Welcome to HPL's film and television blog, highlighting staff-recommended movies or television shows.
STAFF CONTRIBUTOR:
Kerem, Public Services Assistant
In search of unique movies, it's worth looking into the Criterion Collection. What started in the mid-eighties with LaserDisc releases of Citizen Kane and King Kong has grown into a catalog of over 1,500 films. It's not like Criterion has a clear-cut selection process. What unites most of their distributed titles is a dedication to film as an art form without set boundaries.
Did you know that you can find nearly two hundred Criterion DVDs and Blu-Rays in our film collection at Hedberg Public Library? Below are a few of my favorites on our shelves.
| Actor Paul Dano made his debut as a director with this adaptation of Richard Ford's novel. In Wildlife (2018), an unemployed father takes a job fighting forest fires, leaving his wife and teenage son behind. Faced with financial hardship, both mother and son have to take on new responsibilities. The calm cinematography sets a contrast to the inner turmoil of the characters and evokes Edward Hopper paintings at times. Worth mentioning are the outstanding performances by Carey Mulligan, Ed Oxenbould and Jake Gyllenhaal. |
| Robert Altman's The Player (1992) is a Hollywood satire about a producer (Tim Robbins) who loses his cool over a series of threatening letters from an anonymous writer. The film opens with an impressive eight-minute tracking shot and shows both technical and narrative skill throughout its length. The star-studded ensemble and cinematic prowess make The Player a great contribution to the "movies about filmmaking" subgenre. |
| In Being John Malkovich (1999), hapless puppeteer (John Cusack) starts working as a file clerk on the 7½ floor of an office building. The ceilings are low and everyone has to walk around hunched over. As if that wasn't strange enough, one day he finds a portal that temporarily sends him into the mind of actor John Malkovich. Once he lets his coworker Maxine (Catherine Keener) and his wife Lotte (Cameron Diaz) in on his discovery, a battle over the newfound vessel ensues. With its commitment to absurdity and exploration of human desire, Being John Malkovich plunges the viewer into a truly unique viewing experience. Written by Charlie Kaufman, directed by Spike Jonze. |