The Criterion Collection
With his brilliant knack for composition, expertise at choreographing deadpan slapstick, and grandiose vision, this French mime turned filmmaker created one of the most enjoyable, singular oeuvres in film.
Dec 7, 2010 — In compiling his top ten Criterions, Cronos director Guillermo del Toro had a hell of a time limiting himself. Del Toro humorously bemoaned the “unfair, arbitrary, and sadistic top ten practice,” so instead he decided on ties or rather, “thematic/authorial...
Essays
Nov 23, 2010 — Easy Rider is a record of a certain time in American history, and a chronicle of a culture clash that never quite ended.
Nov 4, 2010 — Angus MacLachlan is a playwright and screenwriter from Winston-Salem, North Carolina. His screen credits include Junebug (2005), directed by Phil Morrison and starring Amy Adams, Embeth Davidtz, and Alessandro Nivola, and Stone (2010), starring Robert De Niro. In selecting his...
Though remembered now primarily for his intense, spare 1960s gangster films, this French master had a startlingly varied career, encompassing wartime dramas and psychosexual character studies.
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 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...
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...
Cinema history is dotted with thunderous works of art that announced their makers’ brilliance right out of the gate.
Aug 4, 2010 — Québécois filmmaker Xavier Dolan’s debut feature, I Killed My Mother, won three prizes in the Directors’ Fortnight section of the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, and his follow-up, Heartbeats, competed for the festival’s Un certain regard. An avowed Criterion addict, Dolan...