The Criterion Channel, a list by Goober

6.9

/1355/

61

/23/

69

/50/

3.7

/4280/

64

/6/

Michel is a young technician in the fledgling TV industry and is due for military service in two months at the time of the Algerian War. Juliette and Liliane are inseparable best friends, and aspiring actresses, who hang around outside the TV studio. Michel invites them in to watch, flirts with them both, and dates them separately and together. When Michel goes on a holiday to Corsica, just before he is drafted, the girls follow.

85

7.8

/30858/

78

/838/

76

/749/

4.2

/212739/

93

/54/

89

/321/

87

/22/

4.0

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, featuring a score by Michel Legrand and cameos by Jean-Luc Godard and Anna Karina.

76

58

7.2

/3525/

70

/66/

68

/95/

3.7

/4567/

94

/16/

81

/16/

Young provincial Charles arrives in Paris to stay with his cousin Paul while studying law. Paul is a decadent, bohemian pleasure-seeker who shows the meek, diligent Charles the thrills of city life. When Charles falls for Florence, one of Paul's acquaintances, relationships begin to shift.

80

7.4

/18806/

71

/341/

72

/410/

3.8

/78949/

96

/47/

86

/379/

93

/14/

3.0

Paul, a young idealist trying to figure out what he wants to do with his life, takes a job interviewing people for a marketing research firm. He moves in with aspiring pop singer Madeleine. Paul, however, is disillusioned by the growing commercialism in society, while Madeleine just wants to be successful. The story is told in a series of 15 unrelated vignettes.

67

61

6.3

/5412/

64

/142/

59

/89/

3.5

/13023/

80

/25/

67

/100/

67

/18/

A trio of interweaved transgressive tales, telling a bizarre stories of suburban patricide and a miraculous flight from justice, a mad sex experiment which unleashes a disfiguring plague, and the obsessive sexual relationship between two prison inmates.

73

66

7.2

/8013/

68

/131/

71

/211/

3.6

/8802/

78

/9/

79

/64/

After he's implicated in several murders, a real estate agent goes on the lam while his intrepid secretary does some private investigating of her own to locate the killer.

77

7.0

/478/

64

/19/

69

/5/

3.5

/8658/

98

/58/

73

/20/

4.0

Presenting a behind-the-scenes account of a visionary at work. From Oscar-nominated Mike Figgis, Megadoc gives audiences an unfiltered and intimate look at the making of Francis Ford Coppola’s epic sci-fi drama Megalopolis.

86

8.0

/38187/

78

/673/

75

/704/

4.2

/49189/

97

/36/

93

/731/

88

/18/

4.0

age 12+

Au revoir les enfants tells a heartbreaking story of friendship and devastating loss concerning two boys living in Nazi-occupied France. At a provincial Catholic boarding school, the precocious youths enjoy true camaraderie—until a secret is revealed. Based on events from writer-director Malle’s own childhood, the film is a subtle, precisely observed tale of courage, cowardice, and tragic awakening.

83

82

7.9

/26124/

79

/466/

79

/718/

4.3

/70544/

84

/31/

91

/241/

A day in the life of an unfaithful married couple and their steadily deteriorating relationship in Milan.

75

7.2

/21477/

72

/387/

68

/480/

3.7

/21027/

86

/100/

84

/600/

75

/32/

3.0

A ruthless real estate agent discovers a passion for piano and auditions with help from a young virtuoso, but the pressures of his corrupt career threaten to derail his musical aspirations.

62

57

6.3

/10451/

62

/205/

60

/247/

3.2

/15336/

71

/14/

53

/151/

Juliette Hardy is sexual dynamite, and has the men of a French coastal town panting. But Antoine, the only man who affects her likewise, wouldn't dream of settling down with a woman his friends consider the town tramp.

71

6.4

/3809/

61

/222/

68

/84/

3.5

/52548/

93

/102/

56

/23/

76

/25/

3.5

Ryōsuke Yoshii, an ordinary reseller, carelessly earns grudges by people and becomes entangled in a life-threatening struggle.

74

48

7.1

/1753/

67

/49/

67

/56/

3.9

/5484/

86

/7/

77

/5/

Daniel lives with his grandmother and, after a year of high school, goes to live with his mother in the south of France; a harsher environment which rapidly changes his perception of friends, work, and women.

