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Band of OutsidersGenre: Foreign Films Release Date: 05/07/2013 Rating NR Production Year: 1964 Run Time: 95 mins Released By: Criterion Collection Cast: Anna Karina, Sami Frey, Claude Brasseur, Ernest Menzer, Chantal Darget French New Wave master Jean-Luc Godard continues his fascination with dime store novels and American crime films with 1964's BAND OF OUTSIDERS, a free-spirited romp in the same vein as the director's breakthrough smash, BREATHLESS. More traditional than BREATHLESS in its technical execution, BAND OF OUTSIDERS sparkles with freshness and originality--it uses comical, poetic narration by Godard himself, and has a bouncy musical score by Michel Legrand. The performances from Claude Brasseur, Sami Frey, and especially Anna Karina combine satirical melodrama, overflowing hipness, and moving sincerity, giving the film plenty of heart. An irreplaceable contribution to 1960s film, this movie is much more than a mere genre reworking. The story follows two friends, Arthur (Claude Brasseur) and Franz (Sami Frey), who are searching for a way to make a big score. When Franz meets the beautiful Odile (Anna Karina) and she informs him of a large chunk of cash her aunt keeps hidden in her house, the duo are convinced that this is their lucky break. Odile is a sensitive young woman who, out of fear and guilt, opposes their plan, but Arthur and Franz coax her to go along with the idea. When the time comes to pull off the heist, a miscalculation delays the seemingly perfect plan, resulting in a confrontation that has dire consequences. … more less -
Man Escaped, AGenre: Foreign Films Release Date: 03/26/2013 Rating Production Year: 1956 Run Time: 101 mins Released By: Criterion Collection Cast: Francois Leterrier, Charles Le Clainche, Maurice Beerblock Avoiding all the clichés of the prison movie genre, Robert Bresson achieves the impossible in A MAN ESCAPED: he presents a highly minimalist depiction of a prisoner plotting a jailbreak, and is still able to evoke incredible suspense despite the fact that the movie frequently consists of little more than a man toiling away quietly in his cell. Neither Bresson's seemingly odd choice of a past-tense title, nor the fact that the film is based on a real WWII event in which a prisoner successfully escaped a German-run jail in occupied France, lessens the film's impact. As in many of Bresson's films, the protagonist is a possessed individual whose mission sustains him. While he may stubbornly continue planning, the viewer sees the potential hazards he may encounter and feels an incredible sense of tension each time his efforts are stalled. Bresson inserts a spiritual element into the prisoner's behavior by emphasizing the ritualistic nature of his daily activities, and by showing how group activity and trust are required to resist the evil, personified by the Nazi captors. Gripping and sublime, A MAN ESCAPED is a cinematic masterpiece. … more less -
Sanshô the BailiffGenre: Foreign Films Release Date: 02/26/2013 Rating NR Production Year: 1954 Run Time: 124 mins Released By: Criterion Collection Cast: Kinuyo Tanaka, Eitarô Shindô, Yoshiaki Hanayagi, Kyôko Kagawa This stunning Kenji Mizoguchi masterpiece reaches back to a Japanese folk tale of the 12th century to depict the barbarism of "a dark age, when people didn't know how to be human." The film stars Yoshiaki Hanayagi as Zushiô, the young son of a provincial governor Masauji Taira (Masao Shimizu). A man of outstanding compassion and probity, he impresses on his son the notion that "without mercy, a man is not a man." When the governor's attempts to protect the rights of regional farmers clash with the goals of the feudal regime, he's sent into exile, and forced to leave his family behind. A few years later Zushiô, his mother, Tamaki (Kinuyo Tanaki), and sister, Anju (Kyôko Kagawa), begin a long journey to reunite with Masauji, only to be waylaid be kidnappers en route. The bandits sell Tamaki to a brothel on an isolated island and the children to corrupt official Sanshô (Eitarô Shindô) as slaves. As the years pass, Anju lapses into passivity while Zushiô becomes hardened by the brutality that has become their lot. One day, while escorting a dying slave outside the confines of their camp, they plan an escape. In what may be his finest film, the director again uses the great cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa (UGETSU), shooting scenes of the most intense emotion from a distance in long, magnificently composed sequence takes, suggesting the transience of all worldly suffering, and fulfilling the Nabokovian dictum of art as "beauty plus compassion." … more less -
