In Tarkovsky’s last Soviet film, the director seems to be admitting that what he’s feared most has come to pass.
But now the future’s a part of the present.” So says the Writer (Anatoli Solonitsyn) in Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker, somewhere deep in the Zone, contemplating the deeper trenches of his subconscious, of his fears and life and whatever “filth” exists within him. All its changes loomed somewhere beyond the horizon. “Once, the future was only a continuation of the present.
It’s a measure of Johnson’s overall humility that she is willing to be as brutally honest about herself with the viewers in this way-and it’s that humility that ultimately makes Cameraperson such an inspiring experience. Johnson breathes an animating intelligence into Cameraperson’s construction, employing a method that suggests a mind processing one’s life experiences, contemplating the sum total of her work, veering off into tangents whenever she happens upon a piece of footage that triggers broader reflections. Which is not to say that the film is just a compilation of clips strung together willy-nilly. The footage speaks for itself, and for her. The film is pieced together from outtakes from the long-time documentary filmmaker/cinematographer’s extensive body of work, but beyond occasionally hearing her voice behind the camera (and one shot towards the end in which we finally see her face as she points the camera toward herself), Johnson forgoes the safety net of voiceover narration to tie all this footage together. And yet, the anonymity of that title points to perhaps the most remarkable aspect about this film: its maker’s sheer selflessness, her devotion to her craft and her subjects, her seemingly complete lack of ego. Kirsten Johnson’s title for her latest documentary feature could not be any more nondescript. It’s a brazen statement for a film to make, but Fellini does so with such grace and vision, with such seamless intent, 8 1/2 becomes a bittersweet masterpiece: Clear, aching and steeped in nostalgia, it celebrates the kind of glorious life only cinema can offer. Guido’s obsession is so inward-looking he can’t help but destroy every single close relationship in his life, and yet, in hanging the film’s narrative on the struggle of one filmmaker to make his latest film-the title refers to the fact that this was Fellini’s eighth-and-a-half feature-the iconic Italian director seems to claim that artistic genius practically demands such solipsism. Perhaps Fellini’s most impressive blending of dreams and fantasies, of moral truth and oneiric fallacy, of space and time, 8 1/2 tells its story in Möbius strips, wrapping realities into realities in order to leave audiences helplessly buried within its main character’s self-absorption. With Fellini we wander through a shadow of his psyche, wondering where his memories begin and where Guido’s (Marcello Mastroiani) psychoses end. Stars: Marcello Mastroianni, Claudia Cardinale, Anouk Aimee Here are the 100 best movies on Criterion Channel right now: We’ll keep this list updated with the latest and greatest classics and curios. While the films available shift from month to month (the hazard of any streamer), Criterion’s always offering new collections to help those of us that need a little push into watching something. The $10.99/month fee also includes guest curators (who contribute interviews alongside their picks), short films and built-in binge-ready collections, but there’s no getting around the main draw: A massive, essential collection of high-quality international cinema. Turning to Steve McQueen, Kelly Reichardt, Paolo Sorrentino, Wong Kar-wai-heck, even Jackie Chan-there are movies in every era and every genre for those looking for a quality time.
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Obviously the work of these filmmakers isn’t boxed into the quiet, black-and-white highbrow movie cliché that keeps some movie lovers at arm’s length from anything with subtitles, but the Channel’s modern filmmakers only disrupt this exclusionary, gatekeeping notion further.
Yasujiro Ozu, Agnés Varda, Chantal Akerman, Akira Kurosawa, Satyajit Ray, Federico Fellini, Charlie Chaplin-basically, if they turn up in a History of Film textbook, it’s more than likely you’ll find a way into their work here. Showcasing some of the biggest names in film history, pulling from masters that dominate our superlative lists of both country and decade-specific cinema, the streamer is a gold mine.
HBO Max and Amazon have massive libraries that include some cinephile delights, but you could throw a digital dart into Criterion’s catalog and hit something that’ll blow your mind-and a few supplemental special features to educate its remains. The streaming side of the Criterion Collection that rose after the death of FilmStruck, The Criterion Channel is the undisputed arthouse king. If ever there was a streaming service that was delightfully difficult to pull highlights from, it’s The Criterion Channel.
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