80

6.7

/2314/

65

/91/

68

/41/

3.7

/20843/

99

/73/

87

/25/

4.0

Years after her boyfriend left her for the big city and promised to bring her there after he’s settled down, a Chinese woman sets out on a journey to be reunited with him.

65

5.7

/8017/

53

/523/

58

/189/

3.0

/63585/

75

/187/

51

/22/

72

/37/

4.0

age 17+

Inconsolable since the death of his wife, Karsh, a prominent businessman, invents a revolutionary and controversial technology that enables the living to monitor their dear departed in their shrouds. One night, multiple graves, including that of Karsh’s wife, are desecrated, and he sets out to track down the perpetrators.

90

8.2

/141596/

80

/2363/

80

/1615/

4.3

/162000/

96

/51/

96

/2271/

93

/17/

4.0

A nameless ronin, or samurai with no master, enters a small village in feudal Japan where two rival businessmen are struggling for control of the local gambling trade. Taking the name Sanjuro Kuwabatake, the ronin convinces both silk merchant Tazaemon and sake merchant Tokuemon to hire him as a personal bodyguard, then artfully sets in motion a full-scale gang war between the two ambitious and unscrupulous men.

92

8.6

/398128/

84

/5714/

84

/4069/

4.6

/383477/

100

/103/

97

/6724/

98

/7/

4.0

age 13+

A samurai answers a village's request for protection after he falls on hard times. The town needs protection from bandits, so the samurai gathers six others to help him teach the people how to defend themselves, and the villagers provide the soldiers with food.

83

7.7

/54415/

77

/1219/

76

/862/

4.1

/59665/

95

/43/

92

/1489/

82

/19/

Mob assassin Jeffrey is no ordinary hired gun; the best in his business, he views his chosen profession as a calling rather than simply a job. So, when beautiful nightclub chanteuse Jennie is blinded in the crossfire of his most recent hit, Jeffrey chooses to retire after one last job to pay for his unintended victim's sight-restoring operation. But when Jeffrey is double-crossed, he reluctantly joins forces with a rogue policeman to make things right.

82

7.7

/58056/

76

/1555/

75

/888/

4.2

/102273/

92

/71/

92

/3019/

A cop who loses his partner in a shoot-out with gun smugglers goes on a mission to catch them. In order to get closer to the leaders of the ring he joins forces with an undercover cop who's working as a gangster hitman. They use all means of excessive force to find them.

82

81

7.8

/20398/

76

/409/

77

/458/

4.0

/19074/

97

/37/

88

/242/

The film is about an unemployed banker, Henri Verdoux, and his sociopathic methods of attaining income. While being both loyal and competent in his work, Verdoux has been laid-off. To make money for his wife and child, he marries wealthy widows and then murders them. His crime spree eventually works against him when two particular widows break his normal routine.

83

8.0

/23705/

78

/434/

79

/572/

4.1

/23274/

88

/40/

90

/335/

84

/15/

3.5

A fading music hall comedian tries to help a despondent ballet dancer learn to walk and to again feel confident about life.

80

17

8.4

/68/

81

/10/

75

/4/

4.1

/1168/

Filmed and recorded in July 2024, Queens of the Stone Age: Alive in the Catacombs captures QOTSA as you’ve never seen or heard them before. This utterly unique once in a lifetime experience features a carefully selected setlist spanning the QOTSA catalog, each song chosen and epically reimagined for the Catacombs. The result is an unprecedented incarnation of QOTSA at their most intimate, yet surrounded by literally millions of human remains — “the biggest audience we’ve ever played for,” says Joshua Homme. Every aesthetic decision, every choice of song, every configuration of instruments… absolutely everything was planned and played with deference to the Catacombs—from the acoustics and ambient sounds — dripping water, echoes and natural resonance — to the darkly atmospheric lighting tones that enhance the music.

82

7.5

/17073/

75

/487/

74

/370/

4.3

/83886/

95

/64/

77

/145/

94

/16/

A lonely widowed housewife does her daily chores and takes care of her apartment where she lives with her teenage son, and turns the occasional trick to make ends meet. Slowly, her ritualized daily routines begin to fall apart.

