Who would have thought that a ’90s ‘slacker’ independent filmmaker would make such a strong romantic statement? Well, it’s not all romance in the old sense. In what must be a project of love, Richard Linklater examines the ongoing love life of Jesse & Céline, in three movies spread across eighteen years. The conversations are as free- flowing as are the cameras roaming through European back streets. Thanks to the commitment of Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke, the in-depth relationship seems real.
The ‘Before’ Trilogy
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 856
1995, 2004, 2013 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 101, 80, 109 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date February 28, 2017 / 79.96
Starring: Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy
Cinematography: Lee Daniel; Lee Daniel; Christos Voudouris
Film Editor: Sandra Adair (3)
Original Music: Fred Frith; none; Graham Reynolds
Written by Richard Linklater, Kim Krizan; Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke, Kim Krizan; Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke, Kim Krizan.
Produced by Anne Walker-McBay...
The ‘Before’ Trilogy
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 856
1995, 2004, 2013 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 101, 80, 109 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date February 28, 2017 / 79.96
Starring: Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy
Cinematography: Lee Daniel; Lee Daniel; Christos Voudouris
Film Editor: Sandra Adair (3)
Original Music: Fred Frith; none; Graham Reynolds
Written by Richard Linklater, Kim Krizan; Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke, Kim Krizan; Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke, Kim Krizan.
Produced by Anne Walker-McBay...
- 2/28/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
All sing the praises of Frank Borzage, a gentle director fully committed to the idea of romance in an imperfect world. Sally Eilers and James Dunn make a go of marriage, despite their personal flaws and difficulties with communication. It’s hard to believe that films of this vintage portray behaviors as sensitive as this.
Bad Girl
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1931 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 90 min. / Street Date December 13, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring James Dunn, Sally Eilers, Minna Gombell, Sarah Padden, William Pawley, Billy Watson.
Cinematography Chester A. Lyons
Film Editor Margaret Clancey
Written by Viña Delmar, Brian Marlow, Edwin J. Burke
Directed by Frank Borzage
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Directors don’t come any more romantic than Frank Borzage. It is said that he was one of several Fox directors, including John Ford, who were heavily influenced by F.W. Murnau, whose Sunrise was a massive hit in...
Bad Girl
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1931 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 90 min. / Street Date December 13, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring James Dunn, Sally Eilers, Minna Gombell, Sarah Padden, William Pawley, Billy Watson.
Cinematography Chester A. Lyons
Film Editor Margaret Clancey
Written by Viña Delmar, Brian Marlow, Edwin J. Burke
Directed by Frank Borzage
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Directors don’t come any more romantic than Frank Borzage. It is said that he was one of several Fox directors, including John Ford, who were heavily influenced by F.W. Murnau, whose Sunrise was a massive hit in...
- 12/6/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Think silent films reached a high point with The Artist? The pre-sound era produced some of the most beautiful, arresting films ever made. From City Lights to Metropolis, Guardian and Observer critics pick the 10 best
• Top 10 teen movies
• Top 10 superhero movies
• Top 10 westerns
• Top 10 documentaries
• Top 10 movie adaptations
• Top 10 animated movies
• More Guardian and Observer critics' top 10s
10. City Lights
City Lights was arguably the biggest risk of Charlie Chaplin's career: The Jazz Singer, released at the end of 1927, had seen sound take cinema by storm, but Chaplin resisted the change-up, preferring to continue in the silent tradition. In retrospect, this isn't so much the precious behaviour of a purist but the smart reaction of an experienced comedian; Chaplin's films rarely used intertitles anyway, and though it is technically "silent", City Lights is very mindful of it own self-composed score and keenly judged sound effects.
At its heart,...
• Top 10 teen movies
• Top 10 superhero movies
• Top 10 westerns
• Top 10 documentaries
• Top 10 movie adaptations
• Top 10 animated movies
• More Guardian and Observer critics' top 10s
10. City Lights
City Lights was arguably the biggest risk of Charlie Chaplin's career: The Jazz Singer, released at the end of 1927, had seen sound take cinema by storm, but Chaplin resisted the change-up, preferring to continue in the silent tradition. In retrospect, this isn't so much the precious behaviour of a purist but the smart reaction of an experienced comedian; Chaplin's films rarely used intertitles anyway, and though it is technically "silent", City Lights is very mindful of it own self-composed score and keenly judged sound effects.
