David Lynch’s ’Blue Velvet’ Covers the Darkness
How can we appreciate David Lynch's Blue Velvet, a film about America's private darkness, in an era when such anxieties, tensions, and corruptions are so openly apparent?
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The Terrifying Reciprocity of the Aesthetic Gaze in Visconti’s ‘Death in Venice’
Luchino Visconti's oft-misunderstood Death in Venice (Morte a Venezia) tenderly explores how beauty stares back at us and demands that we accept and acknowledge its terrible contradictions.
Harold Lloyd Proves Himself a Real Hickory in Silent Film ‘The Kid Brother’
Over 90 years later, silent film The Kid Brother works well as entertainment for modern audiences, for whom its calculated old-fashioned corn and apparent simplicity aren't a problem but par for the course.
Criterion Film Offerings: French Noir, Japanese Lovers, American Gangsters and Frames of Pure Serenity
Duvivier's Panique, Mizoguchi's A Story from Chikamatsu, Kiarostami's 24 Frames, and May's Mikey and Nicky are now available on Blu-ray from Criterion. Here's what you have to look forward to.
America’s Dirty Secrets Revealed in Robert Altman’s Short Cuts
Altman spent his entire career amplifying the hidden comedy in America’s soul. Short Cuts is his most sweeping and relatable sketch of the country caught off-guard.
‘A Special Day’ in Fascist Italy
Despite the tumultuous times, the characters in A Special Day can’t escape the clichés of a standard melodramatic story.
‘The Bridge’ Shows a Forgotten Side of Nazi Germany’s Final Days
The Bridge, which tells the story of the Volkssturm in the final days of the Nazi party, is classic work of art.