79

6.9

/6619/

67

/232/

70

/293/

3.6

/32148/

93

/72/

93

/25/

85

/16/

3.5

In the last days of the Second World War, a deserting soldier disrupts a tranquil and isolated mountain community. For one family, his arrival brings excitement and romance, but tragedy lies in wait.

72

63

6.7

/4228/

62

/198/

64

/142/

3.6

/37437/

94

/111/

65

/16/

83

/25/

Jérémie returns to his hometown for the funeral of his former boss, the village baker. He decides to stay for a few days with Martine, the man's widow. A mysterious disappearance, a threatening neighbor and a priest with strange intentions make Jérémie's short stay in the village take an unexpected turn.

?

7.2

/16/

100

/1/

100

/1/

A portrait of the actress Isabella Rossellini as an artist, farmer, author, and inspiration. Shot over a single season, A Season with Isabella Rossellini unveils Rossellini's unique charm, following her on the set of Alice Rohrwacher's La Chimera in Italy; rehearsing her monologue for Darwin's Smile in France and Spain; sitting for a beauty commercial in Los Angeles on her 70th birthday; and back home at her 28-acre farm, Mama Farm, in New York.

89

8.4

/69715/

84

/1467/

83

/1059/

4.6

/185667/

97

/70/

95

/556/

90

/17/

A Yokohama shoe executive faces a wrenching choice when kidnappers mistakenly seize his chauffeur’s son but demand the ransom anyway.

79

71

7.5

/5510/

70

/113/

78

/207/

3.9

/9721/

93

/14/

81

/71/

A deeply disturbed and epileptic young man benignly decides to murder other members of his dysfunctional family for altruistic reasons.

78

?

8.0

/186/

3.8

/603/

Two rock bands, The Dandy Warhols and The Brian Jonestown Massacre, navigate fame, friendship, and fierce rivalry in a raw journey through the music industry. The 20th anniversary cut adds fresh footage and new perspectives.

71

6.8

/2444/

60

/68/

60

/41/

3.9

/20668/

92

/24/

77

/3/

62

/12/

3.0

A lesbian college graduate, trying to bankroll her own photography business, works as a high-priced New York City escort.

79

7.1

/13248/

70

/454/

68

/206/

3.9

/97599/

100

/158/

71

/62/

93

/35/

3.5

In Mumbai, Nurse Prabha's routine is troubled when she receives an unexpected gift from her estranged husband. Her younger roommate, Anu, tries in vain to find a spot in the city to be intimate with her boyfriend. A trip to a beach town allows them to find a space for their desires to manifest.

72

?

7.0

/101/

58

/11/

60

/2/

3.5

/342/

100

/13/

3.0

In unearthing a revolutionary synthesizer her late father invented in the 1970s, Alison Tavel not only revives his mission to share it with the world, she unexpectedly forges a deep bond with the father she never got the chance to know.

73

53

6.8

/1074/

61

/35/

70

/26/

3.7

/12136/

91

/22/

78

/11/

This free-form film is a self-portrait, which revisits more than 40 years of the author’s filmography and questions the major stations of his life, while capturing the political tremors of the time.

85

7.7

/7575/

73

/156/

73

/192/

4.2

/20631/

94

/35/

91

/96/

89

/18/

4.0

Aimless young Alexandre juggles his relationships with his girlfriend, Marie, and a casual lover named Veronika. Marie becomes increasingly jealous of Alexandre's fling with Veronika and as the trio continues their unsustainable affair, the emotional stakes get higher, leading to conflict and unhappiness.

66

55

6.6

/4171/

62

/189/

63

/102/

3.4

/20080/

85

/41/

52

/4/

70

/13/

Dedicated police detective Ma Zhe is tasked with solving a series of brutal murders in a rural Chinese town. As pressure mounts from his superiors, a hasty arrest is made, but while his colleagues celebrate, several clues push Ma Zhe deeper into a desperate investigation of his own.

71

7.0

/3542/

69

/52/

68

/92/

3.6

/3981/

79

/14/

70

/25/

83

/15/

2.5

Federico Fellini welcomes us into his world of film making with a mockumentary about his life in film, as a Japanese film crew follows him around.

