IndieWire's Best DVD Commentaries on Filmmaking. Published July 3, 2023. Writeups for all films included as notes in list view.
Link to the original article: www.indiewire.com/features/craft/best-dvd-commentaries-on-filmmaking-1234879164/
IW: “You’re listening to a guy who learned a lot about ripping off movies from watching laserdiscs with director commentary,” says Paul Thomas Anderson at the beginning of his “Boogie Nights” DVD commentary, acknowledging something many of us learned in the early days of the Criterion Collection back in the late 1980s and early ‘90s: Listening to filmmakers talk about craft as their movie unspools is one of the best ways to start thinking like a filmmaker.
Of course, not all commentaries are created equal, and for every P.T. Anderson or Martin Scorsese who…
IndieWire's Best DVD Commentaries on Filmmaking. Published July 3, 2023. Writeups for all films included as notes in list view.
Link to the original article: www.indiewire.com/features/craft/best-dvd-commentaries-on-filmmaking-1234879164/
IW: “You’re listening to a guy who learned a lot about ripping off movies from watching laserdiscs with director commentary,” says Paul Thomas Anderson at the beginning of his “Boogie Nights” DVD commentary, acknowledging something many of us learned in the early days of the Criterion Collection back in the late 1980s and early ‘90s: Listening to filmmakers talk about craft as their movie unspools is one of the best ways to start thinking like a filmmaker.
Of course, not all commentaries are created equal, and for every P.T. Anderson or Martin Scorsese who is great at articulating their process, there are dozens of directors who fall back on the “so and so was great to work with” style of narration or merely describe the onscreen action. In the interest of saving you the time and aggravation that come with wasting hours on unworthy tracks, here are 25 of the best DVD commentaries from which to learn about filmmaking. With the exception of Steven Soderbergh (who is represented here multiple times thanks to his willingness to appear on other directors’ commentaries as an interviewer) and Peter Bogdanovich (who also appears on a commentary for a film not his own), I’ve limited each filmmaker to one appearance on the list — but since most people are either good at commentaries or not, you can assume that if someone is on this list, all of their DVDs are worth checking out.
Written by Jim Hemphill
