New Years Drawing 2017

[CSM126]

As to the R - Polyester came to mind regarding its appearance:

Ah ha! S, T, and R are in a polyamorous triad, making them Poly-STR.

[colinr0380]

If that's true, I wonder if the film will still come with its smell-o-vision card!

[Jeff]

A Wedding?

I think that this could indeed be a case of the setting itself being a clue. Altman's A Wedding had a new 4K restoration last summer and got a small theatrical run in France. Someone is going to be releasing it on Blu-ray, and Criterion seems the most likely.

I suppose that heart on the table where Mme. Dielman is preparing the ramen could be for Desert Hearts (maybe it's a dessert heart ).

Could the R and T saying "hi" to each other (High RT) indicate Lisa Cholodenko's High Art? At first glance, it doesn't really seem like it has a high enough profile for a Criterion release, but they've handled several films from Universal's October library and they are making an effort to get more women directors in the collection.

A bit disappointed that there's no courtesan au chocolat from Mendl's on that table, nor pile of sandstone in the corner.

[Minkin]

Glad to see someone made better sense of my Polyester thoughts. That's just too great to pass up - and is thus far the best explanation for the S+T+R. And its a near certain given their Waters relationship + former Laserdisc title. I'm calling it for Polyester.

Jeff, we need your wisdom and voice of reason on these clues more than ever! Please keep adding your thoughts!

I've been wracking my brain over what the object on the table to the left of the bottle might possibly be (under the "heart"). It looks like a bottle of salt tipped over, or a condom, or a leech or lamprey. Perhaps if it is a lamprey, thats somehow the connection to the damn Lana del Rey set that keeps being rumored for some reason? Only thing else I can make out of it is perhaps a Ryo coin next to a bowl - Hanzo the Razor: Who's Got the Gold? Any of those make sense given the surrounding objects or anyone see anything better?

[domino harvey]

I assumed some of these objects on the table are just dough and a rolling pin for the noodles

[Ribs]

But surely the Polyester theory would be ignoring the waving, which seems to be an integral part of this clue?

Could it somehow be related to a sequence break, as alphabetically it goes r-s-t but here its s-r-t?

[Buttery Jeb]

I assumed some of these objects on the table are just dough and a rolling pin for the noodles

Same here; everything on that table seemed to be related to Tampopo. The "D" pan with ramen in it, noodles for future ramen, dough for future noodles, and the rotgut hooch ramen chefs constantly drink to numb themselves to the mundanity of life.

[Omensetter]

Window /scene = Quince Tree Sun? Sunrise? Tree of Life?

As noted earlier in the thread, the windowed tableau could just as likely be for Before Sunrise/Before Sunset ala The Kid last year. I'd love for it to be Sunrise, though. (Surely Murnau is the highest profile director not in the Collection?)

[Ribs]

Window /scene = Quince Tree Sun? Sunrise? Tree of Life?

As noted earlier in the thread, the windowed tableau could just as likely be for Before SunriseBefore Sunset ala The Kid last year. I'd love for it to be Sunrise, though. (Surely Murnau is the highest profile director not in the Collection?)

I mean, you could argue, like, Spielberg has a bit of a higher profile. But yes, Murnau would be good too. But considering Criterion's lackadaisical releasing of silents I'd not hold out for it.

[Feego]

Xs on a jug does not mean poison; in cartoon language it universally stands for alcohol or moonshine. Skull and crossbones means poison.

I agree with this and was going to post it myself. A double X simply does not connote poison. I think some are just really trying to squeeze the Arsenic and Old Lace interpretation in there, but what we have on the table is a bottle of hooch and some noodles.

[Buttery Jeb]

What's a good moonshine or whisky movie? I'm thinking Victor Nunez's Gal Young'Un, which is handled by IFC; but are there any other potential releases that could fit with the bottle if it's liquor instead of poison?

[DeprongMori]

I'd love for the "whisky" movie to be Alexander MacKendrick's Ealing classic Whisky Galore!, given it was restored in 2011 and is not available domestically. Given the fate of Kind Hearts and Coronets, I'm not sure how possible that is. It would be a perfect entry in the Collection.

[jwd5275]

Xs on a jug does not mean poison; in cartoon language it universally stands for alcohol or moonshine. Skull and crossbones means poison.

I agree with this and was going to post it myself. A double X simply does not connote poison. I think some are just really trying to squeeze the Arsenic and Old Lace interpretation in there, but what we have on the table is a bottle of hooch and some noodles.

I agree that it is alcohol, not poison. However I just saw the restoration recently and cannot remember Tampopo drinking alcohol as she is preparing noodles. In fact I can only recall two or three instances in the main narrative when alcohol is even present and it is not prominent enough to end up in a clue.

If it is indeed a misleading clue about poison. It is more likely to be Guitry's La Poison which is up on the Criterion channel on Filmstruck

[Morgan Creek]

What's a good moonshine or whisky movie? I'm thinking Victor Nunez's Gal Young'Un, which is handled by IFC; but are there any other potential releases that could fit with the bottle if it's liquor instead of poison?

Probably too much to hope that this is the 1932 Scarface - a bootlegging film that also uses the X motif as a symbol of death.

[cdnchris]

Probably too much to hope that this is the 1932 Scarface - a bootlegging film that also uses the X motif as a symbol of death.

Though it doesn't mean anything at all, one feature on His Girl Friday has a number of clips from Scarface and they look to be from a new restoration and they look really good. There are also a number of clips from Twentieth Century that also look very good.

[domino harvey]

Perhaps just out of frame there is a closed iron door

[Self]

Might the window represent A Place in the Sun?