At its heart,...
- 11/22/2013
- The Guardian - Film News
Bologna, Italy – Criterion Collection and BFI Video Publishing have secured prizes at Il Cinema Ritrovato’s annual DVD awards, alongside U.S. companies Flicker Alley and Oscilloscope, and also cinematheques and archives from Italy, Czech Republic, Germany and Belgium. The New York-based repertory-film home-video publishers, whose chiefs Peter Becker and Jonathan Turrell appeared at the festival to talk about the history of their company and then introduce a screening of Terrence Malick’s Badlands on Tuesday, received the Best Blu-ray prize for its release of Lonesome, the 1928 Universal-financed silent film by Hungarian-born Paul Fejos.
read more...
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- 7/4/2013
- by Clarence Tsui
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
By Allen Gardner
Quadrophenia (Criterion) Franc Roddam’s 1979 film based on The Who’s classic rock opera tells the story of working class lad Jimmy (Phil Daniels) struggling to find his identity in a rapidly changing Britain, circa 1965. Jimmy is a “mod,” a youth movement dedicated to wearing snappy suits, driving Vespa motor scooters bedecked with side mirrors, popping amphetamines and obsessed with the new sound of bands like The Who and The Kinks. Their other pastime is engaging in bloody brawls with “rockers,” throwbacks to the 1950s, who listen to Elvis and Gene Vincent, wear leather biker gear, grease in their hair and drive massive motorcycles a la Marlon Brando in “The Wild One.” Often cited as a worthy successor to “Rebel Without a Cause” as the greatest angry youth picture ever made, it is that and more, including a first cousin to the “kitchen sink” dramas of scribes John Osborne,...
Quadrophenia (Criterion) Franc Roddam’s 1979 film based on The Who’s classic rock opera tells the story of working class lad Jimmy (Phil Daniels) struggling to find his identity in a rapidly changing Britain, circa 1965. Jimmy is a “mod,” a youth movement dedicated to wearing snappy suits, driving Vespa motor scooters bedecked with side mirrors, popping amphetamines and obsessed with the new sound of bands like The Who and The Kinks. Their other pastime is engaging in bloody brawls with “rockers,” throwbacks to the 1950s, who listen to Elvis and Gene Vincent, wear leather biker gear, grease in their hair and drive massive motorcycles a la Marlon Brando in “The Wild One.” Often cited as a worthy successor to “Rebel Without a Cause” as the greatest angry youth picture ever made, it is that and more, including a first cousin to the “kitchen sink” dramas of scribes John Osborne,...
- 9/4/2012
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
Over the years, we’ve been more than just a little interested in the work of The Criterion Collection. Their mission since 1984, has simply been “gathering the greatest films from around the world and publishing them in editions that offer the highest technical quality and award-winning, original supplements.” Their focus has been on important films, both classic and contemporary. And they are so good at it that we have dedicated a regular feature to it, this thing known as Criterion Files. A column that I’m hijacking this week because I wanted to talk about a few things. Notably a slew of recent Blu-ray releases, perfect examples of the ongoing work that Criterion is doing to preserve, highlight, celebrate and archive some of the most significant accomplishments in film history. Today we take a look at some of these things that Criterion does very well, in the context of their recent Blu-ray release. All...
- 8/29/2012
- by Neil Miller
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
Reviewer: Philip Tatler IV
Ratings (out of five): ****
Paul Fejos’ Lonesome is a kaleidoscopic document of the cadences of modern (circa 1928, anyway) living and loving. It’s a simple tale –an ordinary working stiff falls for a woman he meets at the beach – told via a series of florid, propulsive camera tricks and highly advanced montage.
The beginning of Lonesome has the familiar feeling of a city symphony – think People on Sunday or Man With A Movie Camera. Manhattan wakes up; boats shuttle through the harbor, crowds pound the pavement, and a title card offers the philosophical thesis of the film: “In the whirlpool of modern life, the most difficult thing is to live alone.”...
Ratings (out of five): ****
Paul Fejos’ Lonesome is a kaleidoscopic document of the cadences of modern (circa 1928, anyway) living and loving. It’s a simple tale –an ordinary working stiff falls for a woman he meets at the beach – told via a series of florid, propulsive camera tricks and highly advanced montage.
