Criterion Channel Diary: May
By Austin Johnson
I signed up for the Criterion Channel right when I started quarantining at home in March. It’s become my favorite streaming service by a mile and I’m excited to share some more films from it. I combined March and April for the first entry because I didn’t watch a film until March 20th. This entry will highlight the films I watched in May. I was able to watch 29 films for the first entry, which were all films I hadn’t seen because I’m young and trying my best to broaden my horizons. I didn’t have as much down time in May, because I started working again, but no matter what life brings, the lads at Filmgazm will be watching and writing about films. Here’s the list of films I watched on the Criterion Channel in May:
Snow Trail (1947) - 8
Drunken Angel (1948) - 9
Shadows in Paradise (1986) - 9
Ariel (1988) - 9
The Limey (1999) - 9
Camera Buff (1979) - 10
Wendy and Lucy (2008) - 8
Ghost World (2001) - 8
Murder by Contract (1958) - 9
The Brood (1979) - 9
Gilda (1946) - 8
Bless Their Little Hearts (1983) - 10
The Match Factory Girl (1990) - 8
Gloria (1980) - 9
Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance (1972) - 9
We’re Going to the Zoo (2006)
The Acquaintances of a Lonely John (2008)
Six Men Getting Sick (1967)
The Alphabet (1968)
DumbLand Episode 1 (2002)
DumbLand Episode 2 (2002)
DumbLand Episode 3 (2002)
DumbLand Episode 4 (2002)
DumbLand Episode 5 (2002)
DumbLand Episode 6 (2002)
DumbLand Episode 7 (2002)
DumbLand Episode 8 (2002)
Daybreak Express (1953)
Split Screen: S2-E6 Projections: "Wes Anderson" (2000)
Je tu il elle (1974) - 8
George Washington (2000) - 10
The Anderson Tapes (1971) - 9
Still (1978)
Introducing Cannes ‘68 (2018)
Toby Dammit (1968)
I started May off very strong with two films from the “Toshirô Mifune Turns 100” collection. During Mifune’s 50 year career, he appeared in over 150 films. He famously worked with the powerhouse director from Japan, Akira Kurosawa on 16 films. He was born in April of 1920, so he would’ve turned 100 recently and Criterion recognizes greatness so they created a collection of 28 films involving him. I started with the oldest ones on there which are Snow Trail and Drunken Angel. Snow Trail was the first film Mifune ever showed up in and he’s fantastic. Kurosawa helped write the screenplay, but Senkichi Taniguchi directed it. The second one I watched, Drunken Angel, was written and directed by Akira Kurosawa and it’s a spectacular film. It marks the first of Kurosawa and Mifune’s 16 film run together. Mifune is an excellent performer and I’m definitely going to explore that collection more in the future. Also, Takashi Shimura is in Snow Trail and Drunken Angel as well and he is arguably just as good as Mifune in those two films.
After that, I took a pretty drastic turn with a couple of Finnish films directed by Aki Kaurismäki. He directed the Proletariat Trilogy during the 80’s and I watched the first two films back to back and then put the third one on hold because I don’t really want it to end. You don’t have to watch them chronologically, but they all deal with the working class people in Helsinki, Finland. Shadows in Paradise is brilliant and Ariel is a borderline masterpiece, so I have high expectations for the third one. Matti Pellonpää appears in the first two films as different characters and is an absolutely devastating performer. He died in 1995 at 45 years old but gave his all while he could. Rest In Peace, Matti.
The Criterion Channel has this massive section of double features that has honestly been a blast to just scroll through. I love the idea of stacking a couple of films together and finding the key similarities and differences. One of my all time favorite films is Mulholland Drive from 2001. Criterion recently added a double feature titled California Dreamin’ with The Limey from 1999 and Mulholland Drive. Both films rely heavily on its setting of Southern California and blurring the lines between dreams and reality. Both films consist of extremely impressive cinematography and both films feature the beautiful Melissa George. I love David Lynch as a creator for many reasons and I love Steven Soderbergh for very different reasons, but it was amazing to see The Limey for the first time because Mulholland Drive is like comfort food to me and I’ve seen it a bunch of times. I totally understand why they chose those two as a double feature and it’s definitely a section I like to keep an eye on.
