The Criterion Current

Marketa Lazarová Today

2013-06-19T15:19:27-04:00

In a new supplement recorded in 2013 for the Criterion Collection, we catch up with Magda Vášáryová, who was a teenager when she played the title character in František Vlácil’s Czechoslovak New Wave landmark Marketa Lazarová. In this clip from that interview, the former actor (and current Slovakian political figure) talks about how she physically and emotionally prepared for her role as a young woman in the thirteenth century, and what it was like to work with Vlácil, who demanded a naturalistic performance—and a natural look.

Cinema of the Wolf: The Mystery of Marketa Lazarová

2013-06-19T12:09:44-04:00

Disorienting, brutal, and bloody beautiful, František Vláčil’s epic is a dark medieval vision teeming with cinematic invention.

Flashback: Ingmar Bergman

2013-06-12T16:13:00-04:00

The author recounts the story of his friendship with the great filmmaker.

Safety Last!: High-Flying Harold

2013-06-17T13:30:16-04:00

The silent legend practices slapstick with clockwork precision in his most iconic, astonishing comedy.

A Series of Flashbacks

2013-06-17T13:38:46-04:00

The author introduces a new Current series that will feature his reminiscences about his encounters in international cinema circles over the past six-plus decades.

Marvelous Images from Marketa Lazarová

2013-06-14T17:15:40-04:00

Did You See This?

2013-06-14T14:41:23-04:00

• Die poster-geist

• Notes on camp

• Lost writing from James Agee comes to light.

What’s Happening on Hulu

2013-06-14T11:47:26-04:00

Are you keeping up with our 101 Days of Summer series on Hulu? You won’t want to miss the selection of favorites and rarities we have on offer there, updated daily, from now through Labor Day. And Hulu Plus nonsubscribers take special note: each film is available for free (with ads) for forty-eight hours.

Today, we’re spotlighting a newly uploaded title that you won’t find anywhere else. It’s A Street of Love and Hope, the feature debut of the brilliant Japanese filmmaker, theorist, and critic Nagisa Oshima. A searing and lyrical tale of class disparity in late-1950s Japan, the film focuses on the growing but ultimately unsustainable friendship between two teenagers, one poor and one wealthy. Watch it below or at Hulu. And remember that if you sign up for Hulu Plus for just $7.99 a month, you can see this and the more than eight hundred other Criterion films streaming there commercial-free anytime.

Repertory Pick: Marriage Punjabi Style

2013-06-13T13:24:11-04:00

The internationally acclaimed director Mira Nair made her most personal film with the energetic, gloriously colorful drama Monsoon Wedding. This spectacle, concerning an upper-middle-class Indian couple’s preparations for the arranged marriage of their only daughter, is especially luminous on the big screen, as attendees of Austin’s annual, always impressive Paramount Summer Classic Film Series can discover on Sunday in the city’s Paramount movie palace. Watch the original American-release trailer below to get in the festive mood.

Behind the Scenes of Wild Strawberries

2013-06-12T13:41:44-04:00

Among the special features new to our Blu-ray edition of Ingmar Bergman’s Wild Strawberries is a remarkable sixteen minutes of silent 16 mm footage filmed by Bergman himself on set. The images provide insight into how certain scenes were shot, as well as access to casual moments between takes. The following short excerpt from this supplement is particularly remarkable for being in color (much of the footage is in black and white, like the film itself), which lends an entirely new perspective on some classic images. It features voice-over by Jan Wengström, curator of archival film collections at the Swedish Film Institute.