Lost in Criterion

Spine 130: The Shop in Main Street

Ján Kadár and Elmar Klos's The Shop on Main Street (1965) is an incredible film, one of my favorites we've seen so far in this project. Set against the backdrop of the Nazi aryanization of Czechoslovakia during World War II, Main Street is a tale of willful ignorance and the dangers of pretending everything is fine.

Spine 129: Le Trou

Not since Rififi has watching criminals work been so engulfing. Jacques Becker's 1960 Le Trou, the story of five men breaking out of France's Le Sante Prison, is a meticulous and suspenseful look at desperate men learning to trust an outsider, for better or worse. It's beautiful, even if based on the semi-autobiographical novel of possibly one of the worst people in history.

Le Trou

Watch mean dig a whole! Be entertained!

Carl Th. Dreyer: My Metier

Torban Skjodt Jensen's 1995 documentary on the life and works of Carl Dreyer is an homage in content and style.

Spine 128: Carl Th. Dreyer: My Metier

Torban Skjodt Jensen's 1995 documentary on the life and works of Carl Dreyer is an homage in content and style.

Spine 127: Gertrud

Gertrud abandons Dreyer's previous religious themes for a different sort of spiritual question.

Gertrud

Gertrud abandons Dreyer's previous religious themes for a different sort of spiritual question.

Ordet

There's one joke in Ordet, and Pat and Adam disagree on how good it is.

Spine 126: Ordet

There's one joke in Ordet, and Pat and Adam disagree on how good it is.

Day of Wrath

The boys riff on capital punishment and discuss Dreyer. It's a good week!

Spine 125: Day of Wrath

We're digging into a Carl Th Dreyer boxset this week and starting things off with Day of Wrath from 1943. Dreyer made one feature film per decade after The Passion of Joan of Arc -- well, two in the 40's if you count Two People, which Dreyer didn't so maybe we won't either -- and every one of them is a masterpiece that's going to sit with me for a long time.

Mea culpa.

Grey Gardens

Wrion Bowling joins us to discuss another great Maysles documentary. Check out Wrion's sci-fi psychological thriller Shelter available at Amazon and Walmart

Spine 123: Grey Gardens

Filmmaker Wrion Bowling joins us today for this documentary about two out of touch and out of mind ex-socialites, which leads to a discussion on whether the Maysles Brothers are exploiting the Beales, whether or not the Maysles Brothers think they're exploiting the Beales, and various multiverse versions of the film that obviously exist because quantum theory.

Salesman

The Maysles Brothers are incredible filmmakers. Salesman is an incredible film.

Spine 122: Salesman

Out to make a "nonfiction feature film" Albert and David Maysles went back to their roots in Boston and their former jobs as door-to-door salesmen. Salesman (1968) follows a group of men trying to sell illuminated Bibles to middle class Catholics with varying degrees of success. It's compelling on multiple levels -- from being a simple character study to an expose on the commercialization of American religion -- and hopefully we hit a few of them.

Billy Liar

Billy Liar is a lot like Rushmore, if Rushmore ended with no one learning anything.

Spine 121: Billy Liar

Billy Liar is a lot like Rushmore, if Rushmore ended with no one learning anything.

How to Get Ahead in Advertising

How to Get Ahead in Advertising finds Richard E. Grant one more starring in a tragi-comedy from writer-director Bruce Robinson. And it's brilliant.

Spine 120: How to Get Ahead in Advertising

Another Bruce Robinson film this week, and another Richard E. Grant starring role. 1989's How to Get Ahead in Advertising is a biting satire of consumerist culture as Grant's advertising exec has a bad case of a sentient boil. Or just a weird psychotic breakdown.

Withnail and I

Bruce Robinson's Withnail and I (1987) is an immensely quotable, semi-autobiographical tale of alcohol-soaked desperation at the dying end of the 1960's.

Spine 119: Withnail and I

Written and directed by Bruce Robinson, Withnail and I (1987) is a semi-autobiographical tale of alcohol-soaked desperation at the dying end of the 1960's. It's immensely quotable. Do yourself a favor and watch it.

Sullivan's Travels

John L. Sullivan learns an important lesson about not being a jackass, is just a different sort of jackass.

Spine 118: Sullivan's Travels

With Sullivan's Travels (1942) Preston Sturges makes a very preachy movie against making preachy movies. This could be a deep irony. Or he could be dumb. We report, you decide.

Diary of a Chambermaid

Luis Bunuel is featured once again with his 1964 adaptation of Diary of a Chambermaid.

Spine 117: Diary of a Chambermaid

Luis Bunuel's 1964 Diary of a Chambermaid, his first collaboration with Jean-Claude Carriere (the two would later work together on The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie), is actually the second adaptation of Octave Mirbeau's novel. The other was made by Jean Renoir in Hollywood in 1946, and while I've not seen it I'm betting it's quite a different film.

