This July, the Criterion Channel features what has to be my favorite all-around lineup in months. Sure I got my Ennio Morricone fix back in April, but July brings the strongest overall slate of films (for my tastes anyway!) in a while; just in time for the brutal summer heat!
The blinding sun of neonoir like Chinatown is one thing, but the headlining Art-House Animation series this July is right up my alley, positively filled to the brim with mostly stuff new to my eyes! Animation from all over the world, from the biggest names in Japanese animation like Satoshi Kon to lesser-known works like those by Hungary’s Marcell Jankovics. The Criterion Channel is pulling from far and wide and I’m thrilled.
Also terrific is a spotlight and expanded slate for Wong Kar-Wai, someone whose work I can’t have praised enough. If you’re catching some of the Criterion Channel July releases from the Hong Kong master this month, maybe check out some of our Flixist coverage from The World of Wong Kar-Wai, the restoration tour of the filmmaker’s works, now streaming. It’s about time I revisit Happy Together and have a good cry!
And always nice are the Criterion Editions, those special feature-packed digital editions of the deluxe Blu-Rays film fans so covet. Slacker is a particularly great addition to the Editions, Linklater always a lot of fun to hear talk shop. The new crop of July releases also adds the Criterion extras for Being There, Hal Ashby’s terrific satire and one of Peter Sellers’ very best performances. Catch it!
However this hot July finds you, know that the Criterion Channel is there with its glistening bounty of goods to whittle away the days with some nice, hopefully-air conditioned streaming.
July 1st
Art-House Animation
Journey to the Beginning of Time (1955), Invention for Destruction (1958), The Fabulous Baron Munchausen (1962), Belladonna of Sadness (1973), János vitéz (1973), Fantastic Planet (1973), Watership Down (1978), Son of the White Mare (1981), The Plague Dogs (1982), Alice (1988), Faust (1994)**, Millennium Actress (2001), Mind Game (2004), Paprika (2006), Persepolis (2007), Waltz with Bashir (2008)**, A Town Called Panic (2009), Mary and Max (2009), Chico & Rita (2010)**, The Rabbi’s Cat (2011)**, Alois Nebel (2011), Tatsumi (2011), The King of Pigs (2011), It’s Such a Beautiful Day (2012), Consuming Spirits (2012), Aya of Yop City (2013), Rocks in My Pockets (2014)**, The Wanted 18 (2014)**, The Girl Without Hands (2016), Tower (2016), The Wolf House (2018), No. 7 Cherry Lane (2019)
Neonoir
Cotton Comes to Harlem (1970), Across 110th Street (1972), The Long Goodbye (1973), Chinatown (1974)**, Night Moves (1975), Farewell, My Lovely (1975), The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976), The American Friend (1977), The Big Sleep (1978), Eyes of Laura Mars (1978), The Onion Field (1979), Body Heat (1981), Thief (1981)*, Blow Out (1981), Cutter’s Way (1981), Blood Simple (1984), Body Double (1984), The Hit (1984), Trouble in Mind (1985), Manhunter (1986), Mona Lisa (1986), The Bedroom Window (1987), Homicide (1991), Swoon (1992), Suture (1993), The Last Seduction (1994), Brick (2005)**
World of Wong Kar Wai
As Tears Go By (1988), Days of Being Wild (1990), Chungking Express (1994), Fallen Angels (1995), Happy Together (1997), In the Mood for Love (2000), 2046 (2004)
And the shorts: Hua yang de nian hua (2000), The Hand (2004)
Paul Muni: An Actor Among Stars
Scarface (1932), I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932), Black Fury (1935), The Story of Louis Pasteur (1936), The Life of Emile Zola (1937)**, Commandos Strike at Dawn (1942), A Song to Remember (1945), The Last Angry Man (1959)
CRITERION EDITIONS
Criterion Collection Edition #864 Being There (Hal Ashby, 1979)
Criterion Collection Edition #247 Slacker (Richard Linklater, 1991)
Criterion Collection Edition #289 Hoop Dreams (Steve James, 1994)
Criterion Collection Edition #982 Hedwig and the Angry Inch (John Cameron Mitchell, 2001)
Criterion Collection Edition #775 A Room with a View (James Ivory, 1986)
Criterion Collection Edition #870 Othello (Orson Welles, 1952)
Criterion Collection Edition #600 Anatomy of a Murder (Otto Preminger, 1959)
EXCLUSIVE STREAMING PREMIERE
No. 7 Cherry Lane (Yonfan, 2019)
July 2nd
Double Feature: Road Rage
Thelma & Louise and The Living End
July 3rd
SATURDAY MATINEE – Ernest & Celestine**
July 5th
A Bigger Splash (Jack Hazan, 1973)
A Day on the Grand Canal with the Emperor of China (Philip Haas, 1988)
Andrei Tarkovsky: A Cinema Prayer (Andrei A Tarkovsky, 2019)
July 6th
Short + Feature: Faces in the Crowd
Practice and Sans Soleil
July 7th
EXCLUSIVE STREAMING PREMIERE
Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time (Lili Horvat, 2020)
July 8th
Three by Mani Ratnam
Nayakan (1987), Bombay (1995), Kannathil muthamittal (A Peck on the Cheek) (2002)
July 9th
Double Feature: Candid Cameras
Living in Oblivion and Delirious
July 10th
SATURDAY MATINEE – Our Vines Have Tender Grapes
July 12th
Two Films by Nikolaus Geyrhalter
Homo Sapiens (2016), Earth (2019)
The Black Power Mixtape 1967–1975
July 13th
Short + Feature: Circles of Life
This Magnificent Cake! and La ronde
July 14th
Clockwatchers (Jill Sprecher, 1997)
July 15th
EXCLUSIVE STREAMING PREMIERE
You Will Die at Twenty (Amjad Abu Alala, 2019)
July 16th
Double Feature: Trials and Error
Knock on Any Door and Anatomy of a Murder
July 17th
SATURDAY MATINEE – The Painting**
July 19th
American Movie (Chris Smith, 1999)
July 20th
Swimmer (Lynne Ramsay, 2012)
July 21st
Beyond the Visible — Hilma af Klint (Halina Dyrschka, 2019)
July 22nd
Observations on Film Art No. 43: Flash Cuts and Long Takes in Le bonheur
July 23rd
Double Feature: Musante Mayhem
The Incident and The Bird with the Crystal Plumage
July 24th
SATURDAY MATINEE – Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation
July 26th
Film and Notfilm
July 27th
Short + Feature: Respect Your Elders
The Backseat and Thank You and Good Night
July 28th
The Grand Bizarre (Jodie Mack, 2018)
July 29th
Postcards from the Future: Four Films by Chris Marker
Sunday in Peking (1956), Letter from Siberia (1957), La Jetée (1963), Sans Soleil (1983)
July 30th
Double Feature: Felonious Femmes
Too Late for Tears and The Last Seduction
July 31st
SATURDAY MATINEE – Nocturna
