Breakthrough

Apr 30, 2014 — This summer, experience the thrill of the Beatles’ deliriously entertaining cinematic breakthrough all over again. Courtesy of Janus Films, the landmark comedy-musical A Hard Day’s Night, directed by Richard Lester, is opening on July 4 in theaters across the country,...

Mar 11, 2014 — Presenting  five poor, black and white North Carolina preteens as they awaken to love and death, George Washington (2000) tells a common adolescent story, yet the film is distinguished by the poetic, ruminative style of its twenty-five-year-old director, David Gordon...

Jan 22, 2014 — When it came time to assemble the Criterion release of It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, using Jack’s classic art was a no-brainer, and we were thrilled to find the man himself willing to revisit the film and provide...

Nov 18, 2013 — When Tokyo Story was released in late 1953, Western audiences were just being exposed to Japanese cinema. Akira Kurosawa had made his breakthrough with Rashomon three years earlier, and Kenji Mizoguchi was moving to the forefront of the international festival...

Nov 11, 2013 — A boldly silent film in the talkie era, Charlie Chaplin’s masterpiece has a grace that has never been equaled.

Sep 20, 2013 — She’s unforgettable. It’s difficult to stand out in a cast of dozens of eccentrics, weirdos, and armchair philosophers, but Teresa Taylor is one of the true MVPs of Richard Linklater’s independent breakthrough, Slacker. Identified in the credits only as ”Pap...

Jul 8, 2013 — With its marvelous, distinctive camera work, Kenji Mizoguchi’s searing drama is as technically remarkable as it is humane.

Jun 26, 2013 — On the life and work of the famous Czech author, and the pleasures and challenges of translating him.

The dynamic, Tokyo-born star was convincing whether playing a mercenary lone wolf or a heartsick love interest, a hero or a villain, in a sleek suit or samurai robes, and just as comfortable blending in to an ensemble as commanding...

Apr 9, 2013 — This essay by novelist, playwright, and culture critic Gary Indiana originally appeared in the 1992 book Everything Is Permitted: The Making of “Naked Lunch.” Burroughs’s work tends to affect people like a Rorschach test. It separates cultural conservatives from avant-gardists,...