Posted Fri Apr 18, 2014 at 12:00 PM PDT by Steven Cohen
The distributor has revealed its upcoming slate of July releases, including David Cronenberg's 'Scanners' and Lawrence Kasdan's 'The Big Chill.'
In an early announcement to retailers, Criterion is preparing 'Pickpocket,' Scanners,' 'Insomnia (1997),' 'The Essential Jacques Demy', and 'The Big Chill' for Blu-ray throughout the month of July.
'Pickpocket' (July 15) - This incomparable story of crime and redemption from French master Robert Bresson follows Michel, a young pickpocket who spends his days working the streets, subway cars, and train stations of Paris. As his compulsive pursuit of the thrill of stealing grows, however, so does his fear that his luck is about to run out. A cornerstone in the career of this most economical and profoundly spiritual of filmmakers, 'Pickpocket' is an elegantly crafted, tautly choreographed study of humanity in all its mischief and grace, the work of a director at the height of his powers.
The Blu-ray/DVD combo pack will feature 1080p video, an uncompressed French mono soundtrack, and supplements will include: Audio commentary by film scholar James Quandt
Introduction by writer-director Paul Schrader; The Models of 'Pickpocket,' a 2003 documentary by Babette Mangolte that features actors from the film; Interview from 1960 with director Robert Bresson, from the French television program Cinépanorama; Q&A on Pickpocket from 2000 with actor Marika Green and filmmakers Paul Vecchiali and Jean-Pierre Améris; Footage of the sleight-of-hand artist and Pickpocket consultant Kassagi from a 1962 episode of the French television show La piste aux étoiles; Trailer; and A booklet featuring an essay by novelist and critic Gary Indiana.
'Scanners' (July 15) - With 'Scanners,' David Cronenberg plunges us into one of his most terrifying and thrilling sci-fi worlds. After a man with extraordinary—and frighteningly destructive—telepathic abilities is nabbed by agents from a mysterious rogue corporation, he discovers he is far from the only possessor of such strange powers, and that some of the other "scanners" have their minds set on world domination, while others are trying to stop them. A trademark Cronenberg combination of the visceral and the cerebral, this phenomenally gruesome and provocative film about the expanses and limits of the human brain was the Canadian director’s breakout hit in the United States..
The Blu-ray/DVD combo pack will feature 1080p video, an uncompressed mono soundtrack, and supplements will include: The 'Scanners' Way, a new documentary on the film’s special effects; New interview with actor Michael Ironside; The Ephemerol Diaries, a 2012 interview with actor and artist Stephen Lack; Excerpt from a 1981 interview with Cronenberg on the CBC’s The Bob McLean Show; Stereo (1969), Cronenberg’s first feature film; Trailer; and A booklet featuring an essay by critic Kim Newman.
'Insomnia (1997)' (July 22) - In this elegantly unsettling murder mystery, Stellan Skarsgård plays an engimatic Swedish detective with a checkered past who arrives in a small town in northern Norway to investigate the death of a teenage girl. As he digs deeper into the heinous killing, his own demons and the tyrannical midnight sun begin to take a toll. Erik Skjoldbjærg’s chilling procedural anticipated the international hunger for Scandinavian noirs and serial killer fictions, and features one of Skarsgård’s greatest performances.
The Blu-ray/DVD combo pack will feature 1080p video, a Norwegian 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack, and supplements will include: New conversation between director Erik Skjoldbjærg and actor Stellan Skarsgård; Trailer and TV spot; and A booklet featuring an essay by critic Jonathan Romney.
'The Essential Jacques Demy' (July 22) - French director Jacques Demy didn’t just make movies—he created an entire cinematic world. Demy launched his glorious feature filmmaking career in the sixties, a decade of astonishing invention in his national cinema. He stood out from the crowd of his fellow New Wavers, however, by filtering his self-conscious formalism through deeply emotional storytelling. Fate and coincidence, doomed love, and storybook romance surface throughout his films, many of which are further united by the intersecting lives of characters who either appear or are referenced across titles. Demy’s films—which range from musical to melodrama to fantasia—are triumphs of visual and sound design, camera work, and music, and they are galvanized by the great stars of French cinema at their centers, including Anouk Aimée, Catherine Deneuve, and Jeanne Moreau. The works collected here, made from the sixties to the eighties, touch the heart and mind in equal measure. The set includes: 'Lola,' 'Bay of Angels,' 'The Umbrellas of Cherbourg,' 'The Young Girls of Rochefort,' 'Donkey Skin,' and 'Une chambre en ville'.
