Criterion August Titles

 
It’s all about the auteurs this August. The Criterion Collection is releasing stellar titles from some of the greatest directors, past and present. First, two movies about moviemaking: the legendary Francois Truffaut’s Oscar-winning “Day for Night,” and the British New Wave trailblazer Karel Reisz’s “The French Lieutenant’s Woman,” starring Meryl Streep and Jeremy Irons in brilliant early starring roles. And if you missed Marion Cotillard’s Oscar-nominated performance in last year’s gripping drama “Two Days, One Night,” by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, two of the most influential filmmakers now living, here’s your chance. All this plus: a new edition of “Night and the City,” the Hollywood classic from noir maestro Jules Dassin, on Blu-ray for the first time in the U.S., and “Eclipse 43: Agnes Varda in California,” a three-disc set of films by Agnes Varda, who has been called the grandmother of the French New Wave for the radical classics she made in France, such as “La Pointe Courte” and “Cleo from 5 to 7.” But she also made a remarkable bunch of films while living in California in the late 60s and again in the early 80s. The fascinating, entertaining, and rarely screened films in Criterion’s latest Eclipse series show a side of Varda many of us have not been able to see until now; they are thought-provoking and beautiful works about the political and cultural landscape of America’s West Coast.

Note: “Dressed to Kill,” originally scheduled for August 18, has been rescheduled for September 8.

August 4: Night and the City
August 11: Eclipse 43: Agnes Varda in California
August 11: The French Lieutenant’s Woman
August 18: Day for Night
August 25: Two Days, One Night