The Criterion Connection

This week we pick back up talking about the pioneering female filmmaker and hot butch, Dorothy Arzner with her second to last film, Dance, Girl, Dance (1940). ---- Chapters (00:00:00) Intro (00:02:03) What we've been watching (00:26:40) Dance, Girl, Dance (00:58:36) Final thoughts (01:04:40) Listener Messages (01:07:03) Next week ---- Links Ian on ⁠⁠⁠Letterboxd⁠⁠⁠ McKenzie on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠...

Journey back with us, to the era before the infamous Hollywood Hayes Code where debauchery was the norm. Men drank and married couples would have sex with other people! This week we talk pioneering female filmmaker and hot butch, Dorothy Arzner's Merrily We Go to Hell (1932). We also chat briefly about what is coming to Janus Contemporaries in December 2024. ---- Chapters (00:00:00) Intro (00:02:3...

Highly lauded by historians, the cult that is Letterboxd, and critics alike. But did we like Jules Dassin's Rififi , the seminal 50s heist classic of French cinema? There's only one way to find out. Grab your foam canister, umbrella, and chisel! Join us as we dig through the floor of the upstairs apartment and into this film as well as discuss whats coming to the Criterion Collection in De...

What if there was a thief? Michael Mann answers that questions with all the style he possibly could summon in his debut feature starring the late great James Caan in what can only be described as the Citizen Kane of debuts that arent Citizen Kane. This week we chat neon noir and moog synths as we tackle Thief (1983). ---- Chapters (00:00:00) Intro (00:02:32) What we've been watching (00:26:28)...

Join us this week as we journey back into Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Project! Its Picture No. 2 from Vol. 2 of the fantastic Criterion boxset series in collaboration with ⁠The Film Foundation⁠ . This week we are going all the way back to the dawn of cinema with our first silent feature and the only film from Brazilian socialite, Mário Peixoto, Spine #877 ~ Limite (1931). Thanks to our friend S...

It's our first time diving into Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Project! Join us as we crack open Vol. 2 of the stellar Criterion boxset series in collaboration with The Film Foundation and queue up Spine #875, Apichatpong Weerasethakul's debut mashup of narrative and documentary filmmaking: Mysterious Object at Noon (2000). Thanks to our friend Conan for his email! ---- Chapters (00:00:00)...

We're back on our world cinema shit this week as we take our first trip to Nigeria with an absolutely stunning debut from twin brothers Arie & Chuko Esiri with the impressionistic Eyimofe (This is My Desire) [2020]. ---- Chapters (00:00:00) Intro (00:03:31) CC40 Box Set (00:18:22) What We've Been Watching (00:37:00) Eyimofe (This is My Desire) (01:11:43) Final thoughts (01:19:45) Liste...

We continue our double feature about isolation and discontent in an ever evolving world with Michelangelo Antonioni's Red Desert . Thank you to our friends Truman Capote for the voicemail and Keegan for their email. ---- Chapters (00:00:00) Intro (00:02:16) What We've Been Watching (00:34:14) Red Desert (00:59:15) Final thoughts (01:04:53) Listener Messages (01:11:11) Next week ---- Links...

Are you allergic to the [21st] century? This week we are chatting one of our mutual favorite filmmakers and the movie that put him on the map and in the Criterion Collection. We discuss Todd Haynes and his second feature that announces Julianne Moore to the world and also remains as prescient as it was in 1995, Safe . ---- Chapters (00:00:00) Intro (00:04:29) What We've Been Watching (00:23:25...

FILL'ER UP! The engine may have been idling but we are revving her back up as we head into part two of our queer road trip double feature with Gus Van Sant's impressionistic portrait of Gen-X ennui in 90s America that also kinda sorta doubles as an adaptation of the Henriad. We also discuss what's coming to the Criterion Channel in Aug 2024 as well as the new additions to the Criterion...

VROOM VROOM! This week we welcome back our dear friend and someone who dares say they will be seated day one for Barry Jenkins' Mufasa, Josh (he/they) of Film Explorers. Josh comes back to help us be gay and do crime with the first of a road trip double feature. We've got nothing except our love to take us to the limit as we evade the law and fly into Thelma & Louise (1991). Thank you to our frien...

There are many films that we could have paired with Bound from last week, but it only felt right to give the spot to the mother of all noir... Billy Wilder makes his return to the show with his genre defining classic, Double Indemnity (1944). ---- Chapters (00:00:00) Intro (00:02:38) What We've Been Watching (00:35:40) Double Indemnity (01:17:00) Final thoughts (01:24:48) Next week ---- Links...

