From your lips to Peter Becker’s ears; Criterion will be spending February doing nothing but giving the people what they really, truly want. Many have been asking for Richard Linklater’s potential magnum opus(es) for a while, and they’re giving it to ya. The Warner deal made people anxious for a release of a certain towering noir by Michael Curtiz, and they’re getting that as well. And the two years after Pedro Almodovar’s entry into the Collection have been spent waiting for the next one (well, other things happened too, I guess), and that wait is no more. Plus, we get one of the year’s most acclaimed documentaries and the long-delayed release of a Palme d’Or-winning Ermanno Olmi classic. Specs and cover art (well, for most of them) are below.
The Before Trilogy
- New, restored 2K digital transfers of Before Sunrise and Before Sunset and a 2K digital master ofBefore Midnight, approved by director Richard Linklater, with 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Before Sunrise Blu-ray and 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtracks on the Before Sunset and Before Midnight Blu-rays
- New discussion featuring Linklater and actors Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke, moderated by critic Kent Jones
- Behind-the-scenes footage and interviews from the productions of Before Sunrise and Before Sunset
- Audio commentary on Before Midnight by Delpy, Linklater, and Hawke
- Dream Is Destiny, a 2016 feature-length documentary about Linklater by Louis Black and Karen Bernstein
- New documentary about the making of Before Midnight in Greece by filmmaker Athina Rachel Tsangari
- 3×2, a new conversation between scholars Dave Johnson and Rob Stone about Linklater’s work
- Linklater // On Cinema & Time, a video essay by filmmaker :: kogonada
- PLUS: An essay on the trilogy by critic Dennis Lim
- New 4K restoration, created in collaboration with The Film Foundation at L’Immagine Ritrovata and supervised by director Ermanno Olmi, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
- Alternate Italian-language soundtrack
- New introduction by filmmaker Mike Leigh
- Ermanno Olmi: The Roots of the Tree, an hour-long episode of The South Bank Show from 1981, featuring an interview with Olmi on the film and a visit to the farm where it was shot
- New program featuring cast and crew discussing the film at the Cinema Ritrovato film festival in Bologna, Italy, in 2016
- Archival interviews with Olmi
- Trailer
- New English subtitle translation
- PLUS: An essay by film critic Deborah Young
- New high-definition digital restoration, supervised by director Pedro Almodóvar and producer Agustín Almodóvar, with 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master
- Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
- Alternate 5.1 surround soundtrack, presented in DTS-HD Master Audio on the Blu-ray
- New interviews with director Pedro Almodóvar, actor Carmen Maura, and producer Agustín Almodóvar
- New discussion by film scholar Richard Peña of the film’s impact in Spain and abroad
- Trailer
- New English subtitle translation
- PLUS: An essay by critic Elvira Lindo
- New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
- New conversation about Mildred Pierce with critics Molly Haskell and Robert Polito
- Excerpt from a 1970 episode of The David Frost Show featuring actor Joan Crawford
- Joan Crawford: The Ultimate Movie Star, a 2002 feature-length documentary on Crawford’s life and career
- Q&A with actor Ann Blyth from 2002, conducted by film historian Eddie Muller
- Segment from a 1969 episode of the Today show featuring novelist James M. Cain
- Trailer
- PLUS: An essay by critic Imogen Sara Smith
- New high-definition digital master, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
- Making “Cameraperson,” a new program featuring director Kirsten Johnson, producers Marilyn Ness and Danielle Varga, and editors Nels Bangerter and Amanda Laws
- In the Service of the Film, a roundtable conversation with Johnson, producer Gini Reticker, and sound recordists Wellington Bowler and Judy Karp
- Excerpts from two 2016 film festival talks with Johnson, including one between her and filmmaker Michael Moore
- The Above, a 2015 short film by Johnson
- Trailer
- PLUS: An essay by filmmaker Michael Almereyda and reprinted writings by Johnson