Another month, another juicy Criterion Channel lineup! Not an all timer of a month, but pretty decent, and putting Philip Seymour Hoffman on your banner image is always going to get you on my good side. So let’s break it open and see what we’ve got.
The first big ticket collection is The ’90s Do the ’70s, which is so much in my cultural wheelhouse that I’ve already seen (and enjoyed) almost all of them. I’d like to get to Summer of Sam this time around, since hey, Spike Lee, and I think it’ll harmonize well with the slow motion crime flick binge I’ve been engaged in this year. (Night of the Juggler, say.) And if you haven’t seen Velvet Goldmine, here’s your chance to catch up on your Todd Haynes – it’s one of my favorite movies about music ever.
The next one is Fresh Starts. The concept itself didn’t do a ton for me until I got to the list of films. We’re going all the way from 1930 to 1993, which means this could be an awesome survey of what “being reborn” actually meant over the years. It’s pretty sparse on the Golden Age; there’s nothing Walk Cheerfully (1930) and The Big City (1963). Then again, the changes in how we think about coming of age in the 60s and 70s are kind of the interesting ones anyhow. I’d definitely recommend The Green Ray as a delicate, lovely Eric Rohmer movie.
We then get into the person-focused collections with Starring Ben Whishaw. Man, meaning no offense, this is not the definitive Ben Whishaw collection. Bright Star looks interesting – Jane Campion directs – and I’m sure the others are decent. No I’m Not There, though? I like Whishaw but I’m not sure this rates a collection, quite.
Anyhow, moving on. If Noah Baumbach wants a favorite movies collection, who am I to say no? It’s a bunch of great movies which are exactly the sort of thing you’d expect from Baumbach. Lots of quirky protagonists who get observed at length, lots of good performances. Shoot the Piano Player is my standout for this category; Truffaut working through his feelings about genre movies is kind of great.
OK, now we’re getting to it: Directed by Atom Egoyan. I mean look, The Sweet Hereafter, what more do you need? Everything I’ve watched from this is cerebral and sad and thoughtful. Felicia’s Journey has a very tasty Bob Hoskins performance if you’re a fan; his cheerful but sinister catering manager is the kind of role he flourishes in.
Next up, a small but cool looking Nordic Noir collection. I thought this was going to be neo-noirs; it’s not, it’s four movies from the early 1950s. So a totally new little regional sub-genre for me, plus it’s a small enough collection to binge quickly. I’m really psyched for this.
Two more person-focused collections to round out the main section: Starring Terence Stamp, which includes Toby Dammit and The Limey. That’s all you need for a grand overview of his career. The second is three movies Written by Dorothy Parker. Tiny collection, possibly existing just cause they got A Star is Born for reasons which will become clear in a bit.
Skipping down to the director spotlights! First up: Kleber Mendonça Filho. I know nothing about him except that The Secret Agent is getting a lot of buzz really good. I saw it the other night and enjoyed it a ton; multi-layered and complex. Pictures of Ghosts is billed as a journey through his home city “through the prism of cinema and architecture,” which is promising.
Then we get weird. It’s been a while since anyone could accuse the Criterion Channel of being elitist. Just in case anyone’s still confused, here’s something called William Lustig’s Manic Pulp, which is a double helping of grindhouse featuring the entire Manic Cop trilogy. I’m not committing to watching all of these; I suspect my curiosity will drive me to a sample. And good for Criterion: this is also part of cinematic history. (As would be the Boston crime collection they keep denying us.)
Getting down to the tail ends… the Hlymur Pálmason collection is probably quite good and I recall Godland getting good reviews. Rural Iceland, sure! Then, like many people, I’ve only seen one Maya Deren film, Meshes of the Afternoon. It was as billed, visually striking scant garde. I am kind of curious as to how her style translated into a feature length movie like Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti.
About that A Star is Born reference: there’s a collection of three A Star is Born renditions, leaving out only the most recent one. I will probably watch all three of these in a row. How can I resist? Also music-related, albeit not part of a collection, My Back Pages is a documentary about a Dylan collector, which sounds like my kind of thing. David Byrne staging a color guard celebration starring (among others) St. Vincent also seems like my kind of thing, so add Contemporary Color to the list.
And last but not least, there’s a collection called Actresses Unfiltered, with five documentaries about actresses: Romy Schneider, Tally Brown (from Warhol’s Factor days), a Delphine Seyrig helmed documentary about how women in general are treated in the industry, Eartha Kitt, and the great actresses who worked with Fassbinder. I am so excited about this — the Fassbinder is sort of a must for me, especially because I think it’s critical to think about his monstrous side even as one’s appreciating his brilliance. The rest also look great. I very much want to hear Jane Fonda, Maria Schneider, Louise Fletcher, Barbara Steele, and many more actresses talking about their experiences.