Criterion Cast: The Eclipse Viewer

This podcast focuses on the Eclipse Series, box set editions of lost, forgotten, or overshadowed films recently revived by the Criterion Collection. Hosts David Blakeslee and Trevor Berrett give an overview of each set and offer their perspectives on the unique treasures they find inside. In this episode, David and Trevor discuss five films included in the recent Blu-ray release of Eclipse Series 49: Five Radical Documentaries by Kazuo Hara and Sachiko Kobayashi. 

Shocking, confrontational, and made with white-hot fury, these radical documentaries—directed by Kazuo Hara and produced by his wife and longtime creative partner, Sachiko Kobayashi—give voice to the outsiders and iconoclasts who wage war against the conformism of modern Japanese society. From a woman willing to risk everything on her journey toward personal and sexual liberation (Extreme Private Eros: Love Song 1974) to a man whose quest to expose Japanese wartime atrocities borders on madness (The Emperor’s Naked Army Marches On), the unforgettable subjects of these films are invited to be collaborators in Hara and Kobayashi’s process, resulting in works of unmatched power and immediacy.

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This podcast focuses on the Eclipse Series, box set editions of lost, forgotten, or overshadowed films recently revived by the Criterion Collection. Hosts David Blakeslee and Trevor Berrett give an overview of each set and offer their perspectives on the unique treasures they find inside. In this episode, David and Trevor discuss three films included in the recent Blu-ray reissue of Eclipse Series 6: Carlos Saura’s Flamenco Trilogy. This is their second conversation about the set, following up on their previous coverage of the films in 2016 when they were available in DVD format, though the box was out of print at that time.

One of Spanish cinema’s great auteurs, Carlos Saura brought international audiences closer to the art of his country’s dance than any other filmmaker, before or since. In his Flamenco Trilogy—Blood Wedding, Carmen, and El amor brujo—Saura merged his passion for music with his exploration of national identity. All starring and choreographed by legendary dancer Antonio Gades, the films feature thrilling physicality and electrifying cinematography and editing—colorful paeans to bodies in motion as well as to cinema itself.

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This podcast focuses on the Eclipse Series, box set editions of lost, forgotten, or overshadowed films recently revived by the Criterion Collection. Hosts David Blakeslee and Trevor Berrett give an overview of each set and offer their perspectives on the unique treasures they find inside. In this first of three episodes covering the recently issued Blu-ray edition of Eclipse Series 48: Kinuyo Tanaka Directs, David and Trevor discuss two films: Girls of the Night (1961) and Love Under the Crucifix (1962), her final directorial effort.

Kinuyo Tanaka was already one of Japan’s greatest actors—celebrated for her collaborations with auteurs such as Kenji Mizoguchi, Yasujiro Ozu, and Mikio Naruse—when she took a brave leap by embarking on a directing career in a studio system that actively discouraged female filmmakers. The six features she made over the course of a decade center on women characters who refuse to conform to restrictive roles as they seek independence. With compassion and insight, Tanaka critiques the social conditions and forces that shape her heroines’ struggles: sex work and social shaming, the expectation of passively entering arranged marriages, taboos surrounding illness and the female body, imperialism, and religious persecution and forbidden love.

Subscribe to the podcast via RSS or in iTunes.

This podcast focuses on the Eclipse Series, box set editions of lost, forgotten, or overshadowed films recently revived by the Criterion Collection. Hosts David Blakeslee and Trevor Berrett give an overview of each set and offer their perspectives on the unique treasures they find inside. In this first of three episodes covering the recently issued Blu-ray edition of Eclipse Series 48: Kinuyo Tanaka Directs, David and Trevor discuss two films: Forever a Woman (1955) and The Wandering Princess (1960).

Kinuyo Tanaka was already one of Japan’s greatest actors—celebrated for her collaborations with auteurs such as Kenji Mizoguchi, Yasujiro Ozu, and Mikio Naruse—when she took a brave leap by embarking on a directing career in a studio system that actively discouraged female filmmakers. The six features she made over the course of a decade center on women characters who refuse to conform to restrictive roles as they seek independence. With compassion and insight, Tanaka critiques the social conditions and forces that shape her heroines’ struggles: sex work and social shaming, the expectation of passively entering arranged marriages, taboos surrounding illness and the female body, imperialism, and religious persecution and forbidden love.