74

6.8

/1401/

66

/51/

59

/25/

3.6

/7426/

95

/38/

71

/6/

3.5

Stefan, a migrant construction worker living in Brussels, is planning a trip home to his mother in Romania. In preparing for his voyage, he reconnects with local family members over gifted bowls of homemade soup, interacts with strangers, and discovers a revivifying commune with nature. This leads him to an unexpected connection with Shuxiu, a Chinese-Belgian bryologist studying the local moss.

60

50

6.2

/3497/

65

/76/

63

/61/

3.5

/6798/

44

/9/

57

/106/

While The Rolling Stones rehearse "Sympathy for the Devil" in the studio, an alternating narrative reflects on 1968 society, politics and culture through five different vignettes.

82

7.4

/9326/

74

/221/

70

/179/

3.9

/13207/

96

/23/

90

/164/

79

/18/

4.0

Based on the autobiographical work of New Zealand writer Janet Frame, this production depicts the author at various stage of her life. Afflicted with mental and emotional issues, Frame grows up in an impoverished family and experiences numerous tragedies while still in her youth, including the deaths of two of her siblings. Portrayed as an adult by Kerry Fox, Frame finds acclaim for her writing while still in a mental institution, and her success helps her move on with her life.

65

15

7.0

/226/

51

/10/

68

/9/

3.7

/796/

Documentary about African political leader Patrice Lumumba, who was Prime Minister of Zaire (now Congo) when he was assassinated in 1961.

78

7.0

/12774/

68

/582/

67

/273/

3.8

/107134/

91

/165/

83

/8/

83

/40/

3.5

Takumi and his daughter Hana live in Mizubiki Village, close to Tokyo. One day, the village inhabitants become aware of a plan to build a camping site near Takumi's house offering city residents a comfortable "escape" to nature.

73

62

7.4

/3964/

72

/107/

71

/112/

3.9

/13440/

72

/653/

Paris, summer 1960. Anthropologist and filmmaker Jean Rouch and sociologist and film critic Edgar Morin wander through the crowded streets asking passersby how they cope with life's misfortunes.

76

68

7.1

/5131/

69

/83/

69

/115/

3.6

/7772/

100

/16/

79

/59/

A love story that follows the maneuverings of a society lady as she connives to initiate a scandalous affair between her aristocratic ex-lover and a prostitute.

59

5.8

/1634/

52

/69/

58

/27/

3.1

/9151/

59

/79/

68

/27/

55

/15/

2.5

age 15+

Can scandalous art still serve God? Does suffering precede all greatness? Can illness be a blessing? In 1950, writer Flannery O'Connor visits her mother Regina in Georgia when she is diagnosed with lupus at twenty-four years old. Struggling with the same disease that took her father’s life when she was a child and desperate to make her mark as a great writer, this crisis pitches her imagination into a feverish exploration of belief.

71

6.5

/11649/

61

/499/

62

/233/

3.7

/94956/

86

/144/

57

/55/

80

/35/

3.5

age 14+

In the near future where emotions have become a threat, Gabrielle finally decides to purify her DNA in a machine that will immerse her in her past lives and rid her of any strong feelings. She then meets Louis and feels a powerful connection, as if she had known him forever.

62

13

6.2

/153/

67

/7/

56

/7/

3.2

/995/

In 1982, Wim Wenders asked 16 of his fellow directors to speak on the future of cinema, resulting in the film Room 666. Now, 40 years later, in Cannes, director Lubna Playoust asks Wim Wenders himself and a new generation of filmmakers (James Gray, Rebecca Zlotowski, Claire Denis, Olivier Assayas, Nadav Lapid, Asghar Farhadi, Alice Rohrwacher and more) the same question: “is cinema a language about to get lost, an art about to die?”

84

7.8

/37315/

75

/670/

77

/680/

4.0

/133025/

91

/35/

91

/436/

4.0

Twelve episodic tales in the life of a Parisian woman and her slow descent into prostitution.

86

8.0

/1044/

86

/51/

79

/18/

4.2

/6932/

100

/34/

82

/3/

91

/11/