Someone on Film Twitter was recently asking, what’s all the fuss about the upcoming Criterion Collection July announcement, and why are they building it up to be such a thing? Well, it’s because we’re all going broke in July and the Criterion Collection is going to make it rain with cinephile classics this summer, both modern masterpieces, and good ol’ legendary goats. The Collection is really going for it in July. The crown jewel in their new releases is, of course, Martin Scorsese’s searing 1980 black and white boxing drama, “Raging Bull” which is as much a look at toxic male self-destruction and spiritual immolation as it is boxing.
Next up in the offerings is South Korean filmmaker Bong Joon Ho’s dark, thrilling, horrific satire “Okja” about a little girl and her incredible “super pig.” It’s a twisted fairy tale, but a story of empathy ultimately. Also, there’s an amazing cast in it as well, including Tilda Swinton, Paul Dano, Steven Yeun, and Jake Gyllenhaal, revolving around the little girl played by An Seo Hyun. It’s a Netflix release of course, but the streamer has been carefully selecting some of their most cinephile-friendly titles for inclusion on Criterion and it’s a smart move.
READ MORE: Sofia Coppola Talks The Teenage Dream Of Her Striking ‘Virgin Suicides’ Debut [Interview]
Known for films like, “No Way Out” and going on to a lot of carefully crafted TV work, veteran filmmaker Carl Franklin is one of our most underrated directors. Often overlooked, Criterion sets things right with the release of his masterful 1995 film noir, “Devil In A Blue Dress” starring Denzel Washington.
Lastly, of the new releases, Criterion is offering up Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Oscar-winning 2021 film, “Drive My Car” starring Hidetoshi Nishijima. Nominated for four Oscars this year, including Best Picture, the captivating drama ultimately won the Academy Award-winning Best International Feature Film. Criterion also adds some Blu-Ray and 4K UHD upgrades of Sofia Coppola’s ethereal “The Virgin Suicides” and David Lean’s classic technicolor romance “Summertime.”
“Okja”
Master genre exploder Bong Joon Ho swirls pathos, dark satire, action, and horror into an exhilarating twenty-first-century fairy tale. An all-star cast including Tilda Swinton, Paul Dano, Steven Yeun, and Jake Gyllenhaal is led by An Seo Hyun as Mija, a South Korean girl growing up on an Edenic mountainside with her grandfather and best friend: Okja, a giant, empathetic “superpig” created as part of a secret GMO experiment. When Okja is abruptly torn away from her, Mija embarks on a perilous rescue mission that places her at the center of a sinister corporate conspiracy. While Bong’s trademark virtuosic set pieces dazzle, Okja’s beating heart is the connection between a girl and her superpig, made all the more poignant by the brilliant special effects that bring the animal star to unforgettable life.
- 4K digital master, approved by director Bong Joon Ho, with Dolby Atmos sound on the Blu-ray and 4K UHD editions
- In the 4K UHD edition: One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
- New conversation between Bong and producer Dooho Choi
- New interviews with actors An Seo Hyun and Byun Heebong
- New interviews with members of the crew about the film’s cinematography, visual effects, and costume and production design
- Short programs including a director’s video diary, featuring Bong; actors Paul Dano, Jake Gyllenhaal, Tilda Swinton, and Steven Yeun; and others
- Teaser, trailer, and web promos
- English subtitle translation and English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by critic Karen Han
“Raging Bull”
With this stunningly visceral portrait of self-destructive machismo, Martin Scorsese created one of the truly great and visionary works of modern cinema. Robert De Niro pours his blood, sweat, and brute physicality into the Oscar-winning role of Jake La Motta, the rising middleweight boxer from the Bronx whose furious ambition propels him to success within the ring but whose unbridled paranoia and jealousy tatter his relationships with everyone in his orbit, including his brother and manager (Joe Pesci) and gorgeous, streetwise wife (Cathy Moriarty). Thelma Schoonmaker’s Oscar-winning editing, Michael Chapman’s extraordinarily tactile black-and-white cinematography, and Frank Warner’s ingenious sound design combine to make Raging Bull a uniquely powerful exploration of violence on multiple levels—physical, emotional, psychic, and spiritual.