The next film I watched was Camera Buff from 1979 and directed by the masterful Krysztof Kieslowski from Poland. Last month, I mentioned the “Adventures in Moviegoing” section a few times and I definitely see it as the coolest thing that the Criterion Channel has to offer. It’s got dozens of film contributors recommending films which is something I’ve always wanted to have in my life. Last month, I dove into a few films selected by Barry Jenkins and Paul Dano. This month, they released a collection of films selected by the Safdie brothers which is absolutely chilling to even think about. Those guys are so fucking inspiring and they are students of the game, completely unafraid to share their fandom and admiration for other creators. I decided to start with Camera Buff because they recommended it and simply because the poster for it is astonishing. It features the main character Filip with a camera lens as his face. The film is essentially about filmmaking taking over Filip’s life. It’s one of the better films I’ve watched on Criterion and one of the better films I’ve watched ever.
Criterion does a good job of making the consumer aware of what’s leaving soon by having a section titled “Leaving May 31” which is of course for this month, but they do that every month. I followed Camera Buff with three films from that particular section. The first one was Kelly Reichardt’s subtle drama called Wendy and Lucy which features Michelle Williams as Wendy and Reichardt’s actual pet dog, Lucy as Lucy. The second one was Ghost World, which was directed by Terry Zwigoff and stars two performers I love in Scar Jo and Steve Buscemi and then there’s a surprisingly strong showing from Thora Birch as the main character. It’s a clever film with tons of cool music references. Those first two are from the 2000’s era, so I decided to turn the clock back to 1958 for the Irving Lerner directed masterpiece, Murder by Contract. It’s one of the better films I’ve seen from the film noir era and it contains one of the better performances I’ve witnessed lately in Vince Edwards incredibly cool work as Claude, the contract killer.
After watching some stuff that’s off the service now, Connor and I used Criterion Channel on the podcast for the first time. We always have a horror film that we talk about on the podcast each week and we felt like adding another streaming service option into the mix. The Criterion Channel doesn’t have a crazy amount of horror films to choose from, but the ones they do have are fucking quality. We chose The Brood from 1979, written and directed by David Cronenberg. The Fly from 1986 is one of our favorite horror films here at Filmgazm so we definitely want to see everything he has done and The Brood was an excellent choice. It is a very ambitious film that I actually think is one of the scariest things we have covered on the pod.
I have to admit, I was enticed by the “Leaving May 31” section again because I saw that the 1946 classic, Gilda, was on there. For all of you Shawshank fans, that’s the film that’s playing when Andy goes to Red for supplies, including a poster of Rita Hayworth who plays Gilda. It’s a classic for a reason and I definitely see it at a must see when watching old American films. Every performance is a knockout and Hayworth is on a different planet.
I went back to the Safdies AIM collection to check out Bless Their Little Hearts and holy shit that is an astonishing film. So far, the Safdies haven’t failed me yet. Bless Their Little Hearts was written and shot by Charles Burnett and stars his own three children. Billy Woodberry produced and directed, forming a fantastic combination that takes a deep look into a family’s life in Watts, Los Angeles. It’s really simple but mighty impactful and I’m definitely taking the Safdies advice again soon.
At the beginning of May, I watched the first two films from the Proletariat Trilogy, written and directed by Aki Kaurismäki. I loved Shadows in Paradise and I called Ariel a masterpiece earlier, but the third entry, The Match Factory Girl just isn’t as strong as those two. It’s a very good film but my expectations were high because of how entertaining those first two are. I highly recommend the Proletariat Trilogy to anyone who likes dark comedy and working class characters.
