Christopher Nolan’s ‘Following’ and ‘Brazil’ Lead Criterion’s December Releases

It's that time of the month when The Criterion Collection announces their upcoming titles. And though there may not be many surprises for those paying attention, we're finally getting Christopher Nolan in the prestigious collection, and a Blu-ray upgrade of one of Criterion's greatest special editions.

So here are the titles and specs, and to start with Terry Gilliam's 'Brazil' on Blu, which comes out December 4:

And here are the specs:

• Restored high-definition digital transfer of Terry Gilliam’s 142-minute director’s cut, supervised by Gilliam, with DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 surround soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
• Audio commentary by Terry Gilliam
• What Is “Brazil”?, a thirty-minute on-set documentary by Rob Hedden
• The Battle of “Brazil”: A Video History, a sixty-minute documentary by author and film writer Jack Mathews about the controversy surrounding the film’s release
• The “Love Conquers All” version of Brazil, a ninety-four-minute cut of the film produced by the studio in an attempt to make it more commercial, with commentary by Brazil expert David Morgan
• The Production Notebook, a collection of supplements featuring a trove of Brazil-iana from Gilliam’s personal collection: a short documentary on the screenplay, featuring interviews with screenwriters Gilliam, Charles McKeown, and Tom Stoppard; Gilliam’s storyboards for unfilmed dream sequences, animated and narrated by Morgan; visual essays on the film’s production design and special effects; a visual essay on Brazil’s costumes, narrated by costume designer James Acheson; and interviews with Gilliam and composer Michael Kamen on the score
• Trailer
• PLUS: An essay by Jack Matthews on the DVD edition and a booklet featuring an essay by film critic David Sterritt on the Blu-ray edition

Next up is Christopher Nolan's 'Following', which is streeting December 11:

Here are the specs:

• New, restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised by director Christopher Nolan, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the
  
  Blu-ray edition
• New 5.1 surround sound mix by sound editor Gary Rizzo, presented in DTS-HD Master Audio on the Blu-ray edition
• Audio commentary by Nolan
• New interview with Nolan
• Chronological rendering of the story
• Side-by-side comparison of three scenes in the film with the shooting script
• Doodlebug (1997), a three-minute film by Nolan, starring Jeremy Theobald
• Trailers
• PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film critic and programmer Scott Foundas

Next up is 'Purple Noon', which hits stores December 4:

And here are its specs:

• New digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
• New video interview with René Clément scholar Denitza Bantcheva
• Archival interviews with actor Alain Delon and novelist Patricia Highsmith, on whose book The Talented Mr. Ripley the film was based
• Original English-language trailer
• PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film critic Geoffrey O’Brien and a reprinted interview with Clément

And finally, the 'Qatsi' Trilogy: 'Koyaanisqatsi' 'Powaqqatsi' and 'Naqoyqatsi', due on December 11:

And here the technical specs for the set:

• New, restored high-definition digital transfers of all three films, approved by director Godfrey Reggio, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtracks on the Blu-ray editions
• Essence of Life, an interview program with Reggio and composer Philip Glass on Koyaanisqatsi
• New interview with cinematographer Ron Fricke about Koyaanisqatsi
• Early forty-minute demo version of Koyaanisqatsi with a scratch soundtrack by Allen Ginsberg, along with a new introduction by Reggio
• New interview with Reggio about Koyaanisqatsi’s original visual concept, with behind-the-scenes footage
• Impact of Progress, an interview program with Reggio and Glass on their collaboration
• Inspiration and Ideas, an interview with Reggio about his greatest influences and teachers
• Anima Mundi (1992), Reggio’s twenty-eight-minute montage of images of over seventy animal species, scored by Glass
• Video afterword by Reggio on the trilogy
• The Making of “Naqoyqatsi,” a brief documentary featuring interviews with the production crew
• Panel discussion on Naqoyqatsi from 2003, with Reggio, Glass, editor Jon Kane, and music critic John Rockwell
• Music of “Naqoyqatsi,” an interview with Glass and cellist Yo-Yo Ma
• Television spots and an interview with Reggio relating to his 1970s multimedia privacy campaign in New Mexico
• Trailers
• PLUS: A booklet featuring essays on the trilogy by film scholar Scott MacDonald, Rockwell, and author and environmentalist Bill McKibben

We're sure a couple of these will make for good stocking stuffers.