Ivan's ChildhoodGenre: Foreign Films Release Date: 01/22/2013 Rating NR Production Year: 1962 Run Time: 95 mins Released By: Criterion Collection Cast: Nikolai Burlyayev, Valentin Zubkov, Ye Zharikov Visionary Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky's first film, MY NAME IS IVAN, is a powerhouse of visual and emotional impact and a portend of many themes Tarkovsky would develop throughout his legendary career. Ivan (Nikolai Burlyayev) is a 12-year-old boy roaming the destroyed landscapes of World War II Russia along the German front. Between Ivan's ecstatic dreams of his missing family and his mud-and-blood-encrusted reality, the viewer learns that Ivan's father, mother, and sister were killed by Germans and that since then he has gone into service as an intelligence scout for the Russian army. Ivan's shocking bloodthirsty hunger for revenge is juxtaposed with the innocence and earthbound lyricism of his dreams and memories, creating a portrait of a stolen childhood and a bleak future. Protected and loved by his makeshift family of stoic army officers, Ivan resists being taken out of the army and forces his way back into another scouting mission, putting himself directly in the line of fire. Tarkovsky underscores this wartime drama with a compelling poetic vision through the use of evocative black-and-white cinematography as well as stunning sound and production design. Each element plays a significant part in this brilliant film, based on Vladimir Bogomolov's novel IVAN. … more less -
Tin Drum, TheGenre: Foreign Films Release Date: 01/15/2013 Rating R Production Year: 1979 Run Time: 163 mins Released By: Criterion Collection Cast: David Bennent, Mario Adorf, Angela Winkler Novelist Günter Grass assisted in this brilliant film adaptation of his groundbreaking novel, which depicts the significant events in German history since the turn of the century as seen through the eyes of a bizarre child. In this allegorical film, a three-year-old boy observes the hypocrisy of the adult world and decides to remain a child forever by not growing any taller. His primary efforts to communicate consist of glass-shattering screams and banging on his tin drum. But as this unusual lad matures, and the events leading up to the onslaught of Nazism come to a head, he proves to have a keener perception of life than those around him. Volker Schlondorff's powerful drama deservedly won an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. … more less -
Mardock Scramble: The Second CombustionGenre: Foreign Films Release Date: 01/01/2013 Rating Production Year: 2011 Run Time: 61 mins Released By: Section 23 Set in the glamorous world of high stakes gambling, this sequel to the cyberpunk anime film MARDOCK SCRAMBLE: THE SECOND COMBUSTION continues the story of Rune Ballot, a girl who's still looking for answers about her hidden past, even after being rescued by Doctor Easter from a brutal attack by Dimsdale Boiled. Fed up and ready to bring their mission to a head, Rune and the Doctor decide to go on the offensive. … more less -
Purple NoonGenre: Foreign Films Release Date: 12/04/2012 Rating NR Production Year: 1960 Run Time: 117 mins Released By: Criterion Collection Cast: Alain Delon, Marie Laforet, Maurice Ronet, Bill Kearns, Erno Crisa Sent to Italy to retrieve Philip, an American industrialist's wayward son, Tom Ripley, a charming young man whose social skills allow him to insinuate himself into most any situation, finds his target and gets seduced by Philip and his decadent lifestyle. Deciding to take Philip's father's money as far as it will go, Tom begins to make himself a part of Philip's circle of privileged friends in Europe. However, when Tom's money is cut off and Philip begins to tire of his company, Tom resorts to desperate measures to retain his new lifestyle. An acclaimed adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's 1955 novel THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY. … more less -
WeekendGenre: Foreign Films Release Date: 11/13/2012 Rating NR Production Year: 1967 Run Time: 104 mins Released By: Criterion Collection Cast: Jean Yanne, Mireille Darc, Jean-Pierre Léaud The master of the French New Wave indicts consumerism and elaborates on his personal vision of Hell with this raucous, biting satire. A nasty, scheming bourgeois Parisian couple embarks on a journey through the countryside to her father's house, where they pray for his death and a subsequent inheritance. Their trip is at first delayed, and later it is distracted by several outrageous events and characters including an apocalyptic traffic jam, a group of fictional philosophers, a couple of violent carjackers, and eventually, a gross display of cannibalism. By the time the film concludes, their seemingly