Some recent 4K-UHD and Blu-ray recommendations.
Altered States — 4K-UHD/Blu-Ray — Criterion
The late, great Oscar-winning writer Paddy Chayefsky (Marty, Network, The Hospital) withdrew his name as screenwriter on Altered States after a dispute with iconoclast director Ken Russell (Women in Love, The Devils, Tommy). This was after Chayefsky had a dispute with the original director Arthur Penn (Bonnie and Clyde), who then resigned. The irascible, but brilliant, writer did not like his words altered in any way and the equally gifted Russell had his own vision.
And, while the final cut of Altered States might not have been to Chayefsky’s liking, it’s certainly a fascinating and transfixing cinematic achievement.
The wackadoodle plot, taken from Chayefsky’s novel and based somewhat on Joh C. Lilly’s drug-induced sensory deprivation research, centers on psychopathologist Eddie Jessup (William Hurt in an incredible film debut) who begins to use himself as a test subject for mind-expanding psychological experiments in an isolation tank. As his obsession continues, the exploration becomes increasingly perilous, and Russell has a visual field day cine-mind-fucking the audience—something he excelled at.
Hurt would go on to star in a string of critically and commercially successful films throughout the decade like, Body Heat, The Big Chill, Kiss of the Spider Woman (Oscar win), Children of a Lesser God (Oscar nomination), Broadcast News (Oscar nomination) and The Accidental Tourist. He continued to work in film, mostly in supporting roles, until his death in 2022.
This was Blair Brown’s first major film role, along with One-Trick Pony, which opened in October 1980, after bit parts in The Paper Chase and The Choirboys.
Altered States was released in December 1980, to mostly positive reviews and received two Academy Award nominations, for Best Original Score (John Corigliano’s fantastic work) and Best Sound.
Criterion did a stupendous job with a new 4K digital restoration, with 2.0 surround DTS-HD master audio soundtrack. Jordan Cronenweth’s stunning cinematography pops magnificently.
The BD has a new audio commentary featuring film historian Samm Deighan, archival interviews with Russell and Hurt as well as a new interview with special-visual-effects designer Bran Ferren.
The amazing visual effects stand up pretty well today.
https://www.criterion.com/films/29506-altered-states
Él — 4K-UHD/Blu-ray — Criterion
Luis Buñuel was one of the 20th Century’s most significant filmmakers from his very early work Un Chien Andalou, co-written by Salvador Dali (1929) and L’Age d’Or (1930) to his acclaimed return to the screen with Los Olvidados (1950) to his 1960s classics,Viridiana, The Exterminating Angel, Belle de Jour to his final 1970s trilogy, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, The Phantom of Library and That Obscure Object of Desire—the master of cinematic surrealism solidified his place in the filmic pantheon.
One of the movies from his Mexican period stands out as a true gem and has just been given a most impressive Criterion 4K-UHD treatment, Él.
Based on the novel by Mercedes Pinto (screenplay by Buñuel & Luis Alcoriza), Él opens with a priest washing and then kissing an altar boy’s foot—difficult to watch today and not think about the Catholic sex abuse scandal. Still, this cheeky opening, laced in the Good Friday ritual, sets the stage for a look at obsession, repression, lust, envy, fear and power.
Francisco (a game Arturo de Córdova) happens to be in church during the foot washing ceremony and his eyes spot Gloria (Delia Garcés), a lovely young married woman. This doesn’t stop Francisco from pursuing her, captivating her, charming her and wooing her. Of course, Francisco’s outward sophistication is a ruse. Deep down, he’s paranoid and perpetually jealous of anyone Gloria even speaks to. Soon Gloria finds herself prisoner to her husband’s doubts and delusions, trapped in an abusive relationship. In one unbelievable scene, Francisco prepares to sew up his wife’s vagina.
Buñuel’s melodramatic romance-turned-terrifying thriller is also peppered with wonderful surreal touches as he dives into societal and religious hypocrisy and take the Catholic Church to task for forever promoting fear and shame.
The Criterion disc boasts a new 4K digital restoration, supervised by photographer Gabriel Figueroa Flores, director of photography Gabriel Figueroa’s son, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack. The gorgeous black and white images are stunning, with few blemishes.
The Blu-ray features a new video essay on Buñuel by scholar Jordi Xifra, an appreciation by filmmaker Guillermo del Toro, a short but fab interview with Buñuel from 1981 by writer Jean-Claude Carrière (one of his longtime collaborators) and a panel discussion from 2009, moderated by filmmaker José Luis Garci. The discs also include a new English subtitle translation.
Él world premiered at the 1953 Cannes Film Festival and when it opened it was a critical and box office failure. In later years, Buñuel said it was one of his favorites. It’s fantastic that, thanks to Criterion, cinephiles can appreciate this remarkable film, restored to its original luster.
https://www.criterion.com/films/33695-el
Misericordia — Blu-ray — Criterion
Alain Guiraudie’s Stranger By the Lake is one of my favorite gay-themed films made in the last few decades. It’s audacious, disturbing and unapologetically sexually-charged. I first saw his latest film, Misericordia, at last year’s New York Film Festival (Review HERE) and then spoke with the director when the film was released in March of this year (VIDEO chat HERE)
My third viewing, via Criterion’s gorgeous transfer to Blu-ray, proved that this neo-Hitchcockian black comedy is, indeed, great filmmaking.
