The Criterion Collection

Antichrist

Lars von Trier

Che

Steven Soderbergh

Repo Man

Alex Cox

Badlands

Terrence Malick

Christian Cowart: “Violent Kit's innocence in a world of consumerism reveals the inability for people to create self renowned fame through their or other's possessions.”

Le cercle rouge

Jean-Pierre Melville

Army of Shadows

Jean-Pierre Melville

Le Samouraï

Jean-Pierre Melville

Christian Cowart: “Truly inquisitive movie about existentialism and the purpose of man in a capitalist society through the eyes of a modern samurai, an assassin. ”

L’avventura

Michelangelo Antonioni

Christian Cowart: “Moving out of Italian Neorealism, this film utilizes ennui and characterization to reveal the corruption of human perception to account for history.”

Branded to Kill

Seijun Suzuki

Umberto D.

Vittorio De Sica

Christian Cowart: “Powerful movie about the Italian poverty and the depth of human suffering during the Fascist period in Italy. ”

Last Year at Marienbad

Alain Resnais

Christian Cowart: “The film itself loses any notion of time and forces the viewer into a state of suspended animation allowing us to interact with the art of film.”

Contempt

Jean-Luc Godard

Christian Cowart: “Fritz Lang acting as a director in a movie directed by Jean Luc Godard. This movie reveals either the unnatural qualities of life or cinema”

Ivan’s Childhood

Andrei Tarkovsky

8½

Federico Fellini

Christian Cowart: “This movie explores the inner workings of the mind and unravels that what is there is with us all along, all of the people we take for granted.”

Following

Christopher Nolan

Christian Cowart: “Amazing movie. You can tell where this movie inspired Memento, especially with the cinematography and non linear story line.”

The Killing

Stanley Kubrick

The Man Who Fell to Earth

Nicolas Roeg

Christian Cowart: “The alienation the viewer derives from Tommy and the complex narration result in a depiction of modern people as isolated in science and capitalism.”

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

Wes Anderson

Christian Cowart: “The soundtrack of this film is greatness and really establishes a great directors Auteur Theory. ”

Made in U.S.A

Jean-Luc Godard

Three Colors

Krzysztof Kieślowski

Christian Cowart: “The most inspiring cinematic eye and reveals the ability for a movie to coalesce emotion and not force it onto the viewer.”

World on a Wire

Rainer Werner Fassbinder

The 400 Blows

François Truffaut

Christian Cowart: “Truffaut leaves no doubt that adults desire perfection in youth because they could never achieve it themselves, childhood is Wordsworthian innocence.”

M

Fritz Lang

Christian Cowart: “Lang's satire on the justice system is impeccably accurate and a disturbing realization-- the infallibility of man to yield a morally just sentence.”

Paris, Texas

Wim Wenders

Christian Cowart: “Powerful cinematography and characterization. This movie profoundly questions the nature of man in both the parental sense and the isolation in modern”

Insignificance

Nicolas Roeg

Christian Cowart: “When "The Profesor" destroys his entire life work, it made me realize the nature of fame and that no one would care if intelligence was thrown on them”

Black Moon

Louis Malle

Christian Cowart: “This surrealist movie is the most abstract movie I have ever seen, yet throughly captivating. The depiction of sexuality and masculinity is disturbing”

Black Narcissus

Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger

Christian Cowart: “Powerful film with great acting, incredible cinematography, and a powerful story that really make me wonder about religious individuality and isolatio”

Europa

Lars von Trier

Christian Cowart: “Hypnotic with some fascinating stylistic imagery. The question of America as God and the justness of the Post Ad Bellum of World War 2”

Breathless

Jean-Luc Godard

Christian Cowart: “Great film by Godard because the limited dialogue in this movie and the characterization are so powerful that the ending is extremely genuine”

Walkabout

Nicolas Roeg

Christian Cowart: “This poetic depiction of the savagery in modern culture is brilliant. Roeg coalesces imagery and sound to make a captivating analysis on civilization”

Solaris

Andrei Tarkovsky

Christian Cowart: “Tarkovsky genuinely reveals a different aspect of technology and human nature than any other sci fi film. ”

Wild Strawberries

Ingmar Bergman

Christian Cowart: “Bergman's philosophical inquiry of religion and death through captivating imagery with unique transitional editing from reality to the reveries. ”

Vivre sa vie

Jean-Luc Godard

Christian Cowart: “Godard's commentary on the expression of the soul through a person's actions and speech mediating with a prostitute and the love of his life.”