simple journey has deteriorated into a freewheeling philosophical diatribe that leaves no topic unscathed. With WEEKEND, Jean-Luc Godard reaches an impressive plateau of film originality, incorporating inter-titles, extended tracking shots, and music to add an entirely new grammar to film language. The result is a deeply challenging work that will most certainly invigorate some viewers just as much as it will as frustrate others. Standout highlights include a jarring, sexually graphic opening monologue shot with a roaming camera and blaring musical accompaniment, and the infamous traffic jam scene, where an endless parade of cars sit bumper to bumper amidst burning cars, picnics, and honking horns. The work of a true artist and pioneer, Godard's WEEKEND is a landmark film that hasn't aged or lessened in impact over time. … more less -
In the Mood for LoveGenre: Foreign Films Release Date: 10/02/2012 Rating PG Production Year: 2001 Run Time: 98 mins Released By: Criterion Collection Cast: Maggie Cheung, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Rebecca Pan, Lai Chen, Siu Ping-Lam IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE centers around Chow Mo-Wan (Tony Leung) and Su Li-Zhen (Maggie Cheung), neighbors living in a crowded apartment building in 1962 Hong Kong. Both married to people who are always away, they spend many nights home alone. The two make each other's acquaintance and soon find that they have a lot in common: Both enjoy martial arts, frequent the same noodle stand--and eventually discover that their spouses are cheating on them. (Mo-Wan's wife is having an affair with Li-Zhen's husband.) Hurt and angry, they find comfort in their growing friendship even as they resolve not to be like their unfaithful mates. Wong Kar-Wai's seventh film reunites him with Leung and Cheung, who provide perfectly evocative performances as the two hesitant would-be lovers. A slight departure from his more recent films (in which he used hyperkinetic camera movements to reflect the frenetic pace of modern Hong Kong life), here Wong uses fixed shots and stages static tableaus to capture a lost historical moment. Yet the film is filled with Wong's unique style, with its lush pageantry of colors, sounds, and images. A thoughtful and provocative exploration of memory, tradition, historical change, inevitability, and love, this vivid period piece offers a rich cinematic experience. … more less -
Visiteurs Du Soir, LesGenre: Foreign Films Release Date: 09/18/2012 Rating Production Year: 1942 Run Time: 121 mins Released By: Criterion Collection Cast: Arletty, Jules Berry Carne could not document his own times because of the German occupation, but he tells this timeless tale of good vs. evil in the medeival era. When the devil sends to envoys to disrupt the Earth they succumb instead to the powers of love. … more less -
Umberto D.Genre: Foreign Films Release Date: 09/04/2012 Rating NR Production Year: 1952 Run Time: 89 mins Released By: Home Vision Cast: Carlo Battisi, Maria Pia Casilio, Lina Genneri, Ileana Simova, Alberto Albani Barbieri UMBERTO D., from director Vittorio De Sica, is a simple, heartbreaking tale about the life of an elderly pensioner. Penniless and alone, with only the maid (Lina Genneri) from his rooming house and a devoted dog for companionship, the old man (Carlo Battisti) contemplates suicide. But then one day, a ray of hope pierces his bleak existence, and everything changes. This careful observation of one man's attempt to keep his dignity in the face of a hostile society is one of the pearls of Italian post-war cinema. … more less -
RosettaGenre: Foreign Films Release Date: 08/14/2012 Rating NR Production Year: 1999 Run Time: 93 mins Released By: Criterion Collection Cast: Emilie Dequenne, Fabrizio Rongione, Anne Yernaux, Olivier Gourmet A grueling, powerful film that features Emilie Dequenne in her screen debut. She portrays Rosetta, a 17-year-old girl who wants nothing more than to work for a living. After being fired from her most recent job, she spends her subsequent days trying to procure work anywhere possible. Eventually, she befriends Riquet, a waffle seller, and backstabs him in order to accomplish her goal. Dequenne is up to the challenge as the focal point of every screen second, delivering a highly charged, impassioned performance. ROSETTA is another gritty work of socio-realism from the Dardennes, whose LA PROMESSE introduced them to the world of fictional feature filmmaking--where they emigrated from documentaries. … more less -
