The Criterion Collection

Revanche

Götz Spielmann

Raheem Miah: “"Revanche" is a film best watched cold, but it's so delicious that you won't mind having seconds.”

Days of Heaven

Terrence Malick

Raheem Miah: “"Heaven" is an apt word for the cinematography. "Groin-grabbingly transcendent" is an odd yet accurate phrase for Malick's arresting film & vision.”

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

David Fincher

Raheem Miah: “This one was at a good price, and if I'm going to collect all of Fincher's films, I should watch this one again. Age knows no limit for another look.”

The Game

David Fincher

Raheem Miah: “I just saw this one, and I have to say: I've never played a better game nor seen a twistier movie. Clearly, Fincher knows how to move the pieces.”

M

Fritz Lang

Raheem Miah: “We've all had dreams of dispensing our own brand of justice, but Lang doesn't spare the righteous mob nor the inhuman monster. So much in a letter.”

Unfaithfully Yours

Preston Sturges

Raheem Miah: “Why anyone would cheat on Rex Harrison is beyond me. I didn't even know he was such a skilled physical actor, but Sturges got it out of him.”

Spartacus

Stanley Kubrick

Raheem Miah: “Now here's an epic that has no need for the Bible, just good old human drama brought right down to ancient Earth. Snails and oysters for all men!”

Paths of Glory

Stanley Kubrick

Raheem Miah: “The military complex is rather simple: those who have little power shoulder all the blame. Kubrick puts the corruption right on this beautiful film.”

The Killing

Stanley Kubrick

Raheem Miah: “A young Kubrick makes a crackerjack heist film that manages to follow the rules while breaking them. And "Killer's Kiss" is good despite itself.”

Le Havre

Aki Kaurismäki

Raheem Miah: “Kaurismaki may not seem like a director so invested in humanity's goodness, but I think a well-placed pineapple says a lot.”

Shoot the Piano Player

François Truffaut

Raheem Miah: “One of my favorite Truffaut romps, this little number goes something like this: love, death, intrigue, humor, and crime. Play it again, François.”

Chasing Amy

Kevin Smith

Raheem Miah: “Not only a funny and charming movie, but also a funny and charming DVD. If you don't usually press the color bars button, do it for this one.”

Sólo con tu pareja

Alfonso Cuarón

Raheem Miah: “Cuaron knows how to make sexy movies be they comedies or dramas. And this one is a comedy, funny even without your partner.”

The Last Metro

François Truffaut

Raheem Miah: “For some reason, I love movies about fighting Nazis in occupied France. Common people fighting an uncommon evil is made greater by Truffaut.”

White Mane

Albert Lamorisse

Raheem Miah: “The life of a wild horse is tragic, of course of course. But never forget that we were all wild once. Lamorisse will help you remember.”

Letter Never Sent

Mikhail Kalatozov

Raheem Miah: “The most stunning camerawork I have ever seen, you will get dizzy with joy and suspense. For the lack of extras, this one just may be too obscure.”

The Red Balloon

Albert Lamorisse

Raheem Miah: “Lamorisse knew how to make a timeless children's classic and inspire a whole generation of balloon lovers. Most charming French film ever.”

White Dog

Samuel Fuller

Raheem Miah: “As a black man, I was afraid to watch this film and the vicious dog within. Now, I can think of nothing more important for any good person to see.”

Paddle to the Sea

William Mason

Raheem Miah: “A charming little film with stunning footage of North American wilderness, this movie is one for all generations for all time.”

Simon of the Desert

Luis Buñuel

Raheem Miah: “Essential atheist watching from one of the best atheists. Marvel at the ultimate battle between a man on a podium and a topless Satan! And a plane!”

Still Walking

Hirokazu Kore-eda

Raheem Miah: “A beauty of a film with sunshine all around and a dark lining that makes the truth of love, family, and mourning all the more brilliant.”

Brazil

Terry Gilliam

Raheem Miah: “I don't know who's more incompetent, the future bureaucracy or Universal. Either way, Terry Gilliam finally got his wings and soared above them all.”

Stagecoach

John Ford

Raheem Miah: “Rippin', roarin', drinkin', whorin', the only way to travel through Monument Valley is with a six-shooter and a hella lotta gumption.”

The Tin Drum

Volker Schlöndorff

Raheem Miah: “Longer, better, louder...the only way to watch a strange odyssey through Nazi-era Germany is through the eyes of a little drummer boy. In Blu-ray.”

Chungking Express

Wong Kar-wai

Raheem Miah: “One of the most beautiful experiences a person can have while repeatedly hearing "California Dreamin'". Plus, cute Chinese pixie girl.”

Following

Christopher Nolan

Raheem Miah: “Nolan makes you follow where he's going, and just when you think you got him figured, he brings down the hammer. No budget, all talent.”

Essential Art House, Volume I

Raheem Miah: “Merry Christmas to me! This set is full of gems, including an out-of-print title, and even the extra Rashomon is always good as a DVD back-up.”

Eclipse Series 29: Aki Kaurismäki’s Leningrad Cowboys

Aki Kaurismäki

Raheem Miah: “They are the rockingest band from Finland to America to Mexico and back again. Kaurismaki shows that he knows how to crack a wry smile.”

Night and Fog

Alain Resnais

Raheem Miah: “Resnais was one of the first filmmaker to speak for those who no longer had voices. Haunting, intense, brilliant.”

The Lady Vanishes

Alfred Hitchcock

Raheem Miah: “Hitchcock is known for suspense, but those jowls also sported good fun and wicked humor. Even alongside his best works, this one stands tall.”

