Criterion February Releases
Four more of Criterion’s favorite directors are back in February with titles new to the collection: Wes Anderson, with the delightful stop-motion-animated hit “Fantastic Mr. Fox”; Alfred Hitchcock, with the rip-roaring espionage thriller “Foreign Correspondent”; Steven Soderbergh, with the warm and wise coming-of-age drama “King of the Hill,” never before on DVD or Blu-ray; and Roman Polanski, with the Oscar-winning “Tess,” based on the classic Thomas Hardy novel. Plus, two of the most iconic works by the twin masters of the French New Wave: Jean-Luc Godard’s “Breathless” and Francois Truffaut’s “Jules and Jim,” for the first time in dual-format editions. In addition, Criterion will release “Blue Is the Warmest Color,” one of 2013’s major movie sensations. After winning the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival this summer, the explicit, discussion-provoking French drama about a young woman’s sexual awakening has opened to big boxoffice in the U.S. and Europe. The film has been swept up in controversy from the moment of its premiere in Cannes and has kicked off a national discussion about gender identity and young sexuality. Because of that, Criterion has taken the unusual step of introducing the film in lower-priced, unadorned, movie-only DVD and Blu-ray editions, to make the film available as soon as possible. A full-priced, dual-format special edition will replace this preliminary edition at a later date to be announced.
