The Criterion Collection in June

 

From "Shaft" (Gordon Parks, 1971)

You hope, and you pray, and you cross your fingers that, one day, the niche art you grew up with, that you adore, that inspires you and raises you up, will be acknowledged, thus acknowledging your own superior taste and validating your existence.

Or is that just me?

At any rate, June's releases from the Criterion Collection count two of my all-time favorite movies. One, the long-awaited revival of an old Criterion laserdisc title, debuting on Blu-ray for the first time. The second, an all-time favorite of mine whose theme song served as my radio show's theme throughout its lifespan. Tack on a new restoration of a Powell & Pressburger classic, new cinema from the US and Norway, and a Chinese New Wave reissue, and it's another damned good month in what's been a great year so far from Criterion.

June 7

Mrs. Ape is the one who brought me to an appreciation of the works of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. I knew nothing of their collaborations 15 years ago, and were only familiar with their names as a result of Martin Scorsese's and George Romero's name-dropping. It's been super cool over the space of our relationship to get exposed to such a wide body of work. She's a mega-fan of "The Red Shoes", and through her influence, I've really gotten to love "The Life And Death Of Captain Blimp" and "A Matter Of Life And Death".

Criterion has slowly been reissuing their Powell & Pressburger releases from the past on Blu-ray. The latest is 1951's "The Tales Of Hoffmann", starring "Red Shoes" lead Moira Shearer opposite Robert Rousenville. This mix of music, dance, and effects is one of the few marriages of opera and film that's ever held my attention; like the rest of Powell and Pressburger's catalog, it's magic, the likes of which can only exist on film. "Hoffmann" gets a new 4K digital restoration for this reissue; it looks to be the key difference between this Blu-ray and the original 2005 Criterion DVD release. If you don't already own this, it's worth checking out the George Romero interview. Commentary comes courtesy of Mssr. Scorsese; critic Bruce Eder, present for the original 1992 recording, apparently has added new insights to the commentary track. It's a good opportunity to upgrade your 2005 DVD or your Essential Art House copy with some superior visuals and sound.

June 14

It's always dope when Criterion releases a contemporary film from a director I've not heard of before, so I know to keep an eye out from when their next film comes out. 2020's "Farewell Amor" is the latest of those. The feature debut from director Ekwa Msangi, "Farewell Amor" tells of a story of immigrant reunion, set in the African-American diaspora. It's not the sort of thing that I'm typically drawn to, but the Criterion label is enough a seal of approval that I want to seek this out. Msangi oversaw production of this special edition, providing commentary as well as three of her previous shorts to the release. Critic (and Raptors fan) Tiana Reid also provided an essay for the included booklet; she wrote a piece on a Basquiat exhibition at the Guggenheim a few years back that blew my mind a bit and that I suggest you check out. So that's one more reason to check this out.

June 21

Stanley Kwan always seems to be the next name I've encounter (after Wong Kar-Wai) when reading about Hong Kong's Second New Wave. Unlike his well-known contemporary, Kwan's works haven't ever been easily found her in the States. So it's great to see his best known work, 1987's "Rouge", get a director-approved special edition on Blu-ray and DVD. This love story, set in both 1930s and pre-Handover Hong Kong, features the late Anita Mui and Leslie Cheung in the two lead roles as a pair of fated lovers. Like the best works of Douglas Sirk, this lusciously-filmed tale is a coded queer love story that will enrapture any film lover. I saw this years ago at a film festival, half paying attention in the first 15 minutes before falling head-over-heels into it; I'm thrilled to peep it again. Two of Kwan's later works are included in this release: his 1997 documentary on queerness in HK cinema, "Yang ± Yin: Gender in Chinese Cinema", and his memoir from the same year, "Still Love You After All These". Dennis Lim, who programs for the Film Society at Lincoln Center and wrote The Man From Another Place about David Lynch, provides an essay on Kwan and "Rouge". All in all, here's one I cannot wait to watch.

