were then struck from this restored negative, using the color-tinted nitrate print as a color reference.

Criterion Collection also pointed out that the new digital transfer was created on an ARRISCAN film scanner in 2K resolution from the new duplicate negative, at the Chimney Pot in Stokcholm, using the same color-tinted print from the Swedish Film Institute as reference. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, warps, jitter and flicker were manually removed using MTI’s DRS system and Pixel Farm’s PFClean system while Digital Vision’s Phoenix system was used for small dirt, grain and noise reduction.

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

“The Phantom Carriage ” is presented with two scores. One by Swedish composer Matti Bye and the other by the experimental duo KTL.

The original 1998 Matti Bye composition used on this Blu-ray release is absolutely beautiful. Presented in DTS-HD MA, the music with its piano, horns and strings does a great job of enhancing my appreciation of the film. The music is coordinated just right to the scenes of the film and for the most part, is a wonderful score which sounds great via lossless.

As for the KTL soundtrack is presented in LPCM 2.0 and the experimental music makes this film feel quite dark and menacing. It stays that way throughout the whole film and the sound is quite eery. The score of course is subjective to the listener but listening to the score and watching the film, it gives you the feel of a horror film.

So, overall, I preferred the Matti Bye soundtrack because it is more emotional and upbeat compared to the KTL experimental score.

The film is presented with Swedish intertitles in English and special features with English subtitles.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“The Phantom Carriage – The Criterion Collection #579″ on Blu-ray comes with the following special features:

Audio Commentary-featuring an in-depth audio commentary by film historian Casper Tybjerg who helps explain the film but also the sentiments of the viewers watching the film at the time.
Ingmar Bergman – (15:19) An interview with Ingmar Bergman, excerpted from the 1981 documentary “Victor Sjöström: A Portrait”, by Gösta Werner
The Bergman Connection - (18:12) An original visual essay by film historian and Bergman scholar Peter Cowie on the film’s influence on Bergman.
Construction of the Räsunda Studio -(4:43) Short footage of where “The Phantom Carriage” was the inaugural production.

EXTRAS:

“The Phantom Carriage – The Criterion Collection #579″ comes with an 20-page booklet. The essay “Phantom Forms” by Paul Mayersberg is included plus information on the two scores included on this Blu-ray release.

We often hear from filmmakers in America who talk about the American filmmakers and films that inspired them to pursue a career in the industry.

In Sweden, filmmaker Ingmar Bergman who was only a 1-year-old when “The Phantom Carriage” came out, would later become inspired by Victor Sjöström’s work and how his exploration of the human psyche, their melancholy, a character being miserable and the emotional pain that they harbor inside..these are things that are a big part of Bergman’s oeuvre.

As Bergman is known as the filmmaker to capture human suffering, for Bergman it began with Victor Sjöström who would go on to introduce his style of filmmaking in America and showcase the mental anguish of a person in “He Who Gets Slapped” (1924), “The Scarlet Letter” (1926) and “The Wind” (1928). And while many historians have always recommended Sjöström’s “The Wind” (as it is one of Lillian Gish’s finest acting performances), “The Phantom Carriage” was definitely a film which is a product of its time that does have its relevance today.

We have seen how alcoholism affected a person, especially a father and his family in film. This is nothing new. But in 1921, alcoholism was never fully explored, nor its ramifications. Tuberculosis is still a problem today, but even moreso back then. It was a bold film to take on such a subject of how an alcoholic can hurt his family and others, but also lead to one’s death. And yes, there is a little introduction to how those who submitted to God have changed for the best, but for those who frown upon preachy religious films, this is not one of them.

If anything, one can easily call this a psychological thriller mixed with drama. The film for its time can be seen as dark as it showcased human suffering and interesting enough, Stanley Kubrick’s film “The Shining” which has a famous axe scene is quite similar to the axe scene found in this film. Granted, this is not a horror film but compared to other silent horror films that I have seen (which are not too scary), I can only imagine how audiences reacted when they first watched this film. It’s definitely not a happy upbeat film but it does manage to work itself out in the end and I guess, one can say the film is not all tragic.

