990-992 The Koker Trilogy

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swo17
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Re: 990-992 The Koker Trilogy

#26 Post by swo17 » Fri May 31, 2019 2:44 pm

Spine 998 will be the real spine 1000, hopefully they use it to finally release Bottle Rocket

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Re: 990-992 The Koker Trilogy

#27 Post by Glowingwabbit » Sun Jun 23, 2019 7:53 am

The "more" has been removed and replaced with:
Homework (1989), a feature-length documentary by Abbas Kiarostami, newly restored

New interview with scholar Hamid Naficy
I had hoped some of the educational shorts would be added, but Homework is good to see and appropriate as a bonus film for this collection. Can't wait for this release.

Edit: I'm sure a reissue of Taste of Cherry will include a bonus film or two, but I'm worried now that the rest will fall by the wayside.

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Re: 990-992 The Koker Trilogy

#28 Post by denti alligator » Sun Jun 23, 2019 8:31 am

Nice. I hope that means First Graders will get a separate release.

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Re: 990-992 The Koker Trilogy

#29 Post by FrauBlucher » Sat Jul 27, 2019 1:30 pm

Beaver
And Life Goes On.....Through the Olive Trees

They look pretty awesome

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Re: 990-992 The Koker Trilogy

#30 Post by dda1996a » Sat Jul 27, 2019 3:24 pm

Shame beaver doesn't include any caps of Homework. I do hope we get another announcement soon and Criterion doesn't take forever like with Wenders to release everything

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Re: 990-992 The Koker Trilogy

#31 Post by denti alligator » Sat Jul 27, 2019 3:25 pm

I get shivers just looking at those caps.

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Re: 990-992 The Koker Trilogy

#32 Post by FrauBlucher » Sat Jul 27, 2019 4:18 pm

FrauBlucher wrote:
Sat Jul 27, 2019 1:30 pm
Beaver
And Life Goes On.....Through the Olive Trees

They look pretty awesome
Where is the Friend's House?

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whaleallright
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Re: 990-992 The Koker Trilogy

#33 Post by whaleallright » Sun Jul 28, 2019 1:09 am

n/m

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zedz
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Re: 990-992 The Koker Trilogy

#34 Post by zedz » Sun Sep 15, 2019 10:28 pm

I've now explored the extras and rewatched Where Is the Friend's House?

The feature looks wonderful, even if there are a few shots that show evidence of deteriorated elements. The extras are solid, if not exactly lavish, with Kiarostami's charming interview the standout. (Homework is too substantial an inclusion to count, in my mind, as a mere extra.)

The weakest extra is (as with 24 Frames), the critics interview, in which both of them are absurdly coy about what makes these three films a trilogy. They suppose you could technically call it a trilogy, because the three films are all shot in the same place. That's not what makes them a trilogy, and the connection between the three films is self-evident to everybody who watches them except, it seems, these two befuddled so-called experts.

Spoiler: avert your gaze if you've been living under a rock or only watching super hero movies for the last thirty years.

What makes them a trilogy is that the second film is about the people who made the first film, and the third film is about the people who made the second film. They're nested inside one another like Russian dolls, each successive film representing a reality external to that of the one that preceded it. If the designer of the Criterion package gets this (and can express it with elegance and ingenuity), then spare me the cutesy critical tergiversation!

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John Cope
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Re: 990-992 The Koker Trilogy

#35 Post by John Cope » Mon Sep 16, 2019 3:22 am

I can't help but wonder what is really going on with the coyness. Cheshire is just about the most knowledgeable one I can think of on Kiarostami and most well equipped to speak and write about him, so clearly he understands all this. So, once again, why the coyness?

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zedz
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Re: 990-992 The Koker Trilogy

#36 Post by zedz » Mon Sep 16, 2019 5:07 pm

There seems to be a bit of a weird dynamic in these conversations, with Cheshire deferring to Akrami to an odd extent. He's almost totally sidelined in the 24 Frames extra, and in this one you get a sense that he's itching to disagree about some things but can't bring himself to do it.

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Re: 990-992 The Koker Trilogy

#37 Post by denti alligator » Mon Sep 16, 2019 6:36 pm

Thanks, zedz, for using the underused "tergiversation."
I watched Where is My Friend's House from this set with my family and it was a hit. My son (age 11) declared it one of his top 4 films of all time* and the next day said he wanted to watch it again right away.

(* It displaced the atrocious "Holmes and Watson," which will make you question his taste--as it should--but the other three are Ivan the Terrible Parts I and II and Godzilla.)

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zedz
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Re: 990-992 The Koker Trilogy

#38 Post by zedz » Mon Sep 16, 2019 10:19 pm

Your son is eleven already?!

It's a great film for kids because it takes the complexity of their moral dilemmas so seriously (when hardly any of the adults in the film do). And it acknowledges how hard it can be to do the right thing at any age, and how morally complex rectitude often is. In (successfully) navigating his particular challenge, and being unambiguously good throughout, Ahmad lies, disobeys his guardians, commits forgery, neglects his duties, inconveniences an aged invalid. . .

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Re: 990-992 The Koker Trilogy

#39 Post by cdnchris » Mon Sep 16, 2019 11:41 pm

My daughter (10) really liked the first film as well. I was taken by how frustrated she was with the adults in the film and she became completely engrossed in it, probably for all the reasons zedz lists out.

