NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Criterion Blu-ray (June 2021): Criterion have released Streetwise on a dual-layered Blu-ray. Martin Bell's 1983 exposé of Seattle's youth living on the streets appears along with the 2016 follow-up, Tiny: The Life and Death of Erin Blackwell on the same Blu-ray disc. Both films take up around 19 GB of information, with the remaining space used for the essential bonus features (the majority of which act like 'Tiny...' in expanding the scope of the lives of many characters from Streetwise). Streetwise was filmed in 16mm before being blown up to 35mm for its theatrical run, appearing here in its original 1.37:1 aspect ratio. Tiny: The Life of Erin Blackwell was shot much more recently on 4K digital, which appears here in its aspect ratio of 1.85:1. Both of these films have been newly restored in high-definition digital transfers, supervised by director Martin Bell. Streetwise showcases the brilliant photography (helps that Martin Bell and Mary Ellen Mark are accomplished still photographers) on display throughout this new Criterion Blu-ray. While there are the usual 16mm caveats (larger grain, perhaps less detail, tendencies to overexpose backlighting) this is one of the better looking Blu-ray presentations of 16mm that I have seen. There were one or two moments (and I mean brief, squint and you'll miss them moments) of tiny damage, though only a blip or little scratch, nothing too distracting. Both films have a supportive bitrate throughout, and not much needs to be said about Tiny: The Life of Erin Blackwell's pretty flawless presentation.

NOTE: We have added 20 (Streetwise) and 12 (Tiny: The Life of Erin Blackwell) more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

Criterion's Blu-ray features an uncompressed 24-bit linear PCM monaural soundtrack for Streetwise, and a 24-bit 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master audio soundtrack for Tiny: The Life of Erin Blackwell. The linear mono for Streetwise seems to be in good shape, with the various inner-city noises never truly taking over the spoken-dialogue. The collage-like sounds of the film mimic the multiple story lines within the documentary. Tiny's sound is typical of a modern day release, very well produced audio with the 5.1 channels never really becoming too claustrophobic or bombastic. Willie Nelson was one of Streetwise's executive producers, and the film features the music of Tom Waits, with "Take Care Of All My Children'' and "Rat's theme". Baby Gramps' opening rendition of "The Teddy Bear's Picnic" perfectly sets the tone for the film to follow. The film ends on quite a somber note (this is a tragic film after all) and Waits' music is suitably mournful. There are optional English SDH subtitles on this Region 'A' Blu-ray from Criterion.

Criterion's Blu-ray of both Streetwise and "Tiny: The Life of Erin Blackwell '' has the bonus features separated by film (accessible by choosing a film in the main menu). Starting off with the Streetwise extras, Criterion has provided a feature-length audio commentary with director Martin Bell for "Streetwise''. The director provides many interesting stories regarding shooting the film, as well as the cast of characters featured. The film was based on the Life article (Seattle was supposed to be the most desirable place to live in America) and after the article Bell mentions that they went out to Seattle to shoot the characters, and lo-and-behold, there they all were. Bell is very open (and humble) about his good luck while shooting, even just coming upon the opening street performance of 'Teddy Bears' Picnic'. Given that the film's subject matter deals with immense pain and darkness, the 'updates' on various featured subjects can be quite upsetting, with various young people now dead or murdered (in one particularly sad case, one of the featured sex workers was later killed by the Green River Killer). "Martin Bell'' is a 10-minute newly produced interview with director Bell. The director speaks of his meeting photographer Mary Ellen Mark while working on Milos Foreman's Ragtime. Bell goes on to describe the impetus for the project that became "Streetwise" starting with Rat living in an abandoned hotel. "Nancy Baker'' is a 17-minute interview with the editor. Given the film's unprecedented access and pathos, Baker's comments are very key to understanding how this was achieved. The fact that Streetwise was shot on film (expensive) means that a lot of Bell's footage was beautiful and provocative. Baker goes on to discuss how she was able to string together a narrative thread, without being too manipulative. Filmmaking fans will surely enjoy this 17-minute interview. A trailer for Streetwise rounds out the bonus features for the Streetwise section of the bonus features. Under the Tiny: The Life of Erin Blackwell heading are some more bonus features, in the form of 4 short films. The first, "Tiny at 20", is a 14-minute catch-up with one of the focal points of Bell's Streetwise. Erin's life is looked at yet again in the 24-minute "Erin". These two short-films were shot a decade apart, in 1993 and 2005 respectively, and were the pieces that would eventually inspire Tiny: The Life of Erin Blackwell. In 2015 after the passing of fellow photographer Mary Ellen Mark, Bell reconnected with yet another Streetwise figure. "Streetwise Revisited: Rat" spends 14-minutes in 2021 sitting down with the aforementioned character. Fans of Streetwise basically get a mini 'Up' series of documentary films on this Blu-ray from Criterion, with the whole picture showing not just characters throughout their lives, but a film that begins in media res and never stops. These bonus features should not be skipped, especially for fans of the film. As if all that wasn't enough, Criterion have also included the 22-minute short film "The Amazing Plastic Lady". Between 1989 and 1990, photographer Mary Ellen Mark went to India to document the lives of circus performers—a journey that resulted in her book Indian Circus, published in 1993. In 1992, Mark and director Martin Bell returned to India to film many of the same performers. The resulting short, The Amazing Plastic Lady (1995), focuses on Pinky, a ten-year-old acrobat who, like the children in Streetwise, lives on society's margins. The film also continued Bell's work with editor Nancy Baker. A trailer for Tiny: The Life of Erin Blackwell rounds out the extras on this Criterion Blu-ray disc, though an essay by historian Andrew Hedden is included, as is journalist Cheryl McCall’s 1983 Life magazine article about teenagers living on the street in Seattle. Also here are some reflections on Blackwell written by Mark in 2015.

Criterion's new Blu-ray of Streetwise and Tiny: The Life of Erin Blackwell really moved me, in a way that most documentaries never do. The only comparisons that come to mind are both the films of Albert and David Maysles, as well as the brilliant and immersive fly-on-the-wall documentaries of fellow Canuck, Allan King. (A worthy side-note, if you have never seen an Allan King film, Criterion released a definitive collection years back through their Eclipse sub-label, which would be one of my dream releases on Blu-ray in the future). These new, restored high-definition digital transfers of Streetwise and Tiny: The Life of Erin Blackwell, were supervised by director Martin Bell. While the absence of the late Mary Ellen Mark is felt throughout the must-watch bonus features, the focus never waivers from the subjects on screen. Bell's commentary, as well as the interviews with Bell and editor Nancy Baker, would be quite enough bonus features to satiate the average consumer. And yet, the inclusion of 3 more short films covering subjects from Streetwise, and one short film from Mark and Bell on a completely different subject, really show the amount of care that Criterion puts into their releases. While not available for our Blu-ray review purposes, the inclusion of that 1983 Life Magazine article is also very welcome. If you can handle the subject matter at hand (teen sex work, drug addiction, violence and death) then I urge you to please watch this phenomenal film.

Colin Zavitz