The May Criterion lineup is, in my book, timely and exceptional. I am going to be excited for perhaps controversial reasons; let’s dig in! (Man, and I completely forgot to post this in a timely manner. Had it ready days ago.)
In fact, let’s hit the tough topic head on. The Channel is featuring Three by Kathryn Bigelow, and those three include the superb Strange Days plus her two other early movies that I haven’t seen. Pity Near Dark didn’t make it in, but this lets me catch up on one of my favorite directors plus Strange Days is rarely available on streaming.
Bigelow earned a lot of criticism for making a pro-torture movie with Zero Dark Thirty, of course. I have mixed opinions there which I need to solidify with a rewatch; until then I’m simply going to acknowledge the issues, note that Strange Days ultimately shies away from engaging with the question of police forces as fascist enablers, and move on.
Speaking of political, we also have a Noir and the Blacklist collection, from anti-fascist World War II movies on through movies made by blacklisted filmmakers. Lots of good movies I’ve seen; I think the context of censorship and repression is great here. The New Hollywood of the 70s had its roots in these movies; I’m mentally pairing them with Italian social dramas of the post-World War II era, as well. Great theme.
Speaking of New Hollywood, it’s a Terry Southern collection! I’ve seen a couple of these, so I think it’s a good opportunity to round out my Southern experience. Probably my top interest is The Magic Christian, since I’m on a minor Peter Sellers kick and I haven’t seen it before.
OK. Let’s breathe. I feel like Criterion enjoys putting a less weighty genre collection in each month; if so, Coastal Thrillers is May’s. This is a really wide range of movies — everything from the unabashedly sleazy 90s erotic thriller Wild Things to the satirical 70s neo-noir The Long Goodbye to the classic Bogart and Bacall Key Largo. Oh, cool, and the Insomnia remake! I’ve been meaning to catch that, I loved the original.
Back to political: hello, Spike Lee’s Adventures in Moviegoing! It’s a really cool curation. If I had to pick one to see, I’d say The Battle of Algiers, which is groundbreaking and fresh. But there’s not a dud on the list.
The final major collection is Directed by Jia Zhangke. One of these, Ash is Purest White, is already part of last month’s Chinese Crime Thrillers collection so that’s probably where I’ll start. It’s cool to have a whole mass of Jia’s movies available for further discovery, assuming I like the first one.
OK, on the the usual mix of restorations and Criterion Collection editions. I’m curious about Il grido, since I just watched L’avventura so seeing more early Antonioni would be cool. The Runner, an 1980s Iran film, seems like it’ll give me more context on the modern Iranian cinema I’ve been enjoying so much. Oh, and hey, Touchez pas au grisbi stars Jean Gabin, Lino Ventura, and is that Jeanne Moreau I see? Directed by Jacques Becker? That’s promising.
And as always, a lot of fascinating stuff I probably won’t get to down in the bottom. Jem Cohen is clearly one of those interesting directors; as I keep saying, “I should check out some of those shorts to get a sense for his style.” We will see. Every single one of those movies directed by Tim Blake Nelson has a good cast. Oh, hey, spotlight for Joan Chen, that’s got good stuff in it! And Abel Ferrara’s Turn in the Wound, a documentary about the Ukraine War with a Patti Smith performance is pretty intriguing.
I would not, however, call Mann’s The Keep a triumph. Still, it’s awfully pretty.
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