The Criterion Collection
Essays
Oct 19, 2010 — The themes, symbolism, and aesthetic forms of Akira Kurosawa’s films owe their origins to the ideas and sensibilities that captured his imagination as a young man.
Oct 19, 2010 — With Seven Samurai, Akira Kurosawa set out to debunk some of the more inflated myths that had attached themselves to the samurai.
Oct 6, 2010 — In response to our invitation to contribute his list of favorite Criterion titles, director Wes Anderson wrote, “I thought my take on a top-ten list might be to simply quote myself from the brief fan letters I periodically write to...
The continuing cultural fascination with World War II has ensured that it’s the conflict most represented in cinema, and the Criterion Collection indeed contains more works about that massive conflagration than any other.
The images in these films are inextricable from the flawlessly selected tunes accompanying them.
Sep 1, 2010 — The Winnipeg sculptor, painter, and collage artist Marcel Dzama’s eclectic choices for his top ten range from avant-garde underwater shorts (Painlevé) to noir (The Third Man) to New Wave (The Fire Within) to contemporary experimental (Guy Maddin). Dzama's work has...
These ingenious early works by such masters as Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd, and Yasujiro Ozu lay the foundations for screen comedy.
This singularly audacious B-movie visionary made purposefully crude, elegantly stripped-down films that laid bare the dark side of American culture.
Cinema history is dotted with thunderous works of art that announced their makers’ brilliance right out of the gate.