The Criterion Collection Complete

PIGS, PIMPS & PROSTITUTES: 3 FILMS BY SHOHEI IMAMURA {Spine #471} DVD In the 1960s, Japanese filmmakers responded to a stale studio system by looking for fresh ways to tell stories, and Shohei Imamura was one of the leading figures of this new wave. With the three films in this set —  Pigs and Battleships, The Insect Woman, and Intentions of Murder  — Imamura truly emerged as an auteur, bringing to his national cinema an anthropological eye and a previously unseen taste for the irreverent. Claiming his interests lay in "the relationship of the lower part of the human body and the lower part of the social structure," Imamura dotted the decade with earthy, juicy, idiosyncratic films featuring persevering, willful heroines. His remains a unique cinematic voice. Pigs and Battleships (1961) {Spine #472} The Insect Woman (1963) {Spine #473} Intentions of Murder (1964) {Spine #474} By Director By Spine #

ROBERTO ROSSELLINI'S WAR TRILOGY {Spine #500} OOP DVD Roberto Rossellini is one of the most influential filmmakers of all time. And it was with his trilogy of films made during and after World War II —  Rome Open City, Paisan, and Germany Year Zero  — that he left his first transformative mark on cinema. With their stripped-down aesthetic, largely nonprofessional casts, and unorthodox approaches to storytelling, these intensely emotional works were international sensations and came to define the neorealist movement. Shot in battle-ravaged Italy and Germany, these three films are some of our most lasting, humane documents of devastated postwar Europe, containing universal images of both tragedy and hope. Rome Open City (1945) {Spine #497} Paisan (1946) {Spine #498} Germany Year Zero (1948) {Spine #499} #500: Essay by James Quandt — Myth and Manipulation “The tenets of neorealism have been variously construed over the years, but their essential features include: location...

ROSI, Francesco (Italy) Christ Stopped At Eboli [1979] Spine #1043 Blu-ray An elegy of exile and an epic immersion in the world of rural Italy during the regime of Benito Mussolini, Francesco Rosi's sublime adaptation of the memoirs of the painter, physician, and political activist Carlo Levi brings a monument of twentieth-century autobiography to the screen with quiet grace and solemn beauty. Banished to a desolate southern town for his anti-Fascist views, Levi (Gian Maria Volontè) discovers an Italy he never knew existed, a place where ancient folkways and superstitions still hold sway, and that gradually transforms his understanding of both himself and his country. Presented for the first time on home video in its original full-length, four-part version, Christ Stopped at Eboli  ruminates profoundly on the political and philosophical rifts within Italian society — between North and South, tradition and modernity, Fascism and freedom — and the essential humanity that tran...

LETTERS FROM FONTAINHAS: THREE FILMS BY PEDRO COSTA {Spine #508} DVD One of the most important artists on the international film scene today, Portuguese director Pedro Costa has been steadily building an impressive body of work since the late eighties. And these are the three films that put him on the map: spare, painterly portraits of battered, largely immigrant lives in the slums of Fontainhas, a neighborhood on the outskirts of Lisbon. Hypnotic, controlled works, Ossos, In Vanda's Room, and Colossal Youth  confirm Costa as a provocative new cinematic poet, one who locates beauty in the most unlikely of places. Ossos (1997) {Spine #509} In Vanda’s Room (2000) {Spine #510} Colossal Youth (2006) {Spine #511} SUPPLEMENTS: On Colossal Youth . This selected-scene commentary features film critic Cyril Neyrat in conversation with author-critic Jacques Rancière . All Blossoms Again In this 2006 documentary, director Aurélien Gerbault observes Pedro Costa during the filming of Co...

