How does a film get chosen for Criterion treatment?

High critical appeal?

Rarity? (Rescued from obscurity)

Available for the treatment?

 

Probably all of those. Remember that they are pretty much the retail front for Janus, so a good majority of the “curated” films are just in Janus’ back catalog.

The rest is licensed similar to an audiophile label. Sometimes Criterion uses transfers the studio or another label has created, and sometimes they produce their own transfers. I’m sure a lot of factors go into their decisions, cost of listeners, availability of good elements, popularity of the film, availability of bonus features, “cool factor” etc. With the recent drama between Lynch and Kino, I think another factor is the cooperation of filmmakers.

They’ve been known to release films that will sell in the past to fund their other endeavors. Stuff like The Rock was very blatantly that.

 

And then there’s head scratchers like Carnival of Souls.

 

Thanks. I'm not particularly a film buff, and often wonder why there would be a very expensive version of a certain film when there were perfectly good 'ordinary' versions easily available. (I do understand the appeal of deluxe editions, thoughtful booklets etc.)

But I do like foreign or obscure movies that seem not to otherwise be available, so will consider a Criterion edition from time to time.

I also wonder whether requests have any impact on their selection of future releases?

 

Yeah it is interesting, they do have a curatorial stance that does sometimes retreads cheaper studio editions, probably because they know those films will sell. I think in these cases (like Moonrise Kingdom for instance) they usually provide a lot of special features that the bare-bones release does not, as well as beautiful packaging. Of course with newer films the visual benefits of Criterion releases aren’t there since most films today are finished digitally with director sign off anyways. The real dirty secret amongst videophiles is that Criterion does a mediocre job of encoding / mastering their discs.

Still I think it’s a very strong catalog. It strikes a good balance between foreign, cult, obscura, popular, avant-garde and experimental films. Perhaps the latter two categories are a bit light. There are other labels that have gotten more into film school approved avant-garde stuff like this release from Flicker Alley but I can’t imagine that stuff sells well enough to make a big profit.

 

They consult with me, extensive interviews and correspondence to delineate which films I'd like to see and what extra material might illuminate the appreciation of films such as "Freebie and the Bean" or "Larry Crowne".

And then they license and release the aestethic opposites. It's a very efficient process.

 

Perhaps because I'm color blind, I find "Carnival of Souls" to be one of the most beautifully photographed black and white films I've ever seen. Herk Harvey's use of light, shadow and contrast, especially in the footage of the abandoned amusement park (but watch for it in the church as the protagonist rehearses) periodically flattens the image until it's almost a moving, two-dimensional charcoal sketch, then restores the illusion of dimension with a subtle shift of focus during the same shot. It's both very difficult to achieve, and perfectly suits the

Spoiler

duality of the protagonist

. This was apparent in the nth-generation public-domain VHS and DVD releases, but really stands out with Criterion's immaculate restoration. While the genre may not be a crowd-pleaser, the cinematography, imho, more than merited the restoration it received.

 

I guess if you like scenes of driving. Lots and lots of driving. And taking said car to repair shops.

 

I'd like to see BLISS, from down-under, on DVD. In case Janus is looking at this thread either way.

 

I didn't know about the drama between David Lynch and Kino-Lorber on Lost Highway, but there were enough links on the net to fill me in:

David Lynch & Kino Lorber Voice Frustrations With Each Other Over Troubled Blu-Ray Release Of 'Lost Highway'

Kino Lorber Speaks Out After David Lynch Bashes ‘Lost Highway’ Blu-ray Release

Mr. Lynch has the reputation of being difficult and eccentric in post. I can report I know the crew who worked on a "restored" version of Dune around 1990, and I was a friend of the studio editor in charge of the project. He told me that he reached out to Lynch several times and said, "look, we know this was not a happy project for you at Universal back in 1984, but we honestly want this new release to completely reflect your wishes and to represent the film as you originally envisioned it." Lynch wrote back -- they were both in town at the time, so it was bizarre that Lynch wouldn't just pick up the phone and call the guy -- and basically said, "I appreciate that you're trying to do the right thing, but it was such a miserable experience for me making that film, I don't ever want to revisit it again. Best of luck." And that was it. I don't even think that if Universal had paid Lynch he would have supervised the new version. There are some directors who basically feel, "once the studio lies to me and I have a bad experience, I'm done with them forever." Never mind the fact that it was all new management at the studio by that point.

