It is my experience that one gets a far richer, stranger cinema education in pursuing the careers of actors, that group defined first by (assuming luck shines upon them) two or three era-defining films and then so much that dictates their industry—pet projects, contractual obligations, called-in favors alimony payments, auteur one-offs, and on and on. Few embody that deluge of circumstance better than Michelle Yeoh and Isabelle Huppert, both of whom are receiving spotlights in March. (Meanwhile, I will be honest and say I do not recognize Czech artist Ester Krumbachová by name, but the series they’ve curated this month is such a grabbag of classics it’s hard to dispute.) The former’s is a who’s-who of Hong Kong talent (Jackie Chan, Maggie Cheung), new favorites (The Heroic Trio), items we can at least say are of interest (Trio‘s not-great sequel Executioners), etc.
Huppert’s series runs longer, and notwithstanding certain standards that have long sat on the channel (Every Man for Himself, Chabrol collaborations) it adds some heavy hitters: Hong’s In Another Country, Cimino’s Heaven’s Gate, Breillat’s Abuse of Weakness, Hansen-Løve’s Things to Come. And, of course, EO.
Criterion Editions streaming in March: new classic This Is Not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection; Lars von Trier’s Europa Trilogy (The Element of Crime, Epidemic, Europa); and Samuel Fuller’s Forty Guns. Great to see streaming homes for Life Is Cheap . . . But Toilet Paper Is Expensive, the positively blistering Made in Hong Kong, and Claire Denis’ 21st-century titan The Intruder. A Buster Keaton series pairing features with an absolute deluge of shorts… an Afrofuturism selection… a field of Paramount pre-code titles… what a time!
See the full list below and more at the Criterion Channel.
Abuse of Weakness, Catherine Breillat, 2013*
Ala Kachuu – Take and Run, Maria Brendle, 2020
Amateur, Hal Hartley, 1994
Back Stage, Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, 1919
The Balloonatic, Buster Keaton and Edward F. Cline, 1923
The Bedroom Window, Curtis Hanson, 1987
The Bell Boy, Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, 1918
Behemoth: or the Game of God, Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese, 2016
The Blacksmith, Buster Keaton and Malcolm St. Clair, 1922
Bleue, Ornella Pacchioni, 2021
The Boat, Buster Keaton and Edward F. Cline, 1921
Boy and the World, Alê Abreu, 2013
Broken Lullaby, Ernst Lubitsch, 1932
The Butcher Boy, Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, 1917
Cleopatra, Cecil B. DeMille, 1934
Coach to Vienna, Karel Kachyňa, 1966
College, Buster Keaton and James W. Horne, 1927
Coney Island, Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, 1917
Convict 13, Buster Keaton and Edward F. Cline, 1920
The Cook, Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, 1918
Cops, Buster Keaton and Edward F. Cline, 1922
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Ang Lee, 2000
The Couple Next Door, Abbesi Akhamie, 2020
Day Dreams, Buster Keaton and Edward F. Cline, 1922
Design for Living, Ernst Lubitsch, 1933*
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, John S. Robertson, 1920
Entre nous, Diane Kurys, 1983
The Electric House, Buster Keaton and Edward F. Cline, 1922
Epidemic, Lars von Trier, 1987
Executioners, Johnnie To and Ching Siu-tung, 1993
Forty Guns, Samuel Fuller, 1957
The Frozen North, Buster Keaton and Edward F. Cline, 1922
The Garage, Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, 1920
The Goat, Buster Keaton and Malcolm St. Clair, 1921
Good Night, Nurse!, Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, 1918
Hard Luck, Buster Keaton and Edward F. Cline, 1921
The Haunted House, Buster Keaton and Edward F. Cline, 1921
The Hayseed, Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, 1919
Heaven’s Gate, Michael Cimino, 1980
The Heroic Trio, Johnnie To, 1993
The High Sign, Buster Keaton and Edward F. Cline, 1921
His Wedding Night, Roscoe “Fatty”Arbuckle, 1917
Home, Ursula Meier, 2008*
Honor Among Lovers, Dorothy Arzner, 1931
If I Had a Million, Ernst Lubitsch, Norman Taurog, Norman Z. McLeod, H. Bruce Humberstone, James Cruze, Stephen Roberts, and William A. Seiter, 1932
Images of Liberation, Lars von Trier, 1982
In Another Country, Hong Sang-soo, 2012*
The Intruder, Claire Denis, 2005
Invoking Justice, Deepa Dhanraj, 2011
Is This Just a Story?, Yugantar, 1983
Lady of the Night, Marin Håskjold, 2017
The Last Days of Chez Nous, Gillian Armstrong, 1992
Life Is Cheap . . . But Toilet Paper Is Expensive, Wayne Wang, 1989
Loulou, Maurice Pialat, 1980
Love in the Time of AIDS, Deepa Dhanraj, 2006
Love Me Tonight, Rouben Mamoulian, 1932
The Love Nest, Buster Keaton and Edward F. Cline, 1923
Loving Highsmith, Eva Vitija, 2022
Made in Hong Kong, Fruit Chan, 1997
Magnificent Warriors, David Chung, 1987
Maid Servant, Yugantar, 1981
Merrily We Go to Hell, Dorothy Arzner, 1932
Moonshine, Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, 1918
Mosonngoa, Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese, 2014
Mother, I Am Suffocating. This Is My Last Film About You., Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese, 2019
The Murder of Mr. Devil, Ester Krumbachová, 1970
My Wife’s Relations, Buster Keaton and Edward F. Cline, 1922
Neighbors, Buster Keaton and Edward F. Cline, 1920
Night After Night, Archie Mayo, 1932
Nocturne, Lars von Trier, 1980
Oh Doctor!, Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, 1917
One Hour with You, Ernst Lubitsch, 1932
One Week, Buster Keaton and Edward F. Cline, 1920
Orthodontics, Mohammadreza Mayghani, 2021
Our Hospitality, Buster Keaton and John G. Blystone, 1923
Out West, Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, 1918
The Playhouse, Buster Keaton and Edward F. Cline, 1921
Police Story 3: Supercop, Stanley Tong, 1992
The Rough House, Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle and Buster Keaton, 1917
Royal Warriors, David Chung, 1986
The Scarecrow, Buster Keaton and Edward F. Cline, 1920
Shanghai Express, Josef von Sternberg, 1932
She Done Him Wrong, Lowell Sherman, 1933
The Smiling Lieutenant, Ernst Lubitsch, 1931
So Late So Soon, Daniel Hymanson, 2020
Something Like a War, Deepa Dhanraj, 1991
Spring Blossom, Suzanne Lindon, 2021*
Steamboat Bill, Jr., Buster Keaton and Charles Reisner, 1928
The Stunt Woman, Ann Hui, 1996*
Sudesha, Yugantar, 1983
Things to Come, Mia Hansen-Løve, 2016
Three Ages, Buster Keaton and Edward F. Cline, 1923
Tobacco Embers, Yugantar, 1982
Touch of Evil, Orson Welles, 1958*
The Wayward Bus, Victor Vicas, 1957
What Happened to This City?, Deepa Dhanraj, 1986
Who I Am and What I Want, Chris Shepherd and David Shrigley, 2005
Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?, Frank Tashlin, 1957
Witchhammer, Otakar Vávra, 1970
Written on the Wind, Douglas Sirk, 1956*
Yes, Madam!, Corey Yuen, 1985*
*Available in the U.S. only
Back By Popular Demand
| Written on the Wind, Douglas Sirk, 1956 Touch of Evil, Orson Welles, 1958 The Bedroom Window, Curtis Hanson, 1987 |