Criterion Launches New Label Over Weekend

Well, I suppose it's nice we'll get these films for a (hopefully) reasonable price -- early Bergman isn't really worth $30-40 per movie -- but I was more excited back when everyone thought Eclipse was supposed to be a "cult" line and not a dumping ground for lesser films by Criterion directors.

I'm actually glad that its not a "cult" line, there are enough companies out there doing that sort of thing, and I think it's great that Criterion is expanding its efforts to help perpetuate great film history to dvd. For criterion to make available smaller, harder to find films by important directors for a smaller price is a pretty ingenious idea, and cause for serious film fans to be incredibly thankful, instead of misguidedly labelling their efforts a "dumping ground."

HURRAY TO CRITERION !
long live eclipse.
let me tell you this is a dream come true for me !

i LOOOOOVE the movies criterion, MOC, 2ndRun and alikes produce
but I couldn't care LESS for packaging, commentaries, docus and
all this other fancy shit everybody but me seems to enjoy.
i just want the movie in UNCUT good anamorphic presentation with
revised unintrusive subtitles. heck, i don't even need an trailer or
dvd-menue.

pop in, watch, enjoy, pay less !!!!!!
haha, they should reissue even all of criterions movies on this
label, i would be willing to sell all my criterion dvds and being
then able to buy 2-3 eclipse for the money one criterion will get me.

I remember there being a big debate here over the merits of Criterion's business model a while back when Eclipse was first rumored. I think keeping the cost low and getting below-the-radar films out on a regular basis should satisfy both sides of the fence. Can't wait for this to start up!!!

For criterion to make available smaller, harder to find films by important directors for a smaller price is a pretty ingenious idea, and cause for serious film fans to be incredibly thankful, instead of misguidedly labelling their efforts a "dumping ground."

Well, one problem is that early Bergman isn't hard to find. Most of his early work is readily available, in perfectly serviceable editions, from Tartan in the UK. Hopefully Eclipse won't just duplicate the Tartan releases (Sawdust and Tinsel is still unaccountably MIA), but even then it feels arbitrary to put them out under a new label -- 3-5 Bergmans for $15 each is nice, but it's also exactly the kind of thing Criterion themselves might've released as a boxed set. Indeed, the same could be said for the other Eclipse candidates mentioned in their blog -- Naruse, Imamura, Ozu -- although Raymond Bernard is an unknown quantity (at least to me) and seems closer to the spirit of their mission statement. But from nearly everything they've said so far, this isn't so much a genuinely "new" line as a $15 price tier for Criterion.

Well, Naruse is completely underrepresented in the American dvd market, and there are loads of Imamura films that have never seen the light of day in this country also. I dont think Criterion could put out a full 3-5 film box set each month - given the amount of time and energy they put into each of their releasesy, and how small a company criterion is, that would be impossible. This new line of theirs sounds like a great way for them to do justice to a larger quantity of films that deserve to be seen. To say that it is more a $15 price tier for criterion rather than a "new line" is really just semantics.
p.s.: criterion never duplicates material from foreign releases, they always do original work.

. I dont think Criterion could put out a full 3-5 film box set each month - given the amount of time and energy they put into each of their releasesy, and how small a company criterion is, that would be impossible.

But Eclipse IS Criterion, for all intents and purposes -- everything I've seen indicates they're just a new brand and not a separate entity (unlike Home Vision, which had some overlap with Criterion but was also a bit more adventurous). Any additional staff and resources they might've brought on for Eclipse could just as easily be directed towards Criterion proper, so I don't really get the whole "if it wasn't for Eclipse they couldn't do this stuff" argument.

To say that it is more a $15 price tier for criterion rather than a "new line" is really just semantics.

I actually agree with this, in a sense -- this is a branding exercise, not anything new or different. There's nothing inherently wrong with that, but unlike you, I DO think there's a need for a genuinely free-wheeling "cult" label (for want of a better term), given that the best cult labels out there tend to have a very narrow focus (Panik House does J-horror and pinku, No Shame does giallo, etc.). Criterion themselves are actually quite good about slipping in the odd left-field title among the Kurosawas and Bergmans and Godards, so it's underwhelming to see them launch a new label only to release the standard "arthouse" canon fare that's long been Criterion's bread and butter. At this point my biggest hope is that Criterion proper will move away from that (I think they already have, to some extent -- Border Radio and Symbiopsychotaxiplasm, anyone?) and Eclipse will pick up the slack. That would seem a bit backwards, but I won't complain if it happens.

p.s.: criterion never duplicates material from foreign releases, they always do original work.

Come again? To cite one recent example, the majority of the extras on The Double Life of Veronique are carried over from the mk2 release. Criterion's never been bashful about porting features from foreign releases; they just take care to mix it up with new stuff (like the Insdorf commentary on Veronique) and AFAIK they've never used someone else's transfer. But in any event, that isn't what I meant -- I was expressing concern that the Bergman box would just be R1 editions of films already available from Tartan, and now that the specific titles have been announced (Torment, Crisis, Port of Call, Thirst, and To Joy), it turns out that's exactly the case.

I, personally, would like trailers included, but I think the previous price point was $15 and not "less than $15" so perhaps I can't complain.

More obscure world cinema can only be a good thing. Criterion seem to be following in the footsteps of Second Run, a British label specialising in no frill obscure foreign films; except that Criterion seem to be focusing on major directors -there are hints of films by the Japanese masters to come -the most exciting being Mizoguchi. We may at last have his fantastic pre-war films (like Osaka Elegy and Zengiku Monogatari) on DVD in the west!