Coming in February: Romeo and Juliet, the sublime adaptation of Shakespeare’s immortal romantic tragedy by Franco Zeffirelli; India Song and Baxter, Vera Baxter, two mesmerizing films by beloved French literary figure Marguerite Duras; and Hollywood Shuffle, the riotously funny satire of Black typecasting in 1980s Hollywood by Robert Townsend. Plus: Three Colors, the boldly cinematic trio of love and loss by Krzysztof Kieślowski, and Dazed and Confused, one of the best teen films ever made, by Richard Linklater—now on 4K UHD.
Three Colors (#587) out Feb 7
This boldly cinematic trio of stories about love and loss, from Krzysztof Kieślowski was a defining event of the art-house boom of the 1990s. The films are named for the colors of the French flag and stand for the tenets of the French Revolution—liberty, equality, and fraternity—but that hardly begins to explain their enigmatic beauty and rich humanity. Set in Paris, Warsaw, and Geneva, and ranging from tragedy to comedy, Blue, White, and Red (Kieślowski’s final film) examine with artistic clarity a group of ambiguously interconnected people experiencing profound personal disruptions. Marked by intoxicating cinematography and stirring performances by such actors as Juliette Binoche, Julie Delpy, Irène Jacob, and Jean-Louis Trintignant, Kieślowski’s Three Colors is a benchmark of contemporary cinema. Read Shawn Bourdo’s review of Criterion’s Blu-ray. The Special Features are:
- 4K UHD and Blu-ray: New 4K digital restorations, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtracks; Blu-ray-only edition: High-definition digital restorations, with 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio soundtracks; DVD: High-definition digital restorations
- In the 4K UHD edition: One 4K UHD disc of each film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and one Blu-ray of each film with special features
- Three cinema lessons with director Krzysztof Kieślowski
- Interviews with cowriter Krzysztof Piesiewicz, composer Zbigniew Preisner, and actors Julie Delpy, Irène Jacob, and Zbigniew Zamachowski
- Selected-scene commentary featuring actor Juliette Binoche
- Video essays by film critics Annette Insdorf, Tony Rayns, and Dennis Lim
- Documentary from 1995 featuring Kieślowski
- Three short films by Kieślowski—The Tram (1966), Seven Women of Different Ages (1978), and Talking Heads (1980)—plus the short film The Face (1966), starring Kieślowski
- Interview programs on Kieślowski’s life and work, featuring Binoche, Insdorf, Jacob, film critic Geoff Andrew, filmmaker Agnieszka Holland, cinematographer Sławomir Idziak, producer Marin Karmitz, and editor Jacques Witta
- Behind-the-scenes programs for White and Red, and a short documentary on Red’s world premiere
- Trailers
- New and improved English subtitle translations
- PLUS: Essays by film critics Colin MacCabe, Nick James, Stuart Klawans, and Georgina Evans; an excerpt from Kieślowski on Kieślowski; and reprinted interviews with cinematographers Idziak, Edward Kłosiński, and Piotr Sobociński
Romeo and Juliet (#1171) out Feb 14
One of the great Shakespeare adaptations, this sublime take on the Bard’s immortal romantic tragedy by Franco Zeffirelli breathed new life into the oft-told tale by casting actual teenagers in the title roles. As the young lovers whose affair threatens to inflame the tensions between their feuding families in Renaissance Verona, Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting vividly capture the mix of adolescent ardor and turmoil that fuels their destiny-driven liaison. A sensory banquet thanks to Nino Rota’s delicate score and the exquisite, Oscar-winning costumes and cinematography, Romeo and Juliet is Shakespeare at its most deeply felt and passionately alive. The Special Features are:
- New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
- Excerpt from the 2018 documentary Franco Zeffirelli: Directing from Life
- Interviews with actors Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting from 1967 and 2016
- Trailer
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by scholar Ramona Wray
Dazed and Confused (#366) out Feb 21
America, 1976. The last day of school. Bongs blaze, bell-bottoms ring, and rock and roll rocks. Among the best teen films ever made, Dazed and Confused eavesdrops on a group of seniors-to-be and incoming freshmen. A launching pad for a number of future stars, the first studio effort by Richard Linklater also features endlessly quotable dialogue and a blasting, stadium-ready soundtrack. Sidestepping nostalgia, Dazed and Confused is less about “the best years of our lives” than the boredom, angst, and excitement of teenagers waiting . . . for something to happen. Read Gordon S. Miller’s review of the Criterion Blu-ray. The Director-Approved Special Features are:
- New 4K digital restoration of the director’s cut, supervised and approved by director Richard Linklater and cinematographer Lee Daniel, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
- One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and one Blu-ray of the film with special features
- Audio commentary by Linklater
- Making “Dazed,” a documentary by Kahane Cooperman
- Rare on-set interviews and behind-the-scenes footage
- Footage from the ten-year-anniversary celebration
- Audition footage and deleted scenes
- Trailer
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing PLUS: Essays by critics Kent Jones, Jim DeRogatis, and Chuck Klosterman; reprinted recollections of the filming from cast and crew; and character profiles from the Dazed and Confused companion book; as well as the original film poster by Frank Kozik
Two Films by Marguerite Duras (#1172) out Feb 28
Marguerite Duras had already established herself as one of the major figures of postwar French literature when she launched an equally fascinating and unclassifiable career in cinema, translating her elliptical, experimental style to the screen through an unprecedented fusion of hypnotic, highly stylized imagery and radically disjunctive sound. Boldly reimagining the possibilities of dialogue, music, silence, and architectural space, the tantalizing, sphinxlike evocations of soul-deep female malaise India Song and Baxter, Vera Baxter embody Duras’s singular multisensory approach, with each opening up new spaces for the expression of women’s interior worlds. The Special Features are:
- New 2K digital restorations, with uncompressed monaural soundtracks on the Blu-rays
- Marguerite as She Was, a 2003 portrait of director Marguerite Duras
- Interview from 1977 with Duras
- Excerpt from a 1977 documentary on actor Delphine Seyrig
- New English subtitle translation
- PLUS: An essay by film scholar Ivone Margulies
Hollywood Shuffle (#1173) out Feb 28
This debut feature by Robert Townsend is an ingenious guerrilla satire that takes riotous aim at the typecasting of Black actors in 1980s Hollywood. The writer-director-star’s megawatt charisma propels Hollywood Shuffle, the hilarious tale of a struggling actor attempting to break into an industry where the only roles available to Black performers seem to be hustlers, butlers, slaves, and “Eddie Murphy types”—forcing him to choose between selling out and maintaining his self-respect. Lampooning everything from film noir to zombie flicks to Siskel and Ebert, Townsend and cowriter Keenen Ivory Wayans cannily turn the frustrations of the Black artist into a subversively funny pop-culture critique. The Director-Approved Special Features are:
- New, restored 4K digital transfer, approved by writer-director-actor Robert Townsend, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
- New audio commentary featuring Townsend
- New interviews with actors Rusty Cundieff, Anne-Marie Johnson, and Bobby McGee
- Radio program featuring Townsend in conversation with film critic Elvis Mitchell
- Trailer
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by critic Aisha Harris
