Assuming you have any money left over after the holiday season the Criterion Collection offers a number of tantalizing treats for home-video devotees in January 2024.
If you have (or are planning to purchase) a 4K player and television, then your wish list may begin and end with Satyajit Ray's The Apu Trilogy and Joel and Ethan Coen's Blood Simple. The former will likely look sterling, and the latter may break your television.
As to the former, here's what Criterion says in their official release: "These films -- which have risen from the ashes in meticulously reconstructed restorations, after the original negatives were burned in a fire -- are among the most achingly beautiful, richly humane movies ever made." Regarding the latter: "Blending elements from pulp fiction and low-budget horror flicks, Blood Simple reinvented the film noir for a new generation, marking the arrival of a filmmaking ensemble that would transform the American independent cinema scene."
Blood Simple special features include:
- -- Conversation between Sonnenfeld and the Coens about the film's look, featuring Telestrator video illustrations
-- Conversation between author Dave Eggers and the Coens about the film's production, from inception to release
-- Interviews with composer Carter Burwell, sound editor Skip Lievsay, and actors Frances McDormand and M. Emmet Walsh
Also heading for release on 4K is John Sayles' Lone Star (1996), which "uncovers the haunted past buried beneath a small Texas border town in this sprawling neowestern mystery." Chris Cooper, Joe Morton, Elizabeth Peña, and Kris Kristofferson star.
For another dose of 1996 magic in 4K, get Danny Boyle's Trainspotting, about which I need say no more. (I'm not sure it's entirely advisable to see everything in this movie in super-sharp, richly colored 4K, but now you have the option to indulge your lust for life.)
In Mudbound (2017), "writer-director Dee Rees, with cowriter Virgil Williams, crafts a uniquely American tragedy, imbuing bitter historical realities with a timeless weight. Featuring bone-deep performances from her ensemble cast -- including Carey Mulligan, Mary J. Blige, Jason Mitchell, Rob Morgan, Garrett Hedlund, Jason Clarke, and Jonathan Banks -- and backed by Rachel Morrison's darkly burnished cinematography, Mudbound is a searing humanist study of inheritance based upon Hillary Jordan's novel." The film will be available on Blu-ray and DVD.
And did someone ask, what about Chantal Akerman? "In the revolutionary first decade of her filmmaking career, Chantal Akerman devoted herself to nothing less than the total resculpting of cinematic time and space." The three Blu-rays that form Chantal Akerman Masterpieces, 1968-1978 collect "landmarks of cinema" in one package.
Visit the official Criterion site for more information and to place your orders.