The Criterion Collection Complete

SCORSESE, Martin (United States) Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story By Martin Scorsese [2019] Spine #1062 Blu-ray In 1975, in an America defined by both the self-mythologizing pomp of the upcoming bicentennial and ongoing sociopolitical turmoil, Bob Dylan and a band of troubadours — including luminaries such as Joan Baez, Allen Ginsberg, and Joni Mitchell — embarked on a now-legendary tour known as the Rolling Thunder Revue, a freewheeling variety show that was part traveling counterculture carnival, part spiritual pilgrimage. Director Martin Scorsese blends behind-the-scenes archival footage, interviews, and narrative mischief, with a magician's sleight of hand, into a zeitgeist-defining cultural record that is as much a concert "documentary" as it is a slippery, chimerical invesitgation into memory, time, truth, and illusion. At the center of it all is the magnetic Dylan, a sphinxlike philosopher-poet singing, with electrifying conviction, to the soul of a...

LIU, Bing (United States) Minding The Gap [2018] Spine #1061 Blu-ray This extraordinary debut from documentarian Bing Liu weaves a story of skateboarding, friendship, and fathers and sons into a coming-of-age journey of courageous vulnerability. Over the course of several years and with his camera always at the ready, Liu records the rocky paths into adulthood of Keire and Zack, two friends from his own skateboarding community in Rockford, Illinois, As he does so, deeper parallels gradually emerge that ultimately draw the filmmaker into a heartrending confrontation with his own past. With an eye for images of exhilarating poetry and a keen emotional sensitivity, Minding the Gap  is a powerfully cathartic portrait of fledgling lives forged in trauma and fighting to break free. 93 minutes Color 5.1 surround 1:78:1 aspect ratio Criterion Release 2021 Director Bing Liu was 29 when he directed Minding the Gap . The Film A Film Rating (0-60): 60 The Extras The Booklet ...

IÑÁRRITU, Alejandro G. (Mexico) Amoes Perros [2000] Spine #1060 Blu-ray Sending shock waves through the Mexican film industry and the world, this blistering feature debut from Alejandro G. Iñárritu brought the director's electrifying visual style and bravura multistrand storytelling to the screen with the heart-stopping impact of a primal scream. In Mexico City, the lives of three strangers — a young man (Gael García Bernal) mixed up in the gritty underworld of dogfighting, a glamorous woman (Goya Toledo) who seems to have it all, and a mysterious assasssin (Emilio Echevarría) who is desperate to reconnect with his estranged daughter — collide in a tragic twist of fate that forever alters their personal journeys. A tour de force of violence and emotion captured in a rush of kinetic handheld camera work, Amores perros  is an unforgettable plunge into a world of brutality and aching, interconnected humanity. 154 minutes Color 5.1 surround in Spanish 1:85:1 aspect ratio Criterion Rele...

CRONENBERG, David (Canada) Crash [1996] Spine #1059 Blu-ray For this icily erotic fusion of flesh and machine, David Cronenberg adapted J. G. Ballard's future-shock novel of the 1970s into one of the most singular and provocative films of the 1990s. A traffic collision involving a disaffected commercial producer, James (James Spader), and an enigmatic doctor, Helen (Holly Hunter), brings them, along with James's wife, Catherine (Deborah Kara Unger, in a sublimely detached performance), together in a crucible of blood and broken glass — and it's not long before they are all initiated into a kinky, death-obsessed underworled of sadomasochistic car-crash fetishists for whom twisted metal and scar tissue are the ultimate turn-ons. Controversial from the moment it premiered at Cannes — where it won a Special Jury Prize "for originality, for daring, and for audacity" —  Crash  has since taken its place as a key text of late-twentieth-century cinema, a disturbingly seduc...

SCORSESE, Martin (United States) The Irishman [2019] Spine #1058 Blu-ray Martin Scorsese's cinematic mastery is on full display in this sweeping crime saga, which serves as an elegiac summation of his six-decade career. Left behind by the world, former hit man and union truck driver Frank Sheeran (Robert DeNiro) looks back from a nursing home on his life's journey through the ranks of organized crime: from his involvement with Philadelphia mob boss Russell Bufalino (Joe Pesci) to his association with Teamsters union head Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino) to the rift that forced him to choose between the two. An epic canvas of mid-twentieth-century American history, The Irishman (based on the real-life Sheeran's confessions, as told to writer Charles Brandt for the book I Heard You Paint Houses ) is a uniquely reflective late-career triumph that balances its director's virtuoso set pieces with a profoundly personal rumination on aging, mortality, and the decisions and regrets that...

