Happy New Year!!! Time for a new year of new members of the Criterion Collection and some classics being re-released for 4K. For the month of January, two collections from legendary filmmakers, two independent Texas-styled noir dramas, a modern masterpiece of British cinema, and a Netflix film are part of the first batch of releases. One film, an early Criterion release, finally is brought back into the fold, and one director has a whole slate of films also brought in, with her magnum opus renewed after reaching historical poll levels. First, an international sensation in the 1950s which brought the Western world into a new, independent country’s society.
The Apu Trilogy (1955-1959)
In the first re-release, the world was introduced to writer, director, and composer Satyajit Ray with this eye-opening trilogy that covers the changing times of India from poverty in the country to the city. Following a single character from childhood to adulthood, he grows up in front of our eyes with three moving journeys: Pather Panchali, Aparajito, and Apur Sansar. Apu has a young boy in Bengali, then becomes a teenager who goes to Calcutta to study, followed by transition to adulthood, all alone and now working through his daily life as a writer and finding love to complete his transformation.
Chantal Akerman Masterpieces, 1968-1978
The opening decade of one of the world’s more reinventive filmmakers features nine movies that follow characters of loneliness, wanting, and sudden movement to unfamiliar terrain. Her first film, Saute ma Ville, was made at 18 years old. La Chambre, Hotel Monterrey, and News From Home were made about her time living in New York City. Je Tu Il Elle co-starred Akerman, which explicitly explored the lesbian sexuality. These art films raised Akerman’s platform as a major filmmaker which continued until her death in 2015.
But the single film that stands out above all else is the newly crowded #1 Film from Sight & Sound is Akerman’s Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles. For more than three hours, the story keeps the camera on the titular character (Delphine Seyrig) as she goes through her daily routine of chores, which includes caring for her son and having the occasional lay for pay. This is not your usual character study as Akerman challenges the audience to follow every single moment in real time and take in the entire meaning of a singular life and what happens when the slightest of deviations causes sudden upheaval.
Blood Simple (1984)
The next re-release is the debut film by Joel & Ethan Coen, a brilliant Texan neo-noir about a private detective (M. Emmet Walsh) who follows a couple having an affair (John Getz & Frances McDormand) for the woman’s husband (Dan Hedaya). With Barry Sonnenfeld’s keen eye as cinematographer and Carter Burwell’s lurid score, Blood Simple is one of the best film debuts, not least for showcasing the Coen Brothers and their unique storytelling with black humor and ingenious editing, putting together the first of many successful films by the duo.
Lone Star (1996)
Joining the collection is John Sayles’ crime drama about a sheriff (Chris Cooper) and son of a well-known sheriff in Rio County who investigates the discovery of a skeleton. The deeper the investigation goes, the more the sheriff is led into a Texas town’s terrible past being revisited that includes his father. Joe Morton, Elizabeth Peña, and Kris Kristofferson also co-star in this riveting drama about the legacy of corruption and injustice that any place can suffer from and earned Sayles an Oscar nomination for his screenplay.
Trainspotting (1996)
An original Criterion film back in the late 1990s, the film makes its long-awaited return to Criterion. Danny Boyle’s hyperenergetic story of a heroin addict (Ewan McGregor) is one of the most colorful, entertaining, and punkiest of the 1990s. Living wildly in squalored Edinburgh one day at a time, it is about one man’s determination to get high, party with his mates, and falling for a teenage girl (Kelly McDonald) who fancies him despite her age. Ewen Bremner, Johnny Lee Miller, and Robert Carlyle co-star as the rest of the pack of misfits accompanied by an eclectic soundtrack that keeps the film continuous upbeat and going on at full speed.
Mudbound (2017)
The latest Netflix film to join is Dee Rees’ amazing film set in 1940s Mississippi about two World War II veterans who return and handle their struggles of regaining daily life. A White man (Garrett Hedlund) deals with PTSD and alcoholism, while a Black man (Jason Mitchell) returns to help his struggling family with their own attempt at the American Dream while also dealing with constant racial abuse. Carey Mulligan, Jason Clarke, Mary J. Blige (who received an Oscar nomination), Rob Morgan, and Jonathan Banks star in this stirring drama of pain and reconciliation.
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