The Criterion Collection
Essays
May 31, 1999 — In Abbas Kiarostami’s universe, it might be said, there are no things, only relations between things. Likewise, in his cinema: no films, only relations between films—and within them. And between them and us.Three and one. The most celebrated of Iran’s...
Essays
Apr 26, 1999 — At some point in their lives, probably every sleepless person has switched on the TV in the wee hours of a weekend morning and chanced upon a fishing show. Invariably, a beefy, half-forgotten retired athlete shares a boat with some...
Essays
Feb 22, 1999 — To experience a film by Japanese B-movie visionary Seijun Suzuki is to experience Japanese cinema in all its frenzied, voluptuous excess. Born in Tokyo in 1923, Seijun Suzuki is best known for a cycle of extraordinary yakuza (gangster) movies he...
Essays
Jun 10, 1996 — Ever since Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction created a sensation at [this year’s] Cannes Film Festival, where it won top honors (the Palme d’Or), it has been swathed in the wildest hyperbole. In fact, it has sparked an excitement bound to...
Sep 24, 1990 — Imagine Hitchcock’s Psycho told from the point of view of its title character, and you have a rough idea of Taxi Driver. This riveting 1976 film is at once a thriller, a psychological case study, an exploration of the eroticism...
Essays
Apr 23, 1990 — Paying little attention to civilized rules of cinema, and with a bit more than one million dollars, Steven Soderbergh expresses all his hidden anxieties in this indie classic.
Oct 15, 2050 — Voice-over narration has existed since the beginnings of cinema and has been an integral part of some of the great masterworks of narrative film, from The Magnificent Ambersons to Double Indemnity to Jules and Jim to Taxi Driver. It spans...
Nov 19, 2024 — Ray Yeung is a Hong Kong filmmaker who has made four feature films. His latest work, All Shall Be Well, premiered at the 2024 Berlinale International Film Festival, where it won the prestigious Teddy Award and secured third place for...
Jan 19, 2022 — Ryusuke Hamaguchi was born in 1978. He made his first major appearance on the global stage with Happy Hour, a 317-minute feature film that premiered at the Locarno International Film Festival and went on to win major awards at numerous...
Jul 6, 2020 — Josephine Decker’s most recent feature film, Shirley, which was released in June by Neon, premiered in U.S. Dramatic Competition at Sundance, where it received the Special Jury Award for Auteur Filmmaking. Madeline’s Madeline, Josephine's previous film, premiered at the 2018...