Criterion Channel Diary: August
By Austin Johnson
This is the fifth entry of me explaining my journey with the Criterion Channel streaming service. I’m really enjoying the process of seeing new things and sharing some thoughts on them here. I’ll probably do 12 total entries making it a year long jaunt. I’m keeping the streaming service forever because it’s my favorite and these entries are for fun and to honor how amazing it is that the service exists. Here’s my August watchlist…
Between the Lines (1977) - 8
Babylon (1980) - 10
Your Face (1987)
One of Those Days (1988)
How to Kiss (1988)
The Wiseman (1991)
Push Comes to Shove (1991)
How to Make Love to a Woman (1996)
Sex and Violence (1997)
The Fan and the Flower (2005)
Santa, the Fascist Years (2008)
The Cow Who Wanted to Be a Hamburger (2010)
Le Petit Soldat (1963) - 9
Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (1990) - 8
River of Grass (1994) - 9
Z (1969) - 10
A Separation (2011) - 10
Rafiki (2018) - 9
I started my August Criterion journey off pretty light with Between the Lines. It’s a pretty dry comedic film about an underground newspaper in Boston with some cool performances from Jeff Goldblum and John Heard as two of the newspaper's head writers. I actually don’t know how I found it. You know how streaming services can be. Sometimes we just scroll til the perfect thing pops up for that exact moment.
After Between the Lines, I decided to go quite a bit heavier and watch Babylon from the “Black Lives” section on Criterion. Babylon is about a young black dude living in Thatcher-era London and the ridiculous racial obstacles that are in his way. I found it to be a riveting experience with a pulsating score composed by Dennis Bovell, who the film is loosely based on. He is a badass musician who has been an underrated voice in the genre of reggae. Babylon is definitely one of the most unique films I have ever seen and it reminded me why this service is so fucking awesome.
I went on a bit of a short film bender after watching those first two films. Bill Plympton is now one of my favorite animation creators to ever live because of the incredible collection of shit written and directed by him that Criterion Channel has right now. I went in chronological order from 1987’s Your Face to 2010’s The Cow Who Wanted to Be a Hamburger. In total, I watched ten of Bill Plympton’s shorts and it’s safe to say that my mind has expanded. He’s an Oscar-nominated creator who specializes in surreal animation and I really want to know more about the man’s career. His work just speaks to me and my favorite out of those ten that I watched would have to be One of Those Days from 1988, where shit just goes really poorly for this guy. Your Face is very good and the one I would show people to see if they like Plympton’s style.
Jean-Luc Godard is a director that I have read and heard plenty about for years, but with Criterion, I’ve been able to dive into the work myself. I watched Le Petit Soldat, which is the fifth Godard film I’ve seen now and probably my favorite along with Vivre sa Vie. The way his films move and transition from one scene to the next is so distinct and rare to find at such a high level. There’s so little wasted time because of the intent with the camera. Raoul Coutard was Godard’s go to cinematographer and one of favorite guys to ever do it. Even if you don’t like the actual content within Godard’s films, it’s essential to watch how well they are crafted because he has clearly influenced countless creators.
I decided to check out another critically acclaimed writer/director after watching Le Petit Soldat. Pedro Almodóvar has been a prolific filmmaker since the mid 80’s and I just can’t believe it took me this long to figure out that he’s fucking awesome. Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! isn’t a perfect film or anything, but it’s made so well and clearly filled with passion. Almodóvar wrote and directed, Jose Luis Alcaine was the cinematographer, Ennio Morricone was composing, and then Antonio Banderas and Victoria Abril were the stars of it. I am 100% going to keep my eyes and ears open for more of Almodóvar’s filmography.
After Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!, I went for Kelly Reichardt’s feature length debut River of Grass. It’s an astonishing piece of work and my favorite Reichardt film so far. She just has this way of showcasing authentic characters in authentic settings with ultimate ease. There’s some shots in River of Grass that flat out get me amped up about film. We as film fans are consistently on the lookout for new techniques that excite us and that’s what River of Grass did for me.
