Criterion Announces September Releases
HomeCriterion Announces September Releases
Posted June 16, 2025 07:15 PM by Webmaster
The Criterion Collection has announced its September batch of 4K Blu-ray and Blu-ray releases. They are:
High and Low(1963), This Is Spinal Tap (1984), The Beat That My Heart Skipped (2005), Read My Lips (2001), Flow (2024), and Born in Flames (1983).
High and Low 4K Blu-ray
Description: Toshiro Mifune is unforgettable as Kingo Gondo, a wealthy industrialist whose family becomes the target of a cold-blooded kidnapper in High and Low, the highly influential domestic drama and police procedural from director Akira Kurosawa. Adapting Ed McBain's detective novel King's Ransom, Kurosawa moves effortlessly from compelling race-against-time thriller to exacting social commentary, creating a diabolical treatise on class and contemporary Japanese society.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
This Is Spinal Tap 4K Blu-ray
Description: Spinal Tap has come to be recognized as England's loudest and most punctual band. In the legendary rockumentary This Is Spinal Tap, now beautifully restored, Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest), David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean), and Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer) embark on their final American tour, with filmmaker Marty DiBergi (Rob Reiner) capturing all the mishaps, creative tensions, dwindling crowds, and ill-fated drummers. This Is Spinal Tap takes DiBergi's brilliant vérité style and turns it up to eleven!
Special Features and Technical Specs:
This Is Spinal Tap
Special Features and Technical Specs:
The Beat That My Heart Skipped
A riveting character study in the guise of a gritty underworld thriller, Jacques Audiard's international breakthrough features an explosive performance from Romain Duris as a real-estate broker torn between the dirty dealings of his slumlord father (Niels Arestrup) and his recently rekindled love for classical piano. Can music offer salvation from a life of sin? Winner of eight César Awards, including Best Film, this bold reimagining of the New Hollywood cult classic Fingers showcases Audiard's gift for balancing breathtaking tension with galvanic human drama.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
Read My Lips 4K Blu-ray
Special Features and Technical Specs:
Description: Two outcasts are drawn together by crime and passion in this early tour de force from director Jacques Audiard. Carla (Emmanuelle Devos, who won a César Award for her performance) is an unappreciated, hard-of-hearing employee at a nondescript construction company. Her lonely life gets a jolt of excitement when she hires a new assistant: Paul (Vincent Cassel), an ex-con who soon enlists her (and her lip-reading ability) in a risky scheme. With visceral camera work and sound design, Audiard immerses viewers in the duo's increasingly turbulent world, blending noir conventions with complex character development for a thriller of unique depth and emotion.
Read My Lips
Special Features and Technical Specs:
Flow 4K Blu-ray
Description: A thrilling tale of friendship and survival that took indie animation to ecstatic new heights of ambition and imagination, this Academy Award–winning international sensation follows a courageous cat after its home is devastated by a great flood. As the cat teams up with a capybara, a lemur, a bird, and a dog to navigate a boat in search of dry land, the crew must rely on trust, courage, and their wits to survive the perils of a newly aquatic planet. Working with a small team using open-source software, visionary DIY animator Gints Zilbalodis conjures a sublime sensory odyssey and a profound meditation on the fragility of the environment and the spirit of community.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
Flow
Special Features and Technical Specs:
Born in Flames
A blistering rallying cry issued loud, clear, and unapologetically queer, Lizzie Borden's explosive postpunk provocation is a DIY fantasia of female rebellion set in America ten years after a revolution that supposedly transformed the country into a democratic socialist utopia. In reality, racism, sexism, and economic inequality are as virulent as ever, and a band of radicals—led by Black, lesbian, and working-class women—join forces to fight back. Told through a furiously fractured, kinetically edited flurry of television news broadcasts, pirate radio transmissions, agitprop, and protests shot guerrilla-style on the streets of New York City, Born in Flames is a shock wave of feminist futurism that's both an essential document of its time and radically ahead of it.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
High and Low 4K Blu-ray
Description: Toshiro Mifune is unforgettable as Kingo Gondo, a wealthy industrialist whose family becomes the target of a cold-blooded kidnapper in High and Low, the highly influential domestic drama and police procedural from director Akira Kurosawa. Adapting Ed McBain's detective novel King's Ransom, Kurosawa moves effortlessly from compelling race-against-time thriller to exacting social commentary, creating a diabolical treatise on class and contemporary Japanese society.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
- NEW 4K RESTORATION with 4.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
- Audio commentary featuring Akira Kurosawa scholar Stephen Prince
- Documentary on the making of High and Low, created as part of the Toho Masterworks series Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create
- Interviews with actors Toshiro Mifune and Tsutomu Yamazaki
- Trailers and teaser
- PLUS: An essay by critic Geoffrey O'Brien and an on-set account by Japanese-film scholar Donald Richi
This Is Spinal Tap 4K Blu-ray
Description: Spinal Tap has come to be recognized as England's loudest and most punctual band. In the legendary rockumentary This Is Spinal Tap, now beautifully restored, Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest), David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean), and Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer) embark on their final American tour, with filmmaker Marty DiBergi (Rob Reiner) capturing all the mishaps, creative tensions, dwindling crowds, and ill-fated drummers. This Is Spinal Tap takes DiBergi's brilliant vérité style and turns it up to eleven!
