The Criterion Collection

Monsieur Verdoux

Charles Chaplin

M_Mayer: “Chaplin made great works of importance in his latter years. Verdoux is a testament to the nature of his personality. ”

The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp

Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger

M_Mayer: “The most well-constructed epic there is, with an outstanding transfer. Roger Livesey and Anton Walbrook are fantastic.”

Ministry of Fear

Fritz Lang

M_Mayer: “Shame it was dumped in the spring. It's one of the finest film noir instances. Full of disarming moments of comedy and whacky expressionist absurdism.”

Naked

Mike Leigh

M_Mayer: “Unsettling and mesmerizing, this is one of the best works of British realism. Its truth is painful and its characters are disdainful. Brilliant work!”

The Times of Harvey Milk

Robert Epstein

M_Mayer: “A beautiful documentary. Mark Isham's score is so majestic and befitting for Harvey Milk.”

The Ballad of Narayama

Keisuke Kinoshita

M_Mayer: “Superb! Stylistically unmatched and incredibly beautiful. The story is solemn, the staging is otherworldly.”

The Tin Drum

Volker Schlöndorff

M_Mayer: “A seamless blend of fantasy and reality. Stunted growth and shattered glass abound”

The Man Who Knew Too Much

Alfred Hitchcock

M_Mayer: “1. A clever black comedy 2. A lunatic Lorre 3. A glimpse into a bygone, gun-toting England ”

Weekend

Jean-Luc Godard

M_Mayer: “Despicably flamboyant and flamboyantly despicable. I love the scope and depth at which Godard works here. ”

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

David Fincher

M_Mayer: “Fincher uses modern technology wisely and I love him for it. Pitt has been a steady stellar actor for several years. They've made great use of time”

Trilogy of Life

Pier Paolo Pasolini

M_Mayer: “A richly organic set - organic in set design, in the handling of the subject matter. As a precursor to Pasolini's "Salo", it's all the more effective”

Eating Raoul

Paul Bartel

M_Mayer: “Sophisticated and raunchy at the same time, it's exactly the type of film that should be in Criterion's hands. ”

Purple Noon

René Clément

M_Mayer: “Within a terrifically crisp transfer, Clement's 1960 picture is vivid and spectacular - he made it stylish and entertaining.”

Walkabout

Nicolas Roeg

M_Mayer: “I love how Roeg brings the commercial to the wilderness and the wilderness to the commercial. ”

The Game

David Fincher

M_Mayer: “Great characterizations. The cinematography in Fincher's films is something to be marvelled. It does so much here to accentuate Nicholas Van Orton. ”

Lonesome

Paul Fejos

M_Mayer: “Paul Fejo's cinematic direction of fictional work just strikes me as effortless, since there was so much he juggled with in his life and career.”

Branded to Kill

Seijun Suzuki

M_Mayer: “Japanese cinema thrived for such a short time because it was dynamically ahead of its time. Modern auteurs like Tarantino reflect its bravura”

Letter Never Sent

Mikhail Kalatozov

M_Mayer: “Sharp and devastating, this is philosophical Russian cinema at the top of its form - in the same vein as the other diamond, "Stalker", from Tarkovsky”

Le Havre

Aki Kaurismäki

M_Mayer: “Aki Kaurismäki is one of the most rewarding directors because his reputation is not bloated and his films are remarkable efforts. ”

The Complete Jean Vigo

M_Mayer: “A great box set! Each film has substance, no matter if it breaths for ten minutes or ninety.”

Rosemary’s Baby

Roman Polanski

M_Mayer: “Marking a good, old-fashioned revival of Paramount Pictures and satanism, here's a daring thriller, plunging into blasphemous transposition.”

Kiss Me Deadly

Robert Aldrich

M_Mayer: “It's the coolest definition of the word "pretentious"”

The Great Dictator

Charles Chaplin

M_Mayer: “The amount of courage mustered to helm this film was admirable because it's a necessity. Its rightful place is at Criterion. ”

World on a Wire

Rainer Werner Fassbinder

M_Mayer: “I was really impressed. I totally enjoyed it. Klaus Lowitsch as Fred Stiller is a fantastic character, a great make-up of sauveness and frailty”

Les visiteurs du soir

Marcel Carné

M_Mayer: “Standing on its own, it is full of emotional intensity. But serving as an allegory for Hitler's malice, that emotional intensity is twofold ”

The Rules of the Game

Jean Renoir

M_Mayer: “In this honest film, Renoir doesn't show us class distinctions because each character feels indistinguishable. Each is human, with love and lust”

The Hidden Fortress

Akira Kurosawa

M_Mayer: “I'm a huge sucker for chivalrous and feudal fanfare. Those characteristics of Kurosawa's work are a rank favourite of mine .”

Orpheus

Jean Cocteau

M_Mayer: “Great fun! A thrilling feature, with everything imaginable, even a talking car and the personification of Death. Jean Marais is magnificent as Orpheus”

Traffic

Steven Soderbergh

M_Mayer: “From the film grain of the Mexico scenes to the character development, world-weariness and candid theme swamp Traffic. ”

Salò, or The 120 Days of Sodom

Pier Paolo Pasolini

M_Mayer: “A doubly potent dose, Salo is a truly sinister work in performance and theme. Pasolini made stunning transpositions in his lifetime. ”

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

Wes Anderson

M_Mayer: “A great edition to the uncommon area of nautical-based film, The Life Aquatic lends ear and eye to the surliness of kin and sea”

The Darjeeling Limited

Wes Anderson

M_Mayer: “When unfamiliar places are coupled with familiarity between three brothers, something genuine and compelling is created. ”

The Royal Tenenbaums

Wes Anderson

M_Mayer: “Anderson's family saga of jilted relationships, The Royal Tenenbaums takes setting in a surprisingly quieted New York City.”

Chasing Amy

Kevin Smith

M_Mayer: “Chasing Amy is Smith’s cool and cohesive commentary, marking a personal and collective achievement. ”

Black Narcissus

Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger

M_Mayer: “From the genii of Powell & Pressburger, Black Narcissus is an urgent account of absorbing jealousy and eroticism”

In the Realm of the Senses

Nagisa Oshima

M_Mayer: “This truly showcases the ‘art’ of pornography – great writing, sensuous design and thrilling characters”

Identification of a Woman

Michelangelo Antonioni

M_Mayer: “Seemingly on the same wavelength as 8 1/2, Idenitfication of a Woman smells of desperation coupled with very little restraint”

The Night of the Hunter

Charles Laughton

M_Mayer: “In a terrifying ode to German Expressionist film, Charles Laughton depicts a directorial and cinematic triumph!”

House

Nobuhiko Obayashi

M_Mayer: “A great edition to Kaidan horror films, this is a deliciously sinister piece in Criterion's cherished répertoire.”

8½

Federico Fellini

M_Mayer: “Bears both heavily (in repression and crisis) and lightly (in a fantastical dream mood) on the soul”

Grand Illusion

Jean Renoir

M_Mayer: “Surviving the war with gentle pacifism and reserved love, it rests and rejoices on the shoulder of an enduring body. ”