Coming in March: All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, a powerful documentary from Laura Poitras about art and activism; Saint Omer, Alice Diop’s morally and emotionally complex courtroom drama; The Runner, Amir Naderi’s lyrical portrayal of childhood in post-revolutionary Iran, and To Die For, a deliciously subversive media satire from Gus Van Sant. Plus: All That Money Can Buy (a.k.a. The Devil and Daniel Webster), William Dieterle’s stylish take on the Faust legend, now on Blu-ray.
All That Money Can Buy (a.k.a. The Devil and Daniel Webster) (#214) out Mar 12
Jabez Stone is a hardworking farmer trying to make an honest living, but a streak of bad luck tempts him to do the unthinkable: bargain with the devil himself. In exchange for seven years of good fortune, Stone promises “Mr. Scratch” his soul. But when the troubled farmer begins to realize the error of his choice, he enlists the aid of the one man who might save him: the legendary orator and politician Daniel Webster. Directed with stylish flair by William Dieterle, All That Money Can Buy brings the classic short story by Stephen Vincent Benét to life with inspired visuals, an unforgettable, Oscar-winning score by Bernard Herrmann, and a truly diabolical performance from Walter Huston as the devil. The Special Edition Features are:
- New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
- Audio commentary by film historian Bruce Eder and Steven C. Smith, biographer of composer Bernard Herrmann
- New restoration demonstration
- Reading by actor Alec Baldwin of the short story by Stephen Vincent Benét on which the film is based
- Episode of the Criterion Channel series Observations on Film Art about the film’s editing
- Comparison of the differences between the July 1941 preview version of the film, Here Is a Man, and the film’s 1943 rerelease as The Devil and Daniel Webster
- The Columbia Workshop’s radio adaptations of Benét’s short stories “The Devil and Daniel Webster” and “Daniel Webster and the Sea Serpent,” both featuring music by Herrmann
- Trailer
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by author Tom Piazza and a 1941 article by Benét
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (#1210) out Mar 12
Fearless documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras’s career-long pursuit of truth and justice finds powerful expression in an epic story of art, activism, and survival. Made in collaboration with renowned artist Nan Goldin, All the Beauty and the Bloodshed entwines the mission of PAIN—an advocacy group she founded to raise awareness about the billionaire Sackler family’s integral role in the ongoing crisis of opioid overdoses—with an intimate journey through Goldin’s life, from her rebellious adolescence and immersion in New York City’s thriving underground arts scene to her personal experiences of addiction and the AIDS epidemic. Through it all, her indelible photographs and candid reflections on memory and trauma reveal her unyielding solidarity with marginalized communities that refuse to remain silent. The Director-Approved Special Edition Features are:
- New high-definition digital master, approved by director Laura Poitras and artist Nan Goldin, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
- New interview with Poitras
- Two conversations from the 2022 New York Film Festival, one featuring Poitras, Goldin, coproducer and PAIN activist Megan Kapler, PAIN activist Harry Cullen, and lawyer and PAIN member Mike Quinn discussing the making of the film, and the other featuring Goldin on art and activism
- Trailer
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing and English descriptive audio
- PLUS: An essay by author and activist Sarah Schulman
The Runner (#1211) out Mar 19
Childhood takes on mythic dimensions in one of the defining works of postrevolutionary Iranian cinema. Inspired by director Amir Naderi’s own boyhood, The Runner is lit from within by Madjid Niroumand’s electrifying performance as a young orphan fending for himself on the streets of a port city, determined to rise above his circumstances—working odd jobs, passing time with friends, learning to read—and running, always running, toward the future. Water, fire, the human body in motion: in hypnotic images of lyrical power, Naderi finds unexpected glory in the world of a boy suspended between modernity and elemental natural forces as he chases his own path forward. The Director-Approved Special Edition Features are:
- New 2K digital restoration, supervised by director Amir Naderi, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
- New conversation between Naderi and filmmaker Ramin Bahrani
- Audio interview from 2022 with Naderi and actor Madjid Niroumand, moderated by curator Bruce Goldstein
- Waiting, a 1974 film by Naderi, featuring an afterword by the director
- Trailer
- English subtitle translation
- PLUS: An essay by filmmaker and critic Ehsan Khoshbakht
Saint Omer (#1212) out Mar 26
Bringing a documentarian’s sense of open-ended inquiry to her first narrative feature, writer-director Alice Diop constructs a morally and emotionally layered courtroom drama unlike any other. When she travels to Saint-Omer, France, to attend the trial of a young Senegalese woman (Guslagie Malanda) accused of murdering her infant daughter, novelist Rama (Kayije Kagame) finds herself shaken to the core by a case that proves to have profound resonances with her own life. Interweaving complex themes of mother-daughter bonds, immigrant alienation, and postcolonial trauma into a piercing portrait of two mysteriously connected women, Diop forgoes mere questions of guilt and innocence in order to plumb the unsettling unknowability of the human soul. The Director-Approved Special Edition Features are:
- New 2K digital master, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
- New interviews with director Alice Diop
- Conversation between Diop and author Hélène Frappat
- Conversation between Diop and filmmaker Dee Rees from a 2023 episode of The Director’s Cut – A DGA Podcast
- Trailer
- New English subtitle translation
- PLUS: An essay by critic Jennifer Padjemi
To Die For (#782) out Mar 26
The all-American obsession with celebrity turns monstrous in this deliciously subversive (and disturbingly prescient) satire of our television-mediated, true-crime-obsessed age. In a career breakthrough, Nicole Kidman delivers a diabolical deconstruction of the girl next door as a local TV weather reporter whose perfectly perky facade belies a murderous heart, as her ruthless pursuit of fame ensnares three disaffected teens in a sordid, tabloid-ready scandal. Deftly deploying shifting perspectives, faux-documentary interviews, and a supporting cast featuring Joaquin Phoenix, Matt Dillon, and Casey Affleck, director Gus Van Sant adds provocative layers of meaning to this darkly funny examination of suburban sociopathy. The Director-Approved Special Edition Features are:
- New 4K digital restoration, approved by director Gus Van Sant and director of photography Eric Alan Edwards, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
- One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
- Audio commentary featuring Van Sant, Edwards, and editor Curtiss Clayton
- Deleted scenes
- Trailer
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by film critic Jessica Kiang
