Criterion Month Day 15: Donkey Skin

Donkey Skin (1970)

A lot of fairy tales are pretty weird, even despite the fact that they’re an inseparable part of most people’s childhoods. Filled with eating children and killing grannies and creepy little weirdos with unpronounceable names, there are a lot of strange things in these stories that get passed down to generations. And yet, we as children take them at face value because as far as storytelling, they’re all we know at that age. So what does it look when a director tries to make a film that evokes that childhood purity that one gets being read a fairy tale before going to bed? Well, that’s what Jacques Demy aimed to create with Donkey Skin. However, because it’s a fairy tale that has never been all that popular in English-speaking countries, it’s hard not to be struck by its charming weirdness.

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Criterion Month Day 14: Stolen Kisses

Stolen Kisses (1968)

While they seem like an invention of the 2010s, all these Criterion Months have taught me that the idea of shared cinematic universes actually goes way back. So it comes as no surprise to report that legacy sequels – a related and seemingly modern phenomenon – were actually invented by François Truffaut in the 1960s (eat your heart out, Richard Linklater). In between making some of the best movies ever made, Truffaut spent his career returning to his first film and its leading man, Jean-Pierre Léaud as Antoine Doinel, giving audiences a chance to check in on the troubled boy as he grew up.

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Criterion Month Day 13: Branded to Kill

Branded To Kill (1967)

I had become more interested in Japanese noir two Criterion Months ago after watching Pale Flower and realizing there must be more there, especially when stumbling onto the reputation that Seijun Suzuki’s Branded To Kill had within the genre. Also, taking into account that I’d seen and liked Suzuki’s earlier Tokyo Drifter, I figured this film would be a fun time. While I’m not sure I understood large portions of what this movie was going for, I can still see some of the allure of this film that seems to have influenced a fair share of filmmakers. But overall, I just found its plot and intentions a little too indecipherable, which was famously what got Suzuki fired from the Nikkatsu film studio, as they declared that he made “movies that make no sense and no money”. Continue reading →

Criterion Month Day 12: PlayTime

PlayTime (1967)

I equate the experience of watching a movie with being told a story so naturally that I often forget that that isn’t essentially what a film has to do. Jacques Tati’s PlayTime is a monumental reminder that cinema can be a game each member of the audience plays by themself. That’s a challenging initial experience, but one I immediately wish to revisit.

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Criterion Month Day 11: Blow-Up

Blow-Up (1966)

You want to know how long we’ve been doing Criterion Month? Since we started Criterion Month, there have been TWO, honest to God, two, Wonder Woman movies. And yet, after nine years of Criterion Month, it took me this long to watch Blow-Up, a fact made fun because it’s been a backup pick for me almost every year since then.

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Retrospecticus: The Rolling Stones

I believe it was Sir Michael Phillip Jagger who once said, “When I turn 33, I’ll retire. That’s the time when a man has to dedicate himself to other things. I don’t want to be a rock star all my life.” Well, Jagger turned 33 fifty years ago, and the Rolling Stones released their 25th UK studio album (depending on how you count it) last Friday.

Formed 64 years ago, the band who debuted as “The Rollin’ Stones” at the Marquee Club for a crowd of just over a hundred has gone on to sell over 250 million records, win four Grammy Awards (plus a Lifetime Achievement Award), and, in 2006, play to an estimated 1.5 million people at Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro.

Even today, the Stones roll on.

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Criterion Month Day 10: Juliet of the Spirits

Juliet of the Spirits (1965)

In terms of discovering classic foreign films as a budding teenage cinephile, Fellini was certainly one of my gateway directors. That said, I gobbled up a bunch of his movies in high school and early college and probably have not watched one of his films since we were still renting DVDs in the mail from Netflix. So since Criterion Month always presents plenty of opportunities for a dip into Fellini-land, I’ve always been curious to see how I feel about the director now, since he’s certainly not namechecked by filmmakers nearly as much as he was 20 or 30 years ago. However, in watching 1965’s Juliet of the Spirits, it’s easy to see how Fellini’s influence on cinema is still quite present, while a latter film like this still has the ability to challenge and disorient.

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