I went back to the Safdie Brothers picks in the AIM section after finishing the trilogy and watched Gloria from 1980. It totally makes sense that they like Gloria because it’s an intense New York City film with crazy cinematography. Their more recent breakout films Good Time and Uncut Gems are also intense NYC films so it was fun to see something that clearly inspired them. Their picks have been so fucking good so far and that’s partly due to them making films I like, so the things that influenced their work are probably going to be up my alley as well. Speaking of trusting someone’s picks, I stuck with the AIM section but chose a different set of picks from someone who has a very different background compared to filmmakers like the Safdie Brothers.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has the greatest NBA career of all time in my opinion. I love basketball to death and that love lies mostly in the NBA. Kareem played for twenty seasons from 1969 to 1989. He outlasted so many greats and obtained numerous accolades including six NBA championships, six MVP awards, nineteen All-Star selections, ten All NBA first team selections, five All Defensive first team selections, and many many more. My favorite achievement of Kareem's is that he won a NBA Finals MVP in 1971 and 1985. A lot of guys are lucky to play fourteen seasons professionally in any sport but he was at the top level for so long that he won the most valuable player at the highest stage in basketball fourteen years apart! He has a few picks in the AIM section, so it was a no-brainer for me to check out what the greatest NBA player of all time likes to watch. I chose Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance and felt a unique intensity the whole way through. It’s the first of six films in a series that is based on the Manga series of the same name. Sword of Vengeance is fucking awesome and I totally want to see the next five films because the main character, Itto, played by Tomisaburo Wakayama, is a legendary character. Thank you, Kareem.
I have obviously grown to really appreciate the Safdie Brothers as filmmakers and my appreciation for their passion as fans is growing rapidly. The Criterion Channel has a collection dedicated to their work called Meet the Filmmakers and it includes their first two feature length films, The Pleasure of Being Robbed and Daddy Longlegs. It also includes four short films they made and then an hour long video of the Safdies just sharing their experiences. There’s also the AIM section with their picks so if you like them, then the Criterion Channel is a great place to dive into their minds. I decided to watch a couple of their shorts which were both entertaining and great to see because the vision and style is there on a much smaller scale than their breakout films Good Time and Uncut Gems. We’re Going to the Zoo features a cool performance from Josh and Acquaintances of a Lonely John features a very believable performance from Benny. They can literally do anything they want because the passion and knowledge is always there.
One of the very first things I ever did on this wonderful streaming service is search “David Lynch” and my gosh, there is a plethora of content made by him. At the moment, Criterion Channel has Eraserhead, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, Mulholland Drive, The Art of Life, and a bunch of shorts. I dove pretty deep into the rabbit hole and watched ten shorts because I’ve seen all of his feature length films and Twin Peaks, so I just want more of his work in my mind. I watched a couple shorts from the late 60’s titled Six Men Getting Sick and The Alphabet which were both pretty disturbing. The other eight shorts I watched are a series called DumbLand which Lynch created in 2002 and released on the internet for free. Those eight shorts are hilarious and really fucking raw. If you like his films and his style of directing then I recommend seeking out the shorts. It’s Lynch with absolutely no one telling him what to do.
I’m not very well versed in the world of short films but I’m changing that and I discovered Daybreak Express in a collection called “Shorts for Days: Cityscapes” and I found it to be an intoxicating piece of work featuring some legendary music by Duke Ellington. The film captures the soon to be destroyed Third Avenue subway station in New York City and it’s just a really solid five minutes of entertainment.
I get lost in the streaming service sometimes which is totally fine with me because there are so many films I haven’t even heard of popping up over and over. I do have some favorite directors that I’ve sort of followed and one of those guys is Wes Anderson. The Criterion Channel has this cool section called “Split Screen” which features a bunch of interviews and nerdy shit about films. I decided to watch the Wes Anderson episode from 2000 which was really cool because he had only done Bottle Rocket and Rushmore at the point with The Royal Tenenbaums right around the corner in '01. The episode is hosted by John Pierson and Wes is just sitting there with his spectacles and New Balance sneakers, willingly answering all kinds of questions about his craft. I highly recommend it to any Wes Anderson fan.
After watching a real random interview, I decided to check out a French classic. Je tu il elle is Chantal Akerman’s first feature length film and probably the most ambitious debut I’ve ever seen in my life. She wrote it, directed it, and starred as the main character for an hour and a half of mind boggling stuff. I wouldn’t just recommend it for a random Tuesday night watch but if you like French cinema then it’s a must.