There are life changing moments and for the most part, “The Phantom Carriage” is a pre-cursor of the human suffering type of films that Victor Sjöström would create several years later and a theme that would have its impact on Ingmar Bergman’s work.

So, “The Phantom Carriage” does have its place as an important film not only to Swedish cinema but also for its darker theme that was not as prevalent in 1921. But as many people are discovering Ingmar Bergman’s films through the new releases on Blu-ray and DVD from the Criterion Collection, the company has been good in showing films in which these filmmakers were inspired from.

So, this is one important film that fans of Bergman’s work can really enjoy. So, as Jean Renoir and Jean Vigo were an inspiration to future French filmmakers, Victor Sjöström was the same as he inspired Swedish filmmakers, specifically Ingmar Bergman. And for Bergman, he had watched this film over 100 times and has said that from the first time he had watched the film, he would eventually watch it every year since then.

“The Phantom Carriage” was a big impact on his life and to know Bergman’s work and why he is so enamored with human suffering, you need to look past Bergman and watch a Victor Sjöström film.

“The Phantom Carriage” is recommended!

Filed Under: Blu-ray Reviews, Silent Films DVD/Blu-ray, THE CRITERION COLLECTION

Le Beau Serge – The Criterion Collection #580 (a J!-ENT Blu-ray Disc Review)

September 14, 2011 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment

The first film of the French New Wave, Claude Chabrol’s “Le Beau Serge” is a wonderful film. A film that is not only visually beautiful but also showcases a mature, smart and courageous screenplay and directorial style by Claude Chabrol, who would later become the most prolific filmmaker of the nouvelle vague. “Le Beau Serge” is a wonderful Blu-ray release from the Criterion Collection!

TITLE: Le Beau Serge – The Criterion Collection #580

MOVIE RELEASE: 1958

DURATION: 99 Minutes

DVD INFORMATION: Black and White, 1:33:1 Aspect Ratio, Monaural in French with Optional English Subtitles

COMPANY: Janus Films/The Criterion Collection

RELEASE DATE: September 20, 2011

Written and Directed by Claude Chabrol

Produced by Claude Chabrol

Music by Emile Delpierre

Cinematography by Henri Decae

Edited by Jacques Gaillard

Starring:

Gerard Blain as Serge

Jean-Claude Brialy as Francois Baillou

Michele Meritz as Yvonne

Bernadette Lafont as Marie

Claude Cerval as the Priest

Jeanne Perez as Madame Chaunier

Edmond Beauchamp as Glomaud

Andre Dino as Michel, the Doctor

Michel Creuze as The Baker

Claude Chabrol as La Truffe

Of the hallowed group of Cahiers du cinéma critics turned filmmakers who transformed French film history, Claude Chabrol was the first to direct his own feature. His absorbing landmark debut, Le beau Serge, follows a successful yet sickly young man (Jean‑Claude Brialy) who returns home to the small village where he grew up. There, he finds himself at odds with his former close friend (Gérard Blain)—now unhappily married and a wretched alcoholic—and the provincial life he represents. The remarkable and stark Le beau Serge heralded the arrival of a cinematic titan who would go on to craft provocative, entertaining films for five more decades.

When discussion is brought up among cinema peers of nouvelle vague (The French New Wave), its easy to think of names such as Francois Truffau, Jean-Luc Goard, Eric Rohmer, Jacques Rivette. Individuals, colleagues and contemporaries who each worked for Cahiers du cinema before they became filmmakers.

But there is one man that was a colleague who may have not received the prestige as his contemporaries but is respected for his contribution towards cinema with his thrillers but also years of cinema as part of his oeuvre. The man I am talking about is Claude Chabrol.

