The Criterion Collection's site has been revamped to bring art-house to your house.
One of the most respected purveyors of timeless films, Criterion now allows cinephiles and casual filmgoers alike to access their extensive archive of essays, watch films for free in their monthly, online film festival, and rent selected titles (chosen by Criterion) from their collection for $5 (which will go toward the purchase of a DVD of the same title).
Cinephiles now also have another watering hole/hub on the web at theauteurs.com, at which to discuss the epilogue to Fassbinder's Berlin Alexanderplatz, who's better: Truffaut or Godard?, Werner Herzog's protagonist-heroes, Stanley Kubrick's oeuvre, and many such topics in a spirit that I imagine is akin to the way film buffs in the '60's and '70's used to converse/spar with each other (minus the insults and fisticuffs and drugs...).
This month's film festival includes: Victor Erice's The Spirit of the Beehive, Catherine Breillat's (The Last Mistress) Fat Girl, Louis Malle's (Murmurs of the Heart, My Dinner With Andre, Elevator to the Gallows) Au Revoir Les Enfants, Peter Brook's Lord of the Flies, Lynne Ramsey's (Morvern Callar) Ratcatcher, and Jane Campion's (The Piano) Sweetie.
If you haven't seen it yet, don't miss Au Revoir Les Enfants. I think Louis Malle is egregiously underrated (perhaps because he doesn't seem to conform to the auteur theory) in America. Each of his films are remarkably consistent in quality, but look as though they were made by different people.
Lynne Ramsey's Ratcatcher is another spectacular film.
I would say, "happy viewing", but these aren't particularly happy films. This film series is titled "cruel stories of youth."
Speaking of cruel stories of youth, I finally got around to watching Slumdog Millionaire today. It's a very enjoyable movie with superb acting, soundtrack and cinematography. It's one of the best looking movies (among this year's releases) that I've seen. At times, it brought to mind Christopher Doyle's work with Wong Kar-Wai.
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