Along with the release of the Essential Art House Collection this October, the estimable Criterion Collection will also be releasing (and re-releasing) some additional classic films (as they’re wont to do every month), which apparently were not essential or arty enough to make it into Essential Art House Collection. The fresh releases will consist of selected works from the French noir crime maestro Jean-Pierre Melville, the Greek-French political screedist Costa Gavras, rehashes from the debonair actor turned spontaneously wild, raw-nerve director John Cassavetes and over-lapping dialogue enthusiast Robert Altman.
Jean-Pierre Melville: “Le doulos” “Le deuxieme souffle”
The haughty French filmmaker is the man we can all thank (or blame) for todays flamboyant neo-noir thrillers (see: Quentin Tarantino) and pioneer of on-location shooting has two releases coming out this October with Criterion, “Le doulos” and “Le deuxieme souffle.” “Le doulos,” the neo-noir thriller, complete with trench coats, hats and shadows, follows two criminal compatriots (one of them being the great handsome muttfaced Jean-Paul Belmondo) as they go down the long, dark path to self-induced destruction. “Le deuzieme souffle” marks the return to the criminal drama for Melville, this time his film chronicles a down on his luck ex-con (the inimitable
Lino Ventura from “
Army of Shadows“)and the suave detective who is always one step behind. If you are looking for the style of Tarantino without the overdone and oftentimes campy movieness, these are your films.
Costa Gavras: “Missing”
The ever-crusading French filmmaker is set to have his inagural Criterion release with “Missing,” which dealt with the actual disappearance of American journalist Charles Horman, who vanished in the bloody aftermath of the Chilean coup of 1973 [ed. A movie our parents made us watch when we were children – it was mandatory viewing]. Starring Jack Lemmon and Sissy Spacek, this wrenching film is one in a long line of “statement” pictures from Gavras, who was always looking for inventive ways to pronounce his disdain for special interest politics (and therefore sometimes bore audiences) through a narrative structure (see “Z” for one which is fantastic). This type of film style is extremely popular with today’s studios and can be witnessed in several hard-hitting dramas that came out this earlier this summer, such as “Wanted” and Hellboy II.”
Cassavetes, Altman Re-releases
October will also mark the re-releasing (presumably with more special features that only unemployed could possibly have time to watch) from Criterion of several of John Cassavetes most popular films, such as the anti-crime thriller “The Killing of a Chinese Bookie” starring the incomparable Ben Gazzara, and unnerving, almost ridiculously improvised, look into the troubled life of a suburban housewife in “A Woman Under The Influence” (both of these now single edition discs were previously only available in the
Cassavetes: Five Films box-set). The late Robert Altman will have his 1993 adaptation stemming from multiple Raymond Chandler short stories released, “Shortcuts,” the ensemble cast includes Robert Downey Jr, Jack Lemmon, Julianne Moore, Tim Robbins and loads of others not worth mentioning (the original “Shortcuts” on Criterion was chalk full of extra stuff, including the original short-novel by Raymond Carver so we’re not sure what the hell else they could possibly jam into here – though it does look like the only difference is a significant drop in price).
Most of this is great news especially, “Les Doulos,” a film we’ve been praying to come to DVD for some time now. Also coming in October via Criterion is The 13th Eclipse Series disc of Kenji Mizoguchi (“Ugetsu,” “Sansho the Bailiff”) Fallen Woman 4-disc boxset and the massive, Xmas stocking-stuffer, 10 Years of Rialto Pictures – a gold standard 10-disc boxset from the preeminent film restoration house that includes the social satire masterpiece, “The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie” ( Buñuel), the taut crime caper “Rififi” (Jules Dassin), “Band of Outsiders” (Godard), Robert Bresson’s wrenching “Au hasard Balthazar”, Carol Reed’s noir classic’ “The Third Man”, the aforementioned “Army of Shadows”and four other cinema touchstones.
