Criterion’s history is longer and more complicated than anybody quite realizes, leaving some of their earliest (or even recent-ish) titles in a strange, semi-canonized state. I’m thus excited by a program, debuting April, that resurrects certain of Criterion’s left-behind releases: King Kong (featuring the first-ever audio commentary), High Noon, Bad Day at Black Rock (with a John Sturges commentary that Paul Thomas Anderson has said is better than film school) Harold and Maude, The Man Who Fell to Earth, The Elephant Man (likely in anticipation of their new 4K edition), and RoboCop, one of the ultimate did-you-know-that-was-a-Criterion Criterions.
Director-wise, April is a bit light on director retrospectives, but there’s always something to learn from Jacques Tourneur. A true master of genre and form, he’s highlighted in the forthcoming Criterion Channel series that groups arguably his best-known film (Out of the Past) with Berlin Express and Nightfall, the latter of which I can vouch for and former I anticipate finally catching up with. Meanwhile, the Cold War documentaries of Emile de Antonio are highlighted, and Mary Bronstein has curated an Adventures in Moviegoing program as her debut feature Yeast streams.
For themed series, look towards Corporate Thrillers, a sleek and cold-blooded exhibition of you-have-no-idea-how-high-this-goes intrigue featuring Wall Street, Michael Clayton, and The International, while Caden Mark Gardner and Willow Catelyn Maclay have curated Tramps, Troublemakers, and Trailblazers: Trans Filmmakers, which will be many people’s opportunity to finally catch up with the first installment of Castration Movie. As Bi Gan’s Resurrection, Flickering Ghosts of Loves Gone By, and a restoration of Stella Dallas make streaming debuts, the short films of Sophy Romvari return in anticipation of Janus releasing Blue Heron on April 17. Shoutout, too, to Tokyo Melody: A Film About Ryuichi Sakamoto, the single best film on the inexhaustible artist I’ve ever seen.
See the full list below and more on the Criterion Channel:
All Said Done, Micah Weber, 2025
Antitrust, Peter Howitt, 2001
Arbitrage, Nicholas Jarecki, 2012*
Bad Day at Black Rock, John Sturges, 1955*
Berlin Express, Jacques Tourneur, 1948
Buseok, Kyujae Park, 2024
Castration Movie Anthology i. Traps, Louise Weard, 2024
Concrete Resources (Thank you for keeping me a company of images), Emir West, 2024
The Deal, Harvey Kahn, 2005
The Devil’s Advocate, Taylor Hackford, 1997
Disclosure, Barry Levinson, 1994
Dog Movie, Henry Hanson, 2023
Drunktown’s Finest, Sydney Freeland, 2014
The Elephant Man, David Lynch, 1980
endings, Philip Hoffman and Isiah Medina, 2024
The Firm, Sydney Pollack, 1993*
Flickering Ghosts of Loves Gone By, André Bonzel, 2021
Freakscene: The Story of Dinosaur Jr., Philipp Virus, 2021
Gatchaman: The Movie, Hisayuki Toriumi, 1978*
Gender Troublemakers, Mirha-Soleil Ross and Xanthra Phillippa Mackay, 1993
Grandma’s House, Sophy Romvari, 2018
Grasshopper Republic, Daniel McCabe, 2023
Harold and Maude, Hal Ashby, 1971
Hemel, Danielle Dean, 2024
High Noon, Fred Zinnemann, 1952
In Dog Years, Sophy Romvari, 2019
The International, Tom Tykwer, 2009
In the King of Prussia, Emile de Antonio, 1983
In the Year of the Pig, Emile de Antonio, 1968
It’s Him, Sophy Romvari, 2017
Jane by Charlotte, Charlotte Gainsbourg, 2021
Kalighat Fetish, Ashish Avikunthak, 1999
King Kong, Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, 1933
Lingua Franca, Isabel Sandoval, 2019
The Man Who Fell to Earth, Nicolas Roeg, 1976
Michael Clayton, Tony Gilroy, 2007
Millhouse, Emile de Antonio, 1971
Mr. Hoover and I, Emile de Antonio, 1989
Nightfall, Jacques Tourneur, 1956
Nine Behind, Sophy Romvari, 2016
No Ordinary Man, Aisling Chin-Yee and Chase Joynt, 2020
Norman Norman, Sophy Romvari, 2018
Out of the Past, Jacques Tourneur, 1947
Painters Painting, Emile de Antonio, 1972
Point of Order!, Emile de Antonio, 1964
Primal Fear, Gregory Hoblit, 1996*
Pumpkin Movie, Sophy Romvari, 2017
Queens of Drama, Alexis Langlois, 2024
Remembrance of József Romvári, Sophy Romvari, 2020
Remote Views, Alexis McCrimmon, 2025
Return to Reason, Man Ray, 2023
RoboCop, Paul Verhoeven, 1987
Rupert Remembers, Xanthra Phillippa Mackay, 2000
Rush to Judgment, Emile de Antonio, 1967
So Pretty, Jessica Dunn Rovinelli, 2019
Still Processing, Sophy Romvari, 2020
Stranger Eyes, Yeo Siew Hua, 2024
Tokyo Melody: A Film About Ryuichi Sakamoto, Elizabeth Lennard, 1985
Tuktuit, Lindsay McIntyre, 2025
typhoon diary 风球日记, Helix Zhang, 2024
Underground, Haskell Wexler, Emile de Antonio, and Mary Lampson, 1976
Wall Street, Oliver Stone, 1987
The Water Murmurs, Story Chen, 2022
Winter Portrait, Fernando Saldivia Yáñez, 2024
Yeast, Mary Bronstein, 2008
*Available in the U.S. only