Posted Thu Apr 21, 2016 at 10:00 AM PDT by Steven Cohen
The distributor has revealed its upcoming slate of July releases, including Terrence Malick's 'The New World' and Alain Resnais' 'Night and Fog.'
In an early announcement to retailers, Criterion is preparing 'The New World,' 'Night and Fog,' 'Muriel, or The Time of Return,' 'A Touch of Zen,' 'Carnival of Souls,' and 'The In-Laws' for Blu-ray throughout the month of July.
'The In-Laws' (July 5) - Peter Falk and Alan Arkin make for a hilarious dream team in this beloved American sidesplitter. Directed by Arthur Hiller from an ingenious script by Andrew Bergman, The In-Laws may at first seem like a generic meet-the-parents comedy, as Arkin’s mild-mannered dentist suspiciously eyes Falk’s volatile mystery man, whose son is engaged to his daughter. But soon, through a series of events too serpentine and surprising to spoil, the two men are brought together by a dangerous mission that takes them from suburban New Jersey to Honduras. Fueled by elaborate stunt work and the laconic, naturalistic charms of its two stars, The In-Laws deserves its status as a madcap classic—and has continued to draw ardent fans in the years since its release.
The Blu-ray will feature 1080p video, an uncompressed English mono soundtrack, and supplements will include: Audio commentary from 2003 featuring director Arthur Hiller, actors Alan Arkin and Peter Falk, and writer Andrew Bergman; New interview with Arkin; In Support of "The In-Laws," a new interview program featuring actors Ed Begley Jr., Nancy Dussault, James Hong, and David Paymer; Trailer; PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by comedy writer Stephen Winer and a 2011 recollection of the making of the film by Hiller.
'Carnival of Souls' (July 12) - A young woman in a small Kansas town survives a drag race accident, then agrees to take a job as a church organist in Salt Lake City. En route, she becomes haunted by a bizarre apparition that compels her toward an abandoned lakeside pavilion. Made by industrial filmmakers on a modest budget, the eerily effective B-movie classic Carnival of Souls was intended to have “the look of a Bergman and the feel of a Cocteau”—and, with its strikingly used locations and spooky organ score, it succeeds. Herk Harvey’s macabre masterpiece gained a cult following on late-night television and continues to inspire filmmakers today.
The Blu-ray will feature 1080p video, an uncompressed English mono soundtrack, and supplements will include: Selected-scene audio commentary featuring director Herk Harvey and screenwriter John Clifford; New interview with comedian and writer Dana Gould; New video essay by film critic David Cairns; The Movie That Wouldn’t Die!, a documentary on the 1989 reunion of the film’s cast and crew; The Carnival Tour, a 2000 update on the film’s locations; Excerpts from movies made by the Centron Corporation, an industrial film company based in Lawrence, Kansas, that once employed Harvey and Clifford; Deleted scenes; Outtakes, accompanied by Gene Moore’s organ score; History of the Saltair Resort in Salt Lake City, where key scenes in the film were shot; Trailer; More!; PLUS: An essay by writer and programmer Kier-La Janisse.
'A Touch of Zen' (July 19) - "Visionary" barely begins to describe this masterpiece of Chinese cinema and martial arts moviemaking. A Touch of Zen by King Hu depicts the journey of Yang (Hsu Feng), a fugitive noblewoman who seeks refuge in a remote, and allegedly haunted, village. The sanctuary she finds with a shy scholar and two aides in disguise is shattered when a nefarious swordsman uncovers her identity, pitting the four against legions of blade-wielding opponents. At once a wuxia film, the tale of a spiritual quest, and a study in human nature, A Touch of Zen is an unparalleled work in Hu’s formidable career and an epic of the highest order, characterized by breathtaking action choreography, stunning widescreen landscapes, and innovative editing.
The Blu-ray will feature 1080p video, an uncompressed Mandarin mono soundtrack, and supplements will include: Documentary from 2012 about director King Hu; New interviews with actors Hsu Feng and Shih Chun; New interview with filmmaker Ang Lee; New interview with film scholar Tony Rayns; Trailer; PLUS: An essay by film scholar David Bordwell and notes by Hu from a 1975 Cannes Film Festival press kit.
