Ethan Hawke and Jonathan Marc Sherman Visit the Criterion Collection

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Ethan Hawke and Jonathan Marc Sherman Visit the Criterion Collection

Posted March 22, 2018 05:07 PM by Webmaster

The folks at the Criterion Collection have sent us a brand new video showing actor Ethan Hawke and his frend and collaborator Marc Sherman visiting their rather notorious DVD/Blu-ray closet and picking up some of their favorite films. Mr. Sherman recently contributed to the label's new release of director Volker Schlöndorff's film Baal.

Synopsis: Volker Schlöndorff transported Bertolt Brecht's 1918 debut play to contemporary West Germany for this vicious experiment in adaptation, seldom seen for nearly half a century. Oozing with brutish charisma, Rainer Werner Fassbinder embodies the eponymous anarchist poet, who feels himself cast out from bourgeois society and sets off on a schnapps-soaked rampage. Hewing faithfully to Brecht's text, Schlöndorff juxtaposes the theatricality of the prose with bare-bones, handheld 16 mm camera work, which gives immediacy to this savage story of rebellion. Featuring a supporting cast of Fassbinder's troupe of theater actors as well as Margarethe von Trotta, Baal demonstrates the uncompromising nature of Schlöndorff's vision and forged a path for New German Cinema.

Special Features and Technical Specs:
  • NEW, RESTORED 2K DIGITAL TRANSFER, supervised by director Volker Schlöndorff, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
  • Interviews from 1973 and 2015 with Schlöndorff
  • New conversation between actor Ethan Hawke and playwright Jonathan Marc Sherman about the play and adaptation
  • New interview with actor and filmmaker Margarethe von Trotta
  • New interview with film historian Eric Rentschler
  • New English subtitle translation
  • PLUS: An essay by critic Dennis Lim