Note: My friends over at MovieZeal write about DVD releases once a week, but they don’t include classics. So as a public service, and because I’m just an altruistic kind of guy, here are some of the recent classic art house releases for your viewing pleasure.
At the top of the list has to be the long-promised, oft-delayed Region 1 release of Satantango, auteur Béla Tarr’s 7-hour film of life in a small, Hungarian town. Although I haven’t seen thise one, if I were to make a top ten list, Tarr’s Werkmeister Harmonies (2000) would surely be on it. He is the master of the minute study and the perfectly-choreographed long take; his films become immersive experiences, implicating us into their subjects’ lives. The Facets Video release is a four-disc set (three for the film, one for the extras).
Another important DVD is Criterion’s 2-disk release of Carl Th. Dreyer’s 1932 Vampyr. Based very loosely on Sheridan Le Fanu’s 1869 tale Carmilla (so loosely, in fact, that film scholars still argue about it), it is a masterpiece of expressionist style. The first film after The Passion of Joan of Arc, Vampyr seemed to be a strange choice after that intensely spiritual film. It is considered by many to be the greatest vampire movie ever made. As is the norm with Criterion, the release contains a full complement of extras.
Also from Criterion is their re-release of Akira Kurosawa’s High and Low (1963) in a newly restored, digitally-cleaned-up, 2-disk version. Toshiro Mifune stars as a Tokyo industrialist dealing with the kidnappers of a member of his household; the film, suspenseful and dramatic, chronicles the ins and outs of his attempt to get the kidnapped boy back. Kurosawa’s cinemascope, black-and-white photography is stunning, as is Mifune’s towering performance. It is easy to see why he was the pre-eminent Japanese actor of his generation.
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A Kurosawa I haven’t seen yet…in Criterion??? My week is getting better already.
Watched Satantango a week ago…Evan and I stayed up all night to do it. Well, actually I stayed up; he fell asleep halfway through. It really is stunning, though. As I drove home afterwards, my head was spinning from what I had just seen.
It’s hard to recommend to everyone, for the simple reason of its length (and insanely slow pace), but if you have the patience for it, it’s incredibly rewarding.
I like High and Low, although in my mind it’s not one of his unqualified masterpieces. But you know what? Mifune, Kurosawa and B&W widescreen. What more could you want?
I have Satantango on the ol’ Netflix queue … gotta watch the three I have at home, first. I’ve only seen Werkmeister and Damnation, but they were enough to convince me he’s one of the top two or three directors working today.
Never fear, Rick. Starting next Tuesday there will be a new column at MZ for harcore cinephiles.
Thank God! I can sleep well tonight!
Seriously, I look forward to it.
Never seen a Tarr movie, which I plan do very, very soon.
HIGH AND LOW is great. Not his best, like you say Rick, but what the hell. Even his worst is better than everyone else!
VAMPYR didn’t do it for me the first time I saw it. I don’t know why. I’ve seen parts of DAY OF WRATH that floored me, and PASSION is just one of the greatest films ever. Maybe I need to give it another go. Eh?
It’s true: “Vampyr” isn’t as easy to love as “The Passion of Joan of Arc.” But I’d give it another shot. I think it’s monumentally creepy, but in a fundamentally different way from most ghost stories.
High and Low is one of my favorite Kurosawa movies. It’s so dark. Probably his darkest? But I remember the print I watched on DVD being pretty beautiful already? Maybe my memory is rosy.
I think the one I saw — Criterion’s original transfer, number 24 in their series, which meant an early one — was direct from their Laser Disk. It was non-anamorphic, and bare-bones. There have been significant advances in digital “restoration” since then (1998), and there may have been new elements found. Folks who’ve seen it say it’s a major improvement. I’d love to own it, and probably will at some point.
Also Rick. And I don’t know how much this means to you, but for me, the cover art is so greatly improved it’s almost worth the double dip based on packaging alone!
EH…
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51XHQ6Z3PSL._SL500_AA240_.jpg
AWESOME…
http://www.nipponcinema.com/images/releases/high_and_low_criterion.jpg
Joe, you’re absolutely right … I much prefer the newer, more expressionistic Criterion covers
But for me it wouldn’t be a double-dip, because I don’t have the original. Hmmmm …
Joe and Rick – have you guys read this guy’s blog:
http://ericskillman.blogspot.com/
He does a lot of the graphic design for Criterion. The way he slaves over each aspect of an image is so interesting.
Whitney-
that’s incredible! thanks so much for linking that here.
Ditto. Thanks for the pointer, Whitney!
Nice.
I’ve been wanting to see Vampyr