The Criterion Collection
Short Takes
May 8, 2017 — With his mix of documentary-like immediacy and profound moral inquiry, Roberto Rossellini became a pioneer of Italian neorealism, a movement that transformed the way filmmakers captured the fabric of everyday life and and grappled with the most urgent social issues...
Production Notes
Apr 27, 2017 — 1. As I began work on The Kennedy Films of Robert Drew and Associates, I knew that 1960’s Primary was really the birth of what we think of as the modern documentary: observational photography based on access to an interesting subject, presenting...
On the Channel
Apr 13, 2017 — Reflecting on Jean Marais’s performance as the hero in Orpheus, Jean Cocteau once said that the actor “illuminates the film for me with his soul.” At the heart of the visionary auteur’s extravagantly designed fantasy worlds, Marais served as an...
Apr 12, 2017 — A sparkling homage to the golden age of Hollywood, Jacques Demy’s The Young Girls of Rochefort tells the story of dance instructor Delphine and music teacher Solange, twin sisters who yearn for excitement and romance beyond the confines of their...
Short Takes
Apr 10, 2017 — Critic Peter Cowie pays tribute to a quintessentially English master, whose prolific career stretches back to the silent era.
On the Channel
Mar 27, 2017 — A master of rib-tickling dialogue and an innovator of dazzling narrative techniques, playwright-turned-filmmaker Sacha Guitry has long been revered by French movie lovers as an indispensable figure in the nation’s cinematic heritage, but his work has never received the level...
Short Takes
Mar 23, 2017 — With a monumental body of work spanning nearly six decades, thirty feature films, and a staggering array of styles and genres, Akira Kurosawa has been a cornerstone of our collection since we released Seven Samurai as our second Criterion edition...
Visual Analysis
Mar 19, 2017 — David Cairns takes a close look at the carefully calibrated minimalism of Hal Ashby’s masterful satire.
On the Channel
Mar 18, 2017 — The landscape of late-nineties American film culture found a loving chronicler in John Pierson, whose groundbreaking TV series Split Screen premiered on IFC in 1997 and now has its streaming home on the Criterion Channel. In this excerpt from the...
Mar 14, 2017 — Religious fanaticism and anti-Communist hysteria give way to mass violence in this groundbreaking work of Mexican political cinema.