Garrel set on Amazon

Amazon.com now has a listing for the Philippe Garrel set from Zeitgeist, which includes I Can No Longer Hear the Guitar [J'entends plus la guitare] and Emergency Kisses [Les baisers de secours]. The set will be out on 26 May.

Garrel in May

Eric has tipped off that the Film Desk will be releasing two of their Philippe Garrel acquisitions through Zeitgeist sometime in May. The films J'entends plus la guitare, which showed up on several NY film critics Best of 08 lists, and Les baisers de secours, which stars the director alongside family members Louis and Maurice as well as Aurélin Recoing, will be released together. 2009 might be the year of Garrel in the US, so keep your fingers crossed. Additionally, those in the US can view a streaming version of Garrel's Le vent de la nuit, which stars Catherine Deneuve, Xavier Beauvois and Daniel Duval, over at The Auteurs.

DVD Announcements, 9 December

Miramax is releasing Mike Leigh's wonderful Happy-Go-Lucky, starring Sally Hawkins, on 10 March, as well as The Boy in the Striped Pajamas on the same day. Sony will have Philippe Claudel's I've Loved You So Long on 10 February.

Zeitgeist is releasing a remastered version of Guy Maddin's Careful on 24 March. Lionsgate will be releasing Hector Babenco's Ironwood, starring Jack Nicholson, Meryl Streep and Tom Waits, on 24 February; it will be the film's R1 DVD debut. Oscilloscope will have the excellent Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father on 10 February. Bertrand Tavernier's In the Electric Mist will skip(?) a theatrical release and hit DVD from Image on 24 March; the film stars Tommy Lee Jones, John Goodman, Peter Sarsgaard, Mary Steenburgen, Kelly Macdonald and John Sayles.

Magnolia announced their line-up for March and April with Let the Right One In (10 March), Donkey Punch (7 April), Special (31 March), Timecrimes (31 March) and Shuttle (7 April).

HBO will have Alan Ball's True Blood on 12 May, with the new season beginning sometime next summer. That's all for now!

An Official Warhol Disc? Two Hamlets? And Lydia Lunch?

I always wonder whether I should post about DVD announcements as I hear them or stock 'em up to make a big post every so often. I'm not sure how often people check this blog, especially considering I haven't been doing a whole lot of "film writing" lately as a result of finishing up my degree. I'll probably just keep things rolling as I hear them to make it easier. The most exciting news I have today is that Plexifilm will be releasing, "in conjunction with The Andy Warhol Museum," a DVD entitled 13 Most Beautiful... Songs for Andy Warhol's Screen Tests in both standard and limited edition sets. The disc includes thirteen of Warhol's original screen tests, set to optional music by Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips. The thirteen screen tests are of Paul America (star of My Hustler and the Edie Sedgwick starrer Ciao Manhattan!), Susan Bottomly (aka International Velvet), Ann Buchanan, Freddy Herko (dancer/choreographer), Jane Holzer (aka Baby Jane Holzer), Dennis Hopper, Billy Name (artist/photographer), Nico, Richard Rheem, Lou Reed, Edie Sedgwick, Ingrid Superstar and Mary Woronov. This is what Plexifilm has to say about the Limited Edition:

"The limited edition DVD is presented in a deluxe gatefold LP-style package with an exclusive poster and booklet. In addition, one frame from each of the 13 Screen Tests will be hand-printed as an archival gelatin-silver photograph in an edition of 100. One of these individual prints is included in each package. The retail DVD is presented in a slipcovered hard-bound book package."

Both sets will be available on 17 February (although I believe Plexifilm's website incorrectly has the limited set with a release date of 17 January).

Strand will release the film Choose Connor, starring Steven Weber, on 13 January. This will be their first release after not announcing anything for November or December of this year. First Run Features has also announced Hugo Grosso's On Each Side [A cada lado] from Argentina on 20 January. Sony will have Sarah Gavron's Brick Lane on 13 January. As the DVD distributor for Cinema Guild, New Yorker will release Margaret Brown's documentary The Order of Myths on 13 January. And speaking of New Yorker, I forgot to mention that the studio delayed their release of Bill Hanley's The Price of Sugar until 29 April (according to Amazon).

S'more Entertainment/Ryko is releasing Alexander Fodor's directorial debut, Hamlet, an experimental adaptation of the Shakespeare play, on 27 January. I'm only mentioning that Focus Features is releasing Andrew Fleming's mess-of-a-film Hamlet 2 on 23 December to follow the Hamlet theme. MYA Communication, through Ryko, will also release three Italian comedies in January. The first is Luigi Comencini's Bread, Love and Dreams [Pane, amore e fantasia], which stars Vittorio De Sica. The second is Giorgio Bianchi's The Inveterate Bachelor [I zitelloni], which also stars De Sica. The third is a sex comedy from Lucio Fulci called The Maniacs [I maniaci], starring Barbara Steele, Walter Chiari and Margaret Lee. All street on 27 January.

