The Criterion Collection continues 2021 with a recently rediscovered classic, an established tenet of the conspiracy genre, a horribly underrepresented African filmmaker (evergreen), and two by Ramin Bahrani. Respectfully, those are: Joyce Chopra’s Smooth Talk; Alan J. Pakula’s The Parallax View; Ousmane Sembène’s Mandabi; as well as Bahrani’s Chop Shop and Man Push Cart.
Check out the cover art and special features below, and see more on Criterion’s website.
- New, restored 4K digital transfer, supervised by director Joyce Chopra, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
- Conversation among Chopra, author Joyce Carol Oates, and actor Laura Dern from the 2020 New York Film Festival, moderated by TCM host Alicia Malone
- New interview with Chopra
- New interview with production designer David Wasco
- KPFK Pacifica Radio interview with Chopra from 1985
- Joyce at 34 (1972), Girls at 12 (1975), and Clorae and Albie (1976), three short films by Chopra
- Audio reading of the 1966 Life magazine article “The Pied Piper of Tucson,” which inspired the short story by Oates
- Trailers
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by poet Honor Moore, a 1986 New York Times article by Oates about the adaptation, and Oates’s 1966 short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”
- More!
- New cover Vincent Topazio
- New, restored 4K digital transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
- New introduction by filmmaker Alex Cox
- Interviews with director Alan J. Pakula from 1974 and 1995
- New program on cinematographer Gordon Willis featuring an interview with Willis from 2004
- New interview with Jon Boorstin, assistant to Pakula on The Parallax View
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by critic Nathan Heller and a 1974 interview with Pakula
- New cover by Adam Maida
- New 4K restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
- Introduction by film scholar Aboubakar Sanogo
- Conversation from 2020 with author and screenwriter Boubacar Boris Diop and sociologist and feminist activist Marie Angélique Savané
- Praise Song, a new program about director Ousmane Sembène featuring outtakes from the 2015 documentary Sembène! of interviews with author and activist Angela Davis, musician Youssou N’Dour, filmmaker and scholar Manthia Diawara, and many others
- Tauw, a 1970 short film by Sembène
- New English subtitle translation by Sembène biographer Samba Gadjigo
- PLUS: An essay by critic and scholar Tiana Reid and excerpts from a 1969 interview with Sembène
- New cover by Ify Chiejina
- High-definition digital master, supervised and approved by director Ramin Bahrani, with uncompressed stereo soundtrack on the Blu-ray
- Audio commentary from 2005 featuring Bahrani, director of photography Michael Simmonds, assistant director Nicholas Elliott, and actor Ahmad Razvi
- New conversation among Bahrani, Elliott, and Razvi on the making of the film
- New conversation between Bahrani and scholar Hamid Dabashi on the origins of the film and Bahrani’s cinematic influences
- Backgammon, a 1998 short film by Bahrani
- Trailer
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by critic Bilge Ebiri
- New cover by La Moutique
- High-definition digital master, supervised and approved by director Ramin Bahrani, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
- Audio commentary from 2006 featuring Bahrani, director of photography Michael Simmonds, and actor Alejandro Polanco
- New program featuring a conversation among Bahrani, Polanco, actor Ahmad Razvi, and assistant director Nicholas Elliott about the making of the film
- New conversation between Bahrani and writer and scholar Suketu Mehta on the immigrant experience in New York City and on film
- Rehearsal footage from 2006 featuring Polanco and actors Isamar Gonzales and Carlos Zapata
- Trailer
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by novelist Viet Thanh Nguyen
- New cover by La Moutique