THE ONLY SON/THERE WAS A FATHER: TWO FILMS BY YASUJIRO OZU (#524) DVD These rare early films from Yasujiro Ozu are considered by many to be two of the Japanese director's finest works, paving the way for a career among the most sensitive and significant in cinema. The Only Son and There Was a Father  make a graceful pair, bookending a crucial period in Japanese history. In the former, Ozu's first sound film, made during a time of intense economic crisis, a mother sacrifices her own happiness for her son's education; the latter, released in the midst of World War II, stars Ozu stalwart Chishu Ryu as a widowed schoolteacher whose devotion to his son ends up driving them apart. Criterion proudly presents these nearly lost treasures for the time on home video. The Only Son (1936) {Spine #525} There was a Father (1942) {Spine #526} By Director By Spine #

With 3 SILENT CLASSICS BY JOSEF VON STERNBERG {Spine #528} OOP DVD Vienna-born, New York-raised Josef von Sternberg directed some of the most influential, stylish dramas ever to come out of Hollywood. Though best known for his star-making collaborations with Marlene Dietrich, von Sternberg began his career during the final years of the silent era, dazzling audiences and critics with his films' dark visions and innovative cinematography. The titles in this collection, made on the cusp of the sound age, are three of von Sternberg's greatest works, gritty evocations of gangster life ( Underworld ), the Russian Revolution ( The Last Command ), and working-class desperation ( The Docks of New York ) rendered as shadowy movie spectacle. Underworld (1927) {Spine #529} The Last Command (1928) {Spine #530} The Docks of New York (1928) {Spine #531} Booklet 100-page booklet featuring essays: Dreamland  by Geoffrey O’Brien on Underworld . Illusions and Delusions by Anton Kaes on Th...

AMERICA LOST AND FOUND: THE BBS STORY OOP DVD Like the rest of America, Hollywood was ripe for revolution in the late sixties. Cinema attendance was down; what had once worked seemed broken. Enter Bob Rafelson, Bert Schneider, and Steve Blauner, who knew that what Hollywood needed was new audiences -- namely, young people -- and that meant cultivating new talent and new ideas. Fueled by money from their invention of the superstar TV pop group the Monkees, they set off on a film-industry journey that would lead them to form BBS Productions, a company that was also a community. The innovative films produced by this team between 1968 and 1972 are collected in this box set -- works that now range from the iconic ( Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, The Last Picture Show ) to the acclaimed ( The King of Marvin Gardens ) to the obscure ( Head; Drive, He Said; A Safe Place ), all created out of the counterculture id. Spine #544: Head Spine #545: Easy Rider Spine #546: Five Easy Pieces Spine #...

YASUDA, Kimiyoshi (Japan) Zatoichi's Conspiracy [1973] Spine #679y Blu-ray Everything comes full circle when Zatoichi returns to his hometown. Unfortunately, he finds that a childhood friend has become a feared crime lord, keeping the locals in debt and bilking them of their rice. Capping off Zatoichi's feature film era before he made the transition to television in 1974, this chapter is suffused with melancholy, closing the series on a note of seriousness and emotional heft that it has well earned . 88 minutes Color Monaural in Japanese 2:35:1 aspect ratio Criterion Release 2013 Director/Writers Original story by  Kan Shimozawa . Screenplay by Yoshiko Hattori . Kimiyoshi Yasuda was 62 when he directed Zatoichi's Conspiracy . Other Yasuda films in the Collection: #679e: Zatoichi on the Road (1963) #679i: Adventures of Zatoichi (1964) #679o: Zatoichi's Cane Sword (1967) #679r: Zatoichi and the Fugitives (1968) #679v: Zatoichi Meets the One-Armed S...

KATSU, Shintaro (Japan) Zatoichi in Desperation [1972] Spine #679x Blu-ray Star Shintaro Katsu sits in the director's chair for this psychedelic and unremittingly bleak entry in the Zatoichi series, which is unlike any other in its grind-house grimness. A tale of inocence corrupted by sadistic, sleazy criminality, the film is propelled by Easy Rider -esque editing and a trippy seventies funk score by Kunihiko Murai. 95 minutes Color Monaural in Japanese 2:35:1 aspect ratio Criterion Release 2013 Director/Writers Original story by  Kan Shimozawa . Screenplay by Minoru Inuzuka . Shintaro Katsu was 41 when he directed Zatoichi in Desperation . The Film The Extras The Booklet 100-page booklet featuring an essay by  Geoffrey O’Brien  and the original story,  The Tale of Zatoichi  by Shimozawa. Commentary None. 99 By Director By Spine #

