The Criterion Collection

Fullers first film as director,a tragedy of misplaced love.of identity and loyalty.Fuller introduces us to his multi layered story telling style & his characteristic use of close ups that erupt from the narrative,.The story shows little interest in Jesse James or even the Wild West but is centered on the coward hero Bob Ford played by John Ireland who`s edgy nervous expression and manner are well suited for the role..

Super cool Nikkatsu Noir..A yakuza film that seems to have been blended from American Noir and Spagetti Western.It is a about a hard boiled hit man caught between rival gangs and dubious allegiances.Joe Shishido the handsome leading man plays the ultimate hardboiled existential hero. The black and white photography is artistically portrayed a visual and stylish treat..

A deceptively short and simple film on the surface. The underlying tone,pace and setting however reveal a timeless and perceptive study of human interrelationships and our communion with the natural elements..This film also gives us a glimpse of pre war Japanese lifestyles and social customs.The characters arrive from diverse backgrounds and are warmly and delicately introduced to us and thereupon intertwined with each other..

Leaving their comrades two Byelorussian peasant soldiers seek food and refuge for their group who have been stranded and are on the run from the Nazis.Set in the remote and freezing woodlands of now occupied territory the story is an absorbing study of survival, heroism, loyalty and ultimately transcendence .As they trek through the bleak landscape you can feel their desperate plight.,Snapping frozen branches, crunching through knee deep snow, the seemingly un-navigable landscape all starkly portray a harsh realistic picture which gives you an intense feel of their struggle...

One of the best of the many great films from Poland .Centered on the fate of one man,it is a multi layered humane story involving politics,resistance,solidarity and love.Great photography and acting this is a marvelous film,It may help if you have an understanding of the political situation at the time in Poland, the end of World War 2, but if not you will soon learn and expand your knowledge with a little research, another great asset to viewing films such as this. Without giving any thing away the ending is one of the most powerful in cinema history !...

A somber,harrowing melodrama, a psychological thriller from a master film maker. Based on true records of witch trials and set in the superstitious,cruel and paranoid world of 17th century Europe .Unrelenting from the opening scenes it graphically tells us the story of persecution and religious extremism, the fact that this actually occurred gives the film its horrific reality.Lisbeth Movin provides an attractive respite from the intensity...

Independent film makers have always created interesting and artistically original films,this was the first indie from Cassavetes.The film is about interracial romance, using mostly amateur actors who improvised largely with the script ,filming on locations around Manhatten .A groundbreaking film, said to have been the forerunner of the American Independent film movement...

This is a most unusual film and its setting a bizarre location within creeping sand dunes. When an amateur entomologist becomes trapped at the bottom of a sand pit the story takes on a nightmarish twist,unable to leave he encounters the mysterious woman that dwells within the dunes.Amazing photography and performances shape this into a moving and unforgettable allegorical tale...

With a narrative that owes much to the classical Hollywood melodrama this however is a very German film. Set in the post war rebuilding period with one of its themes the irreconcilable environment women face when they choose career ahead of love and family.The movie has an elegant decadence rich in period detail not a single frame is wasted. Part parable about Germany and also the battle of the sexes,,

As i am a great fan of Fuller i also include another one of his films. Samuel Fuller was a highly decorated World War 2 veteran who served on many fronts. Having this experience his war films have a brutal and uncompromising reality to them. The Steel Helmet is set during the Korean War it is a brooding and dark film with the soldiers just doing their utmost to stay alive.Typically of Fuller the film raises moral issues,questions of loyalties,racism and cynicism about involvement in war....

I cannot pick a single one from this set. Each unique story has sensitive attractive characters who reveal what they think of their behavior revolving around the issues of everyday life. Some are confined to urban black & white environs others set in marvelously colorful beautiful landscapes.Very talkative, Rohmer stated that he wanted the "Six Moral Tales" "to portray in film what seemed most alien to the medium, to express feelings buried deep in our consciousness. That's why they have to be narrated in the first person singular...The protagonist discusses himself and judges his actions. I film the process."