Maybe it was the old movies I put up during the JazzWax Film Festival between the holidays. Or perhaps I was just tired of watching the countless lousy films and series on the ever-expanding number of streaming platforms. Whatever the reason, I made my first resolution in the final days of last year to vastly improve my movie-watching diet going forward. So I paid for a year of the Criterion Channel and have been overjoyed ever since. The best $89 I've spent so far this year. [Photo above of Jeanne Moreau and Claude Mann in Bay of Angels]
Criterion is an American film distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing important classic and contemporary films. Criterion serves film and media scholars, cinephiles and public and academic libraries. It also makes classic films available online at a high resolution to the general public through its platform at CriterionChannel.com.
For me, not being able to travel to Europe has been a major blow. I've sorely missed the civilizing and cheery qualities and cuisines that breaks in London, Paris, Milan, Rome or Barcelona have provided. I also miss terribly the ability to explore places I haven't been, such as Stockholm, Dublin, Oslo and Madrid. Who knows when the pandemic will end and safe travel will resume. For now, I've found that the best way to feed my foreign appetite is through classic films made there. [Photo above, a still from The Bakery Girl of Monceau]
I'm now on a French new wave and Italian neorealism film binge. Each is intellectually rewarding than hours of the usual mindless rom-coms and revenge flicks. There are occasional clunkers and outdated films, but even these have merit. Criterion films from abroad in the late 1950s, 1960s and 1970s make me think and feel. They're sexy, youthful, sensual, poignant and emotionally striking.
If your hesitancy to bother signing up is being unfamiliar with foreign films or an unwillingness to read subtitles or that you're unsure which ones to watch, today I'm sharing my list with you of the films I've watched at the Criterion Channel and have enjoyed over the past few weeks. [Photo above of Monica Vitti in L'eclisse]
Here's what I viewed thus far and highly recommend...
The six morality tales by director Éric Rohmer. These are, in order:
- The Bakery Girl of Monceau (1963)
- Suzanne’s Career (1963)
- La collectionneuse (1967)
- My Night at Maud’s (1969)
- Claire’s Knee (1970)
- Love in the Afternoon (1972)
And these gems...
- L’eclisse, directed by Michelangelo Antonioni (1962)
- Bay of Angels, directed by Jacques Demy (1963)
- Le Beau Serge, directed by Claude Chabrol (1959)
- Le bonheur, directed by Agnes Varda (1964)
- The Lovers, directed by Louis Malle (1958)
- The Fire Within, directed by Louis Malle (1963)
The list will grow, so from time to time I will share my updated list of favorites with you. Jazz is about beauty and feeling. So are great films.
JazzWax clips: Here's the famed opening credits to Bay of Angels, starring Jeanne Moreau, with music by Michel Legrand (this clip isn't from Criterion)...
And here's the trailer...
Here's the trailer to My Night at Maud's (again, not from Criterion)..