MORI, Kazuo (Japan) Zatoichi at Large [1972] Spine #679w Blu-ray Zatoichi comes across a pregnant woman dying from sword wounds and helps deliver her baby. Her final request to him: take the boy to see his father. From here, the film evolves into one of the wilder rides in the Zatoichi  series, including such quirky touches as a mysterious child who follows Ichi and pelts him with rocks, monkey performances, and an unexpectedly hilarious take on the ronin challenger. 90 minutes Color Monaural in Japanese 2:35:1 aspect ratio Criterion Release 2013 Director/Writers Original story by  Kan Shimozawa . Screenplay by Kinya Naoi . Kazuo Mori was 61 when he directed Zatoichi at Large . Other Mori films in the Collection: #679b: The Tale of Zatoichi Continues (1962) #679k: Zatoichi and the Doomed Man (1965) The Film The Extras The Booklet 100-page booklet featuring an essay by  Geoffrey O’Brien  and the original story,  The Tale of Zatoich...

YASUDA, Kimiyoshi (Japan) Zatoichi Meets the One-Armed Swordsman [1971] Spine #679v Blu-ray It's East meets East when one of Japan's action idols crosses paths with an iconic kung-fu hero from Hong Kong. While traveling the countryside, Zatoichi comes across Wang Kang (Jimmy Wang Yu), a Chinese swordsman protecting a brutally orphaned young child. Despite the language barrier, the men forge a friendship, until nefarious enemies plant seeds of distrust to pit the two master martial artists against each other. 94 minutes Color Monaural in Japanese 2:35:1 aspect ratio Criterion Release 2013 Director/Writers Original story by  Kan Shimozawa . Screenplay by Takayuki Yamada , Kimiyoshi Yasuda . Kimiyoshi Yasuda was 60 when he directed Zatoichi Meets the One-Armed Swordsman . Other Yasuda films in the Collection: #679e: Zatoichi on the Road (1963) #679i: Adventures of Zatoichi (1964) #679o: Zatoichi's Cane Sword (1967) #679r: Zatoichi and the Fugitives (196...

MISUMI, Kenji (Japan) Zatoichi Goes to the Fire Festival [1970] Spine #679u Blu-ray Cowritten by star Shintaro Katsu, this adventure pits Zatoichi against one of his most diabolical foes: a blind yakuza boss whose reign of terror and exploitation has made him nearly mythic. Guest starring the legendary Tatsuya Nakadai as a ronin haunted by a traumatic past, and featuring an unforgettable nude swordfight in a bathhouse, this twenty-first entry in the series is a fan favorite . 96 minutes Color Monaural in Japanese 2:35:1 aspect ratio Criterion Release 2013 Director/Writers Original story by  Kan Shimozawa . Screenplay by Shintaro Katsu and Takayuki Yamada . Kenji Misumi was 49 when he directed Zatoichi Goes to the Fire Festival . Other Misumi films in the Collection: #679a: The Tale of Zatoichi (1962) #679h: Fight, Zatoichi, Fight (1964) #679l: Zatoichi and the Chess Expert (1965) #679q: Zatoichi Challenged (1967) #679s: Samaritan Zatoichi (1968) #841: Sword...

OKAMOTO, Kihachi (Japan) Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo [1970] Spine #679t Blu-ray After a two-year absence from screens, the blind swordsman returns in one of his best adventures. Zatoichi treks to a village that has always been a favorite spot of his, only to discover that it's become a living hell, plagued by feuding father and son yakuza as well as the younger crime boss's bodyguard — Toshiro Mifune's scruffy, smart-mouthed, cash-hungry Yojimbo of legend. This is the sole Zatoichi  effort from celebrated director Kihachi Okamoto, who supplies satirical vision and stylistic panache worthy of the two iconic characters at the film's center . 115 minutes Color Monaural in Japanese 2:35:1 aspect ratio Criterion Release 2013 Director/Writers Original story by  Kan Shimozawa . Screenplay by Kihachi Okamoto  and Tetsuro Yoshida . Okamoto was 47 when he directed Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo . Other Okamoto films in the Collection: #280: Sword of Doom (1966) #313: Ki...