The film represents all of cinema’s possibilities in 106 minutes.
These features are revealing snapshots of an artist of uncommon ambition and vision from the outset of his career.
Renoir’s film is an exquisite, idyllic ode to love and loss among the working classes.
This brilliantly ironic melodrama is a pivotal work in the creation of film noir.
Renoir’s most well-known American feature is a fascinating translation of the filmmaker’s methods and outlook into a Hollywood milieu.
The River is another essential Blu-ray release of a Technicolor classic from the Criterion Collection.
Criterion offers this abandoned short feature with an illuminating assortment of supplements that are essential for all Renoir completists.
Many reviews have pointed out that 42 is a very conventional screen biography of Jackie Robinson. It is.
Though it’s long been eclipsed by the Luis Buñuel remake, Renoir’s version endures as a bracing, deeply strange film.
It’s been part of the film canon for so long that it’s valuable to remind audiences how gloriously alive and just plain fun it is.
The film demonstrates with intoxicating lyricism the confluence of apparent contraries.
The social condition that ended La Chienne also ignites Renoir’s uproarious social satire.
Lionsgate’s superb disc will wipe away any salty tears that it doesn’t carry the Criterion logo.
The most creative periods for the movies seem to occur about every 30 years, usually triggered by the advent of some new technology.
We’ve stormed the gates and are now officially part of the canon-forming establishment…or (fingers crossed) the canon-altering anti-establishment.
One factor behind Grand Illusion’s lasting power is the strength of its ensemble cast.
When it comes to Julie Delpy, the key question remains the old Barbra Streisand one.
What’s left to say of the film critic who haunts all others?
You officially no longer have an excuse not to own one of the greatest of all films.
The best thing about Renoir’s films is the continual sensation they give of life as theater, until theater feels like life.