Promesse, LaGenre: Foreign Films Release Date: 08/14/2012 Rating NR Production Year: 1996 Run Time: 94 mins Released By: Criterion Collection Cast: Jérémie Rénier, Olivier Gourmet, Assita Ouedraogo, Rasmane Ouedraogo Roger, a teenage boy, works for his father's construction business, a company that employs illegal immigrants from all over the world. When Hamidu, an immigrant from Burkina Faso, is critically injured in a workplace accident he asks Roger to promise to look after his wife and baby. After Hamidu dies Roger's father covers up his death and hides the body. Roger is stuck between his promise to look after the unfortunate immigrant and his loyalties to his own father. LA PROMESSE is an uncompromising coming of age story and a look at a Europe in conflict over immigrants and their often harsh treatment. From the directors of ROSETTA. … more less -
Gintama: The MovieGenre: Foreign Films Release Date: 05/29/2012 Rating Production Year: 2010 Run Time: 95 mins Released By: Section 23 This theatrical film from the wacky anime franchise GINTAMA tells a feature length story about the hero Gintoki Sakata, a former samurai wandering feudal Japan without purpose - because the aliens who landed have outlawed sword, and it's hard to fight space cockroaches and shepherding fireworks masters with your bare fists. … more less -
1900Genre: Foreign Films Release Date: 05/15/2012 Rating NR Production Year: 1977 Run Time: 315 mins Released By: Olive Films Cast: Robert De Niro, Gérard Depardieu, Dominique Sanda, Burt Lancaster, Donald Sutherland Bernardo Bertolucci's vast historical melodrama used the massive popular, critical, and financial success of its predecessor, the scandalous LAST TANGO IN PARIS, to mount a production of epic scale. Cut down to four hours for its American release, the film utilizes an all-star Hollywood cast to tell its heavily Marxist tale of Italian peasants during the twentieth century. Two boys born on the same day are destined for divergent paths; Olmo (played by Gerard Depardeiu as an adult) is born to peasant parents and will become a passionate socialist, while Alfredo's (Robert De Niro as an adult) bourgeois, landowning origins will lead him to ultimately embrace fascism. Driven by a sincere hope for and belief in political change, Bertolucci's film is nonetheless made up of very humane individual stories; it concentrates on highly personal experiences of a politically-charged time, which color the little dramas of love, sex, family, and community. It is at once an epic poem and a political manifesto, and it is the product of a director who was unabashedly communist in his youth, contrasting markedly with later works like 2003's THE DREAMERS. The fact that 1900 managed to get released by a major American studio during the height of the Cold War is remarkable in itself, and this fact possibly accounts for the film's lack of popular success when first encountered by audiences. The final sequence, which portrays the Italian peasants overthrowing their fascist masters and dancing beneath the red flag of Communism, sparked controversy on all sides, with the left criticizing it for historical inaccuracy, and the right obviously inflamed by the glorification of Communism. Bertolucci himself called it a dream sequence, an anticipation of the revolution yet to come, and indeed the entire movie is something of a celebration of the human spirit and the will to overcome. … more less -
HateGenre: Foreign Films Release Date: 05/08/2012 Rating NR Production Year: 1995 Run Time: 97 mins Released By: Criterion Collection Cast: Vincent Cassel, Hubert Kounde, Said Taghmaoui An ethnically diverse trio of angry young men living in a Paris housing project struggle with how to react after a friend of theirs is beaten by police during a riot. Winner of the Best Director prize at the Cannes Film Festival. … more less -
Tokyo DrifterGenre: Foreign Films Release Date: 12/13/2011 Rating NR Production Year: 1966 Run Time: 82 mins Released By: Criterion Collection Cast: Tetsuya Watari, Chieko Matsubara, Hideaki Nitani, Tamio Kawachi, Ryuji Kita Maverick Japanese director Suzuki turns the traditional "yakuza" gangster film on its ear with this stylish, intentionally oblique tale of a gangster whose maddening dependence on long-obsolete honor codes spurs rivals and even his own bosses to hunt him down. … more less -
