Coming Attractions: The Criterion Channel’s May Lineup

It’s going to be a packed month on the Criterion Channel, with a spotlight on the unforgettable female characters of a classic Hollywood master, a tribute to the great Japanese cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa, a new episode of Adventures in Moviegoing with Sofia Coppola, and much more! As promised, you can expect a new curated program highlighted every day of the week. And in case you missed the news, you can now search the more than 1,500 titles available on the service with our new desktop-only All Films page, where you can sort movies by title, director, country, and year.

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And now, here’s our May programming!

WEDNESDAY, MAY 1

Masterclass: Kelly Reichardt
The fiercely independent director explores her working methods in an interview with critic April Wolfe. Plus, a selection of four of her most acclaimed films: River of Grass (1994), Old Joy (2006), Wendy and Lucy (2008), Meek’s Cutoff (2010)

THURSDAY, MAY 2

In a Lonely Place (Nicholas Ray, 1950)

FRIDAY, MAY 3

Double Feature: Nights of Cabiria and Smithereens
Two women have what it takes to survive in a Fellini classic and an eighties punk time capsule.

SATURDAY, MAY 4

Saturday Matinee: Safety Last!
Laugh-out-loud funny and jaw-dropping in equal measure, this silent classic is anchored by Harold Lloyd’s career-defining performance.

SUNDAY, MAY 5

George Cukor’s Women
A spotlight on one of classic Hollywood’s master craftsmen and his complex, unforgettable heroines, featuring an illustrated audio conversation between Cukor and filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich, and the following movies: What Price Hollywood? (1932), Our Betters (1932), Dinner at Eight (1933), Little Women (1933), Sylvia Scarlett (1935), Camille (1936), The Women (1939), A Woman’s Face (1941), Two-Faced Woman (1942), Gaslight (1944)

MONDAY, MAY 6

Barry Jenkins Presents Uptight
The Moonlight director introduces an unsung classic of political cinema.

Art-House America: The Belcourt Theatre
Discover the beloved Nashville cinema that once served as the first stage for the Grand Ole Opry.

TUESDAY, MAY 7

Short + Feature: Logorama and Masculin féminin
Ronald McDonald meets the children of Marx and Coca-Cola.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 8

Joanna Hogg x 3
Featuring a new interview with Hogg
Three quietly shattering, slow-burn films by the acclaimed director: Unrelated (2007), Archipelago (2010), Exhibition (2013)

Army of Shadows (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1969)
Criterion Collection Edition #385

THURSDAY, MAY 9

The Night of the Hunter (Charles Laughton, 1955)
Criterion Collection Edition #541
Featuring an introduction by filmmaker Guillermo del Toro

FRIDAY, MAY 10

Double Feature: Persona and Mulholland Dr.
Identities warp and merge in these studies of fractured female psyches.

SATURDAY, MAY 11

Saturday Matinee: Beauty and the Beast
Jean Cocteau’s sublime adaptation of Mme. Leprince de Beaumont’s fairy tale is a landmark of motion picture fantasy.

SUNDAY, MAY 12

Mommy Issues
A Mother’s Day salute to the memorable screen moms we’d never forget to call, featuring: Mildred Pierce (Michael Curtiz, 1945), White Heat (Raoul Walsh, 1949), Onibaba (Kaneto Shindo, 1964), Grey Gardens (Albert Maysles, David Maysles, Ellen Hovde, and Muffie Meyer, 1976), Secrets & Lies (Mike Leigh, 1996), Mother (Albert Brooks, 1996), I Killed My Mother (Xavier Dolan, 2009), Tiny Furniture (Lena Dunham, 2010)

Onibaba (Kaneto Shindo, 1964)
Criterion Collection Edition #226

MONDAY, MAY 13

Tiny Furniture (Lena Dunham, 2010)
Criterion Collection Edition #597

TUESDAY, MAY 14

Short + Feature: Tidy Up and Dodes’ka-den
One person’s trash is another’s treasure in these moving looks at salvaged lives.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 15

My Brilliant Career (Gillian Armstrong, 1979)
Criterion Collection Edition #973

THURSDAY, MAY 16

Moonrise (Frank Borzage, 1948)
Criterion Collection Edition #921

FRIDAY, MAY 17

Double Feature: Paths of Glory and Ace in the Hole
Kirk Douglas is at his explosive best in these searing moral dramas by Stanley Kubrick and Billy Wilder.

