The Criterion Collection Complete

SMITH, Cauleen (United States) Drylongso [1998] Spine #1190 Blu-ray A rediscovered treasure of 1990s DIY filmmaking, Cauleen Smith’s  Drylongso  embeds an incisive look at racial injustice within a lovingly handmade buddy movie/murder mystery/romance. Alarmed by the rate at which the young Black men around her are dying, brash Oakland art student Pica (Toby Smith) attempts to preserve their existence in Polaroid snapshots, along the way forging a friendship with a woman in an abusive relationship (April Barnett) and experiencing love, heartbreak, and the everyday threat of violence. Capturing the vibrant community spirit of Oakland in the nineties, Smith crafts both a rare cinematic celebration of Black female creativity and a moving elegy for a generation of lost African American men. 81 minutes Monaural Color 1:33:1 Criterion Release 2023 Director/Writer Cauleen Smith was 31 when she directed  Drylongso . The Film a Film Rating (0-60): 60 The Extras The Booklet Comme...

WIDERBERG, Bo (Sweden) Ådalen 31 [1969] Spine #1189d Blu-ray One of Bo Widerberg’s most explicitly political works imbues the true story of a 1931 labor strike with a powerful contemporary resonance. In the industrial district of Ådalen, in the north of Sweden, a peaceful demonstration takes a tragic turn, leading to a historic general strike. Amid these events, the teenage Kjell (Peter Schildt) experiences sacrifice and strife, love and loss, and the consequences of this shocking violence. Working once again with  Elvira Madigan  cinematographer Jörgen Persson—who captures shimmering, light-filled images in graceful widescreen—Widerberg entwines a stirring portrait of resistance with an intimate coming-of-age journey for a vision of history that feels vibrantly, urgently alive. 114 minutes Monaural Color in Swedish 2:39:1 Criterion Release 2023 Director/Writer Bo Widerberg was 39 when he directed Ådalen 31 . Other Widerberg films in the Collection: #1189a: The Baby Carriag...

WIDERBERG, Bo (Sweden) Elvira Madigan [1967] Spine #1189c Blu-ray Bo Widerberg reached new heights of visual lyricism with this sublime retelling of a real-life nineteenth-century romantic tragedy. Bound by their all-consuming desire, a young circus tightrope walker (Pia Degermark, winner of the Cannes Best Actress prize) and a lieutenant (Tommy Berggren) with a wife and children forsake everything to be together and escape to the countryside—only to see their lovers’ idyll gradually give way to poverty and desperation. With its painterly, sun-dappled images and indelible use of Mozart’s Piano Concerto no. 21, this 1960s art-house sensation is the most ravishing expression of Widerberg’s recurring theme of the tension between individual freedom and social responsibility. 90 minutes Monaural Color in Swedish 1:66:1 Criterion Release 2023 Director/Writer Bo Widerberg was 37 when he directed  Elvira Madigan . Other Widerberg films in the Collection: #1189a: The Baby Carriage (1963)...

WIDERBERG, Bo (Sweden) Raven's End [1963] Spine #1189b Blu-ray A period piece that forgoes nostalgia in favor of a stark examination of working-class struggle, Bo Widerberg’s second feature unfolds in 1936 in the director’s hometown of Malmö. It’s there, in the poor district of Raven’s End, that young Anders (Widerberg’s regular collaborator Tommy Berggren) chases his dream of becoming a writer while growing increasingly disillusioned with the dead-end world that surrounds him: an alcoholic father, a toiling mother, and the ominous specter of Nazism. Delivering a bracing jolt of kitchen-sink realism to Swedish cinema, Widerberg paints an unsparing portrait of youthful idealism bumping up against economic despair. 100 minutes Monaural Black and White in Swedish 1:37:1 Criterion Release 2023 Director/Writer Bo Widerberg was 33 when he directed  Raven's End . Other Widerberg films in the Collection: #1189a: The Baby Carriage (1963) #1189c: Elvira Madigan (1967) #1189d: Ådalen ...

WIDERBERG, Bo (Sweden) The Baby Carriage [1963] Spine #1189a Blu-ray Infused with a jazzy, nouvelle vague–inspired energy, Bo Widerberg’s feature debut has the freshness of youth. Building on his manifesto’s call for a socially relevant Swedish cinema, the writer turned director offers a vivid portrait of a young factory worker (Inger Taube) finding her way toward independence as she weathers unexpected pregnancy, learns hard lessons from relationships with two very different men, and leaves behind the only home she has ever known. Abetted by fellow filmmaker Jan Troell’s coolly beautiful monochrome cinematography, Widerberg takes a bold first step in his mission to create a cinema that is both engaged and engaging. 95 minutes Monaural Black and White in Swedish 1:33:1 Criterion Release 2023 Director/Writer Bo Widerberg was 33 when he directed  The Baby Carriage . Other Widerberg films in the Collection: #1189b: Raven's End (1963) #1189c: Elvira Madigan (1967) #1189d: Ådale...

WIDERBERG, Bo (Sweden) Bo Widerberg's New Swedish Cinema [1963-69] Spine #1189 Blu-ray Driven by a desire to forge a socially conscious Swedish cinema—one that broke with the inward-looking psychodrama of Ingmar Bergman to give dynamic expression to the everyday experiences of working-class Swedes—writer Bo Widerberg turned to filmmaking in the early 1960s, realizing his ambition in politically committed yet poetic works that merge social-realist themes with a refined, often breathtakingly beautiful visual sensibility. Dramatizing the struggles of ordinary people fighting to chart their own destiny, these four acclaimed, popular, and pivotal films from Widerberg’s most prolific period live and breathe with a rare vitality—and helped launch a new Swedish cinema. Criterion Release 2023 #1189a: The Baby Carriage (1963) #1189b: Raven's End (1963) #1189c: Elvira Madigan (1967) #1189d: Ådalen 31 (1969) By Director By Spine #

WANG, Wayne (United States) Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart [1985] Spine #1188 Blu-ray Wayne Wang’s follow-up to his watershed indie  Chan Is Missing  is a family portrait that gracefully combines the director’s signature gentle humanism and eye for poignant detail. Offering another fresh perspective on San Francisco’s Chinese American community, Wang takes a bittersweet look at the generational pas de deux between an aging immigrant widow and her devoted daughter, torn between filial duty and her own desires. Soulfully performed by an ensemble including real-life mother and daughter Kim and Laureen Chew and Victor Wong, the Yasujiro Ozu–inspired  Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart  is as lovingly made as the home-cooked cuisine it celebrates. 84 Minutes Color Monaural in Cantonese and English 1:78:1 Criterion Release 2023 Director/Writer Wayne Wang was 36 when he directed Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart . Other Wang films in the Collection: #1124: Chan Is Missing (1982...