"You know what the difference is between you and me?" US NEITHER! It's our biggest episode ever (literally) - a defining McKenzie movie and just one of our all time favorites. We are finally discussing one of our longest awaited additions to the Criterion Collection, The Wachowski's brilliant pulp genre exercise that kicked off their career's with a bang: BOUND (1996). Thank...

YIPEEEEEE KI YAY! We're about to get on off our horsies, but for now stay saddled up in as we wrap up our "Western starring Barbara Stanwyck" double feature with Anthony Mann's The Furies (1950). We also chat about what's coming to the Collection in September 2024 and the Criterion Channel in July 2024. ---- Chapters (00:00:00) Intro (00:23:11) Criterion Collection Announceme...

YeeeHaw! We're saddling up this week with our friend Philip Marinello (The Substance Pod) to head back into Hollywood's past once again with a pulp western starring the effervescent Babs! On this episode we're discussing our first Samuel Fuller picture: Forty Guns (1957). ---- Chapters (00:00:00) Intro (00:05:56) Philip's 4 Favs (00:19:28) Forty Guns (00:56:28) Final thoughts (01:11:46) Next week...

We return to our regular schedule with a brand new double feature: this time centered on Japanese codes of honor and why, just maybe, they are no good. This week we discuss the #1 highest rated film on Letterboxd (as of June '24) and a totemic work of the samurai genre: HARAKIRI (1962). McKenzie also continue her Billy Wilder journey. Thank you to dear friend of the show, Brandon, for his letter!...

"She just reached in and out a string of lights around my heart." WE LOVE THIS MOVIE! Welcome back to the Criterion QUEER Connection where we discuss queer films in the Criterion Collection. If only we could forever. ---- Chapters (00:00:00) Intro (00:03:31) What we've been watching (00:19:35) Criterion News (00:36:34) Desert Hearts (01:18:09) Final thoughts (01:24:58) Next week ---- Links LIsten...

This week we begin anew, once again, but with some similar themes. We are tackling a brand new queer double feature - this time starting with Dee Rees' beautiful debut feature based on her acclaimed short: Pariah (2011). ---- Chapters (00:00:00) Intro (00:02:25) What we've been watching (00:30:21) Pariah (01:04:01) Final thoughts (01:08:30) Next week ---- Links Ian on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠...

This week on the show we discuss one of McKenzie's favorite films and her number 1 that is in the collection. Is this the definitive Mulholland Dr. podcast? Does Ian give it 5-stars? Or do we just have a good time and barely scratch the surface? You can only find out on Mulholland Dr. (2001). ---- Chapters (00:00:00) Intro (00:02:33) What we've been watching (00:33:24) Mulholland Dr. (01:1...

Have you ever wanted to be someone else? If you answered yes, than you are in luck cause The Criterion Connection will take you there as we bring you the first of a surrealist queer double feature with Charlie Kaufman & Spike Jonze's Being John Malkovich (1999). ---- Chapters (00:00:00) Intro (00:02:30) What we've been watching (00:21:10) Being John Malkovich (1999) (01:14:17) Final thoughts (01:2...

This week we connect to Ang Lee's The Ice Storm with another film about childhood malaise set against the political upheaval of a nation as we dive into one of Spanish cinema's greatest auteurs, Carlos Saura, with what is regarded as his masterpiece: Cría cuervos (1976). ---- Chapters (00:00:00) Intro (00:02:42) What we've been watching (00:16:06) Criterion News: From the pages of Current (00:33:3...

We return to our normally scheduled programming with our first feature by Taiwanese chameleonic auteur, Ang Lee. This week we kick off a double feature of familial strife set amidst national political turmoil (we may be reaching on this one as they are both first time watches for both of us) with Lee's THE ICE STORM (1997). ---- Chapters (00:00:00) Intro (00:02:24) What we've been watching...

It's our ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL! On this episode we celebrate one year of THE CRITERION CONNECTION. We re-evaluate our top 10 Criterion films, discuss some favorite moments from the show (and less favorite moments), and hear from our listeners! ---- Chapters (00:00:00) Intro (00:02:52) Top 10 Lists (00:38:36) Our Favorite Moments (00:50:50) Our Not-so-favorite Moments (01:00:46) Emails &...

This week we end our most recent massive double feature. We discuss a titanic film not only of the collection but of cinema et large, Bong Joon Ho's oscar winning thriller of those who live in high places and those who live in low palces, Parasite (2019). ---- Next week will be our ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL! And, we want to hear from our audience. So please email us your letters and voicema...

**SPOILER WARNING** In this episode we spend a portion of the What We've Been Watching section discussing the new film, LOVE LIES BLEEDING, in depth. We do spoil some major things from the film. Listen at your own risk or utilize the chapters below to skip ahead. ---- This week we start a massive double feature. We discuss a film we've had on the books for a while from a totemic director o...