SATURDAY, MAY 18

Saturday Matinee: The Red Balloon and White Mane
Let your imagination soar with these child’s-eye visions of wonder.

SUNDAY, MAY 19

Cinematography by Kazuo Miyagawa
Japan’s preeminent poet of light and shadow shot masterpieces by Kurosawa, Mizoguchi, and Ozu.

The series features: Rashomon (Akira Kurosawa, 1950), Ugetsu (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1953), A Story from Chikamatsu (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1954), Sansho the Bailiff (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1954), Street of Shame (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1956), Conflagration (Kon Ichikawa, 1958), Odd Obsession (Kon Ichikawa, 1959), Floating Weeds (Yasujiro Ozu, 1959), Yojimbo (Akira Kurosawa, 1961), Zatoichi and the Chest of Gold (Kazuo Ikehiro, 1964), Tokyo Olympiad (Kon Ichikawa, 1965), Silence (Masahiro Shinoda, 1971), Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in Peril (Buichi Saito, 1972)

MONDAY, MAY 20

Observations on Film Art No. 27: Games of Vision in Street of Shame
Professor David Bordwell unpacks the sophisticated visual design of Kenji Mizoguchi’s final masterpiece.

Yojimbo (Akira Kurosawa, 1961)
Criterion Collection Edition #52

TUESDAY, MAY 21

Short + Feature: Needle and Mouchette
The end of childhood comes with a jolt in these sublimely spare studies of female adolescence.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 22

Girlfriends
Featuring an introduction by director Claudia Weill
A raw, funny-sad look at life, love, and female friendship in 1970s New York

THURSDAY, MAY 23

Hong Sang-soo x 3
Featuring an introduction by Phillip Lopate
Three emotional puzzle boxes from the playfully spontaneous South Korean director: The Day He Arrives (2011), On the Beach at Night Alone (2017), Claire’s Camera (2017)

Tampopo (Juzo Itami, 1985)
Criterion Collection Edition #868

FRIDAY, MAY 24

Double Feature: Picnic at Hanging Rock and The Virgin Suicides
Spacey, spectral teenage reveries from Sofia Coppola and Peter Weir

SATURDAY, MAY 25

Saturday Matinee: The Thief of Bagdad
This marvel by legendary producer Alexander Korda is one of the most spectacular fantasy films ever made, an eye-popping effects pioneer brimming with imagination and technical wizardry.

SUNDAY, MAY 26

Sofia Coppola’s Adventures in Moviegoing
The Virgin Suicides director selects masterpieces of mood by Akerman, Antonioni, Jarmusch, and more.

MONDAY, MAY 27

The Third Man (Carol Reed, 1949)
Criterion Collection Edition #64

TUESDAY, MAY 28

Short + Feature: Butter Lamp and Yi Yi
A picture’s worth a thousand words in these films that foreground our fascination with photography.

45 Years (Andrew Haigh, 2015)
Criterion Collection Edition #861

WEDNESDAY, MAY 29

Directed by Anna Biller
Gonzo feminist fantasias from a filmmaker who tweaks kitsch to subversive ends: The Love Witch (2016), Viva (2007), Three Examples of Myself as a Queen (1994), A Visit from the Incubus (2001), The Hypnotist (2001)

THURSDAY, MAY 30

Paolo and Vittorio Taviani x 3
Featuring a conversation between the filmmakers and film historian Richard Peña
Cosmic visions from the neo-neorealist giants of Italian cinema: Padre Padrone (1977), Night of the Shooting Stars (1982), Kaos (1984)

FRIDAY, MAY 31

Double Feature: Gaslight and My Name Is Julia Ross
Trust no man in these tense tales of psychological terror.