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Eclipse Series 31: Three Popular Films by Jean-Pierre Gorin
Poto and Cabengo (1980) Routine Pleasures (1986) My Crasy Life (1992)
| Jean-Pierre Gorin, widely known for his collaborations with Jean-Luc Godard in the Dziga Vertov Group (including Tout va bien), established his personal voice with this trio of fascinating, nontraditional documentaries. Made in Southern California after the filmmaker relocated there in the midseventies, Poto and Cabengo, Routine Pleasures, and My Crasy Life illuminate hidden corners of our culture. With these films, Gorin revealed himself as a major chronicler of American life at its most hauntingly enigmatic. |
Titles
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Poto and Cabengo |
Theatrical Releases: 1980 - 1992
DVD Review: Eclipse Series 31: Three Popular Films by Jean-Pierre Gorin (3-disc) - Region 1 - NTSC
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DVD Box Cover |
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| Distribution | Eclipse / Criterion Collection - Region 1 - NTSC | |
| Bitrates: | Respective bitrates - 6.67, 7.35, 5.91 mb/s | |
| Time: | Respectively - 1:13:21, 1:19:51, and 1:38:09 | |
| Bitrate: Poto and Cabengo |
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| Bitrate: Routine Pleasures |
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| Bitrate: My Crasy Life |
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| Audio | 2.0 channel Dolby | |
| Subtitles | English, None | |
| Features |
Release Information: Edition Details:
• one page (for each film) of liner notes in the
transparent case
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| Comments: |
The 3 features of this boxset are housed in individual slim transparent keep cases and they are not sold separately by Criterion or on NTSC DVD at this time (to my knowledge).
All three DVDs are single-layered, progressive in, and around, the 1.33:1 aspect ratio and are coded for Region 1 in the NTSC standard. The audio is flat but acceptable and there are optional English subtitles (sample below in 'My Crasy Life' captures). The Eclipse, then Janus, logos precede each film. Quality appears faithful to the original 16mm production roots - 'My Crasy Life' shows the most grain - IMDb lists Poto and Cabengo + Routine Pleasures are 35mm (printed). These all look fine - colors are surprising - there is no mentionable damage. The, often, rustic appearance suits the verité of the documentaries. Contrast is steady - I have no real complaints. These DVDs gave me excellent presentations.
There are no extras aside from one page liner notes for each film (visible on the inner case sleeve through the transparent case cover.) These bare life slices are haunting - to say the least. Poto and Cabengo I found particularly touching. Routine Pleasures is quaint and somewhat amusing - very pure cinema. While My Crasy Life is easy to get wrapped up in. These are rich documentaries exporting simple, wholesome and subtle probing eyes into worlds rarely explored. They are... human. These are very remarkable and evoke Frederick Wiseman (Titicut Follies) cinematic explorations of the US social contract. Strongly recommended! |
DVD Menus
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Case Cover
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Grace and Virginia are young San Diego twins who speak unlike anyone else. With little exposure to the outside world, the two girls have created a private form of communication that’s an amalgam of the distinctive English dialects they hear at home. Jean-Pierre Gorin’s polyphonic nonfiction investigation of this phenomenon looks at the family from a variety of angles, with the director taking on the role of a sort of sociological detective. It’s a delightful and absorbing study of words and faces, mass media and personal isolation, and America’s odd margins. |
Screen Captures
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Slim Transparent Keep Case Cover
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What do a club devoted to model trains and the legendary film critic and painter Manny Farber have in common? These two lines intersect in Jean-Pierre Gorin’s lovely and distinctly American film, which takes as its subject the desire to re-create the past (the locomotive aficionados’ elaborate worlds in miniature, Farber’s teeming canvases) and expands to something richly philosophical and surprisingly funny. Routine Pleasures is a masterful meditation on America’s landscapes, real and imagined. |
Screen Captures
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Case Cover
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Jean-Pierre Gorin’s gripping and unique film about a Samoan street gang in Long Beach, California, is, like other works by the filmmaker, a probing look at a closed community with its own rules, rituals, and language. Part observational documentary, part fiction invisibly scripted and shaped by the director, My Crasy Life, which won a special jury prize at Sundance, is an enthralling and intensely focused contemplation of violence and dislocation. |
Screen Captures
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DVD Box Cover |
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CLICK to order from:
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| Distribution | Eclipse / Criterion Collection - Region 1 - NTSC | |
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Gary Tooze
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Thank You!
