Francois Truffaut once said that; "film lovers are sick people". I'd take that a bit further and say that criterion fanatics are even sicker. I mean, how nerdy do you have to be to break down clues about future movie releases in a drawing put out by the criterion collection? I don't know if you guys have seen criterions drawing for 2011 that hints at the upcoming releases, but a couple of these hints seem like they're pointing to Jim Jarmusch's 'Ghost Dog'. Some of the hints in the picture are pretty obvious: The head floating in the water with the eyes rolled in the back of its head clearly represents 'Diabolique' (i assume there's a blu-ray on the way). The globe is clearly 'The Great Dictator'. The calender page with "sunday" circled is probably 'Bloody Sunday'. And the sign in the water is 'Y Tu Mama Tambien'. Obviously, the strawberries represent "Wild Straberries" and the guy in black pointing the gun is 'Carlos', which makes sense because its distributed by IFC films (criterion has released other IFC films like; secret of the grain and summer hours, and Olivier Assayas has directed both; Summer Hours & Carlos). And i seriously hope that briefcase drawing isn't a hint to 'Pulp Fiction'. I think we have enough special edition dvd's of that movie in circulation already. Hopefully its a clue to 'Kiss Me Deadly', which is the movie that Tarrantino references (along with a million others) in Pulp Fiction. I had to get help on the other ones. Apparently 'Solaris', 'Insignificance', 'Four Feathers' and 'Some Like it Hot' are some of the other clues.
Now, notice the two things i circled in red. I could swear that carlos (the guy in black pointing the gun) is pointing his gun at what appears to be a dog with a sheet over itself, like one would do when they're pretending to be ghost. You know... GHOST...DOG! This wouldn't be too far fetched. Criterion has already released four of Jim Jarmusch's films, so he's no stranger to the criterion family. Furthermore, 'Ghost Dog' shares a connection with an older criterion release; 'Le Samourai' (ghost dog is a loose remake of that film). It would be just like Douglas Sirk's 'All That Heaven Allows' and its remake; Fassbinder's 'Ali: Fear Eats The Soul', which are both criterions.
Also, check out the other hint that i circled in red above the ghost dog. Its a knife in a cup of coffee beans. Now this is more than likely Claire Denis's 'White Material'. Its a film about a woman trying to save her coffee plantation within a violent african country. There's a even a scene in the film where a group of children have their throats slit. Also, just like a lot of recent criterions, 'White Material' is an IFC film. Now, i wouldn't be mad if i was right about this. But at the same time, I'd be a little annoyed that criterion picked Claire Denis's latest film over her more rare or lesser known stuff like 'No Fear, No Die', 'Nenette & Boni' or 'U.S. Go Home'. Or if they're going to pick a recent film of hers, it should at least be '35 Shots of Rum'. But it was brought to my attention that the knife in the coffee cup could hint at another Jim Jarmusch release. Just like criterion did a couple of years ago with releasing 'Night on Earth' and 'Stranger Than Paradise' at the same time, that image could be hinting at a double release of 'Ghost Dog' (the knife) and 'Coffee & Cigarettes' (the cup of coffee beans). I know this may be reaching a little bit, but you never know. Oh, and lets not forget that the regular Ghost Dog DVD has been out of print for some time now. An out of print DVD is always a good sign that criterion will put it out.