Subscribe to the podcast via RSS or in iTunes.

This podcast focuses on the Eclipse Series, box set editions of lost, forgotten, or overshadowed films recently revived by the Criterion Collection. Hosts David Blakeslee and Trevor Berrett give an overview of each set and offer their perspectives on the unique treasures they find inside. In this first of three episodes covering the recently issued Blu-ray edition of Eclipse Series 48: Kinuyo Tanaka Directs, David and Trevor discuss two films: her directorial debut Love Letter (1953) and The Moon Has Risen (1955), based on a screenplay written by Yasujiro Ozu.

Kinuyo Tanaka was already one of Japan’s greatest actors—celebrated for her collaborations with auteurs such as Kenji Mizoguchi, Yasujiro Ozu, and Mikio Naruse—when she took a brave leap by embarking on a directing career in a studio system that actively discouraged female filmmakers. The six features she made over the course of a decade center on women characters who refuse to conform to restrictive roles as they seek independence. With compassion and insight, Tanaka critiques the social conditions and forces that shape her heroines’ struggles: sex work and social shaming, the expectation of passively entering arranged marriages, taboos surrounding illness and the female body, imperialism, and religious persecution and forbidden love.

Subscribe to the podcast via RSS or in iTunes.

This podcast focuses on the Eclipse Series, box set editions of lost, forgotten, or overshadowed films recently revived by the Criterion Collection. Hosts David Blakeslee and Trevor Berrett give an overview of each set and offer their perspectives on the unique treasures they find inside. In this second of two episodes covering the recently reissued Blu-ray edition of Eclipse Series 8: Lubitsch Musicals, David and Trevor are joined by guest William Remmers to discuss two films: The Smiling Lieutenant, starring Maurice Chevalier, Claudette Colbert, and Miriam Hopkins, and One Hour with You, featuring Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald.

Renowned as a silent-film pioneer and the man who refined Hollywood comedy with such masterpieces as Trouble in Paradise, The Shop Around the Corner, and To Be or Not to Be, Ernst Lubitsch also had another claim to fame: he helped invent the modern movie musical. With the advent of sound, and with audiences clamoring for “talkies,” Lubitsch combined his love of European operettas and his mastery of cinema to develop this entirely new genre. These elegant, bawdy films, made before strict enforcement of the moralizing Production Code, feature some of the greatest stars of early Hollywood (Maurice Chevalier, Jeanette MacDonald, Claudette Colbert, Miriam Hopkins), as well as that elusive style of comedy that would thereafter be known as “the Lubitsch touch.”

Subscribe to the podcast via RSS or in iTunes.

This podcast focuses on the Eclipse Series, box set editions of lost, forgotten, or overshadowed films recently revived by the Criterion Collection. Hosts David Blakeslee and Trevor Berrett give an overview of each set and offer their perspectives on the unique treasures they find inside. In this first of two episodes covering the recently reissued Blu-ray edition of Eclipse Series 8: Lubitsch Musicals, David and Trevor are joined by guest William Remmers to discuss two films: The Love Parade, starring Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald, and Monte Carlo, also featuring Jeanette MacDonald, with Jack Buchanan.

About the films:

Renowned as a silent-film pioneer and the man who refined Hollywood comedy with such masterpieces as Trouble in Paradise, The Shop Around the Corner, and To Be or Not to Be, Ernst Lubitsch also had another claim to fame: he helped invent the modern movie musical. With the advent of sound, and with audiences clamoring for “talkies,” Lubitsch combined his love of European operettas and his mastery of cinema to develop this entirely new genre. These elegant, bawdy films, made before strict enforcement of the moralizing Production Code, feature some of the greatest stars of early Hollywood (Maurice Chevalier, Jeanette MacDonald, Claudette Colbert, Miriam Hopkins), as well as that elusive style of comedy that would thereafter be known as “the Lubitsch touch.”

