The Criterion Channel -- Film and Content Discussion

[fdm]

I've been (too slowly) going through the Saura titles when I get a chance. I usually otherwise tend towards ones I haven't seen and don't otherwise own, somewhat randomly, helped along by what's going away in a week or two.

[ando]

Lately the prime time 24/7 streams have been relegated to overgrown adolescent coming-of-age/horror flicks from the 80s and 90s. CC is obviously after a specific demographic that would be better served with the fare on Tubi or Disney. It doesn’t bode well for the future of the service if that’s who they’ve attempting to court.

[Matt]

I've never had the idea that there's a real person programming the 24/7 channel but rather some version of the old iTunes shuffle mode just pulling random titles out of what's available. If they can't even tell you what film is coming up next, it might as well be an algorithm.

[ando]

Nah, it’s curated, unfortunately. Parker Posey movies three nights in a row in roughly the same time slot? That’s programming.

[dwk]

One thing they've been doing recently is running some of the expiring titles, the ones they are allowed to, on 24/7 stream, which, I think, is why you've noticed a shift in some of the stuff running on it.

[Lowry_Sam]

Funny, CC’s promos are a nice jumping off point but I’m willing to wager that any regular poster here could drum up a far more imaginative monthly slate.

I am quite happy to get this & the Argentinian noir series. It's why I subscribe and it's nice to see themes with a broad selection in contrast to what we had been getting (themes with just 2 or 3 selections). I might have seen quite a few of the theme or some titles might have just been buried in the collection, but it's nice to be reminded of them and get a chance to catch those I haven't seen. Maybe Criterion will adopt Apple's iTunes curating strategy of "Essentials" and "Deeper Cuts" one day.

And Good God, 90 films are leaving the channel on March 31st. Don’t think I’ve ever seen more than 30 leave at one time. And there are several very good titles that I didn’t know were on the site…

It's going to make catching up with the films from 1991 more difficult to make a list for March's list as I'm going to have to watch many later-in-the-90s titles too. Update: Turns out not so many 90s titles leaving this month.

[ando]

I am quite happy to get this & the Argentinian noir series. It's why I subscribe and it's nice to see themes with a broad selection in contrast to what we had been getting (themes with just 2 or 3 selections).

Cool.
I was initially excited at the prospect of seeing Nine Queens on the list - and then crestfallen that it wasn't. Have you seen it? Anything on CC's list as interesting?

[Lowry_Sam]

The theme centers on restored films from the 50s. Argentinian neo-Noirs (Nine Queens, The Secret In Their Eyes & Apartment Zero) would make a great future theme. BTW Nine Queens blu-ray is currently on sale at one of those monopoly retailers.

[ando]

Ah, thanks. Doesn’t change my query, though. Perhaps I’ll start with the most intriguing title.

[redbill]

Ah, thanks. Doesn’t change my query, though. Perhaps I’ll start with the most intriguing title.

I had heard The Bitter Stems was the most intriguing, so that's where I started.

[domino harvey]

That’s an okay movie, but not nearly at the level of Lost Classic it’s been touted as by the Noir Foundation

[ando]

I had heard The Bitter Stems was the most intriguing, so that's where I started.

Thanks.
Other than (possible) location shooting I don't understand the presence of Native Son on the list, though I think if he could see it Richard Wright might chuckle.

Has anyone seen La Bestia Debe Morir (The Beast Must Die) (1952)? It was shot in Buenos Aires, based on a novel by Nicholas Blake (the pen name for Cecil Day-Lewis, the father of Daniel Day-Lewis).

[brundlefly]

I had heard The Bitter Stems was the most intriguing, so that's where I started.

Thanks.
Other than (possible) location shooting I don't understand the presence of Native Son on the list, though I think if he could see it Richard Wright might chuckle.

Has anyone seen La Bestia Debe Morir (The Beast Must Die) (1952)? It was shot in Buenos Aires, based on a novel by Nicholas Blake (the pen name for Cecil Day-Lewis, the father of Daniel Day-Lewis).

I thought Beast Must Die dull. But the other Barreto selection, The Black Vampire, is an interesting refiguring of M. But then I also thought The Bitter Stems was fantastic, deep and dark and peculiar to its time and place. So YMMV.

[Matt]

I agree with everything that's been said about these three films. All of them have been oversold by The Noir Foundation, but that's okay. It's probably pretty difficult for even a devoted niche audience to muster up enthusiasm to watch movies with absolutely no reputation or previous cultural impact in the US. The Bitter Stems is the best, La Bestia Debe Morir (The Beast Must Die) is dull despite its attempted histrionics, and The Black Vampire pretty cool and atmospheric. These three (and Native Son) have all aired on TCM, but I don't think the others have.

[ando]

Thanks - it’s true about The Beast; the film falls flat after that initial heart attack sequence. I think the main problem is the lack of a compelling point of view. So much about it seems modeled on melodrama clichés, most notably the music, which is worse than formulaic. You’d think director, Barrett, might have taken a tip from the original source of the story, Johannes Brahms (Four Serious Songs), keeping the romantic sweep and eliminating the circus-like round of character schtick for genuine mystery. I think the Drawing Room Comedy approach needs better written material (say, Christie or Coward - in English) to click. Love to see what Buñuel might have done with it. Wonder if the ‘69 Chabrol version, This Man Must Die, has a stronger vantage point or lets us into the character’s interior lives a bit more. Might watch that next.