Kapò

Gillo Pontecorvo

Raheem Miah: “Just 14 years out from the Holocaust, Pontecorvo made this film that showed the evil one can do to survive the evil one endures. Brilliant.”

The Human Condition

Masaki Kobayashi

Raheem Miah: “Tatsuya Nakadai is one of my favorite actors because of this movie. An epic parade of human misery and inhuman cruelty that I can enjoy every time.”

Eclipse Series 11: Larisa Shepitko

Larisa Shepitko

Raheem Miah: “I must have a thing for directors who died young, because Ms. Shepitko started in the air and ascended ever higher. She only had room to grow.”

Dazed and Confused

Richard Linklater

Raheem Miah: “In the summer of my youth, I once rocked the DVD to this great movie. But the Blu-ray really gives me sweet emotion.”

Videodrome

David Cronenberg

Raheem Miah: “I finally got this movie again, and in Blu-ray this time. It feels like the new flesh all over again.”

Ugetsu

Kenji Mizoguchi

Raheem Miah: “One of the saddest things I've ever seen, it makes no distinction between fantasy and reality. For all Mizoguchi cares, they both carry human weight.”

Close-up

Abbas Kiarostami

Raheem Miah: “I watched this early in the morning, and it enraptured my tired brain immediately. Seems so simple, but maybe that's just how I reflect on it.”

Playtime

Jacques Tati

Raheem Miah: “As fun as it sounds, Tati balances so many spinning plates while still playing it clumsy. Playtime does more than ten films running twice as long.”

The 400 Blows

François Truffaut

Raheem Miah: “I haven't seen Antoine Doinel's whole life yet, but if it starts out this way, it can only get worse...exactly the opposite of Truffaut's movies.”

Bicycle Thieves

Vittorio De Sica

Raheem Miah: “Once the best film ever, and now, still pretty great. I can't ride a bike, but I can understand loss. And this movie hasn't lost me yet.”

Andrei Rublev

Andrei Tarkovsky

Raheem Miah: “Tarkovsky is one of my favorite directors, and this portrait of Andrei Rublev just lends credence to that assertion. Take that, Soviet censors!”

Rashomon

Akira Kurosawa

Raheem Miah: “I could make a joke about what people say about this movie, but just watch it. Then you'll say the same thing...but differently.”

In the Mood for Love

Wong Kar-wai

Raheem Miah: “Longing is painful, but I wish it always looked this beautiful. The first masterpiece of the new century of film.”

Carl Theodor Dreyer Box Set

Raheem Miah: “A master's masterworks deserve no less than this release. He knew faith better than any pope ever.”

L’avventura

Michelangelo Antonioni

Raheem Miah: “I didn't get it at first, like much Antonioni, but I will say: I'm glad that there were no answers. This film isn't meant to ask questions anyway.”

Seven Samurai

Akira Kurosawa

Raheem Miah: “On the list of must-see films, I'd say that this one ranks...seventh? Nah, maybe higher, but definitely one of the best accomplishments ever.”

Au hasard Balthazar

Robert Bresson

Raheem Miah: “I didn't get it at first, but I did feel sincere sadness. If I didn't, I'd feel like a real jackass.”

Late Spring

Yasujiro Ozu

Raheem Miah: “I will one day have a daughter, and when she gets married, I'll peel a banana alone. I don't peel apples well.”

The Complete Jean Vigo

Raheem Miah: “This kid was dynamite. Cinema lost a legend in the making, so thank God for Criterion preserving what is essentially young genius at work.”

High and Low

Akira Kurosawa

Raheem Miah: “Kurosawa fit every kind of suspense in this one film and makes it seem easy. It speaks to all, whether high or low in life.”

Breathless

Jean-Luc Godard

Raheem Miah: “Godard's first and most accessible film. He was such a dear kid back then that the film explodes with youthful energy free of bitter politics.”

La Jetée/Sans Soleil

Chris Marker

Raheem Miah: “Chris Marker didn't need to move pictures in order to move an audience. Two great films that perfect both narrative and abstraction.”

The Battle of Algiers

Gillo Pontecorvo

Raheem Miah: “This movie is in black and white, but the morality is anything but. A revolutionary picture about a revolution that still revolutes today.”

Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles

Chantal Akerman

Raheem Miah: “It's like a nail being hammered into the front of your head, and I mean that in the best way.”

Contempt

Jean-Luc Godard

Raheem Miah: “"Contempt" is too soft a word for the loathing in this film. If love is a red dress, I'd rather watch this movie with a naked Brigitte Bardot.”

Pierrot le fou

Jean-Luc Godard

Raheem Miah: “Colorful and political, this film could very well inspire me like it did Chantal Akerman. Certainly makes me want to run away with Anna Karina.”

Tokyo Story

Yasujiro Ozu

Raheem Miah: “It's the purest, simplest tale of familial love and loss. I may only have 150 characters to use here, but Ozu could do it in less and say even more.”

The Rules of the Game

Jean Renoir

Raheem Miah: “Renoir didn't just invent the rules of the game, he made the game and won it. I like to call it "The Bougie Boogie", because I'm a nerd.”

The Passion of Joan of Arc

Carl Th. Dreyer

Raheem Miah: “It's silent yet speaks volumes. I can hardly believe this film was lost for so long, but thankfully, our faith in cinema was rewarded.”

8½

Federico Fellini

Raheem Miah: “This movie is about how to make a great movie while also being a great movie. Charming, lyrical, and sexy Italian cool.”