Also through Ryko will be Cult Epics' release of Babeth Mondini-VanLoo's Kiss Napoleon Goodbye. The impressive crew includes Lydia Lunch as both lead actress and writer, Henry Rollins as her co-star, JG Thirlwell as composer and Mike Kuchar as cinematographer. I wasn't able to find a lot of information on this film (it's not on the IMDb), but I'll be sure to let you know once it comes out. Liberation Entertainment has two titles set for January: the dark comedy Just Buried, with Rose Byrne, Thomas Gibson and Graham Greene, and the documentary Girls Rock!. Napoleon, Buried and Girls will also be available on 27 January.

Zeitgeist is releasing Kirby Dick's (This Film Is Not Yet Rated) 1986 doc Private Practices: The Story of a Sex Surrogate about Maureen Sullivan, a "professional sex partner" hired by psychotherapists to bang their clients. It will be available on 27 January. And finally, Netflix shows a release date of 30 December for Alan Ball's Towelhead, which I sadly missed during its short theatrical run. I'm not sure if the film will be available early through Netflix, as their Red Envelope Entertainment co-released it.

Criterion, Griffith, Maggie Cheung and Patti Smith

Criterion has announced their titles for December, which is their slow month of the year: Lars von Trier's Europa (aka Zentropa) and Samuel Fuller's White Dog. Europa will return to its original title, after Miramax was forced to retitled the film as it bared to similar to Agnieszka Holland's Europa Europa, which was made just a year prior. Europa stars Barbara Sukowa, Jean-Marc Barr, Udo Kier, Eddie Constantine and Max von Sydow as the narrator. White Dog showcases your dream team of Sam Fuller directing Kristy McNicol.

Kino has announced a series of D.W. Griffith films set for 18 November. The set includes Abraham Lincoln (1930), The Struggle (1931), The Avenging Conscience (1914), Sally of the Sawdust (1925), and Way Down East (1920), as well as the short film Edgar Allan Poe (1909) and a documentary from 1993 entitled D.W. Griffith: Father of Film.

In other news, Zeitgeist is releasing one of my favorite films of all time, Olivier Assayas' Irma Vep, on 9 December. The film was previously available in a shitty transfer from the early days of Fox Lorber; Maggie Cheung stars as herself, along with Jean-Pierre Léaud, Nathalie Richard, Arsinée Khanjian, Alex Descas, Bulle Ogier and Lou Castel. Palm will have the documentary Patti Smith: Dream of Life available on 13 January. And finally, HBO will release a box-set of The Wire, arguably one of the finest television programs ever, on 9 December.

Updates!

Warner will release documentary about Annie Leibovitz entitled, Life Through a Lens, which was directed by her sister Barbara; the disc streets on 28 October. Zeitgeist will release two films in October: the wonderful documentary Billy the Kid and Up the Yangtze, which has gotten across-the-board acclaim, both on the 18th.

Criterion's October releases include Jean-Pierre Melville's Le deuxième souffle and Le doulos, as well as Costa-Gavras' Missing with Jack Lemmon and Sissy Spacek.

Music Box Films will release, through MPI, Tuya's Marriage on 28 October and Guillaume Canet's mystery Tell No One [Ne le dis à personne] on 25 November. Dokument Films will have the German comedy Eight Miles High on the same day as Tuya.

New Yorker is releasing Jia Zhang Ke's Still Life on 14 October. First Look has Brad Anderson's Transsiberian, with Woody Harrelson, Emily Mortimer, Eduardo Noriega, Thomas Kretschmann and Ben Kingsley, on 4 November, as well as Priceless [Hors de prix] with Audrey Tautou on 18 November.

Kino will release the uncut television version of Pascale Ferran's 2006 adaptation of Lady Chatterley on 14 October. And finally, PeaceArch will have a biopic of punk rocker Darby Crash entitled What We Do Is Secret on 4 November. The film stars Shane West, Bijou Phillips and Ashton Holmes.

Madame / Butterfly

As I'm sure you already know, Criterion announced their releases for September: three films by Max Ophüls, The Earrings of Madame de... [Madame de...], Le plaisir and La ronde. Though it's not on their site yet, Ozu's Autumn Afternoon will be available in September as well. The Eclipse box will be Aki Kaurismäki's Proletariat Trilogy, which includes Ariel, The Match Factory Girl and Shadows in Paradise.

Ryko has listed their September releases as well, which includes a single-disc version of Harry Kümel's wonderful Daughters of Darkness, starring Delphine Seyrig, a new version of Andrzej Żuławski's Possession, with Isabelle Adjani and Sam Neill, and Vicente Aranda's The Blood Spattered Bride, all from Blue Underground.