Connor and I have used Criterion Channel for the Filmgazm podcast episode on The Brood and then we used it for the Oscar Sunday pod with The Great Dictator. We used it again for Oscar Sunday by watching Z from 1969, which is the first film in Oscar history to ever be up for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Picture. Z is a must see kind of film and it’s super infuriating right now because of how divided our nation is currently. It may be a Algerian-French film directed by a Greek guy, but it speaks up for all the oppressed people of the world. At one point, a Leftist leader is speaking and he says, “They struck me. Why? Why do the ideas we stand for incite such violence? Why is peace intolerable to them? Why don't they attack other organizations and movements? The answer is simple. The other movements are national, for domestic purposes, and thus leave our allies indifferent…”
After Z, I watched another masterpiece called A Separation. It was in the ‘Leaving August 31’ section, so I knew I had to see it by the end of the month. What a film! A Separation is one of the better through and through dramas that I’ve ever seen. The Iranian mastermind, Asghar Farhadi wrote and directed A Separation and he took home the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.
The last film I watched on the Criterion Channel in August was Rafiki, which caught my eye at the top of the streaming service home page. It is a Kenyan film from 2018 directed by Wanuri Kahiu, who is surely going to break through in a big way at some point. It wasn’t allowed to screen in Kenya at first because of it’s homosexual themes. She went to court and got the film into Nairobi theaters for just seven days, which is awesome but the folks running things in Kenya need to experience the film. Rafiki is filled with spectacular style and a devastating story. I was pretty blown away by Samantha Mugatsia and Sheila Munyiva as the two lovers. It’s all about their chemistry and Kahiu’s vibrant directing style. Stories of oppression are very real and it kills me to see people even further behind on homosexual topics than we are.
I watched 8 films and 10 shorts in August through Criterion Channel. That’s by far the least amount of content I’ve watched in a single while I’ve had the service. That’s mainly because the NBA playoffs started, but also because I was busy watching a lot of films for the Oscar Sunday podcast all month. I’m not complaining one bit. I normally have a handful of personal favorites and recommendations for every film buff at the end of each month, but this time I just have 3 and 3.
Personals
1. A Separation
2. River of Grass
3. Le Petit Soldat
Recommendations
1. Z
2. Babylon
3. Rafiki
Between the Lines (1977) - 8
Babylon (1980) - 10
Your Face (1987)
One of Those Days (1988)
How to Kiss (1988)
The Wiseman (1991)
Push Comes to Shove (1991)
How to Make Love to a Woman (1996)
Sex and Violence (1997)
The Fan and the Flower (2005)
Santa, the Fascist Years (2008)
The Cow Who Wanted to Be a Hamburger (2010)
Le Petit Soldat (1963) - 9
Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (1990) - 8
River of Grass (1994) - 9
Z (1969) - 10
A Separation (2011) - 10
Rafiki (2018) - 9
I started my August Criterion journey off pretty light with Between the Lines. It’s a pretty dry comedic film about an underground newspaper in Boston with some cool performances from Jeff Goldblum and John Heard as two of the newspaper's head writers. I actually don’t know how I found it. You know how streaming services can be. Sometimes we just scroll til the perfect thing pops up for that exact moment.
After Between the Lines, I decided to go quite a bit heavier and watch Babylon from the “Black Lives” section on Criterion. Babylon is about a young black dude living in Thatcher-era London and the ridiculous racial obstacles that are in his way. I found it to be a riveting experience with a pulsating score composed by Dennis Bovell, who the film is loosely based on. He is a badass musician who has been an underrated voice in the genre of reggae. Babylon is definitely one of the most unique films I have ever seen and it reminded me why this service is so fucking awesome.
I went on a bit of a short film bender after watching those first two films. Bill Plympton is now one of my favorite animation creators to ever live because of the incredible collection of shit written and directed by him that Criterion Channel has right now. I went in chronological order from 1987’s Your Face to 2010’s The Cow Who Wanted to Be a Hamburger. In total, I watched ten of Bill Plympton’s shorts and it’s safe to say that my mind has expanded. He’s an Oscar-nominated creator who specializes in surreal animation and I really want to know more about the man’s career. His work just speaks to me and my favorite out of those ten that I watched would have to be One of Those Days from 1988, where shit just goes really poorly for this guy. Your Face is very good and the one I would show people to see if they like Plympton’s style.