While debated of which film kicked off the French New Wave, many regard Chabrol’s 1958 film “Le Beau Serge” (Handsome Serge) as the film that began the Nouvelle Vague. Feature films created by contemporaries of Cahiers du Cinema that went on to become filmmakers.

In fact, Francois Truffaut had given Chabrol the biggest compliment in 1958 for his directorial debut on “Le Beau Serge” saying, “Technically the film is as masterful as if Chabrol had been directing for ten years, though this is his first contact with the camera. Here is an unusual and courageous film that will raise the level of French cinema”.

If there is one thing that can be said about Chabrol, although his name is not as well known as Truffaut or Godard in America, and while “Le Beau Serge” is a long awaited release for a Chabrol film from the Criterion Collection, he still remains the most prolific filmmaker among his contemporaries who nearly has released a film every year since 1958 starting with “Le Beau Serge” and ending in 2009 with “Bellamy”, a year before Chabrol passed away.

For cinema fans, many have been wanting the Criterion Collection release of a Claude Chabrol film on DVD for a very long time but finally, the Criterion Collection will be releasing two Chabrol films, “Le Beau Serge” (1958) and “Les Cousins (1959) on Blu-ray and DVD in Sept. 2011.

“Le Beau Serge” is written and directed by Claude Chabrol and would star Jean-Claude Brialy (“A Woman is a Woman”, “The Phantom of Liberty”, “Elevator to the Gallows”) and Gerard Blain (“Hatari”, “Les Cousins”, “Le Mistons”). The film would also feature the beautiful cinematography of Henri Decae (“The 400 Blows”, “Le Samourai”, “Elevator to the Gallows”) and long-time Chabrol editor Jacques Gaillard.

“Le Beau Serge” is a film that revolves around Francois (Brialy) and his childhood friend Serge (Blain). Francois has returned to the village that he had grown up in 12-years later and while the village has remained the same, the people have changed.

For Francois, he is recovering from an illness in which he has decided that he will split his life living in the village he grew up with during the fall and winter, while spending his life at another village during the spring and sumer.

While Francois moved away from the village to the big city and did something with his life, his friends the baker (played by Michel Creuze) stayed and became the local baker, but his good friend Serge has become a drunk. This bothers Francoise because he expected big things from Serge but from what he hears from the local villagers, all Serge does is work and drink despite having a pregnant wife named Yvonne (played by Michele Meritz) who seems to make him unhappy.

On the first day since arriving to the village, Francois finds Serge drinking himself to a stupor with another local drunk named Glomaud (played by Edmond Beauchamp) and it’s a daily habit for Yvonne to go and get Serge and bring him home, while Glomaud’s daughter Marie (played by Bernadete Lafont) brings her father home. When Serge sees Francois, he begins crying but once again, Francois is shocked to see his old friend in such a way.

Meanwhile, as Francois tries to visit Serge, we learn that Serge is a truck driver who drinks on the job, after the job and at night and he is barely at home.

One day, while Serge is drunk and wanting to desperately speak to Francois, we learn that life changed for Serge as he became an alcoholic because of his stillborn child. He blames the baby for him being miserable as the pregnancy prevented him from pursuing his goals and now, he is stuck in the village, having a job that he doesn’t care about and in a marriage that he seems unhappy with. But it’s the life and survival that many people live with in the village.

For Francois, he has this bittersweet feeling of seeing how his friends, especially Serge has turned out and feels that maybe his presence in the city will be some good to Serge or his friends, despite the priest and others telling him that the village is not a good place for him and that he should return back to the city.

Can Francois help his friend Serge? Or will tense situations between him and Serge (who doesn’t want Francois’s help) end their friendship?

VIDEO:

“Le Beau Serge” is presented in black and white (1:33:1 aspect ratio) and immediately upon watching this film, you start to realize how beautiful this film looks, from the symmetry of objects to the chose angles and shots of the characters as they walk towards the camera, away from the camera or trying to incorporate the city into the film.

