Black Moon: Criterion Collection
July 18, 2011
Filmmaker Louis Malle once described his film Black Moon (1975) as a “mythological fairy tale taking place in the near future.” Following on the heels of his German-occupation drama Lacombe, Lucien (1974), it was not a commercial success and relegated...
Insignificance: Criterion Collection
June 24, 2011
Filmmaker Nicolas Roeg was still licking his wounds from his previous effort, Eureka (1983), a deeply personal project that he hoped would break through to the mainstream but was given a limited theatrical release from then struggling United Artists....
America Lost and Found: The BBS Story
December 20, 2010
To say Head (1968) is a cinematic oddity is an understatement. Intent at topping The Beatles at their own game, The Monkees appeared in a film that Bob Rafelson directed and co-wrote with none other than Jack Nicholson and that was even more experimental...
Antichrist: Criterion Collection
November 15, 2010
For years, Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier has been something of a cinematic wild card, a provocateur whose films deeply divide audiences and critics alike. At times, he even seems to cultivate an enfant terrible reputation by making bold and controversial...
House: Criterion Collection
November 5, 2010
Nobuhiko Obayashi’s House was originally released in 1977 on the bottom half of a double bill with the tantalizing tagline, “How Seven Beauties Were Eaten!” Inspired by several story ideas from his eleven-year-old daughter, Obayashi directed a gonzo...
The Darjeeling Limited: Criterion Collection
October 11, 2010
Coming off the ambitiously mounted and complicated production that was The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004), Wes Anderson wanted his next film to be much smaller in size and more intimate in scope. Initially inspired by living in Paris with actor...
Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence: Criterion Collection
September 28, 2010
Nagisa Oshima’s film Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (1983) was based on Laurens van der Post’s mostly autobiographical 1963 novel The Seed and the Sower about a British military officer and a poorly treated prisoner-of-war set in the lush Javanese tropics...
Red Desert: Criterion Collection
June 10, 2010
The term auteur was invented to describe a filmmaker like Michelangelo Antonioni who pretty much defined existential angst with the films he made in the 1960s, most notably the ones starring his then cinematic muse, Monica Vitti. With Red Desert (1964),...
Mystery Train: Criterion Collection
June 8, 2010
Jim Jarmusch is a filmmaker who has always been interested in outsiders, people who live on the fringes of mainstream society. His first three films took a look at America through the eyes of a foreigner. With Stranger than Paradise (1984), a young Hungarian...
Walkabout: Criterion Collection
May 11, 2010
Based on James Vance Marshall’s 1959 novel The Children, Walkabout (1971) marked cinematographer Nicolas Roeg’s feature film debut as a director. Originally, producer Si Litvinoff wanted Roeg to direct an adaptation of Anthony Burgess’ novel A Clockwork...
