I spend more time picking a film to watch than I do actually watching them, but I feel like the folks at Fandor have finally created a solution for my predicament: give me an ultimatum. (And since it’s almost Valentine’s Day, I feel comfortable telling you that I am in a relationship with my Fandor account. As Barthes once said, “The Lover is the one who waits for Fandor to load.”) Fandor has a hot new deal with Criterion, wherein they offer select films from the Criterion Collection’s extensive library, available for 12 days to watch. Without further ado, here are five particularly superb picks for you to hunker down and watch:
Valerie and Her Weeks of Wonders (1970) | Directed by Jaromil Jireš
Remember those awkward years when you were 13-year-old and hanging out with vampires in exchange for virgin blood? No? Just me? Nevertheless, the young protagonist of Valerie and Her Weeks of Wonders, after experiencing her first period, finds herself wandering in a Gothic collage of dreams and reality infused in the same macabre vein. Her coming-of-age journey is colored through a surrealistic lens as she encounters grotesque characters who make growing up seem like watching horror films while on LSD. Adulthood in Valeri and Her Weeks of Wonders appears chaotic and even terrifying, but it is also accompanied with a sense of dark humor that contributes to this Czech New Wave film’s distinctive look at adolescent years. (Expires Sunday, Feb. 8)
The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972) | Directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Heavily influenced by Douglas Sirk’s melodramas, The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant’s sumptuous color scheme is only fitting since its eponymous protagonist happens to be a famous, but deeply narcissistic, fashion designer. The extravagant set designs are highly deceptive as the film centers on the sadomasochistic emotional games that Petra engages in with other characters. She strives to please Karin, a young, beautiful object of desire while cruelly ignore the affection from her faithful assistant, Marlene. In Fassbinder’s stage-like masterpiece, people fall in and out of love while adorning larger than life couture pieces and prancing in front of lurid wallpapers crafted out of Baroque paintings. Fassbinder made bad romance look so delicious that you would want to be unhappily in love all over again. (Expires Sunday, Feb. 8)
The Idiot (1951) | Directed by Akira Kurosawa
Six years before Akira Kurosawa famously adapted Shakespeare’s Macbeth into Throne of Blood (1954), he made a somewhat forgotten film version of Dostoevsky’s The Idiot. Originally ran 256 minutes long, the film was severely cut down to 166 minutes by the studio and up until now, no complete print of it survives. Despite the awkward voice-over at the beginning that attempts to make up for the lost footage, The Idiot remains a masterful glimpse into Kurosawa’s poetic vision. If Throne of Blood brings influences from Noh drama to an English play, The Idiot aims to create a Japanese reinterpretation of the Russian landscape. In telling the story of a wounded soldier and his friend who inadvertently fall in love with the same woman, the film has its characters dressed up in furs while their faces and body gestures are almost upstaged by their surroundings, which are often covered in a dazed fog or heaps of snow. Operating at a slow pace, The Idiot counts the final steps of a man descending into an existential crisis. (Expires Sunday, Feb. 15)
Goke, Body Snatcher from Hell (1968) | Directed by Hajime Sato
It’s interesting that this Japanese body horror is called Goke, Body Snatcher from Hell since all the body stealing actually begins on a plane. Hahaha. Terrible puns asides, the film is an electrifying, genre-shifting roller coaster ride. Goke opens as a disaster film when a plane is hijacked and ultimately crashed into a dessert. Elements of Western creep in as the passengers find themselves stranded against a garish and almost cartoonist orange background. Then all of a sudden, people’s heads are split open and oops, it turns into a horror movie. Oh and there are aliens as well. A delirious fever-dream, Goke is a must-see for those who love wacky horror films. (Expires Sunday, Feb. 8)
Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One (1968) | Directed by William Greaves
Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One is a documentary about a documentary about a documentary, and this does not even begin to do justice to this film’s complex structure that raises fundamental questions about the nature of filmmaking. Ostensibly documenting a movie audition that took place in Central Park, Symbiopsychotaxiplasm not only shows the performances by the actors but also photographs the film crew who were shooting the audition. Director William Greaves himself masquerades as a character in the film, breaking the thin line between observational documentary and manipulative fictional narrative. Layers and layers of reflexivity renders Symbiopsychotaxipliasm impossible to be confined to just one genre, making this extremely funny film not only a visual feast but also a challenge for the mind. (Expires Sunday, Feb. 8)
Fandor adds new Criterion films every Tuesday, so check out their Criterion section every week for new offerings, and use your Movie Mezzanine coupon for an exclusive discount and access to a breathtaking library of cinema!