Never Open That Door tops IMDB’s list of Argentine Noir. Originally a triptych cut down to two episodes due to running time constraints, its third part, If I Should Die Before I Wake (also in the promo), is a logical follow up.

[brundlefly]

Never Open That Door tops IMDB’s list of Argentine Noir. Originally a triptych cut down to two episodes due to running time constraints, its third part, If I Should Die Before I Wake (also in the promo), is a logical follow up.

The trio of Woolrich adaptations, united by the theme that darkness creeps in when gaps form inside families, are digestible as extended Alfred Hitchcock Presents episodes. But the look and emphasis of each is different. The first half of Door is there to be gawked at, the second is a performance showcase. Wake's observations on playground and family dynamics are fine, but when it finally gets to the fairy tale it promises at the top it delivers a tense twenty minutes. All feel a little out of shape due to extra time, Wake the most, but I'm grateful for the opportunity to see all these.

Flicker Alley and the FNF have some fine contextual extras on their discs. Enjoyed the comparison of the three Ms on The Black Vampire. Imogen Sara Smith's commentary on The Bitter Stems is superb, full of research and observation.

[dwk]

April 2025

[knives]

Va savoir!!!!!

[ando]

Never Open That Door tops IMDB’s list of Argentine Noir. Originally a triptych cut down to two episodes due to running time constraints, its third part, If I Should Die Before I Wake (also in the promo), is a logical follow up.

The trio of Woolrich adaptations, united by the theme that darkness creeps in when gaps form inside families, are digestible as extended Alfred Hitchcock Presents episodes. But the look and emphasis of each is different. The first half of Door is there to be gawked at, the second is a performance showcase. Wake's observations on playground and family dynamics are fine, but when it finally gets to the fairy tale it promises at the top it delivers a tense twenty minutes. All feel a little out of shape due to extra time, Wake the most, but I'm grateful for the opportunity to see all these.

Flicker Alley and the FNF have some fine contextual extras on their discs. Enjoyed the comparison of the three Ms on The Black Vampire. Imogen Sara Smith's commentary on The Bitter Stems is superb, full of research and observation.

Thanks!

Re: April promos

CC’s permanent library is head snd shoulders above everyone but the promos routinely suck. They’re not putting any serious work into most of them. Another Cronenberg without Naked Lunch (still haven’t seen it) retrospective? Oi. It’s looking like a René Clair deep dive (CC & New York’s Film Forum) for me in April.

On the positive side, I enjoyed a recent viewing of Kenji Misumi’s Ken. There are manifold ways of interpreting the message, one that is characteristic of its source writer, Yukio Mishima (if you know anything about his life and philosophy). Although the story concerns the methods of a college-age kendo team captain and spiritual initiate, the film is a kind of eerie foreshadowing of Mishima’s fate and leaves you with its considerations, not some trite resolution to the narrative’s objectives, which are up for grabs in the end.

[brundlefly]

Disappointed The Wiz isn't part of the Hoberman batch.

[dwk]

I think that Fun City slate is about the 5th or 6th NYC focused collection they've done. I know they are located in NYC, but there are other cities.

[beamish14]

Art College 1994 is the one I’m most excited to finally see

[redbill]

I sometimes think that most of their Promos, is just repackaging of different films in their permanent library with a couple new ones. Its so hard to navigate what actually is in the their permanent library by browsing, you don't really know what is new; unless you're using a Letterboxd list as a guide.

[ando]

I sometimes think that most of their Promos, is just repackaging of different films in their permanent library with a couple new ones…

It’s pretty much what they are.

Attempted to watch Bergman’s Magic Flute, but was immediately taken aback by the poor sound, especially compared to the 4K Amadeus restoration on the channel this month. So I opted for Mozart via Varda’s Le Bonheur soundtrack. His music’s a running motif in Hopscotch, too.

[ando]

Before it leaves in April I thought I'd rewatch It's My Turn (1980, Claudia Weill), a film I hadn't seen in decades.
Jill Clayburgh plays an ambitious mathematician who attends her father's wedding in New York and meets an attractive former baseball outfielder with whom she has an affair, which sets off a personal reevaluation of her life.

It's not a great film but a lighthearted, intelligent romance among career-minded adults at a crossroads. It was strangely nominated for a Razzie for Worst Screenplay, which when considering one of the other nominees, You Can't Stop The Music (which I enjoy - for very different reasons), boggles the mind. IMT is a fun film with a strong female protagonist view and some eye candy, particularly if you're a fan of Clayburgh or a shirtless Michael Douglas, circa 1980.

Elia Kazan's A Face In The Crowd (1957) was another pleasant surprise. Of course, I was aware of its reputation as a kind of prescient message of what we're stuck with today and I couldn't help but draw comparisons to Rossen's All The King's Men, made 8 years earlier. Rossen's film isn't nearly as satirical, but both have main protagonists whose high voltage personalities wear on the viewer fairly quickly. So the intrigue is transferred to the communities that allow these demagogues to assume and wield power. I think Kazan might have been slightly more successful in this regard.