JARMUSCH, Jim (United States) Ghost Dog: The Way Of The Samurai [1999] Spine #1057 Blu-ray Jim Jarmusch combined his love for the ice-cool crime dramas of Jean-Pierre Melville and Seijun Suzuki with the philosophical dimensions of samurai mythology for an eccentrically postmodern take on the hit-man thriller. In one of his defining roles, Forest Whitaker brings a commanding serenity to his portrayal of a Zen contract killer working for a bumbling mob outfit, a modern man who adheres steadfastly to the ideals of the Japanese warrior code even as chaos and violence spiral around him. Featuring moody cinematography by the great Robby Müller, a sublime score by the Wu-Tang Clan's RZA, and a host of colorful character actors (including a memorably stone-faced Henry Silva), Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai  plays like a pop-culture-sampling cinematic mixtape built around a one-of-a-kind tragic hero. 116 minutes Color 5.1 Surround 1:85:1 aspect ratio Criterion Release 2020 Director/Write...

JEWISON, Norman (United States) Moonstruck [1987] Spine #1056 Blu-ray A full moon, a New York City night, and love and music in the air . . . One of the most enchanting romantic comedies of all time assembles a flawless ensemble cast for a tender and boisterously funny look at a multigenerational Italian American family in Brooklyn, wrestling with the complexities of love and marriage at every stage of life. At the center of it all is a radiant Cher as Loretta, an unlucky-in-love bookkeeper whose feelings about her engagement to the staid Johnny (Danny Aiello) are thrown into question after she meets his hot-blooded brother, Ronny (Nicolas Cage), and one night at the opera changes everything. Winner of the Academy Awards for best actress (Cher), supporting actress (Olympia Dukakis), and original screenplay (by playwright John Patrick Shanley), this modern-day fairy tale is swept along on passionate Puccini melodies, and directed by master storyteller Norman Jewison with the heightened ...

WEILL, Claudia (United States) Girlfriends [1978] Spine #1055 Blu-ray When her best friend and roommate abruptly moves out to get married, Susan (Melanie Mayron), trying to be an artist while making ends meet as a bar mitzvah photographer on Manhattan's Upper West Side, finds herself adrift in both life and love. A wonder of American independent cinema by Claudia Weill (who, when was admitted to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as a director in 1981, was one of only four women ever to have received that honor), Girlfriends  is a remarkably authentic vision of female relationships that has become a touchstone for makers of an entire subgenre of films and television shows about young women trying to make it in the big city. This 1970s New York time capsule captures the complexities and contradictions of women's lives and relationships with wry humor and refreshing frankness. 88 minutes Color Monaural 1:66:1 aspect ratio Criterion Release 2020 Director/Wr...

BONG, Joon Ho (South Korea) Parasite [2019] Spine #1054 Blu-ray A zeitgeist-defining sensation that distilled a global reckoning over class inequality into a tour de force of pop-cinema subversion, Bong Joon Ho's genre-scrambling black-comic thriller confirms his status as one of the world's foremost filmmakers. Two families in Seoul — one barely scraping by in a dank semibasement in a low-lying neighborhood, the other living in luxury in a modern architectural marvel overlooking the city — become entwined in a dangerous relationship that will lay bare the dark contradictions of capitalism with shocking ferocity. A bravura showcase for its director's meticulously constructed set pieces, bolstered by a brilliant ensemble cast and stunning production design, Parasite  cemented the New Korean Cinema as an undeniable international force when it swept almost every major prize from Cannes to the Academy Awards, where it made history as the first non-English-language film to wi...

KING, Henry (United States) The Gunfighter [1950] Spine #1053 Blu-ray A key forerunner of the new breed of dark, brooding westerns that would soon cast a shadow over America's frontier folklore, this subversive psychological saga sounds a death knell for the myth of the outlaw hero. In one of his morally complex roles, Gregory Peck stars as Jimmy Ringo, an infamous gunslinger looking to hang up his holsters and start a new life, but whose reputation draws him inexorably into a cycle of violence and revenge from which he cannot escape. Directed with taut efficiency by the versatile studio-era craftsman Henry King, and shot in striking deep-focus by master cinematographer Arthur C. Miller, The Gunfighter  forgoes rough-and-tumble action in favor of an elegiac exploration of guilt and regret that speaks to the anxious soul of postwar America. 84 minutes Black & White Monaural 1:33:1 aspect ratio Criterion Release 2020 Director/Writers From a story by William Bowers ...