 

I wouldn’t call that difficult or eccentric; it’s having a strong sense of personal ethics. It’s no different from me not wanting to do business with a company that has ripped me off, or given me poor customer service, in the past. It doesn’t matter that the management has changed, it’s the principle of no longer wanting to deal with that organisation.

Also, I get the impression that Lynch is an artist who prefers to look forward, rather than back.

I’m no Lynch fanboy, btw. I like some of his work, but I’m equally frustrated by much of it.

 

Yeah I understand that one, I’m sure his personal feelings effect his desire to work with certain parties. I guess from what I got from the tweets was that his main objection to the release a second it stands was over the source being the current digital master that Universal has (no sure what the res is or if it was a telecine or what not) vs a new 4K o-neg scan like he supervised for all of the Criterion stuff. Funny as that’s really mostly a technical videophile critique vs anything over rights and ethics which is what the articles seem to make it out to be.

I guess this kind of thing is a bad look for Kino and other cinephile labels, as director involvement is probably valued a lot more than in mainstream circles. For instance I know you’re well aware from thread on here and elsewhere that the average Star Wars fan seems to have no regard for what Lucas intended, and would not mind an independent release of those films lol.

Personally in this situation I would take a decent BR transfer over a being stuck with 480p copy any day, with or without director approval. That said, it’s a pretty big miss to not have the film scanned as sharply as possible and have the color timing approved.

 

I think a lot of it is just reliant on what they can get. I suspect they'd love to release "Star Wars" but probably can't get the rights!

Studios do seem to have gotten more open to licensing their stuff to Criterion and other boutique labels than 10-15 years ago, though.

Back when DVDs sold like proverbial hotcakes, studios wanted to put out their own special editions, but now there's not enough money from their perspective, so they're more willing to license the stuff.

And that's good, as it means we get nice releases of movies that otherwise would languish in the vaults. I'll be eternally grateful that we got a BD "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" - the fact it's Criterion is gravy!

 

I'd be more than hesitant to characterize that as a generally accepted belief.

 

some are chosen for pure financial reasons...mainstream titles especially...

 

I wish Criterion would release their DC of Armageddon with the bonus features on BD! The DC cut is nowhere to be found on BD anywhere still...I like it much better than the theatrical...and the Criterion DVD is not even Anamorphic! BS...

 

There have been a lot of complaints about their encoding among the more anal pixel-peeping types on Blu-ray.com. I think it’s accelerated now that many flaws at 1080p are more visible with TOTL 4K sets. I would counter that Criterion is a cinephile label not a videophile label, if they have to cut bitrate to get some special features on the disc, they will. Personally I have only seen nasty blocking artifacts on my Pan’s Labyrinth BR when played on an OLED. The rest of my titles are fine in real world viewing, but some people may have higher standards.

 

I just wish there were more movies dubbed in English. People like my wife, with bad eyes, cannot read the subtitles anymore.
I know film purist don't like movies to be dubbed but you are missing a boat load of people who have bad vision.

 

Good to see the name Kino in several posts, as I can now browse that catalog looking for the more obscure titles I like

 

Since most Blu-rays for movies filmed with English dialogue have alternate language tracks, I'd assume most non-English movies include English dubs as well.

Hadn't really thought about it since I can still read subtitles!

 

That makes a lot of sense, and after I posted that I did wonder if this might be primarily a 4K panel vs. 1080p panel issue. My "real world" viewing still takes place on a 1080p panel. I don't often visit the Blu-ray.com forums unless I'm looking for info on a specific title, so I hadn't seen the rash of complaints you mention, but most of the Criterion complaints I've run across seem to focus on notably different color timing in comparison with a corresponding Region B release.

 

I never thought about it until my wife finally said something about it. I couldn't understand how she would say she didn't like certain movies, I thought she just didn't have taste
for foreign movies. When she finally told me why, I felt bad about "ragging" on her about her taste in movies, I wish she would have said something years ago when her sight started
failing. She has had a couple of surgeries but they only help so much, a lot of it depends on what language the film is in, some are easier than others.
Criterion doesn't release many dubbed movies at all.

 

I think the film have to satisfy some sort of...wait, lemme think...I dunno, a kinda...you know...uhhhh...

...criterium?!

 

cri·te·ri·um
/ˌkrīˈtirēəm/
noun

1. a one-day bicycle race on a circuit road course.

Maybe "criteria"