Hello and welcome to the monthly round-up of all that is good and cinematic coming to the Criterion Channel this month. With the Cannes Film Festival held annually during the month of May (current events notwithstanding), the Channel has included homages to the iconic event in this month’s selection.
Other highlights include selections by Uncut Gems directors Josh and Benny Safdie, as well as a deep dive into women filmmakers, with an excellent look into the works of writer Frances Marion, one of the unsung stars of early Hollywood.
A slew of Quay Brothers short films add some dark quirk to the mix, and we cap things off with some Jackie Chan. What’s not to love?
For some more thoughts and insight by yours truly, stay tuned for our C What’s Good series, in which I get to adulate over some of my recent viewings on the Criterion Channel!
** indicates programming available only in the U.S.
Friday, May 1
Double Feature: California Dreamin’
- The Limey (Steven Soderbergh, 1999)
- Mulholland Dr. (David Lynch, 2001)
With a commentary for The Limey featuring director Steven Soderbergh and screenwriter Lem Dobbs.
Saturday, May 2
Saturday Matinee
- Around the World in 80 Days (Michael Anderson, 1956)
Sunday, May 3
Josh and Benny Safdie’s Adventures in Moviegoing
- The Naked City (Jules Dassin, 1948)
- In a Lonely Place (Nicholas Ray, 1950)
- Camera Buff (Krzysztof Kieślowski, 1979)
- Gloria (John Cassavetes, 1980)
- Bless Their Little Hearts (Billy Woodberry, 1984)
- Meantime (Mike Leigh, 1984)
- Close-up (Abbas Kiarostami, 1990)
- Hero (Stephen Frears, 1992)
- The Mirror (Jafar Panahi, 1997)
Monday, May 4
Exclusive streaming premiere
- Cane River (Horace Jenkins, 1982)
With a new documentary featuring actors Richard Romaine and Tommye Myrick
Tuesday, May 5
Short + Feature: Freaks and Greeks
- Washingtonia (Konstantina Kotzamani, 2014)
- Dogtooth (Yorgos Lanthimos, 2009)
Wednesday, May 6
Directed by Maya Angelou
- Down in the Delta (Maya Angelou, 1998)
Thursday, May 7
Three by Tsai Ming-liang
- Rebels of the Neon God (1992)
- The Wayward Cloud (2005)**
- Stray Dogs (2013)
Friday, May 8
Double Feature: Mama Drama
- Stella Dallas (Henry King, 1925)
- Stella Dallas (King Vidor1937)
Saturday, May 9
Saturday Matinee
- Good Morning (Yasujiro Ozu, 1959)
Sunday, May 10
Saul Bass Turns 100!
- The Big Knife (Robert Aldrich, 1955)
- The Man with the Golden Arm (Otto Preminger, 1955)
- Around the World in 80 Days (Michael Anderson, 1956)
- Storm Center (Daniel Taradash, 1956)
- Bonjour tristesse (Otto Preminger, 1958)
- The Big Country (William Wyler, 1958)
- Cowboy (Delmer Daves, 1958)
- Anatomy of a Murder (Otto Preminger, 1959)
- The Facts of Life (Melvin Frank, 1960)
- Ocean’s 11 (Lewis Milestone, 1960)
- Something Wild (Jack Garfein, 1961)
- West Side Story (Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins, 1961)*
- Walk on the Wild Side (Edward Dmytryk, 1962)
- It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (Stanley Kramer, 1963)
- Bunny Lake Is Missing (Otto Preminger, 1965)
- Grand Prix (John Frankenheimer, 1966)
- Seconds (John Frankenheimer, 1966)
- Phase IV (Saul Bass, 1974)
- The Human Factor (Otto Preminger, 1979)
- The Age of Innocence (Martin Scorsese, 1993)
Monday, May 11
The Documentaries of Louis Malle
- Vive le Tour (1962)
- Phantom India (1969)