[Minkin]

Some further random thoughts:

-I've been trying to find a solution to the out of place candle atop the flag. Something akin to "light at the top", or perhaps due to the wax it would make it an "old flame." If nothing else works, I suppose it could be for Burn - which is one of those MGM confirmed titles that Domino likes to pretend isn't the same list as what CriterionCast spoiled. The rest of the candles being on the ground could be Footlight Parade. The only Janus titles with light in their names that could work would be: Intimate Lighting or Manila in the Claws of Light. Anyone have something better - or make better sense out of light at top / old flame? Yes, I know we already have 16 Candles.

- Suppose the extra bar on the Cuba/Puerto Rico flag is to indicate its a fake flag - made by someone who doesn't know better. Thus its Polan's social commentary on the fake Puerto Rico culture/identity on display in West Side Story. Either that or Polan goofed on the left flag

- A "T" with five fingers really seems like it should be the Seuss film. Granted, there's the recent Mill Creek release, but I suppose that's never stopped Criterion before.

- As to the window, I think the road + window elements must play into it. If it were all about the Tree (Quince; of Life) - then why a window / road? A River Runs through it (laserdisc title) came to mind, but I'm sure its a road, not a river. Perhaps this building is situated atop the road (which it appears to do so given the perspective). Perhaps the background framing device plays into it as well? Might it be a corridor /hallway?

- The Clock has a line sprouting from the four. Perhaps its the alarm? Also the mysterious object could double as Pandora's Box, for those who feel so inclined.

- Might the wedding gown be from any film? It has somewhat of a distinctive look. Its not Ophelia, but perhaps something similarly medieval? And does everybody just agree with the Daisies theory?

[domino harvey]

Jeez, you're just swinging at all the mods now. Thank God Jeff checked out already or you'd start criticizing his fence-painting!

As with many people in this thread, I think you are reading too much into clues that offer simpler answers. This is probably in part because this year's big pic was small and featured fewer films, so everyone is hungry for more. But right now, as far as I'm concerned, the only unsolved clue is the waving T, and you would just put one of those hats on someone to make it the Seuss film, so no way it's that

[Minkin]

I say let the speculation fly. If we can have several pages on newsletter clues + people can be dissecting the Bible using word-find techniques, I think we can use this clue to successfully predict the entirety of the next year's titles. Some of the candles are giving off different numbers of light rays! So that must indicate some sort of Ray boxset. Then you can connect-the-dots with the candles to reveal that it spells out ROM, so they must be pulling an Edition Filmmuseum page and start putting out ROM-PDF bonus features. Or the ghost is being whirled in a counter-clockwise motion, thus indicating...

In closer seriousness - by day two, all the obvious clues have been taken and so its just pulling at straws to figure anything else out. Anything that's already been hinted at will probably be contorted into an answer and then be validated once its announced in 2018. Like the Snowblood - there's no way to verify until after the fact. I wonder if Polan/Criterion read the guesses and have a good laugh.

But on the flipside, as with Polyester, a new/different perspective on things can lead us to the answer. I don't think we have anything solid for the window clue. Plus Polan usually throws in something clever.

And no mod is safe from my petty criticisms.

[ianungstad]

As someone mentioned earlier I do think that the flags presented as mirror images of each other is a clue for Tarkovsky's The Mirror.

[swo17]

But they aren't mirror images. They're facing different directions, one has more stripes, and the other has more musical notes around it and a candle on top.

[movielocke]

I mean I watched Mirror on pain killers while confined to bed following a surgery about a decade ago, but aren't there a lot of repeating images/sequences in the film that are subtly different on subsequent iterations?

***
The overall structure of the New Years drawing is always a clue as well.

So here we have a weird interior/hall that is receding to a bizarre vanishing point in the upper left (a perspective not matched by the view out the window).

while I doubt they'd be doing Willy Wonka, the shape of the room reminds me of that film's similar gag.

I actually came to suggest that the LACK of a clue for the relatively spare ceiling/hallway design of the clue's overall structure is clearly a clue for Clueless! (could even be a highschool hallway with paneled drop cieling)

I feel like the ?Box is obviously a double clue. A surprise box set? or simply pandora's box. Obviously it works as Mysterious object at noon, but putting an actual box in one of these is like an automatic red flag that something is up. of course, the box is also has little 'shining' light rays coming off of it, like all the candles do as well. any ideas of what the 'shinyness' of the box might portend?

and if the box is a double clue, the clock would be an obvious candidate for one as well, particularly as it can also double as "midnight" as easily as it can read noon. So what about "Midnight" the wilder/bracket scripted liesen comedy?

has anyone mentioned the flowers on the wedding dress? Or that the bride lacks arms despite the T and the groom both having Arms?

Jeanne Dielman is not standing behind a table, it's a rectangular box (heh). But there does appear to be a chair back between her and the little heart on the box.

obviously we have the missing Dheepan behind Jeanne, and Ramen in said pan (with chopsticks) for Tampopo, but what is she working with her hands? I'd guess spaghetti or pasta, but yarn would also work. I have no idea what the object to the left of the hooch bottle is. Any good guesses for it?

There's a little line coming out from the 4 on the clock? any ideas on that?

caesar is in armor on top but a toga on the bottom, with a fanny pack in the middle. obviously the fanny pack is for the Fanny part of the trilogy, but why the dueling outfits?

and it does seem that his hailing or pointing seems to indicate something as well.

[movielocke]

Since the "window" doesn't match the perspective lines of the ceiling, could it be a poster and the lines are not window panes but fold-lines?

@minkin in the 2015 and 2016 New Years clues, how many clues were for respective January-march releases?

With the march 2017 release of blow up, I'm wondering if these clues are now structured for April-march schedule rather than January to December schedule, and we didn't notice the shift?

[What A Disgrace]

I hope the window is The Window (1949). Criterion has a Warner deal, why not put it to good use?