The beginning of Lonesome has the familiar feeling of a city symphony – think People on Sunday or Man With A Movie Camera. Manhattan wakes up; boats shuttle through the harbor, crowds pound the pavement, and a title card offers the philosophical thesis of the film: “In the whirlpool of modern life, the most difficult thing is to live alone.”...
- 8/28/2012
- by weezy
- GreenCine
Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: Aug. 28, 2012
Price: DVD $29.95, Blu-ray $39.95
Studio: Criterion
Romance is revealed at Coney Island in Paul Fejos' 1928 Lonesome.
The 1928 film Lonesome is the creation of a little-known, one-of-a-kind auteur, Paul Fejos (a filmmaker / explorer / anthropologist / doctor!), who bridged the gap between the silent and sound eras.
Fejos pulled out all the stops for the drama-romance-comedy collage-styled New York City “symphony” Lonesome, which is set in Coney Island during the Fourth of July weekend. For his film, Fejos employed such then-radical techniques as color tinting, superimposition effects, experimental editing, a roving camera and three dialogue scenes (added because of the craze for talkies).
With its release by Criterion, Lonesome is making its home entertainment debut. Also included in the package are two other Fejos films included in this release: 1929’s The Last Performance (featuring a new score by Donald Sosin) and a reconstruction of the previously incomplete sound version of 1929’s Broadway.
Price: DVD $29.95, Blu-ray $39.95
Studio: Criterion
Romance is revealed at Coney Island in Paul Fejos' 1928 Lonesome.
The 1928 film Lonesome is the creation of a little-known, one-of-a-kind auteur, Paul Fejos (a filmmaker / explorer / anthropologist / doctor!), who bridged the gap between the silent and sound eras.
Fejos pulled out all the stops for the drama-romance-comedy collage-styled New York City “symphony” Lonesome, which is set in Coney Island during the Fourth of July weekend. For his film, Fejos employed such then-radical techniques as color tinting, superimposition effects, experimental editing, a roving camera and three dialogue scenes (added because of the craze for talkies).
With its release by Criterion, Lonesome is making its home entertainment debut. Also included in the package are two other Fejos films included in this release: 1929’s The Last Performance (featuring a new score by Donald Sosin) and a reconstruction of the previously incomplete sound version of 1929’s Broadway.
- 6/19/2012
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
It's the mid-way point of the month, and Cannes or no Cannes, the Criterion Collection will do their traditional unveiling of their releases for three months down the line. After a banner July line-up, which included Jim Jarmusch, Whit Stillman and Aki Kaurismaki, could the beloved specialty top themselves for August? Well, perhaps not, but there's a few very pleasant surprises in the latest batch of announcements.
Perhaps the biggest news for cinephiles is the Criterion debut of the Dardenne Brothers, hot off their critically acclaimed new film "The Kid With The Bike." The Belgian filmakers haven't yet had a film included in the selection, but that'll change on August 14th, when both 1996's "La promesse" and 1999's "Rosetta" are released. The films will be available on both DVD & Blu-Ray, and contain new interviews, and a conversation between the filmmakers and critic Scott Foundas, as well as the usual trailers and booklets.
Perhaps the biggest news for cinephiles is the Criterion debut of the Dardenne Brothers, hot off their critically acclaimed new film "The Kid With The Bike." The Belgian filmakers haven't yet had a film included in the selection, but that'll change on August 14th, when both 1996's "La promesse" and 1999's "Rosetta" are released. The films will be available on both DVD & Blu-Ray, and contain new interviews, and a conversation between the filmmakers and critic Scott Foundas, as well as the usual trailers and booklets.
- 5/15/2012
- by Oliver Lyttelton
- The Playlist
"Style in the Movies" is the central theme of this year's TCM Classic Film Festival, opening tonight in Los Angeles with the world premiere of the new restoration of Cabaret (1972) and running through the weekend. For the AP, Lynn Elber calls up Liza Minnelli, who'll be there with Joel Grey and, if he can make it, Michael York: "Minnelli, whose turn as cabaret singer Sally Bowles captured a best actress Academy Award and cemented her young stardom, said making Cabaret was a joyful 'secret,' filmed in Munich and far away from meddling Los Angeles studio bosses. Director Bob Fosse 'got away with murder. We all did,' Minnelli said… 'We'd take chances, and the studio would send notes like, "Too cloudy. It will break up on drive-in (screens)." Fosse would read that out loud, tear it up and throw it over his shoulder — in front of the whole cast and crew.
