oh, materialism (oh jeez)
Martha and I wandered into the Lloyd Center B&N looking for some crime thriller mass market she was curious about, but we accidentally stumbled upon a sale. All Criterion releases -- DVD, Blu-Ray, box sets, Janus releases, Eclipse sets -- were half-off. Admittedly, this brought the $40 titles to $20 and the $100 box sets down to $50, but sometimes that's enough. Loaded with extras, amazing transfers, and let's face it, the prospect of having a sexy copy of some of the greatest films ever made on your shelf... sometimes 50% off is a good deal.
One of the easiest choices was the most expensive: the four-disc, three-movie box set of the Films of Hiroshi Teshigahara, whose amazing collaborations with one of my favorite novelists, Kobo Abe, directly influenced my first feature script incredibly. Pitfall and The Woman in the Dunes and The Face of Another, definitely something I wanted to own.
Jean Renoir's The Rules of the Game is one of the most watchable films I've ever seen, and the inspiration for most of Altman's work as I understand it (most especially Gosford Park, very nearly a remake). I just love it. Why don't I actually have it? I'd watch it enough to be worth owning. Well, shit... I own it now, don't I?
The one I waffled on the most was whether to get Louis Malle's Elevator the Gallows, Truffaut's Shoot the Piano Player, or Melville's Army of Shadows. Obviously I had to get something from the French New Wave masters. In the end I picked almost at random, at the last second, remembering how much fun I had seeing this one at Cinema 21 and figuring that of the three I would probably rewatch this one the most.
And then lastly, I did a curious thing. I decided upgrading my boring old feature-light DVD of Wings of Desire for a half-off Criterion Collection version was worthwhile (what I think of as "the Chungking Express move"), but for $5 more I could upgrade from DVD to Blu-Ray. And so I did. Thing is, I don't have a TV that can handle Blu-Ray, and I don't have a player that can play Blu-Ray. Yet. I've promised myself this for Christmas and/or as a reward for finishing ERIE and Open this year. Until then, it sits on my shelf mocking me and my conspicuous (and compulsive) consumption. Ah, well. We all have our vices, mine is cinema. Can you even pretend to be surprised?
The sad truth is, I already had inferior copies of every single one of these, but did that stop me from wanting to actually own them? Not one iota.
So tempted by the Nikkatsu-Noir set; any number of Kurosawas, like High & Low or the big Seven Samurai box or The Lower Depths double-feature; the Melville and Truffaut films I named above; or the spendy/awesome John Cassavettes box set. Off the top of my head. And, you know, like every single other release on the shelf.
Barnes & Noble, you fuckers. So much for Ikea this paycheck.
Don't get the wrong idea. I totally know this post is weak and lame, both, in that it's tantamount to bragging about purchases I've made... really though, it was an excuse to look at stills from these films I love and write two sentences each to myself about just why I love them. You know me, I'll rant about how neat a thing I love is at the drop of a hat. And the fact that I just picked up six films in four packages and they're all black & white? Mostly coincidence. (Also, Wings of Desire isn't ALL black & white, so there.)
Anyway. Yeah. Movies are neat.
One of the easiest choices was the most expensive: the four-disc, three-movie box set of the Films of Hiroshi Teshigahara, whose amazing collaborations with one of my favorite novelists, Kobo Abe, directly influenced my first feature script incredibly. Pitfall and The Woman in the Dunes and The Face of Another, definitely something I wanted to own.
Jean Renoir's The Rules of the Game is one of the most watchable films I've ever seen, and the inspiration for most of Altman's work as I understand it (most especially Gosford Park, very nearly a remake). I just love it. Why don't I actually have it? I'd watch it enough to be worth owning. Well, shit... I own it now, don't I?
The one I waffled on the most was whether to get Louis Malle's Elevator the Gallows, Truffaut's Shoot the Piano Player, or Melville's Army of Shadows. Obviously I had to get something from the French New Wave masters. In the end I picked almost at random, at the last second, remembering how much fun I had seeing this one at Cinema 21 and figuring that of the three I would probably rewatch this one the most.
And then lastly, I did a curious thing. I decided upgrading my boring old feature-light DVD of Wings of Desire for a half-off Criterion Collection version was worthwhile (what I think of as "the Chungking Express move"), but for $5 more I could upgrade from DVD to Blu-Ray. And so I did. Thing is, I don't have a TV that can handle Blu-Ray, and I don't have a player that can play Blu-Ray. Yet. I've promised myself this for Christmas and/or as a reward for finishing ERIE and Open this year. Until then, it sits on my shelf mocking me and my conspicuous (and compulsive) consumption. Ah, well. We all have our vices, mine is cinema. Can you even pretend to be surprised?
The sad truth is, I already had inferior copies of every single one of these, but did that stop me from wanting to actually own them? Not one iota.
So tempted by the Nikkatsu-Noir set; any number of Kurosawas, like High & Low or the big Seven Samurai box or The Lower Depths double-feature; the Melville and Truffaut films I named above; or the spendy/awesome John Cassavettes box set. Off the top of my head. And, you know, like every single other release on the shelf.
Barnes & Noble, you fuckers. So much for Ikea this paycheck.
Don't get the wrong idea. I totally know this post is weak and lame, both, in that it's tantamount to bragging about purchases I've made... really though, it was an excuse to look at stills from these films I love and write two sentences each to myself about just why I love them. You know me, I'll rant about how neat a thing I love is at the drop of a hat. And the fact that I just picked up six films in four packages and they're all black & white? Mostly coincidence. (Also, Wings of Desire isn't ALL black & white, so there.)
Anyway. Yeah. Movies are neat.