The Criterion Channel continues to produce exceptional programming in September, including films homage to the British New Wave, art film distributor Cinema 5, and more. Here are seven of the best choices.
The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976)
Available: September 1 | Directed by: Nicolas Roeg
David Bowie, Rip Torn, Candy Clark, and Buck Henry are among the actors on the billboard.
David Bowie was born in 1976, and he was well-known for his genre-pushing rock star appearance, but he had yet to give up drug-fueled persona-hopping in general. He becomes a well-known musician and constructs a spaceship. The film on the other hand is a surreal, satirical account of life on Earth in the 1970s, and of the dominant Western culture.
Kes (1969)
Available: September 1 | Directed by: Ken Loach
David Bradley, Freddie Fletcher, and Lynne Perrie are the cast.
Kes is a very specific British narrative that was used to discuss issues that might be universal in 2022, or perhaps even in 1969, the year the film was released. These tendencies were encouraged out of them if they were creative, sensitive, or innovative, thus the better to keep them in low-paying jobs.
He is bullied at home and in school, and he acquires a kestrel, a commoners falcon. He becomes its falconer, and the bird his friend. It's a film that is entertaining at first, with none of its underlying themes ever made clear. It's shot beautifully, with images of the countryside juxtaposed with the dark industrial fumes that serve as specters of our inevitable future.
Death in Venice (1971)
Available: September 1 | Directed by: Luchino Visconti
Dirk Bogarde, Bjorn Andresen, Mark Burns, Romolo Valli, and Nora Ricci are all cast in the film.
Gustav, an aging German composer who spends his holidays in Venice, is drenched in nihilistic existentialism. What he does not realize until he enters his resort is Tadzio, a beautiful young guy who becomes obsessed with Tadzio. He follows Tadzio and his family around the city, never interacting with them until the film is finished.
The Most Beautiful Boy in the World is being released on the Criterion Channel on September 19, and it will also be available to watch with tense hope that Gustav never contacts this stranger and his family; this plague cannot move fast enough. All of this leads to a grim conclusion (bleak for Gustav), but the journey is engaging in its beauty and in its direction.
Pushing Hands (1991)
Available: September 1 | Directed by: Ang Lee
Sihung Lung, Lai Wang, Bo Z. Wang, and Deb Snyder are the main cast.
The Criterion Channel's September isn't a major event, but rather a collection of historical pictures that will be used in future projects. The Ice Storm and Brokeback Mountain, for example, illustrate how Ang Lee would develop into an artist capable of observing essential Americanness with unsparing, poetic ease.
Gimme Shelter (1970)
Available: September 12 | Directed by: Albert and David Maysles, Charlotte Zwerin
The Rolling Stones, Ike and Tina Turner, and Jefferson Airplane are the cast.
Gimme Shelter is a film about a Rolling Stones concert at New Yorks Madison Square Garden that was later turned into a countercultural celebration. People were killed. Young people were attacked. A Hells Angel struck a member of Jefferson Airplane.
Pumping Iron (1977)
Available: September 12 | Directed by: George Butler and Robert Fiore
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Lou Ferrigno, Franco Columbu, and Mike Katz are among the actors.
Pumping Iron was developed in 1975 and released in 1977 as a film about decorated bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzenegger. It became a trailblazer for many people who were posing on the platform today.
Sambizanga (1972)
Available: September 21 | Directed by: Sarah Maldoror
Domingos de Oliveira and Elisa Andrade are the cast members.
Sambizanga is a story about a working-class Angolan who is arrested, imprisoned, and threatened with torture unless he surrenders his co-conspirators from 1961 to 1974. The liberation movement's struggle for independence is mirrored in the narrative.
Sarah Maldoror, a French/West Indian filmmaker, set a new record with this film, which was not legally released in Portugal until years after it was released. Quite remarkable, she was one of the first women to direct a film in Africa, and it would go on to have a prolific career. It will be released in physical copies by Martin Scorsese on September 27.
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