When June disappears and July appears, you’ll probably still be shivering with cold. So, before this month goes away, here are eight worthwhile films that will disappear from the Criterion Channel come July.
Full recommendations
A Dogtooth (2009)
This very dark satire of over-protective parents – and arguably totalitarianism – examines an upper-middle class nuclear family so insular it borders on incest. The parents homeschool and brazenly lie to their three teenagers, none of whom have ever stepped out of the home. But with puberty bubbling up, things may have to change. Dogtooth contains horrifying outbursts of violence, explicit sex (none of it the least bit erotic), and a lot of deadpan humor. Read my full article.
A In a Lonely Place (1950)
Nicholas Ray critiqued masculinity in many of his films, but rarely as strongly as he does here. Early on, the movie feels like an exposé of Hollywood. Then it becomes a murder mystery. It ends up studying the worst of masculinity. Humphrey Bogart, in one of his best performances, plays a screenwriter who hasn’t had a hit in a decade. He’s a man whose violent temper makes any good relationship impossible. Charming and friendly, he will inevitably lash out physically at those he loves. Gloria Grahame plays the woman with the bad luck to fall in love with him. An amazing character study disguised as film noir.
A The Hitch-Hiker (1953)
Ida Lupino’s three-person tale grabs you by the gut. Two men on a fishing vacation pick up a hitchhiker, who turns out to be a psychotic killer wanted by the police. Holding them at gunpoint, he forces his prisoners to drive to Baja California, where he hopes to cover his tracks and be safe forever. The victims know quite well that their captor only intends to keep them alive until he no longer needs them. William Talman doesn’t bring nuance to the killer, but he brings a menace that could curdle water. Read my Blu-ray review.
A The Elephant Man (1980)
David Lynch makes full use of his first Hollywood-sized budget. Shot in beautiful black and white scope, the sounds and images take you into Victorian London with all its grime and odors. It’s based on the true story of John Merrick – a highly intelligent young man stuck in a horribly deformed body (an unrecognizable John Hurt). Forced into the life of a circus freak, he is saved by a deeply humane doctor (Anthony Hopkins), who brings him to the toast of British society. But is that just another way to exploit Merrick?
A- Reds, 1981
At the beginning of the Reagan era, Warren Beatty made an expensive, tragically romantic, three-hour-plus epic about early American Communists. With a story moving from America to Russia, Reds tracks the turbulent relationship between journalists John Reed (Beatty, who also directed and co-wrote) and Louise Bryant (Diane Keaton), while catching both the idealistic promises and the failed realities of Bolshevism. With Jack Nicholson as Eugene O’Neill and Maureen Stapleton as Emma Goldman.
B+ Scarlet Street (1945)
If you’re a lonely, bored, professionally unfulfilled artist stuck in a bad marriage, beware of beautiful women who take interest in you. It’s even more dangerous if you look like Edward G. Robinson. You’ll likely fall for a dame and before you know it, you’ll be stealing from your boss and letting the dame take credit for your suddenly successful paintings. It won’t end well. A fine noir written by Dudley Nichols and directed by Fritz Lang.
B+ The Wicker Man (original, 1973 version; not the 2006 version starring Nicolas Cage).
Here’s a tough film to write about without spoiling everything. It’s difficult to tell who you should be rooting for – the Christians or the Pagans. A policeman (Edward Woodward) flies from mainland Scotland to a small island to investigate a missing child. Strangely, no one seems upset about the disappearance. The policeman is a Christian fanatic, and the people on the island are…well, you’ll have to watch the movie. Christopher Lee plays the local Lord, and Britt Ekland is there to look good without clothes.
B+ Mulholland Dr. (2001)
The plot is both extremely conventional and almost non-existent, and I’m not even going to try to explain it. And yet almost every individual scene seems to feel like a masterpiece. As you would expect from writer/director David Lynch, it’s heavy on atmosphere, complexity, and erotica. You can almost reach out and touch the weirdness. Naomi Watts is just amazing. Even Ann Miller of the old MGM musicals plays a part.
You can see all of the films that will go away at the end of June.
Bayflicks 