Fast forward 26 years after Je tu il elle came out and we are in the year 2000 for my next watch which is one of the more moving pictures I’ve watched on Criterion Channel so far. George Washington is David Gordon Green’s debut film and my favorite thing he has ever done. I actually don’t remember exactly how I found it on the service but I often get lost with the search engine so it must’ve had something to do with that. I’m beyond grateful for tripping over it because it’s a masterpiece in my eyes that showcases some jaw dropping cinematography from Tim Orr and wild direction from David Gordon Green who is always going to be a Filmgazm hero due to his work on Halloween in 2018.
I went back to the “Leaving May 31” for my next two watches which include The Anderson Tapes from 1971 and the famous short, Still from 1978. The Anderson Tapes is a very intense action thriller directed by the legendary Sydney Lumet and Still is a visually mesmerizing but disturbing short directed by Nietzchka Keene who isn’t with us anymore but her contribution to film is extremely inspiring and I’m excited to dig into her stuff more.
There is this really cool collection on Criterion right now called “Cannes 68 in Revolt” which features a brilliant ten minute introduction about the madness surrounding the Cannes film festival in 1968 and then six films that actually screened at the festival are on there too. I highly highly recommend checking out the introduction because it’s extremely informational and inspirational. I checked out one of the films on there called Toby Dammit, which is a 45 minute segment directed by Federico Fellini from Spirits of the Dead. Toby Dammit features an incredible performance by Terrence Stamp as this drunk and drugged up actor, which was cool because I watched him shred through The Limey earlier in the month.
For my last diary entry that covered the last part of March and all of April, I watched 29 films that I hadn’t seen before on the Criterion Channel. In May, I was able to watch 18 films, 16 shorts, and 1 awesome interview with ol' Wes Anderson. I changed the pace up quite a bit compared to last month and I’ll continue to watch films of all kinds from all nations. It’s all about learning and experiencing new art, which brings me to my personal favorites and my highest recommendations to all film fans from May. Last month, I listed 5 films that blew my mind and have become personal favorites. I also listed 5 films that I think every kind of film fan will enjoy no matter what. This time around, I have 5 films and the 8 episodes from the DumbLand series that have entered a sort of holy grail in my mind of films I connect with on a very deep level. I also have 4 films that I think are undeniably great no matter what you like personally. See you next month.
Personals
6. DumbLand Episodes 1-8
5. Ariel
4. The Brood
3. Bless Their Little Hearts
2. George Washington
1. Camera Buff
Recommendations
4. Gilda
3. Introducing Cannes '68
2. The Anderson Tapes
1. Murder by Contract
Snow Trail (1947) - 8
Drunken Angel (1948) - 9
Shadows in Paradise (1986) - 9
Ariel (1988) - 9
The Limey (1999) - 9
Camera Buff (1979) - 10
Wendy and Lucy (2008) - 8
Ghost World (2001) - 8
Murder by Contract (1958) - 9
The Brood (1979) - 9
Gilda (1946) - 8
Bless Their Little Hearts (1983) - 10
The Match Factory Girl (1990) - 8
Gloria (1980) - 9
Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance (1972) - 9
We’re Going to the Zoo (2006)
The Acquaintances of a Lonely John (2008)
Six Men Getting Sick (1967)
The Alphabet (1968)
DumbLand Episode 1 (2002)
DumbLand Episode 2 (2002)
DumbLand Episode 3 (2002)
DumbLand Episode 4 (2002)
DumbLand Episode 5 (2002)
DumbLand Episode 6 (2002)
DumbLand Episode 7 (2002)
DumbLand Episode 8 (2002)
Daybreak Express (1953)
Split Screen: S2-E6 Projections: "Wes Anderson" (2000)
Je tu il elle (1974) - 8
George Washington (2000) - 10
The Anderson Tapes (1971) - 9
Still (1978)
Introducing Cannes ‘68 (2018)
Toby Dammit (1968)
I started May off very strong with two films from the “Toshirô Mifune Turns 100” collection. During Mifune’s 50 year career, he appeared in over 150 films. He famously worked with the powerhouse director from Japan, Akira Kurosawa on 16 films. He was born in April of 1920, so he would’ve turned 100 recently and Criterion recognizes greatness so they created a collection of 28 films involving him. I started with the oldest ones on there which are Snow Trail and Drunken Angel. Snow Trail was the first film Mifune ever showed up in and he’s fantastic. Kurosawa helped write the screenplay, but Senkichi Taniguchi directed it. The second one I watched, Drunken Angel, was written and directed by Akira Kurosawa and it’s a spectacular film. It marks the first of Kurosawa and Mifune’s 16 film run together. Mifune is an excellent performer and I’m definitely going to explore that collection more in the future. Also, Takashi Shimura is in Snow Trail and Drunken Angel as well and he is arguably just as good as Mifune in those two films.