HarakiriGenre: Foreign Films Release Date: 10/04/2011 Rating NR Production Year: 1962 Run Time: 133 mins Released By: Criterion Collection Cast: Tatsuya Nakadai, Shima Iwashita, Akira Ishihama, Yoshio Inaba Set in 17th-century Japan, director Makaki Kobayahi's HARAKIRI stars Tatsuya Nakadai (RAN) as masterless samurai Hanshiro Tsugumo. Structured in a series of flashbacks, the film opens in a period of serenity that has brought about a consolidation of power in Japan, resulting in the release of many samurai from their feudal obligations. These men--Hanshiro included--are in desperate straits, struggling to avoid poverty and starvation. According to their code, they must appear at clan estates and offer to commit seppuku, or ritual disembowelment, and often the clan retainer will offer them work or alms. When Hanshiro arrives at such an estate, the chief retainer Kageyu Saito (Rentaro Mikuni) tells him a cautionary tale about the fate of samurai Motome Chijiiwa (Akira Ishihama), who was forced to commit seppuku with a dull bamboo sword as punishment for dishonoring the samurai code. Hanshiro requests that the clan's three best swordsmen act as his seconds for his act of seppuku, but they are nowhere to be found. He then reveals himself as the father-in-law of the tragic Motome and begins to exact his revenge. Arguably Kobayashi's masterpiece, this savage attack on the hypocrisy, cowardice, cruelty, and ultimate emptiness of the institution of the samurai warrior features one of Nakadai's greatest performances as the disturbingly intense swordsman. … more less -
Secret SunshineGenre: Foreign Films Release Date: 08/23/2011 Rating NR Production Year: Run Time: 142 mins Released By: Criterion Collection Cast: Jeon Do-Yeon, Song Kang-ho With SECRET SUNSHINE, South Korean director Lee Chang-dong (PEPPERMINT CANDY, OASIS) proves that he is one of the world's most accomplished directors. His latest film is a sprawling tale of personal transformation after grief shatters the life of an innocent woman. Jeon Do-yeon, who deservedly won the Best Actress prize at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, plays Shin-ae, a widow who has decided to move to her late husband's hometown of Miryang (which stands for "Secret Sunshine") with her young son, Jun. Upon arriving, she meets an ordinary mechanic, Kim Jong-chan (played by Korean superstar Song Kang-ho), who clearly takes a shine to her. Shin-ae finds difficulty acclimating to her new environment, but after opening a piano academy she begins to settle into life in the small town. Then tragedy strikes once again, further derailing her attempts to conquer her loneliness and grief. Her previous disdain for religion is shattered one day at a church service, setting her on a spiritual journey that seemed incomprehensible just weeks before. SECRET SUNSHINE is an ambitious film that feels like several movies in one. Do-yeon delivers one of the finest performances of recent memory, covering the gamut of human emotions with seeming effortlessness. Kang-ho, who is one of South Korea's most recognizable stars (THE HOST, SYMPATHY FOR MR. VENGEANCE), gleefully embraces his role as an Everyman, providing depth in what could have otherwise been a forgettable role. Ultimately, it is Chang-dong's assured writing and directing that makes SECRET SUNSHINE such a revelation. Though his film is hard to categorize, it is just that expansiveness that makes it such a tour-de-force. … more less -
High and LowGenre: Foreign Films Release Date: 07/26/2011 Rating NR Production Year: 1962 Run Time: 143 mins Released By: Criterion Collection Cast: Toshirô Mifune, Tatsuya Mihashi, Tatsuya Nakadai, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Kyôko Kagawa Based on KING'S RANSOM, a crime novel by Ed McBain, HIGH AND LOW stars Toshirô Mifune as Kingo Gondo, a wealthy, hardworking businessman. As Gondo plans a coup that will secure his position as the head of his Yokohama shoe company, he is contacted by a criminal who informs him that he's kidnapped his son. The crook demands a huge ransom for the boy's return--an amount that has taken Gondo 30 years of labor to amass. As the worried industrialist prepares to pay the ransom, he discovers that his son is safe at home--the kidnapper has mistakenly snatched his chauffeur's son. The question quickly becomes: Does Gondo abandon his plans to pay off the criminal, or does he do the honorable thing and help save his driver's child? This moral dilemma drives Akira Kurosawa's intelligent, detailed thriller that features Mifune in a thoughtful, nuanced performance as a man forced to make a startlingly difficult decision. The first half of Kurosawa's film takes place high upon Gondo's hilltop home, in scenes shot almost entirely in his spacious living room. The second half, however, is largely set in the lowly, cramped confines of the city where the kidnapper hides from the police investigation led by the determined Inspector Tokura (Tatsuya Nakadai). The film's excellent cast also includes Kurosawa regulars Kyôko Kagawa, Takashi Shimura, and Susumu Fujita. With its bleak backdrop of 1960s industrial Yokohama, HIGH AND LOW stands as one of the finest examples of Japanese film noir, lensed through the meticulous vision of a master filmmaker. … more less
