Criterion Catch-Up 2, Part 1: George Washington

Man, there's a whole lot of great Criterions I've been meaning to cover here, so I'm running another series of Catch-Ups (I did a mini-version back in 2017; but I've got more to cover).  So none of these are new releases, but in each case, the Criterion disc will still be the latest and best edition - I'm not gonna waste your time looking at out-dated discs - and compare them with a previous edition.  I plan on doing five or six of these, starting with 2000's George Washington, the feature film debut of David Gordon Green (Halloween 11-13, Pineapple Express), and still easily his best work.

What stands out in George Washington is its verité style, where non-professional child actors give very natural performances, authentically extemporizing as the film earnestly explores its poor, small-town setting.  That's then paired with a story that starts out as a compelling character study of the sort of child films usually ignore, and then takes a powerfully dramatic turn.  It's a combination of elements other filmmakers have tried, but few find such success with, especially for first-timers.  The one weak spot is Paul Schneider, who's mixed in with the local non-actors to uneven effect.  It's more the writing that lets him down than his own performance - since seeing how good he was years later in Bright Star, I've had to let him off the hook for this - injecting him as a semi-comic Kevin Smith-style character, which just comes off as trying too hard to be clever or cute in a film that otherwise transcends such ambitions.  The bit of him having two hot dogs he can't find in his jumpsuit is an insult to the sincerity the actors in the other scenes are giving.  It's not enough to spoil the film, but it's a disappointment when it pops up.

Anyway, Criterion initially released this on DVD as a new release in 2002.  It was a pretty solid edition.  Then, as we entered the HD era, they put it out as a DVD/ BD combo-pack in 2014.  Finally, in 2021, they reissued the BD as a solo disc.  I've got the original DVD (well, not anymore; I've sold it... but not before scanning the cover and taking screenshots) and the combo-pack.  It's worth noting the back of the 2014 case simply refers to a "restored high-definition digital transfer," not a new scan.  Because it looks like they're using the same master.

2002 Criterion DVD top; 2014 Criterion middle; 2014 Criterion BD bottom.

So yeah, that means the DVDs are essentially the same discs twelve years later.  They're not exactly the same; they're sporting new labels and the menus are a little different.  But it's the same transfer, with the exact same brightness levels, color timing, contrast, etc.  But the BD does bump it up to HD, which gives it a legit boost in clarity.  Framed between 2.37 and 2.38:1, there's soft but visible film grain on the blu, but it's completely smeared away on the DVD.  The difference in resolution basically just breaks down to the DVD looking slightly out of focus.  This was shot on 35, though, so a 4k restoration could probably define the finer details even further.

All three discs include the original Dolby stereo mix with optional English subtitles, with the BD bumping it up to DTS-HD.

They didn't give us any new extras either, but that's okay, because the original DVD was pretty packed.  For starters, there's a rich audio commentary by Green with his cinematographer and Paul Schneider.  Then there's a lengthy deleted scene, also with commentary, and two early short films by Green.  One of them is a fifteen minute student film that's essentially a rough draft of George Washington, which also co-stars Schneider and has its own audio commentary.  And the second stars two of the other main actors from GW.  Then, there's a short film not by Green.  It's a fun little 60s oddity starring Clu Gulager that Green found inspirational. 

And that's not all.  There's a 2001 "cast reunion" video, a Charlie Rose interview with Green, the trailer, three easter eggs, which are essentially two bonus clips from the reunion and a photo gallery, and a fold-out leaflet with a director's statement and an essay by controversial critic Armond White and a director's statement.  The BD resizes the insert, but otherwise it's the same thing.  One technical different you might spot between the 2002 and 2014 editions is that there are no longer clickable easter eggs on the "Cast Reunion" menu page.  Don't worry, though, the BD still has 'em.  Now they just play automatically at the end of the cast reunion video, rather than including them as separate little video files.

Looking back at it in 2025, George Washington still holds up and makes you wish Green would go back to projects like this.  He shows talent in all of his films, and you can find echoes of the particular magic seen here in a few of them, like Prince Avalanche or Undertow.  But then there'll be a doofy plot-line about stolen gold coins or something and it's like, nope, this ain't it.  Lightning has yet to strike twice, and something tells me Exorcist: Deceiver won't strike the mark either.  So I'll continue to check out everything he does, but this is the one I treasure in my personal collection.