Eclipse Series 9: The Delirious Fictions of William Klein
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Fantastic...
Mr. Freedom is a personal favorite. I always describe it to friends as Godard trying to make a Robert Downey Sr. film (not "accurate", but that flavor.)
The thing that amazes me most about the film is John Abbey (Mr. Freedom) who everybody knows as the "American" in Playtime. As far as I know these are the only 2 films he made, besides some tv work. Very sad, as he was brilliant.
great news. worth the set for Mr. Freedom alone....
putney
Mr. Freedom is a personal favorite. I always describe it to friends as Godard trying to make a Robert Downey Sr. film (not "accurate", but that flavor.)
The thing that amazes me most about the film is John Abbey (Mr. Freedom) who everybody knows as the "American" in Playtime. As far as I know these are the only 2 films he made, besides some tv work. Very sad, as he was brilliant.
great news. worth the set for Mr. Freedom alone....
putney
- El Manchego
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I'm really looking forward to these films and pleased that Sundance is playing Polly Maggoo on January 2nd, providing me with an opportunity to preview Klein's work before the release date.
Is it just me or did they reverse the color scheme? I swear the blue and red were flipped when this was announced.
Is it just me or did they reverse the color scheme? I swear the blue and red were flipped when this was announced.
- domino harvey
- Dot Com Dom
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- dadaistnun
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Tim Lucas writes briefly about the set on his blog. He'll have a full review in the April Sight & Sound (his reviews are usually on the S&S site as well.)
- headacheboy
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Delirious Setback
I noticed that amazon changed the street date for this set to 20 May 2008, so I wrote a quick e-mail to Criterion and here's the response I got from Tamara:
I misdirected my e-mail, sending it to criterion@ordering.com instead of Jon Mulvaney. I didn't have the heart to e-mail again asking what has prompted the delay.Hi Anthony,
Yes, it's true, the street date has been changed to 5/20/08 for that title. Thank you for your patience, and please feel free to email Jon Mulvaney (cc'd here) if you have any other questions!
- justeleblanc
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- starmanof51
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Tim Lucas over at his Blogspot, hyothesizes on why this might be in his March 25 entry. He has already seen the discs and discussed with some rave-ish language in his March 13 entry, a little further down the page. In between, and off topic here, are some delightful stills from a French release of Franju's Judex.
- domino harvey
- Dot Com Dom
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- domino harvey
- Dot Com Dom
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Literally.zone_resident wrote:Beaver
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- colinr0380
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- sidehacker
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Well, I thought Mr. Freedom was more effective as satire than Team America, for example, but it is kinda one-note. I thought it was less obnoxious than more recent Parker/Stone stuff, as at least the satire usually has a point beyond simple gross-out. Politically, it was quite prescient, accurately capturing all the silly propaganda of the Bushies, only thirty five years early. (Or maybe this just shows how self-parodic all this conservative twaddle is.) I liked it well enough, but it mighta been better if it was only 45 mins. to an hour long.sidehacker wrote:Yeah, it does have a nice, spontaneous feel but all the "satire" is about as subtle as an episode of South Park. Not to mention the self-reflexive stuff seems really amatuerish, especially when all I'm use to is post-Week End Godard.
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What the Criterion people did with the aspect ratio of The Model Couple (and I have suspicions about Mr. Freedom, too) is inexcusable. One rarely sees such a blatantly incorrect aspect ratio on DVD, with heads chopped off so severely that often one cannot even see the eyes of the speaking character! Is really Tim Lucas (whose DVD review was mentioned a few posts above) the only sane person in the business? While I like the film(s), I also feel like asking my money back.
- jorencain
- Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 1:45 am
About "The Model Couple", Jon Mulvaney says:
"Thanks for your email, and your patience. Please rest assured that the film is supposed to be shown 1.66, not 1.33. The telecine was done from the original negative. There was no reframing of the image for the sake of restoration, and William Klein came to approve the final master. I was told that in this film Klein experimented a lot with the way he shot it, so the framing is very unique."
"Thanks for your email, and your patience. Please rest assured that the film is supposed to be shown 1.66, not 1.33. The telecine was done from the original negative. There was no reframing of the image for the sake of restoration, and William Klein came to approve the final master. I was told that in this film Klein experimented a lot with the way he shot it, so the framing is very unique."
- Magic Hate Ball
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I've just seen Who Are You Polly Maggoo?, and while I think that it became occasionally muddled and dragged in a couple places, it's a really fantastic film. It's beautifully sad in that weird French sort of way, and the film feels like a mash-up of Fellini and Godard. I can't help but think that Jean-Pierre Juenet got a great deal of inspiration from this film (and perhaps Klein's other work), though you never know where inspiration bubbles up from for filmmakers.