- 4/14/2012
- MUBI
Elizabeth Taylor, Farley Granger, Jane Russell, Peter Falk, Sidney Lumet: TCM Remembers 2011 Pt. 1
Also: child actor John Howard Davies (David Lean's Oliver Twist), Charles Chaplin discovery Marilyn Nash (Monsieur Verdoux), director and Oscar ceremony producer Gilbert Cates (Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams, I Never Sang for My Father), veteran Japanese actress Hideko Takamine (House of Many Pleasures), Jeff Conaway of Grease and the television series Taxi, and Tura Satana of the cult classic Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!.
More: Neva Patterson, who loses Cary Grant to Deborah Kerr in An Affair to Remember; Ingmar Bergman cinematographer Gunnar Fischer (Smiles of a Summer Night, The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries); Marlon Brando's The Wild One leading lady Mary Murphy; and two actresses featured in controversial, epoch-making films: Lena Nyman, the star of the Swedish drama I Am Curious (Yellow), labeled as pornography by prudish American authorities back in the late '60s,...
Also: child actor John Howard Davies (David Lean's Oliver Twist), Charles Chaplin discovery Marilyn Nash (Monsieur Verdoux), director and Oscar ceremony producer Gilbert Cates (Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams, I Never Sang for My Father), veteran Japanese actress Hideko Takamine (House of Many Pleasures), Jeff Conaway of Grease and the television series Taxi, and Tura Satana of the cult classic Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!.
More: Neva Patterson, who loses Cary Grant to Deborah Kerr in An Affair to Remember; Ingmar Bergman cinematographer Gunnar Fischer (Smiles of a Summer Night, The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries); Marlon Brando's The Wild One leading lady Mary Murphy; and two actresses featured in controversial, epoch-making films: Lena Nyman, the star of the Swedish drama I Am Curious (Yellow), labeled as pornography by prudish American authorities back in the late '60s,...
- 12/14/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
From Farran Nehme comes word of the passing of Barbara Kent at the age of 103. Farran's "seen only two pictures starring Barbara Kent," one being "the 1933 shoestring Oliver Twist, with Kent as Rose. The other is Flesh and the Devil, in which Kent had the unenviable task of the being the forsaken lover to Garbo's lascivious temptress. Still, it's the silent Flesh and the Devil that left a far stronger impression. Sound seemed to diminish this diminutive actress, as it did so many others. In pantomime, her tiny body made her even sweeter and more fragile, and it added poignance to her hurt over John Gilbert's betrayal…. The Siren always knew she would most likely live to see every silent-film artist depart the planet before she did. But the Siren still wishes she'd gotten the chance to tell Kent, or any of the other artists that Kevin Brownlow has spent a lifetime celebrating,...
- 10/21/2011
- MUBI
One of the last stars of the silent movie era
It is in the nature of cinema that an actor who made her last film appearance more than seven decades ago, and who retreated from public view in the late 1940s, refusing photographs and interviews ever since, can still be appreciated on screen as young, as lovely and as fresh as ever. Barbara Kent, who has died aged 103, was one of the last surviving stars of the silent era. She appeared in the last great silent American film, Lonesome (1928), Paul Fejos's masterpiece of urban poetry. Kent played Mary, a switchboard operator, who meets Jim (Glenn Tryon), a factory worker, in Coney Island. They spend the day together, fall in love, and then lose each other in the crowd. The simple tale of "little people" is raised by the sincerity of the performances and by the director's expressive use of location,...
It is in the nature of cinema that an actor who made her last film appearance more than seven decades ago, and who retreated from public view in the late 1940s, refusing photographs and interviews ever since, can still be appreciated on screen as young, as lovely and as fresh as ever. Barbara Kent, who has died aged 103, was one of the last surviving stars of the silent era. She appeared in the last great silent American film, Lonesome (1928), Paul Fejos's masterpiece of urban poetry. Kent played Mary, a switchboard operator, who meets Jim (Glenn Tryon), a factory worker, in Coney Island. They spend the day together, fall in love, and then lose each other in the crowd. The simple tale of "little people" is raised by the sincerity of the performances and by the director's expressive use of location,...
