Janus Contemporaries

[FrauBlucher]

Something new from Janus/Criterion

Starting this fall, Criterion will proudly join Janus Films in presenting Janus Contemporaries, a new line of home-video editions of first-run releases, fresh from theaters, following their streaming premieres on the Criterion Channel.
Kicking off with Jerzy Skolimowski’s Cannes Jury Prize winner and Academy Award nominee EO, the 2023 slate of the Janus Contemporaries line will feature Jafar Panahi’s No Bears, Louis Garrel’s The Innocent, Hlynur Pálmason’s Godland, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne’s Tori and Lokita, and Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch’s The Eight Mountains.
The Blu-ray and DVD editions will include new interviews with the filmmakers produced by Criterion as part of the Criterion Channel series Meet the Filmmakers, and will retail for $29.95 (Blu-ray) and $24.95 (DVD).
Known for more than sixty-five years as the premier U.S. distributor of international art-house cinema, Janus is home to many of the greatest movies ever made, from such vaunted masters as Chantal Akerman, Michelangelo Antonioni, Ingmar Bergman, Jean Cocteau, the Coen brothers, Federico Fellini, Jean-Luc Godard, Akira Kurosawa, David Lynch, Yasujiro Ozu, Satyajit Ray, Ousmane Sembène, François Truffaut, Melvin Van Peebles, Agnès Varda, Wim Wenders, and Wong Kar Wai. Last year, when Sight and Sound revealed the results of its once-a-decade poll, the critics’ and directors’ lists of the top hundred films of all time each included more than fifty entries from the Janus library.
After premiering many key works by Antonioni, Bergman, and Fellini in the 1960s, Janus largely stepped away from first-run theatrical distribution. Following the release of Kurosawa’s Dodes’ka-den (1970), the company focused on theatrical runs of restored classics from its library until 2009, when it distributed Götz Spielmann’s Revanche.
Over the past decade, Janus has released a steady stream of celebrated art-house hits, including Academy Award winners like Paolo Sorrentino’s The Great Beauty and Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car, which marked the start of Janus’s landmark partnership with bespoke theatrical specialist Sideshow.
With a more robust first-run lineup than it has had since the 1960s and powerful partnerships with theatrical specialists Sideshow and the Criterion Channel streaming service, Janus is uniquely well positioned to bring the best films from around the world to theaters and homes across North America. The launch of Janus Contemporaries completes that picture.

[yoloswegmaster]

I think it's a neat idea to have a sublabel focused on the contemporary films that Janus/Sideshow have acquired, especially at a lower price point. I know that there were quite a few people on here and elsewhere who were upset at the inclusion of these titles in the mainline, so hopefully this appeases them. Great opening slate as well, as No Bears was one of my favourites from last year and I've been meaning to catch the Garrel.

[Computer Raheem]

This is a random announcement, but certainly an appreciated one. While I can already smell the Redditors complaining, giving these films their own space is a wise move. It allows them to have well-done releases without the stigma of being "lazy" by Criterion standards, and it lets Criterion open into the first-run business without diluting their brand. It also lets these films stand on their own; for a lot of newer films released by Criterion, I noticed a sort-of bemoaning when they're announced, especially since it is under the impression that "they're taking up space another film could've used" (an argument I've always hated that tends to live on the forum that shall not be named ). Letting them breathe in a new label bypasses that issue completely. Fingers crossed that this means Criterion is putting a bit of a line in the sand as to how much they let recent films dominate the releases; I imagine the complaints that a month like April received most likely got to them. Here's hoping it lasts longer than the last imprint they had

[therewillbeblus]

Yeah this will be great if Criterion continues to keep its current slate of five-ish releases/month and not divide resources. While certainly welcome if they're going to skimp on extras, I imagine this will still only half-fix the problem. Films like Triangle of Sadness will probably continue to get 4K releases at the high price point but still contain few extras, and Criterion may not feel as encouraged to get creative around a release like Petite Maman, which would probably just get churned out 'as-was' originally announced, whereas the main-line standard encouraged them to work to include My Life as a Zucchini, a generous and awesome consequence. Though hopefully this allows them to pool more resources into giving us deluxe editions like High Sierra and dip into the back catalogue that's been largely ignored

[Finch]

This Janus Contemporaries line immediately made me think of Eureka's Montage sub-label. The one title that made me do a double take is Tori and Lokita if only because it's the first Dardennes film not getting a CC spine. Seems like none of the producers loved the film enough for it to warrant the CC moniker. I'm glad the new films are getting an outlet though invariably there'll be "why is X getting a CC spine and Y doesn't?" complaints when a contemporary film makes the cut for the "parent label".