And as Henri Decae had shown in the 1956 film “Bob le Flambeur”, his cinematic style can be seen the following year through “Le Beau Serge”, “Elevator to the Gallows” and “The Lovers”. Beautiful cinematography and following the direction of Claude Chabrol who wanted to capture the look and feel of the city of Sardent in his film.

The film is over 50-years-old and on Blu-ray, the Criterion Collection did a wonderful job in making the film look absolutely beautiful. Black levels are nice and deep, contrast and showcasing the whites and blacks are beautiful and for the most part, “Le Beau Serge” doesn’t have any artifacts, edge enhancement nor did I detect anything negative in terms of overall picture quality. The film looks fantastic on Blu-ray!

According to the Criterion Collection, the new digital transfer was created in 2K resolution on an ARRISCAN film scanner from the original camera negative. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, warps, jitter and flicker were manually removed using Revival Flame, and Smoke, while Digital Vision’s DVNR system was used for small, grain and noise reduction.

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

“Le Beau Serge” is presented in monaural French with English subtitles. Dialogue is clear, subtitles were easy to read and for the most part, the vocals were cleared and detected no hiss or crackle during my viewing of the film. If anything, I really enjoyed how Emile Delpierre incorporated music to this film, especially the quick music cuts whenever Serge or Glomaud are shown on screen.

According to the Criterion Collection, the original monaural soundtrack was remastered at 24-bit from a 35 mm optical track print. Clicks, thumps, hiss and hum were manually removed using Pro Tools HD. Crackle was attenuated using Audio Cube’s integrated workstation.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Le Beau Serge – The Criterion Collection #580″ on Blu-ray comes with the following special features:

Audio Commentary – Featuring a wonderful and in-depth commentary on Chabrol’s career and his work on “Le Beau Serge” by Guy Austin, author of “Claude Chabrol”.
Claude Chabrol: Mon premier film – (51:36) A 2003 documentary by Francis Girod on the making of “Le Beau Serge” featuring interviews with Chabrol and Jean-Claude Brialy.
“L’invite du dimanche” – (10:00) Segment from a 1969 episode of the French TV series in which Claude Chabrol revisits the town of Sardent, where “Le Beau Serge” was filmed and the village where he grew up in.
Original theatrical trailer – (2:54) The original theatrical trailer for “Le Beau Serge”.

EXTRAS:

“Le Beau Serge – The Criterion Collection #580″ comes with an 16-page booklet, which includes the following essay “Homecomings” by Terrence Rafferty.

Hauntingly beautiful. These are the two words that I describe Claude Chabrol’s debut film “Le Beau Serge”.

An incredible feat. for the Cahiers du Cinema critic who produced, wrote and directed the film and I don’t know if I can categorize the film as a psychological drama.

The late Francois Truffaut described the film as a chess game and perhaps if you see the film in that perspective, it does make sense. You have Francois (Brialy) who once lived in a small village now from a big city who comes back into town. Francois is actually a nice man, non-intrusive nor does he flaunt to anyone that he is better than them because he lives in the city.

But for the villagers, it’s a preconceived notion that because he was able to move away from the village, he thinks he is better than they are.

I put myself in the shoes of Francois, also coming from a small town and having lived in the city and I know there are moments when I was younger in which I have flaunted to friends in town about the fact that the city is fun for its close proximity to shopping, beaches and as a young man, there were a lot of women. But looking back at it now, it was so trivial, so much of commodity fetishism in boosting one’s ego of the have’s to the have nots.

But I look at the situation that is presented in “Le Beau Serge”, he doesn’t flaunt but his presence in the village, wearing his nice clothing in front of those who are barely surviving and not so happy with life but have accepted their life in the village as final.