Subscribe to the podcast via RSS or in iTunes.

This podcast focuses on the Eclipse Series, box set editions of lost, forgotten, or overshadowed films recently revived by the Criterion Collection. Hosts David Blakeslee and Trevor Berrett give an overview of each set and offer their perspectives on the unique treasures they find inside. In this last of four episodes, David and Trevor discuss six “School Films” (Two Solutions for One Problem, So Can I, Tribute to Teachers, Toothache, Orderly or Disorderly, and Homework) from Eclipse Series 47: Abbas Kiarostami – Early Shorts and Features. Eleven other films included in this set are covered in earlier episodes.

About the films:

Long before he became one of the most renowned artists in world cinema, the great Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami began his cinematic career at Tehran’s Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults (a.k.a. Kanoon), where he honed his distinctive style and themes. During his first decades as a filmmaker, Kiarostami moved freely among documentary, narrative, and even animation, and between joyous short films made for children and subtle works exploring the struggles of adolescents. Often using the classroom as a laboratory, he probed social and political tensions in Iranian society during the turbulent years before and after the 1979 revolution. Spanning his very first short, Bread and Alley (which the director called the “mother of all my films”); other underseen early revelations, like Experience and The Traveler; and nonfiction masterpieces such as Homework, the graceful, warm, and playful works collected here find moments of transcendent poetry within everyday life, and use deceptively simple premises to express universal truths about the human condition.

Subscribe to the podcast via RSS or in iTunes.

This podcast focuses on the Eclipse Series, box set editions of lost, forgotten, or overshadowed films recently revived by the Criterion Collection. Hosts David Blakeslee and Trevor Berrett give an overview of each set and offer their perspectives on the unique treasures they find inside. In this episode, David and Trevor discuss five films (Solution No. 1, First Case/Second Case, The Chorus, Fellow Citizen, and First Graders) from Eclipse Series 47: Abbas Kiarostami – Early Shorts and Features. Thirteen other films included in this set are covered in other episodes.

About the films:

Long before he became one of the most renowned artists in world cinema, the great Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami began his cinematic career at Tehran’s Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults (a.k.a. Kanoon), where he honed his distinctive style and themes. During his first decades as a filmmaker, Kiarostami moved freely among documentary, narrative, and even animation, and between joyous short films made for children and subtle works exploring the struggles of adolescents. Often using the classroom as a laboratory, he probed social and political tensions in Iranian society during the turbulent years before and after the 1979 revolution. Spanning his very first short, Bread and Alley (which the director called the “mother of all my films”); other underseen early revelations, like Experience and The Traveler; and nonfiction masterpieces such as Homework, the graceful, warm, and playful works collected here find moments of transcendent poetry within everyday life, and use deceptively simple premises to express universal truths about the human condition.

Subscribe to the podcast via RSS or in iTunes.

This podcast focuses on the Eclipse Series, box set editions of lost, forgotten, or overshadowed films recently revived by the Criterion Collection. Hosts David Blakeslee and Trevor Berrett give an overview of each set and offer their perspectives on the unique treasures they find inside. In this episode, David and Trevor discuss two films (Experience and A Wedding Suit) from Eclipse Series 47: Abbas Kiarostami – Early Shorts and Features. Thirteen other films included in this set will be covered in future episodes.

About the films:

Long before he became one of the most renowned artists in world cinema, the great Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami began his cinematic career at Tehran’s Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults (a.k.a. Kanoon), where he honed his distinctive style and themes. During his first decades as a filmmaker, Kiarostami moved freely among documentary, narrative, and even animation, and between joyous short films made for children and subtle works exploring the struggles of adolescents. Often using the classroom as a laboratory, he probed social and political tensions in Iranian society during the turbulent years before and after the 1979 revolution. Spanning his very first short, Bread and Alley (which the director called the “mother of all my films”); other underseen early revelations, like Experience and The Traveler; and nonfiction masterpieces such as Homework, the graceful, warm, and playful works collected here find moments of transcendent poetry within everyday life, and use deceptively simple premises to express universal truths about the human condition.

Subscribe to the podcast via RSS or in iTunes.