Autumn arrives in September, which means many people will experience colder temperatures and that The Criterion Channel will continue to air quality programmes. Numerous art film distributor Cinema 5, cinematographer James Wong Howe, and others have collections dedicated to the British New Wave. The Criterion Channel new movie in September 2022 are listed below. Check them.
1. Kes (1969)
Director- Ken Loach
Billy Casper, a troubled working-class youngster who experiences abuse both at home and at school, is the main character of Ken Loach’s classic British drama. Billy, a single mother’s son, leads a largely hopeless life until he develops an interest in falconry. Hence, starts training a kestrel he finds on a nearby farm. Although, Billy and the falcon develop a strong bond, the child and his bird find their lives to be difficult and unpleasant.
2. The Man Who Fell To Earth (1976)
Director- Nicolas Roeg
Arriving on Earth under the guise of Thomas Jerome Newton, an alien immediately gets to work building up his money so that he can leave for his home planet. His native planet is shown as a sizable, dry region with scarce water resources. He has a number of original patents that make him very wealthy thanks to the assistance of patent attorney Oliver Farnsworth, who ultimately rises to the position of CEO of World Enterprises, the holding company for Newton. Along the road he meets a lot of interesting people, such Mary-Lou, who falls in love with him, and Nathan Brice, who works for him. Obvious question: Will Newton ever be able to go home?
3. Pushing Hands (1991)
Director- Ang Lee
In order to live with his son Alex, American daughter-in-law Martha, and their son Jeremy, Master Chu, a retired Chinese Tai-Chi master, relocates to Westchester, New York. However, Chu’s presence in the home has caused Martha to experience acute writers’ block for her second book. As he struggles with an inner conflict between cultural tradition and his modern American way of life, Alex must fight to keep his family together.
4. Death In Venice (1971)
Director- Luchino Visconti
In Luchino Visconti’s contentious film adaptation of Thomas Mann’s novella, Gustav von Aschenbach, an ailing German composer, spends his convalescent vacation at the opulent turn-of-the-century Venice Lido, reflecting on his failures and feeling defeated by the cruel vanity of his Quixotic search for beauty. Disillusioned Gustav, who is on the verge of going insane, meets Tadzio, a charming 15-year-old Polish lad who is the epitome of the artist’s ideas and the object of his unreachable love. Infatuation turns into obsession, platonic agony into the haunting passion of unrequited love, and the suffocating scirocco wind that brings disease and plague to Venice causes infatuation to become obsession.
5. Sambizanga (1972)
Director- Sarah Maldoror
Following terrible events in Angola, Domingos, a member of an African independence movement, was detained by the Portuguese secret police. Instead of betraying his friends, he is beaten to death in jail. Unaware that he is dead, his wife wanders aimlessly between prison buildings looking for him.
6. Gimme Shelter (1970)
Director(s)- Albert Maysles, David Maysles, Charlotte Zwerin
The Rolling Stones and Jefferson Airplane performed for free at Altamont Speedway in Northern California in December 1969, four months after Woodstock. As a result of the estimated 300,000 attendees, the organisers assigned Hell’s Angels to oversee security near the stage. Angels spent the entire show beating up audience members with knives and billiard cues, murdering at least one. The movie swings between performances, acts of violence, Grace Slick and Mick Jagger’s attempts to defuse the situation, close-ups of teenage audience members, and a later scene in which the Stones examine concert footage and discuss what transpired.
7. Pumping Iron (1977)
Director(s)- George Butler, Robert Fiore
This partly fictional, partly documentary movie follows amateur and professional bodybuilders as they train for the 1975 Mr. Olympia and Mr. Universe competitions from Gold’s Gym in Venice Beach, California, to the showdown in Pretoria. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a five-time winner, defends his Mr. Olympia title against Serge Nubret and Lou Ferrigno, a shy young deaf man whose father is his coach; the merciless champion psychs out the young lion. Sardinian Franco Columbu competes in the lightweight division; back home in Italy, he manoeuvres a car into a tight parking spot by lifting it into position. Mike Katz and Ken Waller compete for the title of Mr. Universe, with Joe Weider serving as the marketer. A future celebrity and bodybuilding gain popularity.
The entire list of September titles is available here, as well as on the Criterion Channel.
