Category: Criterion Discovery

Background Up All Night With Robert Downey Sr. (Eclipse Series #33) is a collection of Downey’s experimental comedies from the New York underground film scene of the 1960s, individually dating from 1964-1975, and comprising the titles Babo 73, Chafed Elbows, No More Excuses, Putney Swope, and Two Tons of Turquoise to Taos Tonight. The collection was initially released on DVD on May 22, 2012. These five Robert Downey Sr. films are the only features of his to be included in The Criterion Collection. Story Consistently irreverent and compulsively surreal, these five films directed by Robert Downey Sr. are never...

Background Identification of a Woman is an Italian film directed by Michelangelo Antonioni. It was originally released in 1982, and was released on Criterion Blu-Ray on October 25th, 2011 as spine #585. This marked Antonioni’s sixth film to be selected for the collection, the others being: La Notte (Spine #678), L’elisse (Spine #278), Red Desert (Spine #522), L’Avventura (Spine #98), and for writing, Frederico Fellini’s The White Shiek (Spine #189). Story After his wife leaves him, director Niccolo begins to work on his new film. During this period, he spends time searching for a leading woman for both his film...

Background Directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, L’avventura is an Italian film from 1960. Its original Criterion release (DVD) was on June 5th 2001 and it was later released on Blu-Ray on November 25th 2014 as spine #98. It is one of five films that Antonioni has on the Criterion Collection, which include La Notte (Spine #678), L’eclisse (Spine #278), Red Desert (#522), Identification of a Woman (Spine #585), and his writing credit for Federico Fellini’s The White Shiek (Spine #189). Story When a young woman goes missing on a boat trip, the search brings her lover and best friend together,...

Background The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp was released in 1943 and was directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. It was released by Criterion on DVD on October 22, 2002, and on Blu-Ray on March 19, 2013, as spine #173. Powell and Pressburger also directed The Red Shoes (spine #44), Black Narcissus (spine #93), I Know Where I’m Going! (spine #94), The Tales of Hoffmann (spine #317), A Canterbury Tale (spine #341), and The Small Back Room (spine #441). On his own, Powell directed Peeping Tom (spine #58) and 49th Parallel (spine #376); he was also a...

Background Close-Up was released in 1990 and was directed by Abbas Kiarostami. It was released by Criterion on DVD and Blu-Ray on June 22, 2010 as spine #519. He also directed Taste of Cherry (spine #45), Certified Copy (spine #612), and Like Someone in Love (spine #708). His film The Traveler is also included in the Close-Up release. Story The story of Close-Up is the story of the making of Close-Up. It begins with a troubled young man named Hossein Sabzian, who impersonated the famous Iranian director Mohsen Makhmalbaf for a family of cinéastes. After Sabzian was discovered and...

  Background Children of Paradise was originally released in France in 1945 with the title Les enfants du paradis.  The Criterion Collection released the film on Blu-Ray as Spine # 141, after having previously been releases on DVD.  The film was directed by Marcel Carné, who has four total films in the collection:  Port of Shadows (Spine #245), Le jour se lève (Essential Art House DVD, out of print), and Les visiteurs du soir (Spine # 626). Story In 19th Century France, a charming and beautiful woman is romantically pursued by four different suitors:  a mime, a thief, a stage...