The Criterion Collection Complete

BUSTAMANTE, Jayro (Guatemala) La Llrona [2019] Spine #1156 Blu-ray A country’s bloody history stains the present in the Guatemalan auteur Jayro Bustamante’s transfixing fusion of folk horror and searing political commentary, inspired by the real-life indictment of the authoritarian Efraín Ríos Montt for crimes against humanity. A notorious, now aging former military dictator stands trial for atrocities committed against Guatemala’s Mayan communities. While battling legal repercussions and the people’s demands for justice, he and his family are plagued by a series of increasingly strange and disturbing occurrences, seemingly brought on by an enigmatic new housekeeper (María Mercedes Coroy). With a restraint that renders the film’s shocks all the more potent, Bustamante crafts a chilling vision of a nation reckoning with collective harms and the restless ghosts of a past that refuses to die. 96 minutes Color 5.1 Surround in Spanish, Ixil, and Kaqchikel 2:39:1 Criterion Release 2022 Di...

KUROSAWA, Kiyoshi (Japan) Cure [1997] Spine #1155 Blu-ray Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s arresting international breakthrough established him as one of the leaders of an emerging new wave of Japanese horror while pushing the genre into uncharted realms of philosophical and existential exploration. A string of shocking, seemingly unmotivated murders—each committed by a different person yet all bearing the same grisly hallmarks—leads Detective Takabe (Koji Yakusho) into a labyrinthine investigation to discover what connects them, and into a disturbing game of cat and mouse with an enigmatic amnesiac (Masato Hagiwara) who may be evil incarnate. Awash in hushed, hypnotic dread,  Cure  is a tour de force of psychological tension and a hallucinatory journey into the darkest recesses of the human mind. 111 minutes Color Stereo in Japanese 1:85:1 Criterion Release 2022 Director/Writers Kiyoshi Kurosawa was 42 when he wrote and directed Cure . The Film a Film Rating (0-60): 60 The Extras The B...

LEMMONS, Kasi (United States) Eve's Bayou [1997] Spine #1154 Blu-ray “The summer I killed my father, I was ten years old . . .” So begins Kasi Lemmons’s spellbinding feature debut, an evocative journey into the maze of memory steeped in fragrant southern-gothic atmosphere. In 1960s Louisiana, a young girl (Jurnee Smollett) sees her well-to-do family unravel in the wake of the infidelities of her charming father (Samuel L. Jackson)—setting in motion a series of deceptions and betrayals that will upend her world and challenge her understanding of reality. Rooted in Creole history, folklore, and mysticism,  Eve’s Bayou  is a scintillating showcase for a powerhouse ensemble of Black actresses—including Lynn Whitfield, Debbi Morgan, and the legendary Diahann Carroll as a voodoo priestess—as well as a profoundly cathartic exploration of trauma, forgiveness, and the elusive nature of truth. 115 minutes Black and White/Color 5.1 Surround 1:85:1 Criterion Release 2022 Director/Write...

CAPRA, Frank (United States) Arsenic and Old Lace [1944] Spine #1153 Blu-ray Frank Capra adapted a hit stage play for this marvelous screwball meeting of the madcap and the macabre. On Halloween, newly married drama critic Mortimer Brewster (Cary Grant, cutting loose in a hilariously harried performance) returns home to Brooklyn, where his adorably dotty aunts (Josephine Hull and Jean Adair, who both starred in the Broadway production) greet him with love, sweetness . . . and a grisly surprise: the corpses buried in their cellar. A bugle-playing brother (John Alexander) who thinks he’s Teddy Roosevelt, a crazed criminal (Raymond Massey) who’s a dead ringer for Boris Karloff, and a seriously slippery plastic surgeon (Peter Lorre) are among the outré oddballs populating  Arsenic and Old Lace,  a diabolical delight that only gets funnier as the body count rises. 118 minutes Black and White Monaural 1:37:1 Criterion Release 2022 Director/Writers From the stage play by Joseph Ke...

LYNCH, David (United States) Lost Highway [1997] Spine #1152 Blu-ray “We’ve met before, haven’t we?”  A mesmerizing meditation on the mysterious nature of identity,  Lost Highway,  David Lynch’s seventh feature film, is one of the filmmaker’s most potent cinematic dreamscapes. Starring Patricia Arquette and Bill Pullman, the film expands the horizons of the medium, taking its audience on a journey through the unknown and the unknowable. As this postmodern noir detours into the realm of science fiction, it becomes apparent that the only certainty is uncertainty. 134 minutes Color 5.1 Surround 2:39:1 Criterion Release 2022 Director/Writers Written by David Lynch and Barry Gifford . Lynch was 51 when he directed Lost Highway . Other Lynch films in the Collection: #725: Eraserhead (1977) #1051: The Elephant Man (1980) #977: Blue Velvet (1986) #898: Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992) #779: Mulholland Dr. (2001) #1175: Inland Empire (2006) The Film a Film Rating (0-60): 6...