After that, I took a pretty drastic turn with a couple of Finnish films directed by Aki Kaurismäki. He directed the Proletariat Trilogy during the 80’s and I watched the first two films back to back and then put the third one on hold because I don’t really want it to end. You don’t have to watch them chronologically, but they all deal with the working class people in Helsinki, Finland. Shadows in Paradise is brilliant and Ariel is a borderline masterpiece, so I have high expectations for the third one. Matti Pellonpää appears in the first two films as different characters and is an absolutely devastating performer. He died in 1995 at 45 years old but gave his all while he could. Rest In Peace, Matti.
The Criterion Channel has this massive section of double features that has honestly been a blast to just scroll through. I love the idea of stacking a couple of films together and finding the key similarities and differences. One of my all time favorite films is Mulholland Drive from 2001. Criterion recently added a double feature titled California Dreamin’ with The Limey from 1999 and Mulholland Drive. Both films rely heavily on its setting of Southern California and blurring the lines between dreams and reality. Both films consist of extremely impressive cinematography and both films feature the beautiful Melissa George. I love David Lynch as a creator for many reasons and I love Steven Soderbergh for very different reasons, but it was amazing to see The Limey for the first time because Mulholland Drive is like comfort food to me and I’ve seen it a bunch of times. I totally understand why they chose those two as a double feature and it’s definitely a section I like to keep an eye on.
The next film I watched was Camera Buff from 1979 and directed by the masterful Krysztof Kieslowski from Poland. Last month, I mentioned the “Adventures in Moviegoing” section a few times and I definitely see it as the coolest thing that the Criterion Channel has to offer. It’s got dozens of film contributors recommending films which is something I’ve always wanted to have in my life. Last month, I dove into a few films selected by Barry Jenkins and Paul Dano. This month, they released a collection of films selected by the Safdie brothers which is absolutely chilling to even think about. Those guys are so fucking inspiring and they are students of the game, completely unafraid to share their fandom and admiration for other creators. I decided to start with Camera Buff because they recommended it and simply because the poster for it is astonishing. It features the main character Filip with a camera lens as his face. The film is essentially about filmmaking taking over Filip’s life. It’s one of the better films I’ve watched on Criterion and one of the better films I’ve watched ever.
Criterion does a good job of making the consumer aware of what’s leaving soon by having a section titled “Leaving May 31” which is of course for this month, but they do that every month. I followed Camera Buff with three films from that particular section. The first one was Kelly Reichardt’s subtle drama called Wendy and Lucy which features Michelle Williams as Wendy and Reichardt’s actual pet dog, Lucy as Lucy. The second one was Ghost World, which was directed by Terry Zwigoff and stars two performers I love in Scar Jo and Steve Buscemi and then there’s a surprisingly strong showing from Thora Birch as the main character. It’s a clever film with tons of cool music references. Those first two are from the 2000’s era, so I decided to turn the clock back to 1958 for the Irving Lerner directed masterpiece, Murder by Contract. It’s one of the better films I’ve seen from the film noir era and it contains one of the better performances I’ve witnessed lately in Vince Edwards incredibly cool work as Claude, the contract killer.
After watching some stuff that’s off the service now, Connor and I used Criterion Channel on the podcast for the first time. We always have a horror film that we talk about on the podcast each week and we felt like adding another streaming service option into the mix. The Criterion Channel doesn’t have a crazy amount of horror films to choose from, but the ones they do have are fucking quality. We chose The Brood from 1979, written and directed by David Cronenberg. The Fly from 1986 is one of our favorite horror films here at Filmgazm so we definitely want to see everything he has done and The Brood was an excellent choice. It is a very ambitious film that I actually think is one of the scariest things we have covered on the pod.
