The Criterion Collection
Mar 10, 2003 — The Swedish director of I Am Curious explains how he fused the themes of eroticism, self-exploration, voyeurism, and nonviolence into a film about the new freedoms of the young. QUESTION: I Am Curious seemed to be a cinematic Tristram Shandy,...
Essays
Sep 8, 1998 — In David Lean’s Summertime, in which Rossano Brazzi seduces Katharine Hepburn—an aging, repressed Ohio “working girl” on vacation in Venice—the Continental lover reached his pinnacle and approached his end. In the next decade, he would be embodied by Marcello Mastroianni,...
Essays
Jun 5, 1995 — Kenji Mizoguchi departed abruptly from his earlier sentimental films into a world of acute realism with this bold critique of the position of women in contemporary Japanese society.
The screenwriter and director talks about the timelessness of Brief Encounter, praises the performances of Richard Burton in The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and Marlon Brando in One-Eyed Jacks, and reminisces about discovering French cinema at an...
The CEO and chairman of Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group fondly reminisces about working with Jim Jarmusch early in his career, shares why Harlan County USA remains one of the most important documentaries of all time, and celebrates the independent...
The actor and star of Anora talks about Five Easy Pieces and being drawn to morally ambiguous characters, praises Isabelle Huppert’s performance in The Piano Teacher as one of the greatest of all time, and selects Take Out, one of...
The legendary director joins the star of his new film Hard Truths in the Criterion Closet, where they share their love for Akira Kurosawa and Charles Burnett, reminisce about early moviegoing experiences, and select favorites for each other.
The Oscar-winning director of Amy talks about how Do the Right Thing became a major influence on his work, the overwhelming tension of an infamous scene in Code Unknown, and his love of Ken Loach’s early work.
Geoffrey O’Brien’s books include The Phantom Empire; Sonata for Jukebox; The Fall of the House of Walworth; Stolen Glimpses, Captive Shadows: Writing on Film, 2002–2012; Where Did Poetry Come From: Some Early Encounters; and Arabian Nights of 1934.
Tom Gunning is Professor Emeritus at the University of Chicago. He is the author of D. W. Griffith and the Origins of American Narrative Film (University of Illinois Press, 1991) and The Films of Fritz Lang: Allegories of Vision and...