Spotlight
Under the Influence
In this ongoing series of videos, contemporary filmmakers talk to us about the movies that have had a lasting impact on their work.
Current
An online magazine covering film culture past and present
The Mancini Touch
The music of the legendary, multiple-Oscar-winning composer brought the freedom and anxiety of postwar America to life.
Daddy Longlegs: Presto Magic!
The Safdie brothers drew inspiration from their childhood memories for their first feature as codirectors, a terrifying yet wondrous portrait of an unpredictable father.
Eagle Pennell, the Last Cowboy
An indie pioneer whose life was cut tragically short, the Texas filmmaker found grace in the tedium of repressive small-town existence.
Heidi Bivens’s Top 10
The costume designer, known for her work on Inland Empire, Spring Breakers, and Euphoria, reflects on a few favorite movies that have shaped her aesthetic sensibility.
The Criterion Channel’s August 2022 Lineup
Beat the heat with our extensive survey of Chinese representation in American film as well as tributes to Yaphet Kotto, David Gulpilil, and Myrna Loy.
The Cosmos According to Ulrike Ottinger
A seductive brew of decadence, dada, and drag, the German director’s fantastical films embrace the possibilities of female visual pleasure.
Cinema Pugilistica: A Century of Boxing on Film
Entwined with the evolution of American culture, boxing movies have used the microcosm of the ring to tackle issues of race, class, gender, and labor.
Devil in a Blue Dress: Crossing the Line
A brutal critique of the American dream, Carl Franklin’s 1995 thriller explicitly confronts the racialized implications of classic film noir.
Drive My Car: Grace Notes
Centered on a grieving theater director and his driver, Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Oscar-winning drama is a quiet meditation on the mysteries of communication, the flexibility of truth, and the search for honesty.
An Enigma Made Flesh: Delphine Seyrig in Golden Eighties
In her last significant film role, the art-house icon reveals an emotional vulnerability previously hidden by her ethereal persona.
The Evolution of a “Superpig”: Designing Okja, from Start to Finish
Both intimidatingly massive and deeply sympathetic, the creature at the heart of Bong Joon Ho’s meat-industry fable is the product of a close collaboration between the director and artist Jang Hee Chul.
Raging Bull: American Minotaur
Stylistically informed by film noir, Martin Scorsese’s searing drama plumbs male violence and rage through a boxing champ’s self-destruction.
