A new month means a new round of new content onThe Criterion Channel.
Lets look at some of the best options.
The best thing he ever did might be his 1985 science-fiction whirlwindBrazil.
Image via Universal Pictures
Who could possibly relate to such a thing?
One of the best of this months collection is the original version of the crime dramaKiss of Death.
This arrangement is transactional, in exchange for his being a swell guy and not ratting them out.
Image via Universal Pictures
Noteworthyand influentialisRichard Widmarks gleeful sadist, a turn that got him nominated for an Academy Award.
Its community is of the marginalized sortBlack, female, queer.
It manages to feel a little more authentic while retaining plenty of Hollywood Gangster accents.
Image via 20th Century Studios
Some credit goes toJack Palance, whose hollow, exasperated face oozes with menace and authentic weariness.
Credit also goes to the story and production.
This is not a typical noir tale.
Its a bubonic plague pandemic thriller (hence all the panicking).
It just happens to be driven by cops and crooks.
Novel for the time, too, is the use of improvisation and a semi documentary style of shooting.
Image via 20th Century Studios
It is a quiet slow burn that doesnt really lead to the inevitable explosion its pacing suggests.
It relies heavily on the beauty of its images and not so much on its plot.
Instead, its a widescreen arthouse flick that starts out showing us a man wandering in the desert.
Image via Argos Films
Will we ever learn how, exactly, he got to this low point?
Its authored by crime novelistRaymond Chandler.
Chandlers books are hard-boiled and so his work here follows suit.
Image via Paramount Pictures
This means the dialogue is punchy and strong.
It starsAlan Laddas a man who comes home from WWII to find his wifes been unfaithful.
Soon enough, that same wife turns up dead.
Image Via Alliance Atlantis
This kicks off a classic journey of Ladds suspect-number-one husband on the run from the cops.
Hes also hunting for his wifes Real Killer.
This slot goes to his sophomore effort, a magical-realist drama with a darkly comic spirit.
She then flees the scene, on purpose.
Our hit-and-run heroine is wracked with guilt and wonders if she should turn herself in.
The movie is visually striking, presented almost entirely in blues, grays, and skin tones.