- Calcutta (1969)
- Humain, trop humain (1973)
- Place de la République (1974)
- God’s Country (1985)
- . . . And the Pursuit of Happiness (1986)
Tuesday, May 12
Cannes ’68: Cinema in Revolt
- The Firemen’s Ball (Miloš Forman, 1967)
- Peppermint Frappé (Carlos Saura, 1967)
- Capricious Summer (JiÅ™í Menzel, 1968)
- Kuroneko (Kaneto Shindo, 1968)
- A Report on the Party and Guests (Jan Němec, 1968)
- Toby Dammit (Federico Fellini, 1968)
Palme d’Or Winners
- Brief Encounter (David Lean, 1945)
- Rome Open City (Roberto Rossellini, 1945)
- Miss Julie (Alf Sjöberg, 1951)
- Gate of Hell (Teinosuke Kinugasa, 1953)
- The Wages of Fear (Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1953)
- The Cranes Are Flying (Mikhail Kalatozov, 1957)
- Black Orpheus (Marcel Camus, 1959)
- Viridiana (Luis Buñuel, 1961)
- The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Jacques Demy, 1964)
- The Tree of Wooden Clogs (Ermanno Olmi, 1978)
- The Tin Drum (Volker Schlöndorff, 1979)
- Paris, Texas (Wim Wenders, 1984)
- Under the Sun of Satan (Maurice Pialat, 1987)
- Secrets & Lies (Mike Leigh, 1996)
- Taste of Cherry (Abbas Kiarostami, 1997)
- 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (Cristian Mungiu, 2007)
- Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2010)
- Dheepan (Jacques Audiard, 2015)
Short + Feature: Youthquakes
- Tremors
- The Fits (Anna Rose Holmer, 2015)
Wednesday, May 13
- It Felt Like Love (Eliza Hittman, 2013)
Featuring an introduction by director Eliza Hittman and two of her early short films:
- Second Cousins Once Removed (2010)
- Forever’s Gonna Start Tonight (2011)
Thursday, May 14
Short Films by the Quay Brothers
- The Cabinet of Jan Švankmajer (1984)
- This Unnameable Little Broom (1985)
- Street of Crocodiles (1986)
- Rehearsals for Extinct Anatomies (1987)
- Stille Nacht I: Dramolet (1988)
- Stille Nacht III: Tales from Vienna Woods (1992)
- Stille Nacht IV: Can’t Go Wrong Without You (1993)
- The Comb (1990)
- Anamorphosis (1991)
- In Absentia (2000)
- The Phantom Museum (2003)
Friday, May 15
Double Feature: Knockout!
- The Harder They Fall (Mark Robson, 1956)
- Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese, 1980)
Saturday, May 16
Saturday Matinee
- The Boy with Green Hair (Joseph Losey, 1948)
Sunday, May 17
Written by Frances Marion
- Stella Dallas (Henry King, 1925)
- The Scarlet Letter (Victor Sjöström, 1926)
- The Winning of Barbara Worth (Henry King, 1926)
- The Wind (Victor Sjöström, 1928)
- Their Own Desire (E. Mason Hopper, 1929)
- Anna Christie (Clarence Brown, 1930)
- The Big House (George W. Hill, 1930)
- Min and Bill (George Hill, 1930)
- The Champ (King Vidor, 1931)
- Blondie of the Follies (Edmund Goulding, 1932)
- Cynara (King Vidor, 1932)
- Dinner at Eight (George Cukor, 1933)**
- Secrets (Frank Borzage, 1933)
- Riffraff (J. Walter Ruben, 1936)
- Knight Without Armour (Jacques Feyder, 1937)
- Without Lying Down: Frances Marion and the Power of Women in Hollywood (Bridget Terry, 2000)
Monday, May 18
- Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (Elio Petri, 1970)
Tuesday, May 19
Short + Feature: Fassbinder and His Friends
- Angst isst Seele auf (Shahbaz Noshir, 2002)
- Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1974)
Wednesday, May 20
Three by Diane Kurys, featuring an archival interview with the filmmaker.
