A New Leaf

Details

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This special limited edition J-card MediaBook slipcase (designed by Michael DeForge) is limited to 5,000 units and is only available on our website and at select indie retailers. Absolutely no major retailers will be stocking them.

Note: this release is available to be purchased on its own, or bundled with the hardcover book Miss May Does Not Exist by Carrie Courogen (book details can be seen below). This Limited Edition Slipcase + Book bundle is limited to 100 units.

Taking its name from the Lumière Brothers invention of the same name, Cinématographe is a new sub-label from Vinegar Syndrome that seeks to fill gaps in the canon of American cinema. Offering a mix of auteur driven studio films produced during the New Hollywood era of the late 1960s and 70s all the way through the indie boom of the 1980s and 90s, Cinématographe will explore the wide breadth of American moviemaking, spanning numerous genres and scales of production. Curated and produced by Vinegar Syndrome's Justin LaLiberty, each limited edition release will be housed in a specially designed, cloth-bound, media book with embossed foil titles and custom molded disc trays accompanied by a slipcase featuring newly commissioned art and an individually numbered J-card.

Henry Graham (Walter Matthau, The Bad News Bears), a descendant of a wealthy New York family, has exhausted his inheritance, leaving him near penniless, much to the dismay of his uncle Harry (James Coco, Murder By Death), who refuses his request for a loan. Upon suggestion of his valet driver Harold (George Rose, The Flesh and the Fiends), Henry devises a plot to marry wealthy professor Henrietta Lowell (played by writer/director Elaine May) and murder her, becoming the beneficiary of her fortune. Along the way, Henry faces various obstacles, including unexpectedly falling in love. 

The first feature film to be written and directed by noted playwright and comedian Elaine May (Mikey and Nicky, Ishtar), A NEW LEAF is a calling card of the highest order. Showcasing May as a triple threat, behind and in front of the camera, and offering a canvas for her rapid fire, often acerbic, humor that would define her work. Nominated for two Golden Globe Awards in 1972 – Best Motion Picture (Comedy or Musical) and Best Actress for Elaine May – and adopted into the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 2019, A NEW LEAF is one of the great American comedy films of the 1970s and is often cited as the crowning achievement of May’s illustrious, albeit often controversial, career. Cinématographe is proud to present the world 4K UHD debut of Elaine May’s romantic comedy masterpiece, in a new restoration from the original 35mm camera negative.

directed by: Elaine May
starring: Walter Matthau, Elaine May, Jack Weston, George Rose, James Coco, Dorris Roberts, Renée Taylor
1971 / 102 min / 1.85:1 / English DTS-HD MA 1.0

Additional info:

• 2-Disc Set: 4K Ultra HD + Region A Blu-ray
• New audio commentary by film programmer, writer and educator K.J. Relth-Miller and Maya Montañez Smukler, author of Liberating Hollywood: Women Directors and the Feminist Reform of 1970s American Cinema
• Director Jail - a new video interview with Carrie Courogen, author of Miss May Does Not Exist: The Life and Work of Elaine May, Hollywood’s Hidden Genius
• Looking for Elaine May - a new video essay by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, co-editor of ReFocus: The Films of Elaine May
• Elaine May and Mike Nichols In Conversation - an hour long post-screening discussion between Elaine May and her frequent collaborator, conducted at Film at Lincoln Center's Walter Reade Theater in New York City in 2006
• Elaine May's A New Leaf 50th Anniversary - an episode of the Silver Streams podcast from the American Film Institute featuring programmers of the AFI Silver Theater discussing May's film
• The Cutting Room Floor - an archival interview with assistant editor Angelo Corrao
• Women in Hollywood: A Tragedy of Comic Proportions - an archival appreciation of Elaine May with filmmaker Amy Heckerling
• Theatrical Trailer
• New text essays from film writer Sarah Fensom; film critic Elena Lazic; queer historian and film critic Willow Catelyn Maclay; and film critic and editor Hannah Strong as well as a previously published piece by film critic Richard Brody
• Fold out poster featuring new art by cartoonist Michael DeForge
• English SDH subtitles

Miss May Does Not Exist: The Life and Work of Elaine May, Hollywood’s Hidden Genius - Hardcover Book

Written by Carrie Courogen

Miss May Does Not Exist, by Carrie Courogen is the riveting biography of comedian, director, actor and writer Elaine May, one of America’s greatest comic geniuses. May began her career as one-half of the legendary comedy team known as Nichols and May, the duo that revolutionized the comedy sketch.

After performing their Broadway smash An Evening with Mike Nichols and Elaine May, Elaine set out on her own. She toiled unsuccessfully on Broadway for a while, but then headed to Hollywood where she became the director of A New Leaf, The Heartbreak Kid, Mikey and Nicky, and the legendary Ishtar. She was hired as a script doctor on countless films like Heaven Can Wait, Reds, Tootsie, and The Birdcage. In 2019, she returned to Broadway where she won the Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in The Waverly Gallery. Besides her considerable talent, May is well known for her reclusiveness. On one of the albums she made with Mike Nichols, her bio is this: “Miss May does not exist.” Until now.

Carrie Courogen has uncovered the Elaine May who does exist. Conducting countless interviews, she has filled in the blanks May has forcibly kept blank for years, creating a fascinating portrait of the way women were mistreated and held back in Hollywood. Miss May Does Not Exist is a remarkable love story about a prickly genius who was never easy to work with, not always easy to love and frequently often punished for those things, despite revolutionizing the way we think about comedy, acting, and what a film or play can be.

386 pages
9.75" x 6.5"