I'm inclined to wax truly poetic about Gordon Parks' "Shaft", and its place within film history. I think I have my senior thesis somewhere around here on a flash drive that I could copy verbatim. But I'll instead speak about what it means to me. I came to it as a teenager who'd seen "I'm Gonna Git You Sucka" and was drawn to the action interwoven with the score. So many of the films that had influenced "Sucka" were available for purchase (not just rental) on VHS, so I'd take my paycheck from Taco Bell and split it between punk rock records and tapes of "Superfly" and "Dolemite". I picked up "Shaft" fairly early on, drawn to star Richard Roundtree's picture on the cover, aiming a revolver directly at me. It began a love affair with the film; a genre movie starring a clear outsider pulled between opposing factions, soundtracked by some of the coolest music I'd ever heard. How are you going to idolize Bruce Willis once you've encountered John Shaft? Michael Kamen could never hold a candle to Isaac Hayes. Later aided by resources like Darius James "That's Blaxploitation!", I'd continue to dive deep into Black cinema, coming to admire how influential these low-budget one-offs could be.

It's wild to me to see "Shaft" added to the Criterion Collection, and yet totally appropriate. 51 years on, the success of Gordon Parks's second film tore down many barriers between the white and Black film worlds, and opened following generations up to a level of grit and realism that had previously never been represented. While most of the principals have passed away, this release is incredibly comprehensive. Producer Isaac Hayes III, son of soundtrack artist Isaac Hayes, has remastered the previous stereo soundtrack for the 4K digital restoration. That restoration itself is most welcome; previous scans have looked like total dogshit, so I'm hyped to check out what has been adjusted. There are a number of documentary pieces I've never seen before, featuring the likes of Nelson George and Walter Mosley. There's also a bunch of archival work available, with the late Parks and Hayes speaking alongside Roundtree. The 1972 sequel, "Shaft's Big Score", comes as an extra on both the UHD/Blu-ray combo pack and the Blu-ray; a welcome addition considering how underseen "Big Score" has been, relative to "Shaft". Add in a fresh new cover from Bill Sienkiewicz, and THIS become a must have in any action or genre fan's library.

June 28

Things I know about "The Worst Person In The World":

• Nominated for the 2021 Palme d'Or and two Academy Awards
• Directed by Joachim Trier as part of his "Oslo Trilogy"
• Described as a "dark romantic comedy"
• Everyone I've spoken to who's seen it loved it, and told me "it's right up your alley"
• NEON released this in the US, and I've liked every acquisition they've made so far

So, yeah, I think I'm going to dig this. The Blu-ray seems a bit bare bones: interviews with all the key players, a bit of behind-the-scenes, some deleted scenes, an essay from Sheila O'Malley (Film Comment). But that won't scare me away from copping this soon.

There's nothing complicated about my feelings for John Waters. Falling in love with his movies in my teens with "Cry-Baby", moving to Baltimore weeks before "Serial Mom" came out, quickly discovering so many things about my new hometown as a result of seeing them onscreen in his movies...John was my tour guide to the real Charm City. I went to watch movies in the places where he went to watch them, rented them from the same video stores that appeared in his films, drank at the same bars he visited, bought books and records from the store where he had his mail delivered. His work became a shibboleth; if you knew "Hag In A Black Leather Jacket" or "Polyester", we were probably going to be friends.

"Pink Flamingos" is 50 years old this year. It was Waters' third feature, a break-out film for him and nascent distributor New Line Pictures. Criterion released a laserdisc a quarter century ago, and New Line did a DVD a few years later. But this special edition, overseen like the previous three Criterion/Waters releases by the Pope Of Trash, is the first time its been available on Blu-ray. While the two commentary tracks are repurposed from the laserdisc and DVD releases, there's a new conversation between Waters and Jim Jarmusch included, as well as an essay by critic/misanthropologist Howard Hampton that I can't wait to read. The Cookie Mueller essay about the making-of appeared in "Walking Through Clear Water in a Pool Painted Black" (back in print for the first time in decades), but is a great read if you haven't done so before. This also includes Steve Yeager's documentary "Divine Trash", a must-see if you're a fan of Waters' art. I don't need to dive into the content of the film too deeply; if you can't pick up what you might see in a movie about the filthiest person alive, it's probably not for you. It's funny and profane and sick and wonderful and has influenced everything great and creative and insane over the past five decades.

From "Pink Flamingos" (John Waters, 1972)

It sucks being out of work, because June is a month where I'd preorder every single release. But instead, I need to be judicious with my purchases. It'll probably come down "Shaft" and "Pink Flamingos" on the preorder front, with "Worst Person" and "Rouge" coming as soon as I sell some stuff on Discogs. Things don't get easy in July, when work from the likes of Scorsese, Coppola, Bong, and Hamaguchi all join the Collection. Be there in 30...aloha!