Also, as nice as this news is, I'd like them to do the same for the catalogue titles that are covered in cobwebs from sitting in their vaults for x amount of years. I'm not confident that the shifting of most of the new acquisitions to the JC line invariably means they're finally getting to those films we've been waiting on for so long.

[FrauBlucher]

Just a couple of points on my end.... I'm assuming that they will not have spine numbers. I wonder if it will have it's own type of branding much like the Eclipse Series did. Secondly, don't count on any of these titles in this line getting UHD release. If a film does it will get mainline released. And finally, it tells me Sideshow will be very active signing contemporary films. Kind of like the old days of the IFC partnership.

[therewillbeblus]

Waiting for the "contemporary" classic The Other Side of the Wind to finally get dumped here

[The Elegant Dandy Fop]

It seems this label is exclusively Janus films, no? Wouldn’t any Neon, IFC, Netflix, or Amazon titles just end up on the main line?

[FrauBlucher]

It seems this label is exclusively Janus films, no? Wouldn’t any Neon, IFC, Netflix, or Amazon titles just end up on the main line?

I think you’re correct here. That’s why I think Sideshow/Janus will be aggressive in signing up films during the course of the year. They wouldn’t create another line if they didn’t think they would have enough product to fill it

[Omensetter]

Janus Contemporaries is wonderful—I'm signed up. Their spending spree last year was welcome if a bit melancholy as I fully anticipated these titles to go straight-to-streaming. Further, Janus is giving these films breathing room in theatres. If I'm not mistaken, The Eight Mountains is killing it. They might as well pick-up the new Kaurismäki right now.

It frankly wouldn't be the worst thing in the world for them to do something similar with a lot of the great films they've been sitting on for decades like Mon oncle d'Amérique, but I suppose I retain hope that something like the Resnais will get its due.

[black&huge]

possible that a stateside Enys Men release will come through this or is another label already planning one?

[yoloswegmaster]

possible that a stateside Enys Men release will come through this or is another label already planning one?

This is with NEON, so it will presumably come from them.

[Finch]

The BFI release of Enys Men is encoded by Fidelity in Motion so anyone who is region free might as well get that one through Orbit/Diabolik/Grindhouse.

[Peter McM]

Excited for Janus Contemporaries. I like the price points, too; odd that they don't mention 4K in their lineup, but that rarely matters to me. Hopefully this fares well for (sooner, rather than later) releases of Sorrentino's The Hand Of God and del Toro's stop-motion Pinocchio.

[Omensetter]

Based on their branding, there's every reason to believe that Janus Contemporaries (JC) will be limited strictly to what Janus picks up from festivals or otherwise. Their opening slate is well-curated from almost exclusively the (underrated) 2022 Cannes and Venice competitions (plus a Louis Garrel film which does seem out-of-place for now; the Pálmason was universally praised as something that should have been in Competition). It looks like future entries in JC will include Lila Avilés's Tótem and Christian Petzold's Afire (they did pick-up a documentary related to Virginia Woolf's Orlando, but that seems primed for a release of the increasingly popular (and deeply corny) Sally Potter film). I would prefer it be a budget line for all contemporary films (as in, this decade), but I cannot imagine Netflix, Amazon, and Apple would necessarily go for that, let alone Criterion letting a big music documentary moneymaker like The Velvet Underground slip down a price-point or even someone like Scorsese. JC would be ideal for IFC entries, but Bergman Island is their first IFC film since that weird time they released that Paul Dano film, if I'm not mistaken. (Hopefully, they consider Mungiu's R.M.N.) I imagine if they wanted this to include non-Janus films, they would have announced Saint Omer as a part of this slate as well, which is realistically ready for blu-ray release.

[tenia]

I don't care so much about the details à la "what about my OCD ?", but I keep wondering what's the actual point of having such a sub-brand.

I mean, Criterion had no issues releasing "fresh" movies in their (soon to be) main line, like Roma, Petite maman, Portrait de la jeune fille en feu, or the movies released under their IFC deal. More recently, they released The Worst Person in the World, Triangle of Sadness, Drive my Car or Faya Dayi, and I can't make much sense of why, for instance, EO or Tori and Lokita would require a sub-brand.

