Collector’s Choice: Marienbad, Dinner with Andre, Waltz with Bashir

Tuesday June 23rd sees Criterion put out a pair from influential French filmmakers, SPC’s acclaimed animated documentary makes an intro on homevid market and a small offering film from Brazil is perhaps worth renting. For those who’ve been stuck with a very standard edition of Last Year at Marienbad can trade in for the deluxe edition approved by a filmmaker who just presented Les Herbes Folles in Cannes this May. This may be a great collector’s piece for those whose curiosity is larger than the match stick equation. One of Criterion’s favorite auteurs in Louis Malle receives another release – this time his “food for thought” table conversation 1981 film My Dinner with Andre.

Newer titles worth considering: Ari Folman (who we interviewed last year) sees his Waltz with Bashir which comes packed with extras that obviously include the technological aspects of the film. Finally, Chico Teixeira (who we also interviewed early last year) offers a slice of Brazil life for the middle class in Alice’s House.

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Last Year at Marienbad (Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]
This Director-Approved, yes he is still with us and doing fine, Special Edition includes a New, restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised and approved by director Alain Resnais, with an uncompressed monaural soundtrack • New audio interview with Resnais • New documentary on the making of Last Year at Marienbad, featuring interviews with many of Resnais’ collaborators • New video interview with film scholar Ginette Vincendeau on the history of the film and its many mysteries • Two short documentaries by Resnais: Toute la mémoire du monde (1956) and Le chant du styrène (1958) • Theatrical trailer • Optional original, unrestored French soundtrack • New and improved subtitle translation • PLUS: A booklet featuring essays by critic Mark Polizzotti and film scholar François Thomas, and Alain Robbe-Grillet’s introduction to the published screenplay and comments on the film.

My Dinner with Andre (Criterion Collection)
New, restored high-definition digital transfer. New video interviews with actors André Gregory and Wallace Shawn by filmmaker and friend Noah Baumbach. “My Dinner with Louis,” an episode from the BBC program Arena, in which Shawn interviews director Louis Malle. PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic Amy Taubin and the prefaces written for the printed screenplay by Gregory and Shawn.

Waltz with Bashir [Blu-ray]
Commentary with director Ari Folman; Surreal soldiers: making Waltz with Bashir; Q&A with Ari Folman; Building the scenes-animatics.

Alice’s House (A Casa de Alice)