Coming in June: The Wiz, a dazzling soul spin on a landmark tale, directed by Sidney Lumet; Thelonious Monk Straight, No Chaser, an intimate record of a jazz visionary from Charlotte Zwerin; Midnight, a topsy-turvy screwball comedy directed by Mitchell Leisen; William Friedkin’s Sorcerer, a pulse-pounding, hallucinatory thriller; and François Girard’s Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould, an unconventional portrait of an iconoclastic pianist. Plus: Paul Schrader’s Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters, a visually stunning biopic of a controversial Japanese author, and Terry Gilliam’s Brazil, a dystopian epic about a daydreaming bureaucrat—now on 4K UHD.
Brazil (#51) out Jun 3
In the dystopian masterpiece Brazil, Jonathan Pryce plays a daydreaming everyman who finds himself caught in the soul-crushing gears of a nightmarish bureaucracy. This cautionary tale by Terry Gilliam, one of the great films of the 1980s, has come to be esteemed alongside antitotalitarian works by the likes of George Orwell, Aldous Huxley, and Kurt Vonnegut. And in terms of set design, cinematography, music, and effects, Brazil is a nonstop dazzler. Read Gordon S. Miller’s review of the Criterion Blu-ray. The Director-Approved Special Edition Features are:
Buy Brazil (The Criterion Collection) Blu-ray- New 4K digital restoration of Terry Gilliam’s director’s cut, supervised and approved by Gilliam, with 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
- One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and two Blu-rays with the film and special features
- Audio commentary by Gilliam
- What Is “Brazil”?, Rob Hedden’s on-set documentary
- The Production Notebook, a collection of interviews and video essays, featuring a trove of Brazil-iana from Gilliam’s personal collection
- The Battle of “Brazil,” a documentary about the film’s contentious release, hosted by Jack Mathews and based on his book of the same name
- “Love Conquers All” version, the studio’s ninety-four-minute, happy-ending cut of Brazil, with commentary by Brazil expert David Morgan
- Trailer
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by film critic David Sterritt
Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (#432) out Jun 3
Paul Schrader’s visually stunning, collagelike portrait of the acclaimed Japanese author and playwright Yukio Mishima (played by Ken Ogata) investigates the inner turmoil and contradictions of a man who attempted the impossible task of finding harmony among self, art, and society. Taking place on the last day of Mishima’s life, when he famously committed public seppuku, the film is punctuated by extended flashbacks to the writer’s past as well as gloriously stylized evocations of his fictional works. With its rich cinematography by John Bailey, exquisite sets and costumes by Eiko Ishioka, and unforgettable, highly influential score by Philip Glass, Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters is a tribute to its subject and a bold, investigative work of art in its own right. Read Steve Geise’s review of the Criterion Blu-ray. The Director-Approved Special Edition Features are:
Buy Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (The Criterion Collection) Blu-ray- 4K digital restoration of the director’s cut, supervised and approved by director Paul Schrader and cinematographer John Bailey, with 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
- One 4K UHD disc of the film and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
- Two alternate English narrations, including one by actor Roy Scheider
- Audio commentary featuring Schrader and producer Alan Poul
- Program on the making of the film featuring Bailey, producers Tom Luddy and Mata Yamamoto, composer Philip Glass, and production designer Eiko Ishioka
- Program on Yukio Mishima featuring his biographer John Nathan and friend Donald Richie
- Audio interview with coscreenwriter Chieko Schrader
- Interview excerpt from 1966 featuring Mishima talking about writing
- The Strange Case of Yukio Mishima, a 1985 documentary about the author
- Trailer
- PLUS: An essay by critic Kevin Jackson, a piece on the film’s censorship in Japan, and photographs of Ishioka’s sets
The Wiz (#1264) out Jun 10
L. Frank Baum’s timeless story The Wonderful Wizard of Oz gets a funky reimagining in this lavish adaptation of a landmark Broadway show based on the book. Diana Ross brings her showstopping star power to the role of Dorothy, here a Harlem schoolteacher who is magically transported to a surreal fantasyland that resembles New York City, complete with man-eating trash cans and a disco paradise. Propelled by the musical contributions of Quincy Jones and an all-star cast that includes Michael Jackson, Richard Pryor, and Lena Horne, this dazzling soul spectacular from legendary director Sidney Lumet reframes a beloved tale through the Black American experience, creating a powerful celebration of self-determination. The Special Edition Features are:
- New 4K digital restoration, approved by producer Rob Cohen, with Dolby Atmos soundtrack
- One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
- New audio commentary featuring scholars Michael B. Gillespie and Alfred L. Martin
- Archival interviews with director Sidney Lumet and actor Diana Ross
- Trailer
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by critic Aisha Harris
Thelonious Monk Straight, No Chaser (#1265) out Jun 17
