With fears our winter travel will need a, let’s say, reconsideration, the Criterion Channel’s monthly programming could hardly come at a better moment. High on list of highlights is Louis Feuillade’s delightful Les Vampires, which I suggest soundtracking to Coil, instrumental Nine Inch Nails, and Jóhann Jóhannson’s Mandy score. Notable too is a Sundance ’92 retrospective running the gamut from Paul Schrader to Derek Jarman to Jean-Pierre Gorin, and I’m especially excited for their look at one of America’s greatest actors, Sterling Hayden.
Special notice to Criterion editions of The Killing, The Last Days of Disco, All About Eve, and The Asphalt Jungle, and programming of Ognjen Glavonić’s The Load, among the better debuts in recent years.
See the full list of January titles below and more on the Criterion Channel.
-Ship: A Visual Poem, Terrance Day, 2020
5 Fingers, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1952
After Migration: Calabria, Walé Oyéjidé and Jake Saner, 2019
All About Eve, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1950
Antarctica: A Year on Ice, Anthony Powell, 2013
Appropriate Behavior, Desiree Akhavan, 2014
The Asphalt Jungle, John Huston, 1950**
Band of Outsiders, Jean-Luc Godard, 1964**
Brother’s Keeper, Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky, 1992
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Ken Hughes, 1968
Cleopatra, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1963
Color Adjustment, Marlon Riggs, 1991
Crime of Passion, Gerd Oswald, 1957
Crime Wave, André De Toth, 1953
Danzón, Maria Novaro, 1991
Day for Night, François Truffaut, 1973
Delicatessen, Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro, 1991
Denver & Rio Grande, Byron Haskin, 1952
Down and Out in America, Lee Grant, 1986
Down Argentine Way, Irving Cummings, 1940
Dragonwyck, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1946
Edward II, Derek Jarman, 1991
The Eternal Sea, John H. Auer, 1955
The Fever, Maya Da-Rin, 2019
Gas Food Lodging, Allison Anders, 1992
Get on the Bus, Spike Lee, 1996
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1947
Guys and Dolls, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1955**
Holiday Affair, Don Hartman, 1949
The Hours and Times, Christopher Münch, 1991
House of Strangers, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1949
I Am Afraid to Forget Your Face, Sameh Alaa, 2020
In the Soup, Alexandre Rockwell, 1992
Incident at Oglala, Michael Apted, 1992
Intimate Stranger, Alan Berliner, 1991
Johnny Guitar, Nicholas Ray, 1954
Johnny Suede, Tom DiCillo, 1991**
The Killing, Stanley Kubrick, 1956
The Last Command, Frank Lloyd, 1955
The Last Days of Disco, Whit Stillman, 1998
Les Vampires, Louis Feuillade, 1915
Light Sleeper, Paul Schrader, 1992
The Living End, Gregg Araki, 1992
The Load, Ognjen Glavonić, 2018
Man in the Saddle, André De Toth, 1951
The Man from Laramie, Anthony Mann, 1955
The Nun, Jacques Rivette, 1966
The Quiet American, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1958
People Will Talk, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1951
Pharos of Chaos, Wolf-Eckart Bühler and Manfred Blank, 1983**
Poison Ivy, Katt Shea, 1992
Radio On, Christopher Petit, 1979
Roger and Me, Michael Moore, 1989
She Runs, Qiu Yang, 2019
Some Divine Wind, Roddy Bogawa, 1992
Stormy Weather, Andrew L. Stone, 1943
Suddenly, Last Summer, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1959
Sun Valley Serenade, H. Bruce Humberstone, 1941
Sweet Smell of Success, Alexander Mackendrick, 1957
Terror in a Texas Town, Joseph H. Lewis, 1958
The Tune, Bill Plympton, 1992
The Waterdance, Neal Jimenez and Michael Steinberg, 1992
What About Me, Rachel Amodeo, 1993
What Sex Am I?, Lee Grant, 1985
What We Left Unfinished, Mariam Ghani, 2019
When Women Kill, Lee Grant, 1983
The Willmar 8, Lee Grant, 1981
The Woodmans, Scott Willis, 2010
*Available in the U.S. only
After graduating from Hampshire College with a degree in music theory, Leonard Pearce turned his passions to film and writing. He lives in upstate NY with his wife Laura and cat Tardi.