Set in the small French village of Saint-Martial, the plot involves unemployed baker Jérémie (Félix Kysyl) returning from Toulouse to the town he grew up in, to attend the funeral of his mentor (and the man he had unrequited feelings for). He is welcomed by the widow Martine
(Catherine Frot) but not welcome by Martine’s hothead son, Vincent (Jean-Baptiste Durand), with whom Jérémie shares a past (exactly what kind of past is never really revealed).
Jérémie, now, has his carnal sights set on another old schoolmate, the portly Walter (David Ayala), a village recluse. The local priest Father Philippe (Jacques Develay) is mooning over Jérémie. And it looks like Martine may also be crushing on Jérémie.
Guiraudie’s brilliantly batshit narrative takes a number of tantalizing twists and terrifying turns before reaching its fascinating conclusion. And, while the queer content may not be overt, there’s enough homoeroticism to make the gays happy.
The director continues to delight in challenging conventional ideas about desire, guilt, shame and how nudity is shown onscreen.
Criterion extras include a 17-minute Criterion Channel original interview: Meet the Filmmakers: Alain Guiraudie, where the auteur discusses his film’s themes and how Misericordia connects with his six other movies as well as some of his influences (Ingmar Bergman, Dostoyevsky, Greek tragedies). The trailer is also included.
Criterion Premieres is a selection of new theatrical films presented on Blu-ray and DVD, released in association with the Criterion Channel.
https://www.criterion.com/films/34686-misericordia
King and Country — Blu-Ray — Kino Lorber
Reminiscent of Stanley Kubrick’s anti-war classic Paths of Glory (1957), Joseph Losey’s stunning and absorbing WWI-set British drama, King and Country, was released in 1964, with the Vietnam War raging, to positive reviews, but has largely forgotten over the last six decades, even though there have been a few DVD and Blu-ray releases here and in the UK.
Now, thanks to Kino Lorber, this powerful, claustrophobic work, adapted from the play, Hamp, by John Wilson and the novel, Return to the Wood by James Lansdale Hodson—which were both based on actual events—can finally be appreciated by cinephiles in a fantastic 2022 HD master transfer from a 4K Scan of the 35mm original camera negative.
The film centers on traumatized Army Private Arthur Hamp (Tom Courtenay) who is the only survivor of his company and is accused of desertion, facing a court-martial and possible death. A cocky officer, Captain Charles Hargreaves (Dirk Bogarde), reluctantly agrees to defend Hamp, and slowly begins to sympathize with him and question the army’s rules and regulations. The narrative builds to a shattering conclusion, still disturbing today.
Losey had just worked with Bogarde on The Servant (1963) and would work with him again on Accident (1967).
Bogarde was one of the most underrated British actors of his generation delivering great performances in many films including Basil Dearden’s daring, gay-themed, Victim (1961), John Schlesinger’s Darling (1965), Luchino Visconti’s The Damned (1969) and Death in Venice (1971) and Liliana Cavani’s The Night Porter (1974).
Courtenay’s performance is understated and quite poignant. The actor won the Volpi Cup for Best Actor at the 1964 Venice International Film Festival for King and Country. He was coming off the great successes of Tony Richardson’s The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962) and John Schlesinger’s Billy Liar (1963) and won the BAFTA for Best Newcomer for the former. A year after King and Country, he would go on to receive his first, much-deserved, Oscar nomination for David Lean’s Doctor Zhivago. His second nomination was for Peter Yates’ The Dresser (1983).
Leo McKern has a brief but explosive scene in the film as Captain O’Sullivan, the unit’s uncompromising, bombastic doctor who seals Hamp’s fate.
Kino Lorber has done a swell job of gifting us an almost pristine black-and-white presentation. Special features include a new and informative audio commentary by author Simon Abrams, a fascinating new chat with Courtenay (11 min) and a too-short but grand 1964 interview with Bogarde.
King and Country could be seen as the cinematic grandfather of films like Michael Anderson’s unsung gem Conduct Unbecoming (1975) and Rob Reiner’s Oscar-nominated A Few Good Men (1992). It tends to lean a bit on the filmed-play side, but the superb acting and keen direction make it a must for film lovers.
https://kinolorber.com/product/king-and-country
Scoop — Blu-ray — Kino Lorber
Scoop, released in 2006, is a moderately amusing Woody Allen comedy with a terrific cast of actors whose winning performances greatly enhance the film.
Scarlett Johansson, who co-starred in Allen’s excellent, Oscar-nominated psychological thriller Match Point, a year earlier, and would be featured in the director’s wonderful Oscar-winning dramedy, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, in 2008, plays Sondra Pransky, an American journalism student visiting friends in London. Allen is bumbling magician Sid Waterman, aka Splendini, who, at an event Sondra attends, accidentally summons up UK journalist, Joe Strombel (Ian McShane, having a blast). The dead journo gives Sondra a clue about the identity of the “Tarot Card Killer,” who is still committing murders in London. Sondra follows the lead right to a suave British aristocrat, Peter Lyman (Hugh Jackman, charming as always), who she falls for. And things go a bit bonkers from there.
Johansson, at this point in her career, had mostly done serious roles and Scoop showed off her fab comedic gifts.
This isn’t groundbreaking Woody, but it is good fun and it’s nice to see the film get a decent Blu-ray treatment thanks to Kino Lorber (the first BD to be released in the US). This marked the filmmaker’s second pic made in the UK. A year later, he would write and direct the highly underrated Cassandra’s Dream, starring Colin Farrell.
Sadly, the only extra is the theatrical trailer.
