Gus Van Sant’s 1995 satirical black comedy, To Die For, is now available on 4K Ultra HD by way of the Criterion Collection. To Die For is also available separately on Blu-ray.
The release is thanks to a new 4K digital restoration approved by director Gus Van Sant and cinematographer Eric Alan Edwards. The film features a 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio Soundtrack. As tends to be the case with many Criterion releases, a 4K UHD disc presents the film in Dolby Vision HDR while the Blu-ray includes the film and bonus features. Speaking of bonus features, I feel like there’s a missed opportunity here to include new interviews looking back at the film. My guess is that the strike probably had an impact on that.
Synopsis
The all-American obsession with celebrity turns monstrous in this deliciously subversive (and disturbingly prescient) satire of our television-mediated, true-crime-obsessed age. In a career breakthrough, Nicole Kidman delivers a diabolical deconstruction of the girl next door as a local TV weather reporter whose perfectly perky facade belies a murderous heart, as her ruthless pursuit of fame ensnares three disaffected teens in a sordid, tabloid-ready scandal. Deftly deploying shifting perspectives, faux-documentary interviews, and a supporting cast featuring Joaquin Phoenix, Matt Dillon, and Casey Affleck, director Gus Van Sant adds provocative layers of meaning to this darkly funny examination of suburban sociopathy.
Bonus Features
- Audio commentary featuring Gus Van Sant, Eric Alan Edwards, and editor Curtiss Clayton
- Deleted scenes
- Trailer
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by film critic Jessica Kiang
DIRECTOR: Gus Van Sant
SCREENWRITER: Buck Henry
CAST: Nicole Kidman, Joaquin Phoenix, Casey Affleck, Illeana Douglas, Alison Folland, Dan Hedaya, Wayne Knight, Kurtwood Smith, Holland Taylor, Maria Tucci, Susan Traylor, Tim Hopper, Michael Rispoli, and Matt Dillon
Sony Pictures released To Die For in theaters on October 6, 1995.
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