- Peppermint Soda (1977)
- Entre nous (1983)
- Children of the Century (1999)
Thursday, May 21
- The Age of Innocence (Martin Scorsese, 1993)**
Friday, May 22
Double Feature: A Legacy and a Landmark
- Losing Ground (Kathleen Collins, 1982)
- The Scar of Shame (Frank Peregini, 1927)
Saturday, May 23
Saturday Matinee
- Black Beauty (Caroline Thompson, 1994)
Sunday, May 24
Tell Me: Women Filmmakers, Women’s Stories. Featuring a conversation between guest programmer Nellie Killian and actor Jenny Slate.
- Growing Up Female (Julia Reichert and Jim Klein, 1971)
- Janie’s Janie (Geri Ashur, Peter Barton, Marilyn Mulford, and Stephanie Pawleski, 1971)
- Betty Tells Her Story (Liane Brandon, 1972)
- It Happens to Us (Amalie R. Rothschild, 1972)
- Joyce at 34 (Joyce Chopra and Claudia Weill, 1972)
- Yudie (Mirra Bank, 1974)
- Chris and Bernie (Bonnie Friedman and Deborah Shaffer, 1976)
- Guerillère Talks (Vivienne Dick, 1978)
- Inside Women Inside (Christine Choy and Cynthia Maurizio, 1978)
- Soft Fiction (Chick Strand, 1979)
- Dis-moi (Chantal Akerman, 1980)
- I Am Wanda (Katja Raganelli, 1980)
- Clotheslines (Roberta Cantow, 1981)
- Land Makar (Margaret Tait, 1981)
- Audience (Barbara Hammer, 1982)
- Suzanne, Suzanne (Camille Billops and James Hatch, 1982)
- The Ties That Bind (Su Friedrich, 1985)
- Conversations with Intellectuals About Selena (Lourdes Portillo, 1999)
- Privilege (Yvonne Rainer, 1990)
- The Salt Mines (Susana Aiken and Carlos Aparicio, 1990)
- The Transformation (Susana Aiken and Carlos Aparicio, 1995)
- Mimi (Claire Simon, 2003)
- No Home Movie (Chantal Akerman, 2015)
- Shakedown (Leilah Weinraub, 2018)
Monday, May 25
- Le Havre (Aki Kaurismäki, 2011)
Tuesday, May 26
Short + Feature: What a Woman Wants
- The Field (Sandhya Suri, 2018)
- The Cloud-Capped Star (Ritwik Ghatak, 1960)
Wednesday, May 27
Three by Nicole Holofcener (with a new introduction by the filmmaker)
- Lovely & Amazing (2001)
- Friends with Money (2006)**
- Please Give (2010)**
Thursday, May 28
Three by Jacques Rivette
- Paris Belongs to Us (1961)
- Céline and Julie Go Boating (1974)
- La belle noiseuse (1991)
Friday, May 29
Double Feature: Tramps and Scamps
- The Kid (Charles Chaplin, 1921)
- Sidewalk Stories (Charles Lane, 1989)
Saturday, May 30
Saturday Matinee:
- Little Fugitive (Ray Ashley, Morris Engel, and Ruth Orkin, 1953)
Sunday, May 31
Starring Jackie Chan
Featuring a new interview with Grady Hendrix, author and cofounder of the New York Asian Film Festival
- Half a Loaf of Kung Fu (Chen Chi-hwa, 1978)
- Spiritual Kung Fu (Lo Wei, 1978)
- The Fearless Hyena (Jackie Chan, 1979)
- The Young Master (Jackie Chan, 1980)
- Fearless Hyena 2 (Chan Chuen, 1983)
- My Lucky Stars (Sammo Hung, 1985)
- Police Story (Jackie Chan, 1985)
- Police Story 2 (Jackie Chan, 1988)
The Criterion Channel’s May 2020 Lineup [Criterion]