The Blu-ray/DVD combo pack will feature 1080p video, an LPCM Mono sountrack for 'Lola' and 'Bay of Angels' and DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0 sountracks on 'The Umbrellas of Cherbourg,' 'The Young Girls of Rochefort,' 'Donkey Skin,' and 'Une chambre en ville.' Supplements will include: Two documentaries by filmmaker Agnès Varda: The World of Jacques Demy (1995) and The Young Girls Turn 25 (1993);French television interview from 1962 with actor Jeanne Moreau on the set of Bay of Angels; Once Upon a Time . . . “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg,” a 2008 documentary; French television program about the making of Donkey Skin; 'Donkey Skin' Illustrated, a video program on the many versions of Charles Perrault’s fairy tale; 'Donkey Skin' and the Thinkers, a video program on the themes of the film, featuring critic Camille Tabouley; New video conversation with Demy biographer Jean-Pierre Berthomé and costume designer Jacqueline Moreau; New interviews with author Marie Colmant and film scholar Rodney Hill; Four short films by director Jacques Demy: Les horizons morts (1951), Le sabotier du Val de Loire (1956), Ars (1959), and La luxure (1962); Jacques Demy A to Z, a new visual essay by film critic James Quandt;Two archival interviews from French television with Demy and composer Michel Legrand, one on The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and the other on The Young Girls of Rochefort; Q&A with Demy from the 1987 Midnight Sun Film Festival, as well as an audio Q&A with him from the American Film Institute in 1971; Archival audio recordings of interviews with Demy, Legrand, and actor Catherine Deneuve at the National Film Theatre in London; Interview with actor Anouk Aimée conducted by Varda in 2012; Interview from 2012 with Varda on the origin of Lola’s song; Video programs on the restorations of Lola, Bay of Angels, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, and Une chambre en ville; Trailers; and A booklet featuring essays by critics Ginette Vincendeau, Terrence Rafferty, Jim Ridley, Jonathan Rosenbaum, Anne Duggan, and Geoff Andrew, and a postscript by Berthomé.
'The Big Chill' (July 29) - After the shocking suicide of their friend, a group of thirtysomethings reunite for his funeral and end up spending a weekend together, reminiscing about their shared pasts as children of the sixties and confronting the uncertainty of their lives as adults of the eighties. Poignant and warmly humorous in equal measure, this 1983 baby boomer milestone made a star of writer-director Lawrence Kasdan and is perhaps the decade’s defining ensemble film, featuring memorable performances by Tom Berenger, Glenn Close, Jeff Goldblum, William Hurt, Kevin Kline, Mary Kay Place, Meg Tilly, and JoBeth Williams. And with its playlist of hit songs from the sixties, 'The Big Chill' all but invented the consummately curated soundtrack.
The Blu-ray/DVD combo pack will feature 1080p video, an uncompressed mono and DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack, and supplements will include: Reunion with cast and crew, including Kasdan, actors Tom Berenger, Glenn Close, Kevin Kline, Mary Kay Place, Meg Tilly, and JoBeth Williams, from the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival; Documentary from 1998 on the making of the film; Deleted scenes; Trailer; and A booklet featuring an essay by writer, director, and actor Lena Dunham.
Suggested list price for 'Pickpocket,' Scanners,' 'Insomnia (1997),' and 'The Big Chill' is $39.95 for each Blu-ray. Suggested list price for 'The Essential Jacques Demy' is $124.95.
You can find the latest specs for all of the titles listed above linked from our Blu-ray Release Schedule, where they are indexed throughout the month of July.
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