DVD: viridiana (collection criterion)

DVD: viridiana

DVD:

Spirit of the Beehive - Criterion Collection

28 reviews
Fernando Fernán Gómez, Teresa Gimpera

Criterion, 2006

Through Ana's eyes: a masterpiece of childhood
Every once in a while I stumble upon a masterpiece. This is a masterpiece of childhood set in Franco's Spain in 1940. There are political allusions and asides that somehow escaped Franco's censors, or maybe they were indulged. It matters not because the bleak landscape surrounding the house with its honeycombed windows and its honey colored light says more than words could. I would compare ...

Diary of a Chambermaid - Criterion Collection

15 reviews
Jeanne Moreau, Georges Géret

Criterion, 2001

Essential French Cinema: Luis Buñuel's 'Journal d'une femme de chambre .'
"The countryside's always a bit dreary." Luis Buñuel was merciless in exposing bourgeois moral decay and sexual inhibitions. Based on Octave Mirbeau's novel of the same name (The Diary of a Chambermaid), and filmed in stark black-and-white, Buñuel's 1964 adaptation is perhaps his most linear film, lacking the surrealist imagery of his other films (L'Age d'Or, Un Chien Andalou, Belle de Jour). ...

The Discreet Charm Of The Bourgeoisie - Criterion Collection

44 reviews
Fernando Rey, Paul Frankeur

Criterion, 2002

The Stuff of Dreams
"The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie" unfolds with the absurd logic of a recurrent dream, and since the DVD has been beautifully restored, one is able to dream the dream in vivid color: Elegantly dressed guests arrive for a dinner party only to have the hostess inform them that they have arrived on the wrong night; thus, they keep making appointments for dinners that are continually interrupted ...

Belle de Jour

73 reviews
Francis Blanche, Claude Cerval

Miramax, 2002

Great movie but get the Region 2 DVD, it's worth it!
I've seen both versions and although I have to watch my Region 2 DVD on my computer (all you need is to download a program like AnyDVD that allows you to watch other region DVDs), it's worth it. 16:9 anamorphic, great sound, clear picture and it's an anniversary edition with a booklet and a beautiful format. You can get it from Amazon UK. For those of you who aren't happy with the Region 1 ...

Viridiana - Criterion Collection

34 reviews
Silvia Pinal, Francisco Rabal

Criterion, 2006

I am still, thank God, an atheist
That quote from Director Bunuel is perfectly fitting for this Spanish classic. It was banned in Spain until '77 due to its under-handed challenges to faith and power. The first part of this story tracks the path of the beautiful Viridiana, a devout religous woman who briefly leaves her convent to visit her uncle. He is grieving from the loss of his wife, and his niece's resemblance to his ...

Un Chien Andalou

57 reviews
Pierre Batcheff, Salvador Dalí

Transflux Films, 2004

Sureal Classic.
What would be of experimental cinema without this masterpiece. Buñuel and Dali, what to expect from this two minds! I need to agree that the transfer is not very good on the Kino release, the extras are great, not the commentary but the Buñuel's son interview, Juan Luis, which i find very informative to understand what happened to the relation between the two artiist after they work toghether. ...

Elevator to the Gallows - Criterion Collection

19 reviews
Jeanne Moreau, Maurice Ronet

Criterion, 2006

Top floor film noir from one of the greats
This was Louis Malle's first. Previously he had worked with Jacques Cousteau on "The Silent World" (interestingly enough) and now tried his hand at film noir. Several things fell into place to make this debut a memorable one. First, he was able to get Jeanne Moreau to play Florence Carala. She had previously been mostly a stage and B-movie player who was obviously very talented, but as ...

Phantom of Liberty - Criterion Collection

17 reviews
Adriana Asti, Jenny Astruc

Criterion, 2005

"On a flimsy ground of reality, imagination spins out and waves new patterns."
This excellent collection of satirical vignettes is my kind of movie - crazy, dark and comical, it goes any direction it wants and does not follow any rules. When we try to grasp for the meaning, it is like a ghost, a phantom that "leaves us with a wisp of vapor in our hands" and disappears - very much like the liberty, the freedom the humans try to find but instead could only see its phantom ...

The Milky Way (Criterion Collection)

6 reviews
Julien Bertheau, Claudio Brook

Criterion, 2007

one of the best
get this film....my favorite scene is when the virgin Mary calls over jesus, after he gives a speech at a dinner, and tells him we're out of wine can you do something. so Bunuel. unlike no other.

That Obscure Object of Desire - Criterion Collection

37 reviews
Fernando Rey, Carole Bouquet

Criterion, 2001

The Last Temptation of Luis Bunuel...
''That Obscure Object of Desire'' is one of the highest achievements in sound cinema, one of the greatest films ever made...you get the idea!!! It's perhaps Bunuel's greatest film or if not, the one that reflects with finality his philosophy and his view of life. It's a viewpoint that's at one and at the same time pessimistic and compassionate, corrosive and tender, angry and despairing, ...

Belle de Jour - 40th Anniversary [Non-US Format, PAL, Region 2, Import]

Belle de jour dramatizes the collision between depravity and elegance, one of the favorite themes of director Luis Buñuel. Catherine Deneuve stars as a wealthy but bored newlywed, eager to taste life to the fullest. She seemingly gets her wish early in the film when she is kidnapped, tied to a tree, and gang-raped. It turns out that this is only a daydream, but her subsequent visits to a neighboring brothel, where she offers her services, ...