Just in time for Succession‘s end, let’s look at method acting. The Criterion Channel are highlighting the controversial practice in a 27-film series centered on Brando, Newman, Nicholson, and many other’s embodiment of “an intensely personal, internalized, and naturalistic approach to performance.” That series makes mention of Marilyn Monroe, who gets her own, 11-title highlight––the iconic (Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, The Seven Year Itch, The Misfits) commingling with deeper cuts (Fritz Lang’s Clash By Night, Joshua Logan’s Bus Stop).

Pride Month offers “Masc,” a consideration of “trans men, butch lesbians, and gender-nonconforming heroes” onscreen; the Michael Koresky-curated Queersighted returning with a study of the gay best friend (the Paul Newman-directed Rachel, Rachel and George A. Romero’s Knightriders being two surprises); and the 20-film “LGBTQ+ Favorites.” Louis Garrel’s delightful The Innocent (about which I talked to him here), the director’s cut of Gregg Araki’s The Doom Generation, and Stanley Kwan’s hugely underseen Lan Yu make streaming premieres, while Araki’s Totally F***ed Up and Mysterious Skin also get a run. Criterion Editions include Five Easy Pieces, On the Waterfront, Bringing Up Baby, The Graduate, Jack Garfein’s Something Wild.

See the full list below and more at the Criterion Channel.

Back By Popular Demand
Night Moves, Arthur Penn, 1975

Safe, Todd Haynes, 1995

To Die For, Gus Van Sant, 1995

Premiering In June
12 Angry Men, Sidney Lumet, 1957

Adam’s Rib, George Cukor, 1949

The Aggressives, Daniel Peddle, 2005

Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Martin Scorsese, 1974

All About Eve, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1950

Basic Instinct, Paul Verhoeven, 1992*

Breakfast for Two, Alfred Santell, 1937

Bringing Up Baby, Howard Hawks, 1938*

Bus Stop, Joshua Logan, 1956

By Hook or By Crook, Harry Dodge and Silas Howard, 2001

Carnal Knowledge, Mike Nichols, 1971

Chavela, Catherine Gund and Daresha Kyi, 2017

Clash by Night, Fritz Lang, 1952

Cool Hand Luke, Stuart Rosenberg, 1967

Don’t Bother to Knock, Roy Ward Baker, 1952

The Doom Generation, Gregg Araki, 1995

Dressed In Blue, Antonio Giménez Rico, 1983

Easy Living, Mitchell Leisen, 1937*

Fifth Avenue Girl, Gregory La Cava, 1939

The Fisher King, Terry Gilliam, 1991

Five Easy Pieces, Bob Rafelson, 1970

The French Connection, William Friedkin, 1971

Fresh Kill, Shu Lea Chang, 1994

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Howard Hawks, 1953

The Goddess, John Cromwell, 1958

The Graduate, Mike Nichols, 1967

The Great Hip Hop Hoax, Jeanie Finlay, 2013

Greetings From Washington, D.C., Rob Epstein, Frances Reid, Greta Schiller, and Lucy Winer, 1981

The Haunting, Robert Wise, 1963

How to Marry a Millionaire, Jean Negulesco, 1953

Humoresque, Jean Negulesco, 1946

I Called Him Morgan, Kasper Collin, 2016*

Ifé, H. Lenn Keller, 1993

In the Heat of the Night, Norman Jewison, 1967

Knightriders, George A. Romero, 1981

Lan Yu, Stanley Kwan, 2001

Lifetime Guarantee: Phranc’s Adventure in Plastic, Lisa Udelson, 2001

The Mad Miss Manton, Leigh Jason, 1938

Maggots and Men, Cary Cronenwett, 2009

Max, Monika Treut, 1992

Meet Marlon Brando, Albert Maysles, David Maysles, and Charlotte Zwerin, 1966

The Misfits, John Huston, 1961

Monkey Business, Howard Hawks, 1952

Monsieur Le Butch, Jude Dry, 2022

Mysterious Skin, Gregg Araki, 2004

The Naked Spur, Anthony Mann, 1953

Niagara, Henry Hathaway, 1953

Night Moves, Arthur Penn, 1975

No Ordinary Man, Aisling Chin-Yee and Chase Joynt, 2021

On the Waterfront, Elia Kazan, 1954

Orion: The Man Who Would Be King, Jeanie Finlay, 2015

The Pawnbroker, Sidney Lumet, 1964

Pete, Bret “Brook” Parker, 2022

A Place in the Sun, George Stevens, 1951

Rachel, Rachel, Paul Newman, 1968

Reds, Warren Beatty, 1981*

Resurrection, Daniel Petrie, 1980*

River of No Return, Otto Preminger, 1954

Safe, Todd Haynes, 1995

The Seven Year Itch, Billy Wilder, 1955

Shinjuku Boys, Kim Longinotto and Jano Williams, 1995

Sing and Like It, William A. Seiter, 1934

Six Degrees of Separation, Fred Schepisi, 1993

So Pretty, Jessica Dunn Rovinelli, 2019

Something Wild, Jack Garfein, 1961

Sound It Out, Jeanie Finlay, 2011

Southern Comfort, Kate Davis, 2001

Splendor in the Grass, Elia Kazan, 1961

Stafford’s Story, Susan Muska, 1992

The Strange One, Jack Garfein, 1957

Stud Life, Campbell X, 2012 

To Die For, Gus Van Sant, 1995

Tongues Untied, Marlon Riggs, 1989

Totally F***ed Up, Gregg Araki, 1993

Trans, Sophie E. Constantinou, 1994

Tricia’s Wedding, Milton Miron, 1971

Vamónos, Marvin Lemus, 2016

Vera, Sérgio Toledo, 1986

A Wild Patience Has Taken Me Here, Érica Sarmet, 2021

What’s Up, Doc?, Peter Bogdanovich, 1972

*Available in the U.S. only

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