- New 4K digital master, approved by director Martin Scorsese, with 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
- In the 4K UHD edition: One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in HDR and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
- New video essays by film critics Geoffrey O’Brien and Sheila O’Malley on Scorsese’s mastery of formal techniques and the film’s triumvirate of characters
- Three audio commentaries, featuring Scorsese and editor Thelma Schoonmaker; director of photography Michael Chapman, producers Robert Chartoff and Irwin Winkler, casting director Cis Corman, music consultant Robbie Robertson, actors Theresa Saldana and John Turturro, and sound-effects supervising editor Frank Warner; and boxer Jake La Motta and screenwriters Mardik Martin and Paul Schrader
- Fight Night, a making-of program featuring Scorsese and key members of the cast and crew
- Three short programs highlighting the longtime collaboration between Scorsese and actor Robert De Niro
- Television interview from 1981 with actor Cathy Moriarty and the real Vikki La Motta
- Interview with Jake La Motta from 1990
- Program from 2004 featuring veteran boxers reminiscing about La Motta
- Trailer
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: Essays by poet Robin Robertson and film critic Glenn Kenny
“Drive My Car”
Only Ryusuke Hamaguchi—with his extraordinary sensitivity to the mysterious resonances of human interactions—could sweep up international awards and galvanize audiences everywhere with a pensive, three-hour movie about an experimental staging of an Anton Chekhov play, presented in nine languages and adapted from Haruki Murakami stories. With Drive My Car, the Japanese director has confirmed his place among contemporary cinema’s most vital voices. Two years after his wife’s unexpected death, Yusuke Kafuku (Hidetoshi Nishijima) arrives in Hiroshima to direct a production of Uncle Vanya for a theater festival and, through relationships with an actor (Masaki Okada) with whom he shares a tangled history and a chauffeur (Toko Miura) with whom he develops a surprising rapport, finds himself confronting emotional scars. This quietly mesmerizing tale of love, art, grief, and healing is ultimately a cathartic exploration of what it means to go on living when there seems to be no road ahead.
- New 2K digital master, approved by director Ryusuke Hamaguchi, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
- New interview with Hamaguchi
- Program about the making of the film, featuring behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with actors Reika Kirishima, Hidetoshi Nishijima, Masaki Okada, Yoo-rim Park, Dae-Young Jin, and others
- Press conference footage from the film’s premiere at the 2021 Cannes International Film Festival
- Trailer
- New English subtitle translation and English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by author Bryan Washington
“Devil In A Blue Dress”
The bone-deep disillusionment of postwar film noir becomes a powerful vehicle to explore America’s racial injustices in Carl Franklin’s richly atmospheric Devil in a Blue Dress, an adaptation of the hard-boiled novel by Walter Mosley. Denzel Washington has charisma to burn as the jobless ex-GI Easy Rawlins, who sees a chance to make some quick cash when he’s recruited to find the missing lover (Jennifer Beals) of a wealthy mayoral candidate in late-1940s Los Angeles—only to find himself embroiled in murder, political intrigue, and a scandal that crosses the treacherous color lines of a segregated society. Featuring breakout work by Don Cheadle as Rawlins’s cheerfully trigger-happy sidekick, this stylish mystery both channels and subverts classic noir tropes as it exposes the bitter racial realities underlying the American dream.
- New 4K digital restoration, approved by director Carl Franklin, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
- In the 4K UHD edition: One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
- Audio commentary featuring Franklin
- New conversation between Franklin and actor Don Cheadle
- New conversation between Walter Mosley, author of the novel on which the film is based, and novelist and screenwriter Attica Locke
- On-stage conversation between Franklin and film historian Eddie Muller, recorded at the 2018 Noir City Film Festival in Chicago
- Screen test for Cheadle
- Trailer
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by critic Julian Kimble
