The Criterion Collection
The struggles of ordinary Americans are foregrounded in this acclaimed auteur’s understated yet deeply humanistic films.
A titan of American independent cinema, the iconoclastic director has sustained an aesthetic of cool through irreverent dramas and deadpan comedies that subvert genre codes.
An instantly recognizable icon of the twentieth century, this pioneering actor and director blended slapstick humor with poignant social commentary in some of the most beloved comedies of the silent era.
Widely revered as the Master of Suspense, the celebrated director revolutionized popular cinema with his psychosexual thrillers and meticulously plotted mysteries, which often feature icy blondes and macabre men.
The writer, director, actor, and producer shares what Marlon Riggs’s work means to her as a Black queer filmmaker, praises Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s radical approach to melodrama, and spotlights Chantal Akerman, Agnès Varda, and other directors whose work she can’t...
The Oscar-winning writer and director talks about Army of Shadows and Jean-Pierre Melville’s cinema of betrayal, shares his love for Denis Lavant's dancing in Beau travail, and selects favorites by Yasujiro Ozu, Ernst Lubitsch, and Nicholas Ray.
The acclaimed actor shares his affection for the dark humor of The Cremator, credits Benicio del Toro with introducing him to the films of Kaneto Shindo, and praises Mexican-cinema classics like Canoa: A Shameful Memory and Amores perros.
Hailing from New Zealand, the Oscar-winning director has made lush historical dramas, harrowing coming-of-age tales, and seedy detective thrillers—all united by an interest in emotional turmoil and the vagaries of desire.
In her raw, evocative dramas, this acclaimed French director has examined the effects of colonialism in Africa and the human struggle for intimacy in a violent and alienating world.
The musician and member of Portishead talks about the overwhelming experience of watching Antichrist, a score he cowrote for The Passion of Joan of Arc, and his memory of a BBC broadcast of Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence.