In the sixth installment of the Criterion Channel’s Meet the Filmmakers series, director Alex Ross Perry (Her Smell, Listen Up Philip) visits the ever-iconoclastic auteur Paul Schrader during the making of his 2017 masterpiece First Reformed. On set and at home- where, for his own pleasure, he continues to work and rework his previous films- Schrader reflects on the highs and lows of his legendary career, the challenges and rewards of slow cinema, and the influences and experiences that continue to shape his approach to filmmaking. With this insightful portrait of one of his filmmaking heroes, Perry captures an artist who is continually at play, intentionally provocative, and never less than vital.
You May Also Like
This is a film about the power and necessity of community action in Detroit, and the street level solutions that residents there are finding to make a way in the biggest city in our nation to ever go bust.
Discover the real Harriet Tubman in this compelling documentary narrated by Alfrelynn Roberts and featuring expert interviews with leading scholars, Dr. Eric Lewis Williams of the Smithsonian Institute and Carl Westmoreland of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. It also features remarkable early 20th century audio recordings of African-American spirituals sung by former slaves.
Martin Scorsese’s documentary intertwines footage from “The Band’s” incredible farewell tour with probing backstage interviews and featured performances by Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, and other rock legends.
Anita, Rita, Ricardo and Andrés have been attending a school for children with Down syndrome for 40 years. After all this time, they are starting to tire of this safe, familiar environment. Now over 45 years old, some of them feel that working in the school bakery is no longer a challenge. They also yearn for freedom on a more personal level. Anita and Andrés are in love but still live with their families. They dream of finding a quiet place to be alone together, and they want to get married and raise a family. Sadly, the society they live in is not equipped to cater to their desire for more independence. In spite of the training they receive on becoming “responsible adults,” all four of them remain dependent on others to make decisions for them, much to their frustration.
The story of a friendship spanning generations and boundaries: a Hungarian soldier escapes to the West in the ’50s. The son of a U.S. soldier runs to the East in the ’90s. Their paths cross in Bogotá, Colombia, and they become friends by sharing memories of the same land but of very different times.
Beatriz married Henrique on the day of her 21st birthday. Henrique, a naval officer, would spend long periods at sea. Ashore, Beatriz, who learned everything from the verticality of plants, took great care of the roots of their six children. The oldest son, Jacinto (Hyacinth), my father, dreamed he could be a bird. One day, suddenly, Beatriz died. My mom didn’t die suddenly, but she too died when I was 17 years-old. On that day, me and my father met in the loss of our mothers and our relationship was no longer just that of father and daughter.
Cameramen and women discuss the craft and art of cinematography and of the “DP” (the director of photography), illustrating their points with clips from 100 films, from Birth of a Nation to Do the Right Thing. Themes: the DP tells people where to look; changes in movies (the arrival of sound, color, and wide screens) required creative responses from DPs; and, these artisans constantly invent new equipment and try new things, with wonderful results. The narration takes us through the identifiable studio styles of the 30s, the emergence of noir, the New York look, and the impact of Europeans. Citizen Kane, The Conformist, and Gordon Willis get special attention.
When 17-year-old Lennon Lacy is found hanging from a swing set in rural North Carolina in 2014, his mother’s search for justice and reconciliation begins while the trauma of more than a century of lynching African Americans bleeds into the present.
The story of a middle-aged woman with small children whose life is shaken up when two free-spirited twenty-somethings move in across the street.
A year prior to the first scene, Stan married Ollie’s sister, and Ollie married Stan’s sister in a double wedding. They all live together and Stan and Ollie work in the same office.
In their debut documentary Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor take as their point of departure the compelling 18th Century figure, Ambrose O’Higgins, and attempt to retrace his remarkable journey from Ireland to Chile.
A human story about a socially responsible company, “Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soapbox” documents the complicated family legacy behind the counterculture’s favorite cleaning product — Bronner’s son, 68-year-old Ralph, endured over 15 orphanages and foster homes as a child, but despite difficult memories, is his father’s most ardent fan.