THE CURBSIDE CRITERION: LIFE OF BRIAN

(We here at Hammer to Nail are all about true independent cinema. But we also have to tip our hat to the great films of yesteryear that continue to inspire filmmakers and cinephiles alike. This week, “The Curbside Criterion” continues where HtN staff can trot out thoughts on the finest films ever made. This week Brad Cook makes no mistake with the new Blu-Ray release of Monty Pyhthon’s all-time great, The Life of Brian.)

The fact that this one was released two days after Easter wasn’t lost on me. I’m sure religious conservatives continue to hate Monty Python’s Life of Brian, but as an agnostic, I deeply appreciate the way it skewers religion.

And, of course, the central point of the film is that a lot of religious people miss the whole point of Christ’s teachings in the first place! That’s also not lost on me as I watch an addled President go after the Pope over a ridiculous war that he shouldn’t have started in the first place.

Anyway … Life of Brian is the story of the titular character unlikely rise to notoriety in ancient Jerusalem. The film opens with his mother (played by Terry Jones, of course) welcoming three wise men into her home, only for them to realize they have the wrong baby.

However, Brian is still destined for greatness, and he soon finds himself part of a revolution against the Roman Empire before being mistaken as a messiah. Along the way, he somehow finds himself in a spaceship, and the whole thing ends with a hilarious, song-filled send-up of the crucifixion.

This movie has been kicking around the Criterion Collection for a long time, and now it has reached its final form in this new 4K Ultra HD edition. It’s been restored in 4K, with the final result approved by Python’s other Terry (Gilliam), and I don’t know how it could look any better on home video in the future.

I realize it’s not the kind of movie people were dying to see released in 4K, but, hey, now we have the definitive version to show our kids, only for them to get bored halfway through and start scrolling TikTok. Sigh…

You’ll find two commentary tracks for the film, one featuring Terry Jones, Terry Gilliam, and Eric Idle, and the other with John Cleese and Michael Palin. They were recorded way back in 1997, but the conversation is just as insightful now as it was then. I assume they were spread across two tracks because they were all recorded separately, and, yes, when they marvel at the restoration they’re watching, they were talking about then-state-of-the-art LaserDisc.

The rest of the extras are found on the included Blu-ray:

• The Story of Brian (2007): This hour-long documentary was actually created for Sony’s Blu-ray release of the film, so it’s nice that Criterion didn’t just port over their own extras. It’s a great making-of that highlights the serious controversy the film faced when it was released in 1979 (so much so that George Harrison (yes, that George Harrison) had to step in and provide the financing).

• The Pythons (1979): Clocking in at 50 minutes, this documentary was shot during the making of the film, and it digs deeper into the troupe’s history and the movies they had made up to that point.

• Michael Palin’s Super 8 footage: He narrates this 13-minute edit of footage he shot during the making of the film. I know, this kind of thing seems so ridiculously antiquated, now that nearly everyone walks around with a high-def video camera in their pocket.

• Five deleted scenes: This is 12 minutes of excised footage that’s quite funny but, as discussed in the optional commentary track, would have mucked with the movie’s pacing.

You also get the original British radio ads starring Mrs. Cleese, Mrs. Gilliam, Mrs. Idle, and Michael Palin’s dentist, along with an illustrated recording of the troupe reading an early version of the script, an animated stills gallery, and the trailer.

The obligatory booklet includes an essay by film critic Bilge Ebiri.

– Brad Cook (@BradCWriter)