I don’t have the largest collection of Criterion films, but it is large enough to make me feel guilty about not watching all of the films on my shelves.
This page follows my goal to watch and review every Criterion Collection film I own. I start from #1, Seven Samurai, and go from there.
10 most recent reviews
#90 Kwaidan. Dir. Masaki Kobayashi
Kwaidan is comprised of four Japanese ghost stories, each inspired by one of the stories in Lafcadio Hearn’s 1904 anthology, Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things. At the time of filming, Kobayashi’s Kwaidan was the most expensive Japanese film ever produced. Its high cost of production is up on the screen. As the film … Continue reading #90 Kwaidan. Dir. Masaki Kobayashi
#61 Monty Python’s Life of Brian. Dir. Terry Jones
An expanding DVD market and digital streaming made the Criterion Collection edition of Life of Brian superfluous. I purchased the CC copy of Life of Brian before a cheaper copy was available; and, even if there was one somewhere out there, I could not imagine how, as I held a sixty dollar DVD in my … Continue reading #61 Monty Python’s Life of Brian. Dir. Terry Jones
#53 Sanjuro. Dir. Akira Kurosawa
A DVD copy of Sanjuro was gifted to me. If I had purchased a hard copy myself, I definitely would never have skipped buying Yojimbo, the first in the pair of films about Sanjuro, the ronin who names himself “30 years old”. Sanjuro is a film for the those–investors and samurai fans alike–who wanted more … Continue reading #53 Sanjuro. Dir. Akira Kurosawa
#45, Taste of Cherry. Dir., Abbas Kiarostami
“Change your outlook …” . This prescription is given to Badii by the Azeri taxidermist. Of the three passengers Badii picks up to solicit help in his plan for suicide, the taxidermist is the most vocal in his disagreement of Badii’s intentions. In sharp contrast to the young soldier, whose nervousness from Badii’s appeals made … Continue reading #45, Taste of Cherry. Dir., Abbas Kiarostami
#34, Andrei Rublev. Dir., Andrei Tarkovsky
Andrei Rublev is a beautiful study of an artist’s relationship with his/her social circumstances. With patient camera movement and long takes, Tarkovsky presents Rublev, the 15th-century Russian icon painter, as someone who is internally split between a desire to paint in ignorance of social turmoil and a curiosity to get as close as he can … Continue reading #34, Andrei Rublev. Dir., Andrei Tarkovsky
#1, Seven Samurai. Dir., Akira Kurosawa
Seven Samurai was not the first criterion in my collection, but it probably should have been. When I first watched this film–a loan from my library–I started to see my ignorance of cinema history clearly, without bias or defensiveness. If it had taken me this long to see Seven Samurai, there must be so many … Continue reading #1, Seven Samurai. Dir., Akira Kurosawa
