Posted Thu Aug 20, 2015 at 01:00 PM PDT by Steven Cohen
The distributor has revealed its upcoming slate of November releases, including Satyajit Ray's 'The Apu Trilogy' and Akira Kurosawa's 'Ikiru.'
In an early announcement to retailers, Criterion is preparing 'Code Unknown,' 'The Apu Trilogy,' 'In Cold Blood,' 'Ikiru,' and 'Dont Look Back' for Blu-ray throughout the month of November.
'Code Unknown' (November 10) - One of the world's most influential and provocative filmmakers, the Academy Award–winning Austrian director Michael Haneke diagnoses the social maladies of contemporary Europe with devastating precision and staggering artistry. His 2000 drama 'Code Unknown,' the first of his many films made in France, may be his most inspired work. Composed almost entirely of brilliantly shot, single-take vignettes focusing on characters connected to one seemingly minor incident on a Paris street, Haneke's film—with an outstanding international cast headlined by Juliette Binoche—is a revelatory take on racial inequality and the failure of communication in today’s increasingly diverse European landscape.
The Blu-ray will feature 1080p video, a French 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack, and supplements will include: New interview with Haneke; Introduction by Haneke from 2001; Filming Haneke, a 2000 making-of documentary featuring interviews with Haneke, actor Juliette Binoche, and producer Marin Karmitz, as well as on-set footage of cast and crew; Interview from 2001 in which Haneke discusses the filming of the boulevard sequences; New interview with film scholar Roy Grundmann; Trailers; PLUS: An essay by critic Nick James.
'The Apu Trilogy' (November 17) - Two decades after its original negatives were burned in a fire, Satyajit Ray's breathtaking milestone of world cinema rises from the ashes in a meticulously reconstructed new restoration. The Apu Trilogy brought India into the golden age of international art-house film, following one indelible character, a free-spirited child in rural Bengal who matures into an adolescent urban student and finally a sensitive man of the world. These delicate masterworks—Pather Panchali (Song of the Little Road), Aparajito (The Unvanquished), and Apur Sansar (The World of Apu)—based on two books by Bibhutibhusan Banerjee, were shot over the course of five years, and each stands on its own as a tender, visually radiant journey. They are among the most achingly beautiful, richly humane movies ever made—essential works for any film lover.
The Blu-ray will feature 1080p video, an uncompressed Bengali mono soundtrack, and supplements will include: Audio recordings from 1958 of director Satyajit Ray reading his essay “A Long Time on the Little Road” and in conversation with film historian Gideon Bachmann; New interviews with actors Soumitra Chatterjee, Shampa Srivastava, and Sharmila Tagore; camera assistant Soumendu Roy; and film writer Ujjal Chakraborty; New video essay by Ray biographer Andrew Robinson on the trilogy’s evolution and production; "The Apu Trilogy": A Closer Look, a new program featuring filmmaker, producer, and teacher Mamoun Hassan; Excerpts from the 2003 documentary The Song of the Little Road, featuring composer Ravi Shankar; The Creative Person: Satyajit Ray, a 1967 half-hour documentary by James Beveridge, featuring interviews with Ray, several of his actors, members of his creative team, and film critic Chidananda Das Gupta; Footage of Ray receiving an honorary Oscar in 1992; New program on the restorations by filmmaker :: kogonada; PLUS: A booklet featuring essays by critics Terrence Rafferty and Girish Shambu.
'In Cold Blood' (November 17) - Truman Capote's best seller, a breakthrough narrative account of real-life crime and punishment, became an equally chilling film in the hands of writer-director Richard Brooks. Cast for their unsettling resemblances to the killers they play, Robert Blake and Scott Wilson give authentic, unshowy performances as Perry Smith and Richard Hickock, who in 1959 murdered a family of four in Kansas during a botched robbery. Brooks brings a detached, documentary-like starkness to this uncompromising view of an American tragedy and its aftermath; at the same time, stylistically In Cold Blood is a filmmaking master class, with clinically precise editing, chiaroscuro black-and-white cinematography by the great Conrad L. Hall, and a menacing jazz score by Quincy Jones.
