The Criterion Collection
Essays
Dec 11, 1989 — Previous rock-and-roll movies had been little more than showcases for the latest music, aimed at exploiting the youth market, cheaply made and melodramatic—then along came one of the most finely crafted films ever made about rock-and-roll.
Essays
Nov 10, 1986 — Max Ophuls’s masterpiece is a transformation of a conventional subject into an avant-garde adventure, and a spectacular stylistic breakthrough in the utilization of wide screen and color.
May 31, 2016 — With Alice in the Cites, Wim Wenders created one of the most nuanced and complex portraits of an empowered young girl ever seen on-screen.
Sneak Peeks
Apr 25, 2013 — Repo Man comes on like a bat out of hell. The opening credits are driven by the instrumental version of Iggy Pop’s propulsive "Repo Man Theme,” a song that immediately establishes the film’s punk identity. It’s hard to imagine the...
Essays
Feb 18, 2008 — At the climax of Alex Cox’s Walker (1987), a helicopter descends from the night sky onto a plaza where the colonial buildings are ablaze and an army of mercenaries is disintegrating . . .
Jan 19, 2021 — In the summer of 1976, my parents took me to see the tall ships in New York Harbor. I was ten, and I remember very little about it other than that I went and that the ships, tall, did not...
Jan 22, 2026 — At once earnest and fantastic, carefree and mindful, G. Aravindan’s richly imagined work of folklore channels the director’s deep spiritual vision through the form of a children’s story.
The Daily
Jan 15, 2026 — SXSW and Slamdance unveil full lineups, and the Berlinale fills out its Forum, Panorama, Generation, and Classics programs.
The Daily
Dec 5, 2023 — While 2023 is sorted, Sight and Sound invites critics and filmmakers to revisit some of their all-time favorites.
The Daily
Nov 28, 2023 — Past Lives came out on top in New York, while Stonewalling triumphed in Taipei.