Criterion Blu For July....P&P!

[HGervais]

#44-The Red Shoes/Powell & Pressburger
•New, restored high-definition digital transfer (with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition)
•Audio commentary by film historian Ian Christie, featuring interviews with stars Marius Goring and Moira Shearer, cinematographer Jack Cardiff, composer Brian Easdale, and filmmaker Martin Scorsese
•Introductory restoration demonstration with Scorsese
•Profile of “The Red Shoes” (2000), a twenty-five-minute documentary
•Video interview with Thelma Schoonmaker Powell, Michael Powell’s widow
•Gallery from Scorsese’s collection of The Red Shoes memorabilia
•The “Red Shoes” Sketches, an animated film made from Hein Heckroth’s painted storyboards
•Readings by actor Jeremy Irons of excerpts from Powell and Pressburger’s novelization of The Red Shoes and the original Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale
•Theatrical trailer
•PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by Christie

#93- Black Narcissus-Powell & Pressburger
•New, restored high-definition digital transfer (with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition)
•Video introduction by French filmmaker Bertrand Tavernier
•Audio commentary featuring the late director Michael Powell and filmmaker Martin Scorsese
•The Audacious Adventurer, a 2006 video piece in which Tavernier discusses Black Narcissus and Powell
•Profile of “Black Narcissus” (2000), a twenty-five-minute documentary
•Painting with Light, a twenty-seven-minute documentary about Jack Cardiff’s Oscar-winning cinematography on Black Narcissus
•Original theatrical trailer
•PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film critic Kent Jones

#526-The Secret of the Grain/Abdellatif Kechiche
Winner of four César awards, including best picture and director, Abdellatif Kechiche’s The Secret of the Grain is a stirring drama about the daily joys and struggles of a bustling French-Arab family. It has the texture of a documentary but a classic, almost Shakespearean structure: when patriarch Slimane acts on his wish to open a port-side restaurant specializing in his ex-wife’s fish couscous, the extended clan’s passions and problems explode in riveting drama, leading to an engrossing, suspenseful climax. With sensitivity and grit, The Secret of the Grain celebrates the role food plays in family life and gets to the core of contemporary immigrant experience.

•New high-definition digital transfer, approved by director Abdellatif Kechiche (with DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition)
•New video interview with Kechiche
•Sueur, Kechiche’s captivating extended version of the film’s climactic belly dancing sequence, featuring a new introduction by the director
•New video interview with film scholar Ludovic Cortade
•Excerpt from a 20 heures television interview with Kechiche and actress Hafsia Herzi
•Video interviews with Herzi, actress Bouraouïa Marzouk, and the film’s musicians
•Theatrical trailer
•New and improved English subtitle translation
•PLUS: A booklet featuring a new essay by film critic Wesley Morris

[cdouglas]

So excited to get the two P&P releases in hi-def... I'm sure they'll look awesome.

[Mark Van Hook]

The Red Shoes has been, without a doubt, my most anticipated title on the Blu-Ray format - cannot wait. I'll skip Black Narcissus, as I've had the region-free UK version for a while now and it's drool-worthy enough as it is (possibly the best-looking disc I own). Yet another great month.