I have to admit, I was enticed by the “Leaving May 31” section again because I saw that the 1946 classic, Gilda, was on there. For all of you Shawshank fans, that’s the film that’s playing when Andy goes to Red for supplies, including a poster of Rita Hayworth who plays Gilda. It’s a classic for a reason and I definitely see it at a must see when watching old American films. Every performance is a knockout and Hayworth is on a different planet.
I went back to the Safdies AIM collection to check out Bless Their Little Hearts and holy shit that is an astonishing film. So far, the Safdies haven’t failed me yet. Bless Their Little Hearts was written and shot by Charles Burnett and stars his own three children. Billy Woodberry produced and directed, forming a fantastic combination that takes a deep look into a family’s life in Watts, Los Angeles. It’s really simple but mighty impactful and I’m definitely taking the Safdies advice again soon.
At the beginning of May, I watched the first two films from the Proletariat Trilogy, written and directed by Aki Kaurismäki. I loved Shadows in Paradise and I called Ariel a masterpiece earlier, but the third entry, The Match Factory Girl just isn’t as strong as those two. It’s a very good film but my expectations were high because of how entertaining those first two are. I highly recommend the Proletariat Trilogy to anyone who likes dark comedy and working class characters.
I went back to the Safdie Brothers picks in the AIM section after finishing the trilogy and watched Gloria from 1980. It totally makes sense that they like Gloria because it’s an intense New York City film with crazy cinematography. Their more recent breakout films Good Time and Uncut Gems are also intense NYC films so it was fun to see something that clearly inspired them. Their picks have been so fucking good so far and that’s partly due to them making films I like, so the things that influenced their work are probably going to be up my alley as well. Speaking of trusting someone’s picks, I stuck with the AIM section but chose a different set of picks from someone who has a very different background compared to filmmakers like the Safdie Brothers.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has the greatest NBA career of all time in my opinion. I love basketball to death and that love lies mostly in the NBA. Kareem played for twenty seasons from 1969 to 1989. He outlasted so many greats and obtained numerous accolades including six NBA championships, six MVP awards, nineteen All-Star selections, ten All NBA first team selections, five All Defensive first team selections, and many many more. My favorite achievement of Kareem's is that he won a NBA Finals MVP in 1971 and 1985. A lot of guys are lucky to play fourteen seasons professionally in any sport but he was at the top level for so long that he won the most valuable player at the highest stage in basketball fourteen years apart! He has a few picks in the AIM section, so it was a no-brainer for me to check out what the greatest NBA player of all time likes to watch. I chose Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance and felt a unique intensity the whole way through. It’s the first of six films in a series that is based on the Manga series of the same name. Sword of Vengeance is fucking awesome and I totally want to see the next five films because the main character, Itto, played by Tomisaburo Wakayama, is a legendary character. Thank you, Kareem.
I have obviously grown to really appreciate the Safdie Brothers as filmmakers and my appreciation for their passion as fans is growing rapidly. The Criterion Channel has a collection dedicated to their work called Meet the Filmmakers and it includes their first two feature length films, The Pleasure of Being Robbed and Daddy Longlegs. It also includes four short films they made and then an hour long video of the Safdies just sharing their experiences. There’s also the AIM section with their picks so if you like them, then the Criterion Channel is a great place to dive into their minds. I decided to watch a couple of their shorts which were both entertaining and great to see because the vision and style is there on a much smaller scale than their breakout films Good Time and Uncut Gems. We’re Going to the Zoo features a cool performance from Josh and Acquaintances of a Lonely John features a very believable performance from Benny. They can literally do anything they want because the passion and knowledge is always there.
One of the very first things I ever did on this wonderful streaming service is search “David Lynch” and my gosh, there is a plethora of content made by him. At the moment, Criterion Channel has Eraserhead, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, Mulholland Drive, The Art of Life, and a bunch of shorts. I dove pretty deep into the rabbit hole and watched ten shorts because I’ve seen all of his feature length films and Twin Peaks, so I just want more of his work in my mind. I watched a couple shorts from the late 60’s titled Six Men Getting Sick and The Alphabet which were both pretty disturbing. The other eight shorts I watched are a series called DumbLand which Lynch created in 2002 and released on the internet for free. Those eight shorts are hilarious and really fucking raw. If you like his films and his style of directing then I recommend seeking out the shorts. It’s Lynch with absolutely no one telling him what to do.