Jean-Luc Godard is a director that I have read and heard plenty about for years, but with Criterion, I’ve been able to dive into the work myself. I watched Le Petit Soldat, which is the fifth Godard film I’ve seen now and probably my favorite along with Vivre sa Vie. The way his films move and transition from one scene to the next is so distinct and rare to find at such a high level. There’s so little wasted time because of the intent with the camera. Raoul Coutard was Godard’s go to cinematographer and one of favorite guys to ever do it. Even if you don’t like the actual content within Godard’s films, it’s essential to watch how well they are crafted because he has clearly influenced countless creators.
I decided to check out another critically acclaimed writer/director after watching Le Petit Soldat. Pedro Almodóvar has been a prolific filmmaker since the mid 80’s and I just can’t believe it took me this long to figure out that he’s fucking awesome. Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! isn’t a perfect film or anything, but it’s made so well and clearly filled with passion. Almodóvar wrote and directed, Jose Luis Alcaine was the cinematographer, Ennio Morricone was composing, and then Antonio Banderas and Victoria Abril were the stars of it. I am 100% going to keep my eyes and ears open for more of Almodóvar’s filmography.
After Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!, I went for Kelly Reichardt’s feature length debut River of Grass. It’s an astonishing piece of work and my favorite Reichardt film so far. She just has this way of showcasing authentic characters in authentic settings with ultimate ease. There’s some shots in River of Grass that flat out get me amped up about film. We as film fans are consistently on the lookout for new techniques that excite us and that’s what River of Grass did for me.
Connor and I have used Criterion Channel for the Filmgazm podcast episode on The Brood and then we used it for the Oscar Sunday pod with The Great Dictator. We used it again for Oscar Sunday by watching Z from 1969, which is the first film in Oscar history to ever be up for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Picture. Z is a must see kind of film and it’s super infuriating right now because of how divided our nation is currently. It may be a Algerian-French film directed by a Greek guy, but it speaks up for all the oppressed people of the world. At one point, a Leftist leader is speaking and he says, “They struck me. Why? Why do the ideas we stand for incite such violence? Why is peace intolerable to them? Why don't they attack other organizations and movements? The answer is simple. The other movements are national, for domestic purposes, and thus leave our allies indifferent…”
After Z, I watched another masterpiece called A Separation. It was in the ‘Leaving August 31’ section, so I knew I had to see it by the end of the month. What a film! A Separation is one of the better through and through dramas that I’ve ever seen. The Iranian mastermind, Asghar Farhadi wrote and directed A Separation and he took home the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.
The last film I watched on the Criterion Channel in August was Rafiki, which caught my eye at the top of the streaming service home page. It is a Kenyan film from 2018 directed by Wanuri Kahiu, who is surely going to break through in a big way at some point. It wasn’t allowed to screen in Kenya at first because of it’s homosexual themes. She went to court and got the film into Nairobi theaters for just seven days, which is awesome but the folks running things in Kenya need to experience the film. Rafiki is filled with spectacular style and a devastating story. I was pretty blown away by Samantha Mugatsia and Sheila Munyiva as the two lovers. It’s all about their chemistry and Kahiu’s vibrant directing style. Stories of oppression are very real and it kills me to see people even further behind on homosexual topics than we are.
I watched 8 films and 10 shorts in August through Criterion Channel. That’s by far the least amount of content I’ve watched in a single while I’ve had the service. That’s mainly because the NBA playoffs started, but also because I was busy watching a lot of films for the Oscar Sunday podcast all month. I’m not complaining one bit. I normally have a handful of personal favorites and recommendations for every film buff at the end of each month, but this time I just have 3 and 3.
Personals
1. A Separation
2. River of Grass
3. Le Petit Soldat
Recommendations
1. Z
2. Babylon
3. Rafiki