Criterion Collection Classics

by Frannie

The Criterion Collection is known for their expert curation of some of the best movies in cinema history, and wonderfully enough many titles are available via Kanopy! I have never seen a Criterion movie that was not good. Whether you're a film buff or someone who just wants to know more about movies from other places besides the US, there is something here to expand your cinematic horizons!

Monsieur Hulot's Holiday.

STREAMING VIDEO KANOPY

Monsieur Hulot, Jacques Tati’s endearing clown, takes a holiday at a seaside resort, where his presence provokes one catastrophe after another. Tati’s masterpiece of gentle slapstick is a series of effortlessly well-choreographed sight gags involving dogs, boats, and firecrackers; it was the first entry in the Hulot series and the film that launched its maker to international stardom. Nominated for Best Writing - Story and Screenplay at the 1956 **Academy Awards**.

A great work of physical comedy, Monsieur Hulot's Holiday, is the movie that introduced Jacque Tati's titular character to audiences. In the tradition of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, the movie's criticism of post World War II France has a light touch and a squeaky door repeating gag that will remind you of the door in Quentin Tarantino's Hateful Eight
- Frannie

The seventh seal

DVD MOVIE FOREIGN SWEDISH Seventh

A knight returning home from the Crusades encounters Death, who agrees to a chess game. In the balance hang the lives of the knight and a group of traveling players.

A game of chess with death! This Scandinavian drama is perfect for when you've been running on the existential treadmill trying to make sense of it all. Expert director Ingmar Bergman shoots the blackest blacks in this cinema classic that went on to inspire one of my favorite Scott Walker songs of the same name.
- Frannie

The Squid and the Whale.

STREAMING VIDEO KANOPY

In his third feature, director Noah Baumbach (Frances Ha) scores a triumph with an autobiographical coming-of-age story about a teenager (Jesse Eisenberg) whose parents are divorcing. The father (Jeff Daniels) and mother (Laura Linney) duke it out in half-civilized, half-savage fashion, while their two sons adapt in different ways, shifting allegiances between parents. Nominated for Best Original Screenplay at the **Academy Awards.** Nominated for three awards including Best Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical at the **Golden Globes**. Nominated for six awards including Best Feature at the **Film Independent Spirit Awards.** Winner of a Directing Award at the **Sundance Film Festival**. "*Acutely observed, faultlessly acted, graced with piercing emotion and unsparing honesty, it will make you laugh because you can't bear to cry.*" - Kenneth Turan, ***The Los Angeles Times***

Noah Baumbach's coming of age/divorce movie the Squid and the Whale I would consider a prequel to 2019's Marriage Story. Jeff Daniels gives an incredibly difficult to watch performance that can have you cringing every time he enters the frame. The core of the movie is the parent child relationship and how it evolves as we age and perceive each other.
- Frannie

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

DVD MOVIE FOREIGN FRENCH Umbrellas

A tender, bittersweet love story, sung throughout in French.

With a name like the Umbrellas of Cherbourg and knowing it is a musical you can't help but expect some sort of Disney-esque farce, but that would be a mistake. The only thing this movie might have in common with those musical comedies is Jacques Demy's keen eye and ability to draw out color. A heart wrenching plot and depictions of classism are what sets this apart from its American cousins like Funny Face too.
- Frannie

Breathless = À bout de souffle

DVD MOVIE FOREIGN FRENCH Breathless

Jean-Luc Godard's 1960 anything-goes crime narrative about a young thief on the run and his American girlfriend.

Starring Iowa's own Jean Seberg this crime drama set the style for French New Wave. Cinematically gorgeous with great contemporary costuming this fast paced film is a great entry point for anyone hesitant of watching a subtitled movie.
- Frannie

Cleo from 5 to 7

DVD MOVIE FOREIGN FRENCH Cleo
Drama

"Agnès Varda eloquently captures Paris in the sixties with this real-time portrait of a singer set adrift in the city as she awaits test results of a biopsy. A chronicle of the minutes of one woman's life, Cléo from 5 to 7 is a spirited mix of vivid vérité and melodrama.

2 hours in the life of a pop singer, but rendered beautifully by French New Wave director Agnes Varda this is a not to be missed classic. Faces Places, Varda's final movie is also on Kanopy
- Frannie