Special Features and Technical Specs:
- 4K BLU-RAY/TWO BLU-RAYS SET
- NEW 4K RESTORATION, supervised and approved by director Rob Reiner, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
- DOLBY VISION/HDR PRESENTATION OF THE FILM
- Alternate 2.0 uncompressed stereo soundtrack
- Three audio commentaries: one with actors Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer; one with Reiner, producer Karen Murphy, and editors Robert Leighton and Kent Beyda; and one with band members Nigel Tufnel, David St. Hubbins, and Derek Smalls
- New conversation between Reiner and actor Patton Oswalt
- The Cutting Room Floor, featuring outtakes, alternate takes, and abandoned subplots
- Spinal Tap: The Final Tour (1981)
- Trailers, promotional spots, media appearances, music videos, and commercials
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by critic Alex Pappademas
This Is Spinal Tap
Special Features and Technical Specs:
- TWO-DISC SET
- NEW 4K RESTORATION, supervised and approved by director Rob Reiner, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
- Alternate 2.0 uncompressed stereo soundtrack
- Three audio commentaries: one with actors Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer; one with Reiner, producer Karen Murphy, and editors Robert Leighton and Kent Beyda; and one with band members Nigel Tufnel, David St. Hubbins, and Derek Smalls
- New conversation between Reiner and actor Patton Oswalt
- The Cutting Room Floor, featuring outtakes, alternate takes, and abandoned subplots
- Spinal Tap: The Final Tour (1981)
- Trailers, promotional spots, media appearances, music videos, and commercials
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by critic Alex Pappademas
The Beat That My Heart Skipped
A riveting character study in the guise of a gritty underworld thriller, Jacques Audiard's international breakthrough features an explosive performance from Romain Duris as a real-estate broker torn between the dirty dealings of his slumlord father (Niels Arestrup) and his recently rekindled love for classical piano. Can music offer salvation from a life of sin? Winner of eight César Awards, including Best Film, this bold reimagining of the New Hollywood cult classic Fingers showcases Audiard's gift for balancing breathtaking tension with galvanic human drama.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
- high-definition digital master, approved by director Jacques Audiard, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
- New interview with Audiard
- Interviews with coscreenwriter Tonino Benacquista and composer Alexandre Desplat
- Press conference from the 2005 Berlin International Film Festival, featuring members of the cast and crew
- Deleted scenes featuring commentary by Audiard
- Rehearsal footage
- Trailer
- New English subtitle translation
- PLUS: An essay by film critic Jonathan Romney
Read My Lips 4K Blu-ray
Special Features and Technical Specs:
- NEW 4K RESTORATION, supervised and approved by director Jacques Audiard and director of photography Mathieu Vadepied, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
- DOLBY VISION/HDR PRESENTATION OF THE FILM
- New afterword by Audiard
- Audio commentary with actors Vincent Cassel and Emmanuelle Devos
- Program about the making of the film featuring interviews with Audiard, Vadepied, and coscreenwriter Tonino Benacquista
- Interview with composer Alexandre Desplat
- Deleted scenes featuring commentary by Audiard
- Trailer
- New English subtitle translation
- PLUS: An essay by film scholar Ginette Vincendeau
Description: Two outcasts are drawn together by crime and passion in this early tour de force from director Jacques Audiard. Carla (Emmanuelle Devos, who won a César Award for her performance) is an unappreciated, hard-of-hearing employee at a nondescript construction company. Her lonely life gets a jolt of excitement when she hires a new assistant: Paul (Vincent Cassel), an ex-con who soon enlists her (and her lip-reading ability) in a risky scheme. With visceral camera work and sound design, Audiard immerses viewers in the duo's increasingly turbulent world, blending noir conventions with complex character development for a thriller of unique depth and emotion.