I’m not very well versed in the world of short films but I’m changing that and I discovered Daybreak Express in a collection called “Shorts for Days: Cityscapes” and I found it to be an intoxicating piece of work featuring some legendary music by Duke Ellington. The film captures the soon to be destroyed Third Avenue subway station in New York City and it’s just a really solid five minutes of entertainment.
I get lost in the streaming service sometimes which is totally fine with me because there are so many films I haven’t even heard of popping up over and over. I do have some favorite directors that I’ve sort of followed and one of those guys is Wes Anderson. The Criterion Channel has this cool section called “Split Screen” which features a bunch of interviews and nerdy shit about films. I decided to watch the Wes Anderson episode from 2000 which was really cool because he had only done Bottle Rocket and Rushmore at the point with The Royal Tenenbaums right around the corner in '01. The episode is hosted by John Pierson and Wes is just sitting there with his spectacles and New Balance sneakers, willingly answering all kinds of questions about his craft. I highly recommend it to any Wes Anderson fan.
After watching a real random interview, I decided to check out a French classic. Je tu il elle is Chantal Akerman’s first feature length film and probably the most ambitious debut I’ve ever seen in my life. She wrote it, directed it, and starred as the main character for an hour and a half of mind boggling stuff. I wouldn’t just recommend it for a random Tuesday night watch but if you like French cinema then it’s a must.
Fast forward 26 years after Je tu il elle came out and we are in the year 2000 for my next watch which is one of the more moving pictures I’ve watched on Criterion Channel so far. George Washington is David Gordon Green’s debut film and my favorite thing he has ever done. I actually don’t remember exactly how I found it on the service but I often get lost with the search engine so it must’ve had something to do with that. I’m beyond grateful for tripping over it because it’s a masterpiece in my eyes that showcases some jaw dropping cinematography from Tim Orr and wild direction from David Gordon Green who is always going to be a Filmgazm hero due to his work on Halloween in 2018.
I went back to the “Leaving May 31” for my next two watches which include The Anderson Tapes from 1971 and the famous short, Still from 1978. The Anderson Tapes is a very intense action thriller directed by the legendary Sydney Lumet and Still is a visually mesmerizing but disturbing short directed by Nietzchka Keene who isn’t with us anymore but her contribution to film is extremely inspiring and I’m excited to dig into her stuff more.
There is this really cool collection on Criterion right now called “Cannes 68 in Revolt” which features a brilliant ten minute introduction about the madness surrounding the Cannes film festival in 1968 and then six films that actually screened at the festival are on there too. I highly highly recommend checking out the introduction because it’s extremely informational and inspirational. I checked out one of the films on there called Toby Dammit, which is a 45 minute segment directed by Federico Fellini from Spirits of the Dead. Toby Dammit features an incredible performance by Terrence Stamp as this drunk and drugged up actor, which was cool because I watched him shred through The Limey earlier in the month.
For my last diary entry that covered the last part of March and all of April, I watched 29 films that I hadn’t seen before on the Criterion Channel. In May, I was able to watch 18 films, 16 shorts, and 1 awesome interview with ol' Wes Anderson. I changed the pace up quite a bit compared to last month and I’ll continue to watch films of all kinds from all nations. It’s all about learning and experiencing new art, which brings me to my personal favorites and my highest recommendations to all film fans from May. Last month, I listed 5 films that blew my mind and have become personal favorites. I also listed 5 films that I think every kind of film fan will enjoy no matter what. This time around, I have 5 films and the 8 episodes from the DumbLand series that have entered a sort of holy grail in my mind of films I connect with on a very deep level. I also have 4 films that I think are undeniably great no matter what you like personally. See you next month.
Personals
6. DumbLand Episodes 1-8
5. Ariel
4. The Brood
3. Bless Their Little Hearts
2. George Washington
1. Camera Buff
Recommendations
4. Gilda
3. Introducing Cannes '68
2. The Anderson Tapes
1. Murder by Contract