The closest a film camera ever got to enigmatic jazz visionary Thelonious Monk, this intimate portrait sheds light on the corners of a brilliant and complex life. Superbly crafted by Direct Cinema pioneer Charlotte Zwerin from a trove of precious 1960s archival footage, Thelonious Monk Straight, No Chaser captures the pianist and bebop innovator in rare, unguarded moments on- and offstage, revealing an eccentric and complicated personality. Made with the same freedom of spirit that defines Monk’s artistry, this essential slice of jazz history is a unique glimpse into the quixotic world of one of the twentieth century’s most revolutionary artists. The Special Edition Features are:
- New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
- Introduction by director Charlotte Zwerin
- New interview with musician T. S. Monk, son of Thelonious Monk
- New program about Zwerin and the making of the film featuring interviews with writer Michael Schulman, assistant editor Bernadine Colish, and Zwerin’s nieces Lisa and Laura Tesone
- Trailer
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by musician and scholar Paul Grimstad
Midnight (#1266) out Jun 17
Screwball comedy doesn’t get any more effortlessly elegant and gleefully irreverent than this roulette wheel of romantic deception, gleaming with cunning wit and Continental élan. A couture-clad Claudette Colbert is divine as a penniless American showgirl who crashes Parisian high society by posing as a wealthy Hungarian baroness—but both a scheming nobleman (John Barrymore) and a smitten taxi driver (Don Ameche) are soon on to her game. Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett’s sophisticated script—a typically subversive blend of fairy-tale escapism and caustic social observation—and the pitch-perfect direction of master craftsman Mitchell Leisen yield a topsy-turvy Cinderella story with a cynical bite. The Special Edition Features are:
- New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
- New audio commentary featuring author and film critic Michael Koresky
- New program featuring audio excerpts of a 1969 interview with director Mitchell Leisen
- Lux Radio Theatre adaptation of the film from 1940
- Trailer
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by film critic David Cairns
Sorcerer (#1267) out Jun 24
A hallucinatory journey into the heart of darkness, William Friedkin’s pulse-pounding reimagining of the suspense classic The Wages of Fear was dismissed upon its release, only to be recognized decades later as one of the boldest auteur statements of the New Hollywood. In a remote Latin American village, four desperate fugitives—a New Jersey gangster (Roy Scheider), a Mexican assassin (Francisco Rabal), an unscrupulous Parisian businessman (Bruno Cremer), and an Arab terrorist (Amidou)—take on a seemingly doomed mission: transporting two trucks full of highly explosive nitroglycerin through the treacherous jungle. Aided by Tangerine Dream’s otherworldly synth score, Friedkin turns each bump in the road into a tour de force of cold-sweat tension—conjuring a hauntingly nihilistic vision of a world ruled by chance and fate. The Special Edition Features are:
- New 4K digital restoration, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack approved by director William Friedkin
- Alternate 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
- One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and two Blu-rays with the film and special features
- Friedkin Uncut (2018), a documentary by Francesco Zippel featuring interviews with Friedkin; screenwriter Walon Green; filmmakers Wes Anderson, Francis Ford Coppola, and Quentin Tarantino; and others
- New conversation between filmmaker James Gray and film critic Sean Fennessey
- Archival audio interviews with Green and editor Bud Smith, from the collection of Giulia D’Agnolo Vallan, author of William Friedkin (2003)
- Conversation from 2015 between Friedkin and filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn
- Behind-the-scenes footage of Friedkin on set
- Trailer
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearingPLUS: An essay by film critic Justin Chang
Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould (#1268) out Jun 27
A rare film biography as boldly unconventional as its subject, writer-director François Girard’s visionary portrait of iconoclastic, world-renowned pianist Glenn Gould explodes the conventions of the form to illuminate the brilliant mind and innermost obsessions of a singular artist. Across thirty-two vignettes encompassing everything from dramatic sketches to documentary interviews to avant-garde animation, Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould pieces together the story of Gould’s trajectory from child prodigy to celebrated concert pianist who turned his back on public performance to pursue his all-consuming fascination with recording technology. Led by a tour-de-force performance by Colm Feore and underscored by Gould’s landmark recordings of Bach’s Goldberg Variations, Girard’s film daringly deconstructs the enigma of genius. The Director-Approved Special Edition Features are:
- New 4K digital restoration, supervised and approved by director François Girard, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
- One 4K UHD disc of the film and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
- New audio commentary featuring Girard and cowriter and actor Don McKellar
- New conversation between Girard and filmmaker Atom Egoyan
- Glenn Gould: Off the Record and Glenn Gould: On the Record, companion programs from 1959 produced for Canadian television
- Archival interviews with actor Colm Feore and producer Niv Fichman
- Trailer
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearingPLUS: An essay by author and film critic Michael Koresky
