The Criterion Collection in June

While there aren't a great deal of new releases in June from the Criterion Collection, HOLY SHIT are they all bangers! I can use "bangers" in reference to movies, right? With four new releases and a first-time-on-Blu-ray drop, June should be a lot of fun.

June 9

Criterion takes the first week of the month off, but returns the following week with the release of "An Unmarried Woman" on Blu-ray and DVD. I know a lot of Paul Mazursky's later work ("Moon Over Parador", "Down & Out In Beverly Hills"), but I suppose I haven't seen much of his work from the 60s or 70s. "An Unmarried Woman" tells the story of a new divorcee, and her bounce back from being left by her husband of 16 years. The film has been remastered in 4K for this release, and the surviving cast have recorded new interviews. There also looks to be some cool archive material: Mazursky's appearance at AFI in 1980, the original theatrical trailer, and a commentary track featuring Mazursky and star Jill Clayburgh from 2005. I'm interested to see how this plays, 40+ years after initial release and three generations into divorce being a regular part of family life in America. Angelica Jade Bastién also contributes an essay; I've enjoyed their criticism on Vulture in the past, so I anticipate a good read.
June 16

Hey, hey! It's a Buster Keaton release! This time, Criterion releases 1928's "The Cameraman", his first film with MGM and the last film Keaton had creative control over. Now, I've never dove into Keaton's oeuvre before, but any movie featuring a team-up with a man and his monkey is bound to grab my attention. Criterion has done such an awesome job restoring and re-releasing a number of Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd silent features in the past 10 years. I'm excited to see what they do with Keaton, especially in light of how many bad DVD releases of his films have shown up in the public domain in the past. This has a 4K restoration, a new score by Timothy Brock, and a new essay from critic Imogen Sara Smith. There's also a 2K restoration of Keaton's 1929 follow-up, "Spite Marriage", multiple documentaries, plus a commentary track by Glenn Mitchell, whose book A–Z of Silent Film Comedy has been a go-to on my shelf for a long time. It's a good opportunity to learn more about a theatrical legend whose silent output has long been underserved.
June 23

The esteemed Mrs. Ape Mummy has pretty good taste in film; it was one of her more attractive traits when we first started dating, along with a love of Moss Icon and Woodford Reserve. Her pick for the month is the first home video release 2019's "Portrait Of A Lady On Fire" (Portrait de la jeune fille en feu) from director Céline Sciamma. I really enjoyed her 2011 film "Tomboy", and the trailer for "Portrait" really grabbed my interest, with no regard to language. This love story of an artist, commissioned to paint a reluctant bride, was the 2019 winner of the Queer Palm and Best Screenplay Award at Cannes last year. The extras here are somewhat spare: interviews with the lead actors and Sciamma, as well as cinematographer Claire Mathon. Why did I pre-order this? I wanted to see the interview with artist Hélène Delmaire, who was responsible for all the paintings in the film. I've really gotten into her portraiture in the past couple of years, particularly her "Eyeless Girl" series, and I'm interested to hear more about her process.

I didn't have the scratch for Criterion's 100 Years of Olympic Films box set when it came out in 2017, and I sure as hell don't have it now. So it was a relief that the 4K restoration of "Tokyo Olympiad" (東京オリンピック) that was released as part of the box set is now being issued as a stand alone Blu-ray. It looks like Criterion really built out this release, compared to the original 2002 DVD release. In addition to the restoration, there's an addition 80+ minutes of footage shot by director Kon Ichikawa at the 1964 Summer Olympics, as well as a feature on the restoration of "Tokyo Olympiad". I'd put this up there with Riefenstahl's "Olympia" as the best of the Olympic films, and I'm pretty excited to see this on something other than a VHS tape played through a 21" CRT television.
June 30

The last release in June is something I've waited a very long time to see, and have only second-hand accounts to recommend it. 1985's "Come And See" (Иди и смотри) is billed as one of the all-time great anti-war films, as well as one of the last great films of Soviet cinema. "Come And See" tells the story of the Nazi occupation of Belarus through the eyes of a teenage partisan. What I've read says that it combines naturalistic performance with a story that swings from hyper-real to surreal. The film's name and following storyline evoke the Book of Revelations, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. In short, it sounds like some hardcore shit. Much like the film took eight years to make, I've waited a long time to see it. In addition to the film, there are a ton of extras. New interviews with Roger Deakins and German Klimov pair up with archive interviews with director Elem Klimov and lead actor Alexei Kravchenko. Documentarian Viktor Dashuk's 3-part series on the WWII Belarussian genocide, "Flaming Memory", is also included. I've encountered a lot of anti-Russian influences in my life; I guess it comes with having been a child in the 80s. So my knowledge of Soviet cinema is very limited. But this looks like a great introduction.

That's it for June. I've already ordered "Portrait Of A Lady On Fire" and "Come And See" direct from the source, and I'll more than likely copy "The Cameraman" the next time there's an online sale. I'd love to see more of these covers be made available as posters or prints; the cover of "Portrait" would look incredible framed. Come back next month, when Criterion releases an incredible Bruce Lee collector's set and what looks like an incredible release of George Pal's "The War of The Worlds". Be there...aloha.