Just as the summer blockbuster movie season will be in full swing, the folks at The Criterion Collection will be catering to the cinephiles who prefer dramatic queries versus CGI enhanced explosions. And the auteur’s take command for their May lineup.
Costa-Gavras, perhaps best known for "Z" and "Missing," has two movies hitting the boutique label: "State Of Siege" and "The Confession." The former is a 1972 film starring Yves Montand about a CIA official kidnapped by a guerrilla group in South America. The features are spare, but it will come packaged with NBC news excerpts about the kidnapping of Dan Mitrione in 1970, which inspired the movie. The latter picture also stars Montand and follows an influential Czechoslovak dignitary who is abducted, imprisoned, and interrogated by fellow members of his country’s Communist ruling party. It too is based on a true story and comes loaded with extras, including documentaries, interviews, archival material, and much more.
Meanwhile, Rainer Werner Fassbinder‘s "The Merchant Of Four Seasons" joins the collection. The story follows the decline of a self-destructive former policeman and war veteran struggling to make ends meet for his family by working as a fruit vendor. Extras are slim, but the highlight is an audio commentary by Wim Wenders.
Silent cinema master Charlie Chaplin‘s late period "Limelight" also arrives in the collection. The movie is a tragic-comic tale of a washed up former star and his relationship with a young ballerina. The movie is notable for also featuring Buster Keaton in an extended cameo, marking the only time the duo ever appeared on screen together. This one is loaded with bonus features, including a 2002 documentary on the movie, the vintage shorts "A Night in the Show" (1915) and the never completed "The Professor" (1919), and tons more.
Bette Midler rocks out in "The Rose." The Mark Rydell flick, shot by Vilmos Zsigmond with concert footage lensed by Conrad L. Hall, László Kovács, Owen Roizman, and Haskell Wexler (damn), tells the tale of a rock ‘n roll singer on the brink of destruction.
Lastly, Leo McCarey‘s "Make Way For Tomorrow" will get a Blu-ray upgrade.
A long wait for a letdown