Through Severin, two Patrice Leconte films, The Hairdresser's Husband [Le mari de la coiffeuse], with Jean Rochefort, and The Perfume of Yvonne [Le parfum d'Yvonne], with Hippolyte Girardot. Cult Epics will release a two-disc special edition of Slogan, better known as the film where Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin met, with additional interviews with Gainsbourg and Birkin as well as television commercials from the director.

Excitingly, the epic disaster known as Butterfly, starring Orson Welles and Pia Zadora in a well-deserved Golden Globe win, will make its way on DVD on 30 September [all of the Ryko discs will street on this day as well]. Ry Russo Young's Orphans will also be available through Carnivalesque Films.

Paramount will release the animated Chicago 10 on 26 August. TLA will release the animated adaptation of Dante's Inferno, with the voices of Dermot Mulroney and James Cromwell, on the same day. Showtime will release the first season of This American Life, which if you didn't know is the best thing currently on television, on 23 September. And, finally, Zeitgeist will release Jellyfish [Les méduses] on 30 September.

2 1/2 Months in, 19 Down

I was reviewing my MIA for 2008 list and made a few updates, seeing as 19 of the list have either been released already this year or have been officially announced. They are as follows, in no particular order:

The Lovers [Les amants] - dir. Louis Malle - Criterion - 13 May
I Live in Fear - dir. Akira Kurosawa - Criterion/Eclipse - 15 Jan
Le bonheur - dir. Agnès Varda - Criterion - 22 Jan
The Fire Within [Le feu follet] - dir. Louis Malle - Criterion - 13 May
Caravaggio - dir. Derek Jarman - Zeitgeist - 24 June

She's Gotta Have It - dir. Spike Lee - MGM - 15 Jan
The Angelic Conversation - dir. Derek Jarman - Zeitgeist - 24 June
Détective - dir. Jean-Luc Godard - Lionsgate - 5 Feb
Passion - dir. Jean-Luc Godard - Lionsgate - 5 Feb
The Kingdom Series 2 [Riget 2] - dir. Lars von Trier - Koch Lorber - 22 Jan

Lost Highway - dir. David Lynch - Universal - 25 Mar
Touch - dir. Paul Schrader - MGM - 12 Feb
When Night Is Falling - dir. Patricia Rozema - Wolfe Video - 5 Feb
Before the Rain - dir. Milcho Manchevski - Criterion - ? Jun
Fiorile - dir. Paolo Taviani, Vittorio Taviani - Koch Lorber - 1 Apr

Blue - dir. Derek Jarman - Zeitgeist - 24 June
Oh, Woe Is Me [Hélas pour moi] - dir. Jean-Luc Godard - Lionsgate - 5 Feb
Wittgenstein - dir. Derek Jarman - Zeitgeist - 24 June
La chinoise - dir. Jean-Luc Godard - Koch Lorber - 13 May

I might also take this opportunity to correct an announcement I made earlier about Shohei Imamura's The Ballad of Narayama to be released by AnimEigo. In fact, I'm not clear as to whether AnimEigo will be releasing Imamura's version or the original from director Keisuke Kinoshita from 1958. Something leads me to believe that it may be the 1958 version, as I'm pretty sure Kino owns Imamura's, but I will let you know as soon as I find out.

Jarman/Zeitgeist Update

It looks like Zeitgeist has pushed the release of the 3 Derek Jarman films back a month to 24 June. This would've pissed me off if they hadn't announced a Jarman box-set which will include the previously unannounced Angelic Conversation and Glitterbug. They may have also canceled the stand-alone disc of Blue, but Wittgenstein and Caravaggio (both more accessible than the others) will still be available separately. S'about time. And s'about time someone (coughCriterioncough) snatched up The Garden.

Jarman in May

Zeitgeist has announced three (!) Derek Jarman DVDs on the way for May: Wittgenstein, Caravaggio, and Blue. The first two are Jarman's "biopics," and Blue is a chronicle of his final days dying of AIDS. Unfortunately, my two favorite Jarman works, The Garden and The Angelic Conversation, remain MIA on Region 1 disc, but this is exciting news nonetheless, no doubt released to coincide with the documentary Derek, which premiered at Sundance a week or so ago. All three films star the wonderful Tilda Swinton, who also narrates Derek.

More Greenaway

As rumored, Zeitgeist will release remastered editions of Peter Greenaway's A Zed and Two Noughts and The Draughtsman's Contract, two visually sumptuous, darkly humorous from the master of visual excess. I hesitated announcing this, as I'm trying to sell off my Fox Lorber Zed and Two Noughts, so hopefully prospective buyers won't see this. Available 12 February 2008.