This is where I identify with Francois because when you go back, you want to help your friends, especially those you feel have so much potential to be something bigger. In the case of Serge, he is a man that had so many dreams, wanted to leave the village like Francois but got a young woman pregnant and found himself married and stuck in the village he desperately wanted to leave. He has kept this burden of having his first child dead at birth but knowing that the right thing to do is stick by your wife and living life to provide for one’s family but in his case, drowning all the sorrows away through drinking heavily.

I’ve known to many people like Serge in my life who live their life as is…miserable and unhappy inside but are traditional. While Francois had left the city and his big advice to Serge, “to leave his wife”. It may seem quite harsh but it is logical that if a man is unhappy with his marriage, you leave.

But with Serge, he knows with a baby along the way…he can’t leave.

But it’s the return of Francois that enhances Serge’s negative and jealous emotions. You would think that there would be an ebullient sense of emotion but with each meeting between both Francois and Serge, you feel this ominous feeling that things are not right.

We see a scene with Serge wanting to tell Francoise of why he became a drunk. Why he lives this lifestyle. Why he is so miserable but if Francois only solution is for Serge to leave his pregnant wife, it’s unacceptable.

And for Francois, he had forgotten how things were in his village and many who see potential within him want him to leave because he is better off than being back at home where many men do not aspire to be bigger, they just live life as is, even if its a life of effete, a lack of vitality that one can not escape. Life is what it is…you just live it, repeat it.

And of course, Francois seeing this…he wants to make a difference. But can he?

“Le Beau Serge” is a magnificent feat. for Claude Chabrol as his debut film. While his future in cinema may not have been as lucrative nor historic in comparison to his other contemporaries, the fact is Chabrol is a filmmaker who did things his way, his style and he continued to create films in 1958 with “Le Beau Serge” through 2009, a year before he died.

“Le Beau Serge” is a film that is mature but perhaps is also a film that brings Claude Chabrol back to his village of Sardent and is in someway a self-discovery of his present life and his past. The film is not autobiographical but it’s a film that Chabrol was proactive in making sure the village of Sardent, what he saw in terms of life was captured onscreen. And of course, the cinematography is quite beautiful and it helps to have one of the best cinematographer’s in French cinema at the time, Henri Decaë.

The film also has elements of Chabrol’s life as he also wanted to become a priest at one time and help people. The film was raw in the way that Chabrol created a film with a small cast and worked in familiar territory, his hometown with a potential of many extras alongside him.

But through its visual beauty and its complex characters but accessible storyline, “Le Beau Serge” is a film that started the Nouvelle Vague era of film critics of Cahiers du Cinema taking up the mantle of becoming filmmakers. He inspired his contemporaries because he was able to go through his own filmmaking route and create this film with his own personal vision without having to follow any big studio or producer. It was his film, no ifs, ands or buts.

Surprisingly, “Le Beau Serge” while adored by film critics, it was delayed to the point that when it was released in theaters, his second film “Les Cousins” would be released a month later and it was his second film that would actually become the commercial hit.

While “Le Beau Serge” doesn’t break any new ground, nor is it remembered as a non-traditional film when compared to Truffaut’s “The 400 Blows” and Godard’s “Breathless”, in 1958, it’s the fact that he was a man who had creative freedom to do what he wanted and capture the raw feel of his village onscreen with beautiful lighting and awesome performances by Brialy and Blain that make “Le Beau Serge” worth watching.

Once again, I applaud the Criterion Collection for bringing Claude Chabrol films to their collection but also giving both “Le Beau Serge” and “Les cousins” the Blu-ray treatment. The Blu-ray release looks fantastic and the addition of the documentary of Chabrol returning back to Sardent and watching these classic interviews is priceless!

Overall, if you are a Chabrol fan, a cinema fan or brand new to cinema and want important films in your cinema collection, then “Le Beau Serge”, the first film of the French New Wave is definitely recommended!

Filed Under: Blu-ray Reviews, THE CRITERION COLLECTION