New York Magazine - USA (2020-03-30)

26 newyork| march30–april12, 2020

1. ❑

The 400 Blows
François
Truffaut

This 1959 coming-of-
age dramais French
New Wavemaster
Truffaut’sfeature
debutandarguably
mostpersonalfilm.

2. ❑

TheApu

Trilogy
Satyajit Ray

Criterionworkedfor
yearstoreconstruct
thesefilmsafterthe
originalnegatives
wereburnedina fire.
Ray’s trilogy following
thelifeofoneyoung
manis a consummate
exampleofhowgreat
moviesallowusto
experiencelivesand
perspectiveswe
otherwisecouldnot.

3. ❑

Bicycle

Thieves
Vittorio

De Sica

Oneofthemost
belovedfilmsofall
time,DeSica’s 1948
Oscarwinnertellsthe
story ofa hard-
workingmanwhose
bicycleis stolen.Don’t
letthesimplestory

foolyou;thisef fec- tivelyrewrotethe rulesoffilmgrammar.

4. ❑

Breathless Jean-Luc Godard TheDNA ofGodard’s 1960 international smashhitis notonly intheFrenchNew Wavethat followed butinmanyofthe criticallybelovedfilms ofthe’60sand’70s aswell.Godard injectedart cinema witha newfound playfulness,opening theeyesofa generationof filmmakers.

5. ❑

CertifiedCopy Abbas Kiarostami Ir aniandirector Kiarostami’s late- periodmasterpiece playswithperspective andformwhilenever losingtrackofits fascinatingstars, JulietteBinocheand WilliamShimell, astwopeoplewho seemtogothrough every stageofa

relationshipoverthe courseofa brieftripto thecountry.

6. ❑

CléoFr om 5 to 7 Agnès Varda RogerEbert putit perfectlywhenhe wrotethatVardawas the“verysoul”ofthe FrenchNewWave.He added,“Thefact that sheis a woman,I fear, preventedherfrom beingroutinely includedwithGodard, Truffaut,Resnais, Chabrol,Rivette, Rohmer,and,forthat matter,herhusband JacquesDemy.”In Cléo,thedirector capturesthetextureof lifefora woman intheParisofthe’60s ina waythat only shecould.

7. ❑

Don’tLook Back D.A. Pennebaker Pennebakerchanged thewaywelookat musicdocumenta- ries.Thisone chroniclesBob Dylan’s 1965concert tour,pullingbackthe curtainonthepublic

imageofa famous youngmanto revealthetrue personunderneath.

8. ❑

The DoubleLife of Véronique Krzysztof Kieslowski IrèneJacobstarsas botha Polishsinger andher“double,”a Frenchmusicteacher. Kieslowski’suse ofhauntingimagery is breathtaking andsetthestagefor his“ThreeColors” trilogy,Blue,White, andRed,whichare alsoavailableonthe CriterionChannel.

9. ❑

TheGold Rush Charles Chaplin Anyonewhosaysthey don’t like silentfilms hasn’t watchedenough Chaplin.Catchthisor oneofhisother classics,likeCity Lights,TheKid,and ModernTimes.

10. ❑

Ikiru Akira Kurosawa Evenif Criterionhad onlya handfulof Kurosawafilms,it wouldstillbedifficult tochooseamong SevenSamurai, Rashomon,orthis tenderdramaabouta manwithstomach cancercomingto termswiththeendof hislife.It ’s hardto believeKurosawa madeit whenhewas justover40.Andif youwanttoseethe director’s otherfilms, Criterionhasalmost allofthem.

11. ❑

In theMood forLove Wong Kar-wai Moviesdon’t getmore hypnoticthanthis,a story ofloveand longingsetin 1962 HongKongfromone ofthegreatstylistsof ourtime.

12. ❑

Jeanne Dielman,23, quaidu Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles Chantal Akerman Thisexaminationof theroutinesofan ordinarylifeturns everydaydetailinto somethingunforget - table,eventran- scendent.Directed bythegreatAkerman, whodeserves tobebetterknown.

13. ❑

TheLady Vanishes Alfred Hitchcock Hitch’s acknowledged classics—Psycho, Vertigo,etc.—are widelyloved,but Criterionoffersa nice selectionofhisearlier films.Start withthis wonderful 1938 genre blend,inwhichanold womandisappears intothinair.

14. ❑

TheThin BlueLine Errol Morris ArguablyMorris’s best film,this 1988 documentary abouta terrifyingmiscarriage ofjusticeinTexas definedtrue-crime documentariesfor decadestocome.

15. ❑

TheUmbrellas of Cherbourg Jacques Demy Thisdelightfulmusical hasa cinematicenergy unlikeany otherfilm’s. CatherineDeneuve givesa luminous performanceasthe daughterofan umbrella-shopowner whofallsinlovewitha mechanic(Nino Castelnuovo)whogets senttofightinAlgeria.

16. ❑

Yi Yi Edward Yang Taiwanese master Yang’s final film is a nearly three-hour epic about a middle- class family in Taipei. Both beautiful and genuine, it’s a perfect place to start exploring modern East Asian cinema.

9

Or Open

an Art-House

Cinema

BY BRIAN TALLERICO

tothereliefofcinephilesstillsufferingwithdrawalafterFilmStruck’s untimely 2018 demise,theCriterionChannelis aliveandwell,makinga mas- sivecatalogueofclassiccinemaavailableforstreaming.Considertheseasstart- ingpoints,gatewaystotheworkofthemost importantfilmmakersofalltime.

PHOTOGRAPHS: COURTESY OF LES FILMS IMPÉRIA (BREATHLESS); COURTESY OF MIRAMAX (THE DOUBLE LIFE OF VÉRONIQUE); COURTESY OF TOHO COMPANY (IKIRU); ATOM FILMS (YI YI).