The Criterion Collection and Janus Films ’ meticulously crafted depository library of more than 1,500 film is now useable to stream on the Criterion Channel , alongside other handpicked title from Hollywood and beyond . The independent cyclosis inspection and repair is a cinephile ’s dreaming issue forth true , featuring a grotesque mix of beloved classics , underrated indie flicks , and must - see contemporary films .
Ikiru (1952)
Akira Kurosawa is a legendary Nipponese film director jazz for genre - delineate masterpieces likeSeven Samurai , Rashomon , andRan . A lesser - known , but still essential body of work by Kurosawa is 1952’sIkiru . The affecting drama film tells the story of Mr. Kanji Watanabe ( Takashi Shimura ) , a middle - of age bureaucrat who has spend decades senselessly shuffling papers in a dull government billet . After encounter dread news that he has terminal cancer , he becomes determined to provide a lasting legacy , and Mr. Watanabe adjust out to find a elbow room to do something good for the local community .
Ikiruis one ofthe best existential moviesmost people have in all probability never get word of because of how old the film is . The movie benefits from Kurosawa ’s commission , as despite being made in the 1950s , it ’s still easy to see and appreciate today . Its tearjerking narration is also just as powerful as ever , with Mr. Watanabe ’s quest for meaning beyond being just a cog in the machine being a distressingly relevant and necessary message .
Breathless (1960)
Breathless , orÀ bout de souffle , is a groundbreaking film that has become synonymous with the French New Wave , and its director , Jean - Luc Godard , finally was regarded as one of the figurehead of the motility . The film takes place in the amatory streets of 1960s Paris , where the charming , but foolhardy Michel Poiccard ( Jean - Paul Belmondo ) is on the run and seek sanctuary with his American lover , Patricia Franchini ( Jean Seberg ) .
The French New Wave brought about numerous filmmaking techniques that are still used today , with its rebellious pioneers inspiring innumerous future directors and artists . Breathless , in particular , boasted a bold visual panache that included the frequent and unconventional use of jump cuts . Its nonlinear narration was also forward-looking at the metre , lend the moving-picture show an atmospheric state that felt innocent as one conversation would effortlessly flow into another . Godard ’s rejection of traditional cinematic convening makesBreathlessa marvel to behold more than 60 years subsequently .
Vertigo (1958)
Widely look at Alfred Hitchcock ’s magnum opus , Vertigois a mesmeric psychological thriller that go around around the twisty narration of former San Francisco constabulary detective Scottie Ferguson ( James Stewart ) . haunt by acrophobia , vertigo , and the tragic expiry of a colleague , Scottie ostensibly catches a break when he ’s hired for an easy caper to tail an conversancy ’s wife , Madeleine Elster ( Kim Novak ) . The investigating turns out to be anything but simple , as Scottie is roped into a whirlpool of madness and despair .
Vertigoshowcases the very best of the Master of Suspense . It ’s technically telling , with its inventive utilization of the dolly zoom resulting in “ the Vertigo result , ” which has become commonplace in the film industry today . Alfred Hitchcock ’s thrilling moviealso combines a tense atmosphere , unexpected secret plan wind , and a psychologically complex agonist to make a nail - biting and almost dreamlike regard experience that still holds up incredibly well today .
In the Mood for Love (2000)
In the Mood for Loveis a gorgeous and delicate romantic drama film that ’s centered on two neighbor , Chow Mo - wan ( Tony Leung ) and Su Li - zhen ( Maggie Cheung ) , who discover their spouses are experience an affair . Set against the vibrant backdrop of 1960s Hong Kong , Chow and Su begin a tentative relationship , mostly declare back due to social norms at the clock time and their own personal inhibition .
Directed by Wong Kar - Wai , In the Mood for Loveoozes with style and welfare from its unique atmosphere . Through lush colors , mesmerise cinematography , and meaningful frame , Chow and Su ’s fated romance unfolds at a deliberately tedious pace . Their connection is mostly built through unsaid desires and longing glances , with some scenes full of tension that could be edit out with a tongue . The 2000 film is a broody , one - of - a - kind depiction of sexual love and grief , showing how such prompt stories can be impersonate with an elegant subtlety .
Come and See (1985)
Director Elem Klimov’sCome and Seeis a harrowing anti - war plastic film that follows the experiences of a young Belarusian male child advert Florya ( Aleksei Kravchenko ) during the Nazi German business of Belarus in World War II . Florya is initially eager to join the Soviet resistor against the invading German force , but he is quickly confronted with the brutal realities of warfare , specially as he comes nerve - to - cheek with uncounted deaths .
Come and Seeuses hyperrealism and surrealism to devastating event , portraying the horrors of warfare with vivid clarity even as Florya ’s journeying rent him through nightmarish landscapes . It ’s one ofthe best war flick of all clock time , delivering its political and philosophical messages through an unflinching tale of an innocent male child who lose everyone and everything he knew . Even viewers who have attend the most beastly warfare films should be warned , derive and Seeis not for the swoon of kernel . It ’s a powerful and significant movie in the genre , but it clearly goes to some deeply troubling places and is full of gut - sprain moments that its young protagonist should have never had to experience .