'Muriel, or The Time of Return' (July 19) - Alain Resnais’s Muriel, or The Time of Return, the director’s follow-up to Last Year at Marienbad, is as radical a reflection on the nature of time and memory as its predecessor. The always luminous Delphine Seyrig stars as an antique shop owner and widow in Boulogne-sur-Mer, whose past comes back to haunt her when a former lover reenters her life. Meanwhile, her stepson is tormented by his own ghosts, related to his service in France’s recently ended war in Algeria. Featuring a multilayered script by Jean Cayrol, and inventively edited to evoke its middle-class characters’ political and personal realities, the fragmented, emotionally powerful Muriel reminds viewers that the past is always present.
The Blu-ray will feature 1080p video, an uncompressed French mono soundtrack, and supplements will include: Excerpt from the 1980 documentary Une approche d’Alain Resnais, révolutionnaire discret; Excerpt from a 1969 interview with actor Delphine Seyrig; Interview with composer Hans Werner Henze from 1963; New interview with film scholar François Thomas, author of L’atelier d’Alain Resnais; Trailer; PLUS: An essay by film scholar James Quandt.
'Night and Fog' (July 19) - Ten years after the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps, filmmaker Alain Resnais documented the abandoned grounds of Auschwitz and Majdanek inNight and Fog (Nuit et brouillard), one of the first cinematic reflections on the Holocaust. Juxtaposing the stillness of the abandoned camps’ empty buildings with haunting wartime footage, Resnais investigates the cyclical nature of humanity’s violence against humanity, and presents the devastating suggestion that such horrors could occur again.
The Blu-ray will feature 1080p video, an uncompressed French mono soundtrack, and supplements will include: Excerpt from a 1994 audio interview with director Alain Resnais; New interview with documentary filmmaker Joshua Oppenheimer; Face aux fantômes, a 99-minute 2009 documentary featuring historian Sylvie Lindeperg that explores the French memory of the Holocaust and the controversy surrounding the film’s release; PLUS: An essay by film scholar Colin MacCabe.
'The New World' (July 26) - This singular vision of early seventeenth-century America from Terrence Malick is a work of astounding elemental beauty, a poetic meditation on nature, violence, love, and civilization. It reimagines the apocryphal story of the meeting of British explorer John Smith (Colin Farrell) and Powhatan native Pocahontas (Q’orianka Kilcher, in a revelatory performance) as a romantic idyll between spiritual equals, then follows Pocahontas through her marriage to John Rolfe (Christian Bale) and her life in England. With art director Jack Fisk’s raw re-creation of the Jamestown colony, Emmanuel Lubezki’s marvelous, naturally lit cinematography, and James Horner’s soaring musical score, The New World is a film of uncommon power and technical splendor, one that shows Malick at the height of his visual and philosophical powers.
The Blu-ray will feature 1080p video, an Algonquin/English Theatrical DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack, an Algonquin/English Near-Field DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack, and three different versions of the film: the 172-minute Extended Cut; 150-minute First Cut; and 135-minute Theatrical Cut. Supplements will include: New interviews with actors Colin Farrell and Q’orianka Kilcher; New program about the making of the film, featuring interviews with producer Sarah Green, production designer Jack Fisk, and costume designer Jacqueline West; Making “The New World,” a documentary shot during the production of the film in 2004, directed and edited by Austin Jack Lynch; New program about the process of cutting The New World and its various versions, featuring interviews with editors Hank Corwin, Saar Klein, and Mark Yoshikawa; Trailers; PLUS: A book featuring an essay by film scholar Tom Gunning, a 2006 interview with Lubezki from American Cinematographer, and a selection of materials that inspired the production.
Suggested list price for each single-disc Blu-ray is $39.95. Suggested list price the 3-Disc release of 'The New World' is $49.95.
You can find the latest specs for all of the titles listed above linked from our Blu-ray Release Schedule, where they're indexed throughout July.
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