Criterion Shelf

The Criterion Shelf: Directed by Bertrand Tavernier

The films of Bertrand Tavernier deliver rich presentations of human relationships that one feels deeply, his stark but never preachy criticisms of French society always accompanied by stunning visual landscapes that are often breathtaking.

The Criterion Shelf: The Best of Mae West

A sharp wit with an even sharper taste for business who wrote her own scripts and loved to rock a glamorous gown, she was an unapologetic voluptuary whose jokey attitude towards enjoying the carnal side of life skillfully cloaked a nuanced understanding of its painful realities.

The Criterion Shelf: Bad Vacations

As an antidote to our pandemic wanderlust, The Criterion Channel has put together a list of films meant to remind us that going somewhere isn’t always a good thing.

The Criterion Shelf: Starring Alain Delon

The face of an angel with haunted, almost devilish eyes couldn’t be more suited to capturing the hearts and imaginations of viewers, and throughout his lengthy career Delon has played a series of charismatic bad boys that have made him a very potent, very eternal sex symbol

The Criterion Shelf: German Expressionism

Criterion's collection highlighting the genre of German Expressionism is such a gift for those of us who have always read about the filmmaking style, but never actually investigated it. 

The Criterion Shelf: Marriage Stories

Criterion has put together a collection of marital tales, most of which aren’t going to inspire you to jump to propose any time soon: the ones who stay together are miserable (or, in one case, possibly a fantasy), those who part do so in a morass of bigamy, infidelity and acrimony.