Read My Lips
Special Features and Technical Specs:
- NEW 4K RESTORATION, supervised and approved by director Jacques Audiard and director of photography Mathieu Vadepied, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
- New afterword by Audiard
- Audio commentary with actors Vincent Cassel and Emmanuelle Devos
- Program about the making of the film featuring interviews with Audiard, Vadepied, and coscreenwriter Tonino Benacquista
- Interview with composer Alexandre Desplat
- Deleted scenes featuring commentary by Audiard
- Trailer
- New English subtitle translation
- PLUS: An essay by film scholar Ginette Vincendeau
Flow 4K Blu-ray
Description: A thrilling tale of friendship and survival that took indie animation to ecstatic new heights of ambition and imagination, this Academy Award–winning international sensation follows a courageous cat after its home is devastated by a great flood. As the cat teams up with a capybara, a lemur, a bird, and a dog to navigate a boat in search of dry land, the crew must rely on trust, courage, and their wits to survive the perils of a newly aquatic planet. Working with a small team using open-source software, visionary DIY animator Gints Zilbalodis conjures a sublime sensory odyssey and a profound meditation on the fragility of the environment and the spirit of community.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
- 4K BLU-RAY/TWO-BLU-RAYS SET
- 4K TRANSFER with 7.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack, approved by director Gints Zilbalodis
- 4K digital master of Away (2019), Zilbalodis's debut feature
- New audio commentary featuring Zilbalodis
- Full feature-length animatic
- New interviews with Zilbalodis and cowriter-coproducer Matīss Kaža
- Dream Cat (2025), a making-of documentary produced for Latvian Television
- Aqua (2012) and Priorities (2014), short films by Zilbalodis with new commentaries by the director
- Unused-shot reel, with new commentary by Zilbalodis
- Trailers, TV spots, and proof-of-concept teasers
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing and English descriptive audio
- PLUS: An essay by critic Nicolas Rapold and collectible stickers
Flow
Special Features and Technical Specs:
- TWO-DISC SET
- 4K TRANSFER with 7.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack, approved by director Gints Zilbalodis
- 4K digital master of Away (2019), Zilbalodis's debut feature
- New audio commentary featuring Zilbalodis
- Full feature-length animatic
- New interviews with Zilbalodis and cowriter-coproducer Matīss Kaža
- Dream Cat (2025), a making-of documentary produced for Latvian Television
- Aqua (2012) and Priorities (2014), short films by Zilbalodis with new commentaries by the director
- Unused-shot reel, with new commentary by Zilbalodis
- Trailers, TV spots, and proof-of-concept teasers
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing and English descriptive audio
- PLUS: An essay by critic Nicolas Rapold and collectible stickers
Born in Flames
A blistering rallying cry issued loud, clear, and unapologetically queer, Lizzie Borden's explosive postpunk provocation is a DIY fantasia of female rebellion set in America ten years after a revolution that supposedly transformed the country into a democratic socialist utopia. In reality, racism, sexism, and economic inequality are as virulent as ever, and a band of radicals—led by Black, lesbian, and working-class women—join forces to fight back. Told through a furiously fractured, kinetically edited flurry of television news broadcasts, pirate radio transmissions, agitprop, and protests shot guerrilla-style on the streets of New York City, Born in Flames is a shock wave of feminist futurism that's both an essential document of its time and radically ahead of it.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
- 2K RESTORATION - preserved by Anthology Film Archives, with restoration funding from the Golden Globe Foundation and The Film Foundation, and supervised and approved by director Lizzie Borden—with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
- Introduction by Borden
- New audio commentary featuring Borden; cast members Adele Bertei, Hillary Hurst, Sheila McLaughlin, Pat Murphy, Marty Pottenger, and Jeanne Satterfield; and camerapeople DeeDee Halleck and Chris Hegedus
- Regrouping (1976), Borden's directorial debut, an experimental documentary about a New York City women's group
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: Essays by film scholar Yasmina Price and author So Mayer