Black Orpheus

Marcel Camus

Christian Cowart: “Camus propels the mythological classic to become genuinely unique and reveal that history repeats itself in life and nature”

Pierrot le fou

Jean-Luc Godard

Christian Cowart: “Godard's usage of literature & art onto the basic nature of man reveals echelons of human nature that are eerie and adults as perpetual children”

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

David Fincher

Christian Cowart: “David Fincher and F. Scott Fitzgerald... You can never go wrong. An impecable poetical adaptation that anyone will enjoy watching.”

Paths of Glory

Stanley Kubrick

Christian Cowart: “The most logical antiwar film ever made Kubrick utilizes logos to make viewers understand that emotions & reason are regrettably suspended during war.”

Rosemary’s Baby

Roman Polanski

Christian Cowart: “Three American films that actually are scary: The Exorcist, The Shining, and Rosemary's Baby. Nothing is scarier than the real nature of human beings.”

Weekend

Jean-Luc Godard

Christian Cowart: “Godard conveys modernity as eliciting the dehumanization of man & art and the reversion of a class society into individual savagery or Capitalism.”

Trilogy of Life

Pier Paolo Pasolini

Christian Cowart: “Pasolini plays with Italian censorship and the perversion of sex in modernity to reveal the dichotomy between the historical past and the present.”

The Red Shoes

Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger

Christian Cowart: “I realized the implications this film has on a variety of films. After seeing this, modern directors can't take the red shoes off for their swan lake.”

Repulsion

Roman Polanski

Christian Cowart: “Roman Polanski's early work with simple cinematography and intensely passionate acting make this film fantastic”

Belle de jour

Luis Buñuel

Christian Cowart: “This movie is incredible. Belle De Jour leaves the viewer pondering whether women can separate sexual and emotion love and still be moral”

The Last Temptation of Christ

Martin Scorsese

Christian Cowart: “Genius movie and excellent portrayal of Christ as a human being. Scorcesse gives Jesus the thoughts that each person imposes on him”

Naked Lunch

David Cronenberg

Christian Cowart: “This movie was not my favorite. I did like the commentary on the process of writing, but I was expecting a movie over the book and that's not correct”

Great Expectations

David Lean

Christian Cowart: “David Lean and Charles Dickens would have gotten along well if they lived during the same time period”

Time Bandits

Terry Gilliam

Christian Cowart: “Witty satire of a historical past and religious morality told from the perspective of a child directed towards children by the vulgar Gilliam. Ironic.”

Fanny and Alexander — The Theatrical Version

Ingmar Bergman

Christian Cowart: “The ostentatious bourgeoise juxtaposed with the corrupt clergy tied together with allegorical allusions to Hamlet makes this film excellent.”

Being John Malkovich

Spike Jonze

Christian Cowart: “Classic movie by the best screenwriter of my generation, Charlie Kaufman.”

Cronos

Guillermo del Toro

Christian Cowart: “A unique depiction of vampires, but not my favorite one as it is minuscule compared to Coppola's Bram Stoker's version.”

12 Angry Men

Sidney Lumet

Christian Cowart: “A must see.”

Spartacus

Stanley Kubrick

Christian Cowart: “I AM SPARTACUS! The war scene in this movie is incredibly filmed and the acting is phenomenal ”

Traffic

Steven Soderbergh

Christian Cowart: “No movie could transcribe my perception of drugs better than this movie. This movie should be shown to every corrupt politician. ”

Rushmore

Wes Anderson

Christian Cowart: “Great Wes Anderson film, but not my favorite. ”

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Terry Gilliam

Christian Cowart: “Thompson and Gonzo are one hell of a duo. How can you not be intrigued by their debaucherous lives. ”

The Royal Tenenbaums

Wes Anderson

Christian Cowart: “"I always wanted to be a Tenenbaum, you know?"”

House

Nobuhiko Obayashi

Christian Cowart: “Just so outlandish that this movie really captivated me and I am always down to rewatch over and over. ”

The Seventh Seal

Ingmar Bergman

Christian Cowart: “The cinematography of this film and the imagery are incredible. This movie always leaves me pondering the existential nature of my life.”

Carnival of Souls

Herk Harvey

Christian Cowart: “The characterization that this movie depicts is really superb and allows for the viewer to enter the Carnival”

The Spirit of the Beehive

Víctor Erice

Christian Cowart: “Incorporating Frankenstein into the imagination and innocence of children. This movie gives me chills every time I watch it.”