The Blu-ray will feature 1080p video, an English DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack, and supplements will include: New interview with cinematographer John Bailey on the film’s cinematography; New interview with film historian Bobbie O’Steen on the film’s editing; New interview with film critic and jazz historian Gary Giddins on the film’s music by Quincy Jones; New interview with writer Douglass Daniel on director Richard Brooks; Interview with Brooks from 1988 from the French television series Cinéma cinemas; Interview with actor Robert Blake from 1968 from the British television series Good Evening with Jonathan King; With Love from Truman, a short 1966 documentary featuring novelist Truman Capote, directed by Albert and David Maysles; Two archival NBC interviews with Capote: one following the author on a 1966 visit to Holcomb, Kansas, and the other conducted by Barbara Walters in 1967; Trailer; PLUS: An essay by critic Chris Fujiwara.
'Ikiru' (November 24) -One of the greatest achievements by Akira Kurosawa, Ikiru presents the director at his most compassionate—affirming life through an exploration of death. Takashi Shimura (Rashomon) beautifully portrays Kanji Watanabe, an aging bureaucrat with stomach cancer who is impelled to find meaning in his final days. Presented in a radically conceived two-part structure and shot with a perceptive, humanistic clarity of vision, Ikiru is a multifaceted look at what it means to be alive.
The Blu-ray will feature 1080p video, an uncompressed Japanese mono soundtrack, and supplements will include: Audio commentary from 2004 by Stephen Prince, author of The Warrior’s Camera: The Cinema of Akira Kurosawa; A Message from Akira Kurosawa (2000), a ninety-minute documentary produced by Kurosawa Productions and featuring interviews with Kurosawa; Documentary on Ikiru from 2003, created as part of the Toho Masterworks series Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create, and featuring interviews with Kurosawa, script supervisor Teruyo Nogami, writer Hideo Oguni, actor Takashi Shimura, and others; Trailer; PLUS: Essays by critic and travel writer Pico Iyer and critic Donald Richie.
'Dont Look Back' (November 24) - Bob Dylan is captured on-screen as he never would be again in this groundbreaking film from D. A. Pennebaker. The legendary documentarian finds Dylan in London during his 1965 tour, which would be his last as an acoustic artist and marked a turning point in his career. In this wildly entertaining vision of one of the twentieth century’s greatest artists thrust into the spotlight, Dylan is surrounded by teen fans; gets into heated philosophical jousts with journalists; and kicks back with fellow musicians Joan Baez, Donovan, and Alan Price. Featuring some of Dylan's most famous songs, including "Subterranean Homesick Blues," "The Times They Are A-Changin'," and "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue," Dont Look Back is a radically conceived and shot portrait of an American icon that has influenced decades of vérité behind-the-scenes documentaries.
The Blu-ray will feature 1080p video, an uncompressed English mono soundtrack, and supplements will include: Audio commentary from 1999 featuring Pennebaker and tour manager Bob Neuwirth; 65 Revisited, a 2006 documentary directed by Pennebaker and edited by Walker Lamond; Audio excerpt from an interview with Bob Dylan in the 2005 documentary No Direction Home, cut to previously unseen outtakes from Dont Look Back; New documentary about the evolution of Pennebaker’s filming style, from his 1950s avant-garde work to his ’60s musical documentaries, including an excerpt from the filmmaker’s footage of Dylan performing “Ballad of a Thin Man” during his 1966 electric tour; Daybreak Express (1953), Baby (1954), and Lambert & Co. (1964), three short films by Pennebaker; New conversation between Pennebaker and Neuwirth about their work together, from Dont Look Back through Monterey Pop (1967) and beyond; Snapshots from the Tour, a new piece featuring outtakes from Dont Look Back; New interview with musician Patti Smith about Dylan and the influence of Dont Look Back in her life; Conversation between music critic Greil Marcus and Pennebaker from 2010; Alternate version of the film’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues” cue card sequence; Five uncut audio tracks of Dylan songs from the film; Trailer; PLUS: An essay by critic and poet Robert Polito.
Suggested list price for each single-disc Blu-ray is $39.95. Suggested list price for the 3-Disc 'Apu Trilogy' is $99.95.
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 November.
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