The Criterion Collection
May 3, 2013 — Did You See This?• Watch (above) or read Steven Soderbergh’s already famous state-of-the-art address. • Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig hit the streets. • Talk about micro-cinema! • Charting the course of neorealism across continents • Talking to Olivier Assayas,...
Sneak Peeks
Apr 26, 2013 — Among filmmaker Pierre Etaix’s many eclectic accomplishments is his appearance as one of the thieves in Robert Bresson’s Pickpocket. However, you probably won’t be able to spot him: all that’s left of his performance is one of his hands, surreptitiously filching a wallet. In...
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
Apr 23, 2013 — Who is Pierre Etaix and where has he been all your life? This is the story of a filmmaker who was vanished, banished, skipped over. It’s as if one of those invisible cubicles mimes are always getting themselves shut in...
Tech Corner
Apr 22, 2013 — Restoration SpotlightShot in VistaVision and Technicolor, Richard III is the most eye-catching of Laurence Olivier’s essential big-screen Shakespeare adaptations. For years, it couldn’t be seen in its original glory, due to lost footage, faded colors, chemical staining, and missing frames....
Apr 19, 2013 — Did You See This?• Mapping out the world of Wes Anderson • Cannes 2013—and away we go! • Kurosawa, Godard, Herzog, Milius—just your average hangout • John Lurie returns to the rod and the reel. • For the love of...
Whether faithful adaptations or daring reimaginings, these are films that deserve to be appreciated alongside their printed progenitors.
Essays
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,...
Short Takes
Apr 8, 2013 — Photo by Maureen Gosling The great American documentarian Les Blank died yesterday at age seventy-seven. A crafter of intimate, idiosyncratic nonfiction films, Blank made movies for almost fifty years; his topics included traditional American music, food, and, of course, Werner...
Apr 5, 2013 — Did You See This?• Words for the great Roger Ebert: Carson, Edelstein, Emerson • When Kenneth Turan met Burt Lancaster • Alain Delon’s effortless style • Watch Martin Scorsese’s eloquent speech this week at the Kennedy Center. • On illustrating...