The Criterion Collection
The writer and director of Magellan praises the use of silence and space in Le samouraï, talks about how Mike Leigh and Kenji Mizoguchi explore the human condition in their films, and selects his good friend Béla Tarr's Werckmeister Harmonies.
The director of All Quiet on the Western Front and Conclave shares his love for Downhill Racer and its innovative sound design, talks about the emotional impact of Cold War, and selects a few of Roberto Rossellini’s films featuring Ingrid...
The artist and codirector of Agnès Varda’s documentary Faces Places talks about his intimate collaboration with the late iconic filmmaker, praises world-expanding masterpieces like La haine and Roma, and shouts out his friend Louis Garrel.
The award-winning writer, director, producer, and critic shouts out a Marlon Riggs retrospective he programmed in Brazil, recalls watching Albert Brooks’s Lost in America on VHS in the eighties, and shares how Agnès Varda became an “imaginary friend” to him...
The writer and director of Safe, Carol, and May December describes the influence that Brief Encounter and Beau travail have had on his work, praises classic Douglas Sirk movies as “the most perfect films ever made,” and gives a shout-out...
Essays
Sep 24, 2024 — A sceenwriter, novelist, and longtime friend of director Todd Solondz recalls the admiration he felt upon first seeing this audacious ensemble drama, which offers an unflinching, compassionate look at the pain and abjection of being human.
Jul 30, 2014 — A friend and longtime scholar of Jacques Demy ruminates on the great director’s career, as well as the port hometown they shared—which would become a magical movie location.
William Boyle is the author of the novels Gravesend, Everything Is Broken, The Lonely Witness, A Friend Is a Gift You Give Yourself, City of Margins, and Shoot the Moonlight Out. He has also published a story collection, Death Don’t...
William Boyle is the author of the novels Gravesend, Everything Is Broken, The Lonely Witness, A Friend Is a Gift You Give Yourself, City of Margins, and Shoot the Moonlight Out. He has also published a story collection, Death Don’t...
Jun 12, 2025 — The acclaimed crime writer joins a producer of the 1999 adaptation of The Talented Mr. Ripley to discuss the cinematic incarnations of Patricia Highsmith’s shape-shifting, quintessentially American antihero.