Remember all those savings you made buying stuff during Criterion's Valentine's Day half-off sale? Well, get ready to spend it in May as The Criterion Collection is dropping some serious hits.
First up, Spike Jonze's po-mo masterpiece "Being John Malkovich" gets the Criterion treatment, including some pretty great extras. The meta movie (in addition to getting some fantastic artwork) will be graced with a selective scene commentary by Michel Gondry, two documentaries by Jonze pal and longtime collaborator Lance Bangs, two films-within-the film ("7½ Floor Orientation" and “American Arts & Culture Presents John Horatio Malkovich, 'Dance of Despair and Disillusionment'”) and much more. So where's Jonze on the commentary? Well, he generally does not do them at all (though here he does discuss the film via production photos). But Gondry has directed Charlie Kaufman scripts twice, and is a friend of Jonze as well, having founded the famed Director's Label with him back in the day.
Continuing in the modern vein, Abbas Kiarostami's lovely and disarming "Certified Copy" gets stamped with the wacky C. The film isn't stacked with extras but does feature an Italian doc on the film, and an interview with the director which should make it worth your while.
Oh, sorry cinephiles, looking for something a little older and unrepresented? Well bow down, because the folks at Criterion are giving some shine to Robert Downey Sr. (yes, the dad of Iron Man and Sherlock Holmes), a famed filmmaker in his own right, whose works are finally getting their due. "Babo 73," "Chafed Elbows," "No More Excuses," "Putney Swope" and "Two Tons Of Turquoise To Taos Tonight" will make up the Eclipse boxset "Up All Night With Robert Downey Sr." Of all the films, "Putney Swope" is probably the most well known and celebrated as a cult classic, and while we're bummed it's arriving feature-less, we're just glad it's here at all.
To fill out your arthouse shelf, Ingmar Bergman's "Summer Interlude" and "Summer With Monika" arrive in time for…uh, summer. The latter is bursting at the seams with extras while the former isn't, but they are both worth adding to your collection.
Finally, if you don't own it already, Mathieu Kassovitz's explosive "La Haine" goes Blu in May as well.
Huh.. I guess Certified Copy isn't minor Kiarostami anymore.
I really hope that they include the interview with Spike Jonze from the DVD- it is one of the greatest bonus features of all time. For those that don't know what I'm talking about, search youtube, a guy named sevenoaks77 uploaded it.
Holy shit, Octavia Spencer was the elevator lady in Being John Malkovich!
Man, this whole email was excellent and culminated in a final sentence that caused me to poop my pants in Glee.
I can think of few movies that would look better than La haine on bluray.
While I am crushed that the set doesn't include Greasers Palace or Pound, I am very happy to see a box set of Robert Downey Sr. work. Criterion has been putting out some really great stuff lately. New Leaf?
Same here, Evan. BJM and CC are great. I'll definitely rent Putney Swope to see if I'd like the rest of the Eclipse boxset. Also, I really need to start going through the Bergman catalog. Great month all around.
Being John Malkovich and Certified Copy for me. Great films.