BERRY, John (United States) Claudine [1974] Spine #1052 Blu-ray Diahann Carroll is radiant in an unforgettable, Oscar-nominated performance as Claudine, a strong-willed single mother, raising six kids in Harlem, whose budding relationship with a gregarious garbage collector (the equally fantastic James Earl Jones) is stressed by the difficulty of getting by in an oppressive society. As directed by the formerly blacklisted leftist filmmaker John Berry, this romantic comedy with a social conscience deftly balances warm humor with a serious look at the myriad issues — from cycles of poverty to the indignities of the welfare system — that shape its characters' realities. The result is an empathetic chronicle of both Black working-class struggle and Black joy, a bittersweet, bighearted celebration of family and community set to a sunny soul soundtrack composed by Curtis Mayfield and performed by Gladys Knight and the Pips. 92 minutes Color Monaural 1:85:1 aspect ratio Criterion R...

MATARAZZO, Raffaello (Italy) The White Angel [1955] Eclipse Series 27 DVD In The White Angel , Raffaello Matarazzo's sequel to his blockbuster Nobody's Children , the perpetually put-upon Guido and Luisa (Amedeo Nazzari and Yvonne Sanson) return for a new round of trials and tribulations. This time, the reversals of fortune are even more insanely ornate, a plot twist involving doppelgängers beats Vertigo  to the punch by three years, and the whole thing climaxes with a jaw-dropping women-in-prison set piece. 100 minutes Black & White Monaural in Italian 1:33:1 aspect ratio Criterion Release 2011 Director/Writer Raffaello Matarazzo was 46 when he directed The White Angel .Other Matarazzo films in the Collection: Eclipse Series 27: Chains (1949) Eclipse Series 27: Tormento (1950) Eclipse Series 27: Nobody's Children (1952) The Film Film Rating (0-100): 99 By Director By Spine #

KURAHARA, Koreyoshi (Japan) Thirst For Love [1967] Eclipse Series 28 DVD Koreyoshi Kurahara adapted a novel by Yukio Mishima for Thirst for Love (Ai no kawaki) , a tense psychological drama about a young woman who is widowed after marrying into a wealthy family, and becomes sexually involved with her father-in-law while harboring a destructive obsession with the family gardener. Kurahara's atmospheric style is a perfect match for Mishima's brooding sensuality. 99 minutes Color/Black & White Monaural in Japanese 2:45:1 aspect ratio Criterion Release 2011 Director/Writer Koreyoshi Kurahara was 40 when he directed Thirst for Love . Other Kurahara films in the Collection: Eclipse Series 17: I Am Waiting (1957) Eclipse Series 28: Intimidation (1960) Eclipse Series 28: The Warped Ones (1960) Eclipse Series 28: I Hate But Love (1962) Eclipse Series 28: Black Sun (1964) The Film Film Rating (0-100): 99 By Director By Spine #  

KAURISMÄKI, Aki (Finland) Total Balalaika Show With Five Music Videos [Various] Eclipse Series 29 DVD Aki Kaurismäki's film of the Leningrad Cowboys' massive concert in Helsinki's Senate Square with the 150-member Alexandrov Red Army Chorus and Dance Ensemble is a loving tribute to the rock band he made famous. Seventy thousand people turned out for this megaspectacle; featuring musical selections from Sibelius to Bob Dylan, it crossed genre and national divides. Also included on this disc are the Leningrad Cowboys music videos "Rocky VI," "Thru the Wire," "L.A. Woman," "Those Were the Days," and "These Boots." 57 minutes Color Stereo in English and Russian 1:66:1 aspect ratio Criterion Release 2011 Director/Writer Aki Kaurismäki Other Kaurismäki films in the Collection: Eclipse Series 12: Shadows In Paradise (1986) Eclipse Series 12: Ariel (1988) Eclipse Series 29: Leningrad Cowboys Go America (19...

KORDA, Zoltán (United Kingdom) The Drum [1938] Eclipse Series 30 DVD Zoltán Korda's charged adaptation of a novel by The Four Feathers  author A. E. W. Mason features Sabu in his second film role, as the teenage Prince Azim, forced into hiding when his father, the ruler of a peaceful kingdom in northwest India, is assassinated by his own ruthless brother. Protected by a friendly British officer (Roger Livesey) and his wife (Valerie Hobson), and befriended by the regiment's drummer boy, Prince Azim ends up fighting with the colonialists against his dastardly uncle. This rousing adventure includes an exuberant performance by Sabu and spectacular Technicolor cinematography by George Périnal and Osmond Borradaile. 98 minutes Color Monaural 1:33:1 aspect ratio Criterion Release 2015 Director/Writer Zoltán Korda was 43 when he directed The Drum . Other Zoltán Korda films in the Collection: #372: Sanders Of The River (1935) #583: The Four Feathers (1939) Eclipse Series 30: Jungl...