I do like too that the announced MSRPs are noticeably lower than the current ones, and it does seem that these releases will also include some extras, though I guess at some point, judging by how light some main releases can be despite their (soon to be) higher MSRP, it'll be interesting to see how Criterion juggle with that.

[Omensetter]

I think it's more about keeping their mainline brand on old classics, boxsets, Black voices, and 4K although I imagine such branding would become complicated when they want to release, say, The Killers of the Flower Moon. JC, of course, allows them to release these vetted films in worthy editions and to compete with the UK market, at least. They also surely have a good idea of what a new Dardennes movie will sell (the critics have been branding their new ones as "minor" since 2016; they're just taken for granted) in 2023, and I'm guessing the numbers are closer to the lower price-point than the Criterion price-point. The branding is probably more about Janus, though. Post-Drive My Car, this is definitely the most active and exciting they've been, I guess, the 1960s.

[RPG]

So if a recent Janus film is to be released in 4K, it'll be on the main line? And if not 4K, it'll be under Janus Contemporaries?

But hey, Janus has been picking up some amazing films recently, and if this is what is needed to release more of them onto disc sooner rather than later then I'm all for it. This will certainly cause some debate over whether a movie announced for JC deserves to be "relegated" to a sub-brand, though, as has already happened on this thread (I had similar thoughts as tenia about EO and Tori and Lokita).

[fiendishthingy]

I thought that they might have announced this now because they were going to include EO in the August release announcement on Monday, but upon rereading it I see that this line is supposed to launch in the fall, so I guess not. I’m curious whether all six listed films from their 2023 slate are actually getting disc releases by the end of the year.

[swo17]

Pity Eo isn't getting a UHD as it's a visually rapturous marvel, and that might've also given it an edge over the BFI release, which is stacked with extras

[tenia]

I think it's more about keeping their mainline brand on old classics, boxsets, Black voices, and 4K although I imagine such branding would become complicated when they want to release, say, The Killers of the Flower Moon.

I understand that, but I'd tend to think it's just simpler not bothering.
See for instance how many times we discussed "why this movie is a Eureka Classics but this one a Masters of Cinema ?"

As for being competitive for the UK market... it might be simpler getting their boat way tighter there to begin with instead of it being the intern-handled trainwreck it currently is. Moreover, from the 6 titles announced there, only The Innocent seems to have available video UK rightsholdings.

[rrenault]

Perhaps the intention is to throw in a few "mainline worthy" titles like EO to give the JC line a certain level of "arthouse gravitas" even if it's primarily intended as a physical platform for more "minor" Janus titles like the recent Dardenne films or the Garrel. I haven't actually seen The Innocent, although I saw the trailer several times in French cinemas before it came out here, and I'm rather surprised Janus would pick it up for North American distribution. It doesn't strike me as the sort of title they'd go for.

[Matt]

I haven’t seen it mentioned yet (or missed it), but I think a key reason for this lime is to get these films out on physical media quickly and not have them languish in the main Criterion pipeline for months to years as so many other contemporary films have (hi, Atlantiques).

I pray they don’t have spine numbers. What a cursed innovation that was.

[senseabove]

(they did pick-up a documentary related to Virginia Woolf's Orlando, but that seems primed for a release of the increasingly popular (and deeply corny) Sally Potter film)

The Potter film already had a recent UHD release in the Sony Pictures Classics anniversary box, so that seems unlikely, and the Preciado film is, well, not actually a documentary about the Woolf book, per se. I'd missed that they'd picked that title up, but I'm glad to hear it—one of the Berlin titles I'm most looking forward to.

[Red Screamer]

This sub-label might be a good idea, but the opening slate is a mixed bag. Godland is half-baked, portentous festival bait without many new ideas and Tori and Lokita is uneven: Tori—a problem solver who wiggles into the cracks of the adult world—is much more compelling and grounded than Lokita—mostly an innocent sufferer. I like EO, especially its opening, but it quickly became overrated; for all of the talk of its eclecticism, most of its vignettes are fairly predictable in themselves. I also like No Bears but, as I’ve come to expect, it’s not a patch on Panahi’s pre-arrest films, and its meta-narrative mirror conceit begins much stronger than it ends. I skipped the L. Garrel when it was in theaters given how it looked but maybe I’ll give it a shot.