The others don't work as well, not surprisingly. She couldn't get into the second one outside she wanted to make sure the boy was okay (she was really invested in the character). But to my surprise she was more into the third one, liked that it was about making the previous movie, and liked how it showed the backstory of the one "character." Though eventually she sighed and said "he is annoying and won't leave her alone."

But she was talking about Where is the Friend's House for a couple of days after.

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Re: 990-992 The Koker Trilogy

#40 Post by whaleallright » Fri Sep 20, 2019 3:17 pm

"he is annoying and won't leave her alone."


truth hurts!

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Re: 990-992 The Koker Trilogy

#41 Post by therewillbeblus » Sat Oct 26, 2019 10:42 pm

While a commentary track on each film would have been nice, Mehrnaz Saeed-Vafa and Jonathan Rosenbaum cover enough of the significance (ugh, this word is seemingly the only adjective in Rosenbaum’s vocabulary- my one gripe of the track) of the trilogy in theirs for And Life Goes On to make it the ideal film for scholarly analysis, if there had to be only one (which Rosenbaum hints that it did). There were several moments where the two hit on implications of some shots that gave me a new understanding of Kiarostami‘s cinematic philosophy of technique and process beyond the image (particularly the shot-reverse-shots as indicators of Kiarostami actually talking with the townsfolk vs. the actor, blending documentary and fiction a bit more clearly than I initially read).

Where is the Friend’s Home? will always be my favorite Kiarostami, and only gains more power with age and repeat viewings. Zedz mentioned how seriously this treats the moral problems of a child, and there is a surprising amount of complexity present in a movie that’s narratively and technically simplistic on the surface, as to how Ahmed must prioritize and ignore certain values to attain his primary moral goal. What makes the film so special is how we are given the opportunity to witness a mature life lesson that wanders through grey relativism unfold without focusing on irony or sacrifice or cognitive dissonance, as most films would take as the third act ‘problem’ but here aren’t of interest. This film is about the inherent drive to commit acts of empathy, the need to act in accordance with one’s moral compass, and the connection between people that is not learned but is within one’s essence, unclouded by culture, norms, or selfishness. This is one of the most optimistically humane films I’ve ever seen, and forces me to confront my own cynical side on each viewing, always a welcome and necessary experience to restore faith in mankind.

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Re: 990-992 The Koker Trilogy

#42 Post by Michael Kerpan » Tue Nov 12, 2019 11:22 am

Watched all the films (the "trilogy" + Homework) and most of the extras. Really a wonderful set -- so pleased to have as good looking as possible representations of the films at long last. Friend's House might always be my favorite of the three films, but the other two delighted me nearly as much. So many touches of gentle and subtle humor (despite the dark underpinning of the two post-quake films). Unless one doesn't like Kiarostami's work at all, a must-have release.

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Re: 990-992 The Koker Trilogy

#43 Post by phoenix474 » Fri Nov 22, 2019 10:06 pm

Huh. I watched the clip for And Life Goes On on Criterion’s site before watching the film and noticed that the film leaves out the subtitles during the wide shot of the hill. Odd

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Re: 990-992 The Koker Trilogy

#44 Post by Michael Kerpan » Sat Nov 23, 2019 1:20 am

I think _most_ of that is subtitled on the Blu-Ray (can't say every bit is -- from memory).

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Re: 990-992 The Koker Trilogy

#45 Post by phoenix474 » Sat Nov 23, 2019 1:05 pm

Michael Kerpan wrote:
Sat Nov 23, 2019 1:20 am
I think _most_ of that is subtitled on the Blu-Ray (can't say every bit is -- from memory).
Any chance you could check that at some point? Would be weird if it was my copy. I guess my player might be at fault too... but the subtitles for the following scene in the car were different also.

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Re: 990-992 The Koker Trilogy

#46 Post by Michael Kerpan » Sat Nov 23, 2019 2:50 pm

Can you recall what chapter this is in?

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Re: 990-992 The Koker Trilogy

#47 Post by phoenix474 » Sat Nov 23, 2019 8:37 pm

Chapter 5, around 32:50

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Through the Olive Trees (Abbas Kiarostami, 1994)

#48 Post by Mr Sausage » Mon Dec 23, 2019 11:00 pm

DISCUSSION ENDS MONDAY, January 6th.

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Re: Through the Olive Trees (Abbas Kiarostami, 1994)

#49 Post by Michael Kerpan » Tue Dec 24, 2019 11:29 am

I think I like best whichever Koker film I am currently watching. In between viewings, Where Is the Friend's House returns to my default favorite spot. But when I am watching either of the other two, my sense of current joy takes over.

I really enjoyed the interview with the young male star of the film being made in the film. It finally answered questions I long had about one of the back stories behind the film.;-) Extras also provided interesting details about the geography of the films...

I was overjoyed to finally be able to see a beautiful rendition of this film. I no longer need to keep the old VHS tape I previously had to rely on (but haven't been able to play for years -- since our PAL/SECAM player bit the dust)/

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Re: Through the Olive Trees (Abbas Kiarostami, 1994)

#50 Post by Michael Kerpan » Fri Jan 03, 2020 3:37 pm

The silence is deafening... :-(

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