- 10/21/2011
- by Ronald Bergan
- The Guardian - Film News
Barbara Kent, a minor leading lady during the transition from silent to sound films, died October 13 in Palm Desert, in Southern California. A resident of the local Marrakesh Country Club, Kent was either 103 or 104. No cause of death was given. Barbara Kent was never a star. Not even close. In fact, most of her 35 movies were probably forgotten the week after their release. Paradoxically, Kent has become one of the most important performers of the silent era. No, not because she was Harold Lloyd's leading lady in his first talkie, Welcome Danger (1929). Or because of her career highlight: romancing Glen Tryon in Paul Fejos' naturalistic drama Lonesome (1928), frequently compared to F. W. Murnau's Sunrise. Barbara Kent has taken an importance incommensurate to her actual movie career because she was the very last individual to have had notable adult leads in American silent films. Everybody else, from Lillian Gish to Joan Crawford,...
- 10/21/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
"It's easy to enjoy Raffaello Matarazzo's melodramas for the campy excess of their acting and story lines," blogs Dave Kehr, "but it's more productive to take them seriously, I think — to see how cleanly and elegantly Matarazzo presents this bezerko material, with a visual style that reminded Jacques Lourcelles of Lang, Dreyer and Mizoguchi, and how perfectly engineered his narratives are, with every outlandish episode incorporated into a serene, symmetrical structure. The new Matarazzo box set (my New York Times review is here) from Criterion's budget Eclipse line contains four of Matarazzo's seven films with the towering star couple Amedeo Nazzari and Yvonne Sanson (literally — Matarazzo's mise-en-scene somehow makes them seem larger, both physically and emotionally, than any of the other characters on the screen), all subtitled in English for the first time: Chains (1949) [image above], Tormento (1950), Nobody's Children (1952) and The White Angel (1955)."
"Though immensely popular, the films were dismissed by...
"Though immensely popular, the films were dismissed by...
- 6/30/2011
- MUBI
The Hollywood Reporter has the list of this year's selections for the National Film Registry. Selected by the Library of Congress, these "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant will be preserved forever to ensure their availability for future generations of cineastes.
The roster this year runs the gamut, from early silents (like 1906's actuality "A Trip Down Market Street") to the avant-garde (like Larry's Jordan's 1969 collage film "Our Lady of the Sphere") to mainstream blockbusters (like disco hallmark "Saturday Night Fever"). Interestingly, there's quite a few contributions this year from major filmmakers who've recently passed away, from directors Irvin Kershner ("The Empire Strikes Back") and Blake Edwards ("The Pink Panther") to actor Leslie Nielsen ("Airplane!").
Here's the full list of the newly inducted members of the National Film Registry. All links will take you to their IMDb page (if you're interested in more detailed descriptions of all the films, you...
The roster this year runs the gamut, from early silents (like 1906's actuality "A Trip Down Market Street") to the avant-garde (like Larry's Jordan's 1969 collage film "Our Lady of the Sphere") to mainstream blockbusters (like disco hallmark "Saturday Night Fever"). Interestingly, there's quite a few contributions this year from major filmmakers who've recently passed away, from directors Irvin Kershner ("The Empire Strikes Back") and Blake Edwards ("The Pink Panther") to actor Leslie Nielsen ("Airplane!").
Here's the full list of the newly inducted members of the National Film Registry. All links will take you to their IMDb page (if you're interested in more detailed descriptions of all the films, you...
- 12/28/2010
- by Matt Singer
- ifc.com
The National Film Registry of the Library of Congress has made its annual addition of 25 films to be preserved for their position as American cultural touchstones. This year, the Film Registry honored the work of the late Leslie Nielsen with Airplane!, and the late Blake Edwards with The Pink Panther. They've also gone heavy on 1970s films, choosing seminal films All the President's Men, The Exorcist, Grey Gardens, McCabe and Mrs. Miller, and Saturday Night Fever. The program started in 1989 and now has 550 films. Here's the 2010 list: Airplane! (1980) All the President's Men (1976) The Bargain (1914) Cry of Jazz (1959) Electronic Labyrinth: Thx 1138 4Eb (1967) The Empire Strikes Back (1980) The Exorcist (1973) The Front Page (1931) Grey Gardens (1976) I Am Joaquin (1969) It's a Gift (1934) Let There Be Light (1946) Lonesome (1928) Make Way for Tomorrow (1937) Malcolm X (1992) McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971) Newark Athlete (1891) Our Lady of the Sphere (1969) The Pink Panther (1964) Preservation of the Sign Language (1913) Saturday Night Fever...
- 12/28/2010
- by MIKE FLEMING
- Deadline
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