The Hidden Fortress

The Hidden Fortress is Kurosawa's first cinescope film, his first major hit, and the film George Lucas stole the most from.

Spine 116: The Hidden Fortress

The Hidden Fortress is Kurosawa's first cinescope film, his first major hit, and the film George Lucas stole the most from.

Rififi

A crime procedural with virtually no police. Hope you're taking notes, cause I've got one more job for us.

Spine 115: Rififi

A crime procedural with virtually no police. Hope you're taking notes, cause I've got one more job for us.

My Man Godfrey

The quintessential screwball comedy, La Cava's My Man Godfrey is wonderful.

Spine 114: My Man Godfrey

The quintessential screwball comedy, La Cava's My Man Godfrey is wonderful.

Big Deal on Madonna Street

This week we watch a film that is largely a spoof of a film we will watch in two weeks. Way to go Criterion's numbering system.

Spine 113: Big Deal on Madonna Street

Mario Monicelli's spoofy 1958 heist film Big Deal on Madonna Street stands up even if you're not familiar with the films it's referencing, and Pat and I won't be for another two weeks as it's mostly taking the piss out of Rififi which Lost in Criterion will talk about two weeks from now. Maybe we should have waited? That seems like the professional thing to do. That's not in our bag.

PlayTime

PlayTime continues the trend of each Tati film we watch being my new favorite Tati film.

Spine 112: PlayTime

Every Jacques Tati film we watch is my new favorite Jacques Tati film. This week it's his third M. Hulot film PlayTime (1967). Playing on the same anti-modernism themes of his earlier work, PlayTime is, well, even more playful. Massive, repetitive, dehumanizing sets, delightfully subtle comedic moments.

Mon Oncle

In our second M. Hulot film, Tati really turns the social satire up to 11.

Spine 111: Mon Oncle

In our second M. Hulot film, Tati really turns the social satire up to 11.

Monsieur Hulot's Holiday

Jacques Tati's M. Hulot is the comedic character we've been missing all our lives, filling a hole we didn't even know existed to be filled.

Spine 110: Monsieur Hulot's Holiday

Jacques Tati's M. Hulot is the comedic character we've been missing all our lives, filling a hole we didn't even know existed to be filled.

The Scarlet Empress

Josef von Sternberg's The Scarlet Empress was among the last pre-Code Hollywood films. It shows.

Spine 109: The Scarlet Empress

One of the last Hollywood films before the Hays Code went into effect, Josef von Sternberg's The Scarlet Empress seems to see the coming crackdown and gave it the double deuce. The story of how Catherine the Great ended up as Empress of Russia - one of apparently two films on the subject to come out in 1934 for some reason - The Scarlet Empress claims historical accuracy by being based on Catherine's own journals. This is a...tenuous claim.

Lethal Weapon

Every year we take a break from the hustle and bustle of getting Lost in Criterion and settle in by the fire for a non-Criterion Christmas classic. This year it's Lethal Weapon.

Holiday Special 3: Lethal Weapon

Every year we take a break from the hustle and bustle of getting Lost in Criterion and settle in by the fire for a non-Criterion Christmas classic. This year it's Lethal Weapon and our dear friend Sam Martin of the band 99 Spitits.

The Rock

The film that made it into the Criterion Collection because Armageddon is already in there so why not?

Spine 108: The Rock

The film that made it into the Criterion Collection because Armageddon is already in there so why not? Donovan Hill joins us to talk about Michael Bay's debut directorial, a movie that may actually be a video game?

Mona Lisa

Mona Lisa, Neil Jordan's great 1986 neo-noir, lead Pat and Adam to misremember mid-80's rock bands.

Spine 107: Mona Lisa

This week Pat and I spend five minutes joking about Sting stemming from our mistaken belief that he was in Genesis. Sorry, Phil Collins, but all bald British musicians are the same. Genesis only comes up because they have a prominent opening credit listing in this week's movie Neil Jordan's great neo-noir Mona Lisa from 1986. This is Bob Hoskins's third outing in the Criterion Collection so far, and boy is it always fun to see him. Can't wait for Super Mario Bros!

Coup de Torchon

Transporting a novel from racist Texas to racist French West Africa really works out for Coup de Torchon.

Spine 106: Coup de Torchon

Bertrand Tavernier's noirish Coup de Torchon transports Jim Thompson's 1964 novel Pop. 1280 from racist rural Texas to racist French West Africa. It works out. The story of an ineffectual local sheriff who decides to use his public image for private evil, Coup de Torchon is probably the jauntiest, brightest, jazziest nihilism we've ever experienced here at Lost in Criterion.