Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey is this summer’s l’objet de cinéma, the 70mm-sized monolith around which most else will have to orient. There are ways to be creative about it. One such case would be Odysseys, a seven-film series that features the Homeric (Sullivan’s Travels, O Brother, Where Art Thou?), the urban (After Hours), the pastoral (The Searchers), the nationwide (The Straight Story, The Darjeeling Limited), and the continental (Walkabout). No less stressful than the journey of Ethan Edwards is an average wedding, evidenced by the eight movies in a program boasting Melancholia and Rachel Getting Married—plus Marie Antoinette, Chantal Akerman’s Golden Eighties, and Robert Altman’s lesser-seen A Wedding. And in time for that other summer blockbuster, Close Encounters of the Third Kind will stream.
New to Criterion, streaming or otherwise, is James Bond: the first three films (Dr. No, From Russia with Love, and Goldfinger) make an appearance, hopefully portending the eventual physical release for Die Another Day. On a different side of the human-sexuality spectrum from England’s most heterosexual creation is, in time for Pride Month, LGBTQ+ Favorites, a massive collection of features and shorts comprising Chantal Akerman, Shirley Clarke, Derek Jarman, Gus Van Sant, Stanley Kwan, Gregg Araki, and Alain Guiraudie—just to name several. Plus, a Courtney Love retrospective that includes The People vs. Larry Flynt, Basquiat, and 200 Cigarettes.
It’s a major month for premieres. Foremost are the restorations of Shinji Sōmai’s once-unfindable Typhoon Club and Patrick Tam’s Nomad, a film about which no proper judgement can be made until one experiences its final minutes for themselves. For more contemporary cinema, there’s Gary Hustwit’s doc portrait Eno—a new version will appear on the Criterion Channel each month; Hustwit also has past works getting a series in June—and Hlynur Pálmason’s The Love That Remains, for which the director’s provided a new intro. It’s perhaps a bigger month for Criterion originals: the aforementioned After Hours, The Darjeeling Limited, and Sullivan’s Travels, plus David Fincher’s The Game, Fresh Kill, a Martha Graham collection, The Harder They Come, and Repo Man.
The latter is part of an Alex Cox series that includes his underappreciated Highway Patrolman alongside Walker and (speaking of Courtney Love) Straight to Hell. Yann Gonzalez’s sexy menace is featured several times over, while Eric Rohmer’s sexy ennui is neatly collected (don’t sleep on Nadja in Paris). Finally: Makoto Shinkai’s The Garden of Words helps build out Criterion’s new anime set as Wild at Heart buffs up their David Lynch side, and John Schlesinger’s Pacific Heights also makes an appearance.
See the full list of June titles below and more at the Criterion Channel:
200 Cigarettes, Risa Bramon Garcia, 1999*
The Aggressives, Daniel Peddle, 2005
After Hours, Martin Scorsese, 1985
Beat, Gary Walkow, 2000
Beyond the Aggressives: 25 Years Later, Daniel Peddle, 2023
By the Kiss, Yann Gonzalez, 2006
Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Steven Spielberg, 1977
The Darjeeling Limited, Wes Anderson, 2007
Dr. No, Terence Young, 1962
Eno, Gary Hustwit, 2024 (premiering June 16)
From Russia with Love, Terence Young, 1963
Full Moon in Paris, Eric Rohmer, 1984
The Game, David Fincher, 1997*
The Garden of Words, Makoto Shinkai, 2013*
Goldfinger, Guy Hamilton, 1964
A Good Marriage, Eric Rohmer, 1982
The Harder They Come, Perry Henzell, 1973
Helvetica, Gary Hustwit, 2007
Highway Patrolman, Alex Cox, 1991
I Hate You Little Girls, Yann Gonzalez, 2008
Intermission, Yann Gonzalez, 2007
Islands, Yann Gonzalez, 2017
Kedi, Ceyda Torun, 2016
Land of My Dreams, Yann Gonzalez, 2012
The Lost Okoroshi, Abba Makama, 2019
Marie Antoinette, Sofia Coppola, 2006
Melancholia, Lars von Trier, 2011*
Motel Destino, Karim Aïnouz, 2024
Muriel’s Wedding, P. J. Hogan, 1994*
Newbies, Kimiko Matsuda-Lawrence and Megan Trufant Tillman, 2025
Nomad, Patrick Tam, 1982
O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Joel Coen, 2000
Objectified, Gary Hustwit, 2009
Pacific Heights, John Schlesinger, 1990
Pauline at the Beach, Eric Rohmer, 1983
The People vs. Larry Flynt, Miloš Forman, 1996
Rachel Getting Married, Jonathan Demme, 2008*
Rams, Gary Hustwit, 2018
Repo Man, Alex Cox, 1984
The Searchers, John Ford, 1956
The Straight Story, David Lynch, 1999*
Straight to Hell, Alex Cox, 1987
Sullivan’s Travels, Preston Sturges, 194
Three Celestial Bodies, Yann Gonzalez, 2009
Touki bouki, Djibril Diop Mambéty, 1973
Trapped, Luis Mandoki, 2002
Typhoon Club, Shinji Somai, 1985
Urbanized, Gary Hustwit, 2011
Walker, Alex Cox, 1987
WassupKaylee, Pepi Ginsberg, 2025
We Will Never Be Alone Again, Yann Gonzalez, 2012
A Wedding, Robert Altman, 1978
Wedding in White, William Fruet, 1972
Wild at Heart, David Lynch, 1990*
*Available in the U.S. only