Release
is a meditation on nighttime and transience, on rhythm-and-blues and the city of Memphis, that comes camouflaged as a deck of three stories. Like its predecessors, it mixes high and low comedy, sadness and high jinks, and extracts a subtle, limpid beauty from the rawest of materials
—Luc Sante, Interview, November 1989.The film had its domestic premiere at the 27th New York Film Festival in 1989, thereby emulating the director's previous features Stranger Than Paradise in 1984, and Down by Law in 1986. The Miami Herald declared it the "quiet triumph" of the festival. The film was picked up for theatrical distribution by Orion Classics in the United States, where it was released under an R-rating due to scenes featuring brief nudity and mild profanity. Its total domestic gross was $1,541,218, making it the 153rd highest-grossing film of 1989, and the 70th highest R-rated film of the year. Internationally, it was first shown in competition at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival on May 13 and 14, 1989, and subsequently featured in the Edinburgh, London, Midnight Sun, Telluride and Toronto film festivals.
Mystery Train was released on DVD on March 28, 2000 with an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and Dolby Digital 5.1/2 surround sound. The DVD release was criticized by Anna Lazowski of allmovie who awarded it two stars out of five compared to four for the film itself, citing the paltry special features of 24 scene selections and a collectible behind-the-scenes booklet. A Criterion Collection DVD and Blu-ray were released on June 15, 2010, utilizing a new restored high-definition digital transfer.
Read more about this topic: Mystery Train (film)
Famous quotes containing the word release:
“The near touch of death may be a release into life; if only it will break the egoistic will, and release that other flow.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)
“If I were to be taken hostage, I would not plead for release nor would I want my government to be blackmailed. I think certain government officials, industrialists and celebrated persons should make it clear they are prepared to be sacrificed if taken hostage. If that were done, what gain would there be for terrorists in taking hostages?”
—Margaret Mead (1901–1978)
“The shallow consider liberty a release from all law, from every constraint. The wise man sees in it, on the contrary, the potent Law of Laws.”
—Walt Whitman (1819–1892)