May on the Criterion Channel Highlights David Chase, Magellan, '80s Remakes, and More

      You might have overlooked (or entirely missed) the fact that David Chase has only written and directed a single feature film, and its black-and-white version is available exclusively on the Criterion Channel. To complement his excellent Not Fade Away, the creator of The Sopranos has organized and participated in an interview for a new Adventures in Moviegoing series debuting this May, featuring Jean Vigo’s L’Atalante, Louis Malle’s Elevator to the Gallows and Lacombe, Lucien, Luis Buñuel’s Viridiana, and Dino Risi’s Il sorpasso. Beyond looking forward to the interview, I hold (a bit of) hope that this generates (just enough) energy in the universe for another film from one of the great minds in American cinema.

      The main program for May appears to center around ’80s Remakes (and Their Originals!), which follows its title: featuring Breathless and Breathless, The Thing and The Thing, The Man Who Loved Women alongside Burt Reynolds’ closest approach to Truffaut. On the other hand, Office Romances presents a combination of Dorothy Arzner’s Working Girls, His Girl Friday, The Apartment, and John Ford’s significantly undervalued The Whole Town’s Talking. Guest programmer Jonathan Ali has curated You Don’t Get Freedom, You Take Freedom: Caribbean Activist Cinema, showing titles like Bitter Cane and Med Hondo’s West Indies. In terms of premieres, Debra Granik’s Conbody vs Everybody will debut on the Channel, alongside Lav Diaz’s Magellan, Thierry Fremaux’s Lumière, le cinéma!, and a restoration of Ken Loach’s The Spirit of ’45.

      Criterion Editions of Buñuel’s Él, Woman of the Year, Cat People, and His Girl Friday will become available for streaming. The Ross Brothers, Kimi Takesue, and Bill Douglas have curated a series of films available, including the popular COVID-era title Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets. Pay special attention to Kathryn Bigelow’s Point Break and Sean Baker’s Four Letter Words, which will be added to Stunts and Directed by Sean Baker, respectively (as if it could possibly be the other way around).

      Check the complete list of May additions and explore more at the Criterion Channel:

      - 95 and 6 to Go, Kimi Takesue, 2016

      - Against All Odds, Taylor Hackford, 1984

      - An Unfinished Film, Lou Ye, 2024

      - The Apartment, Billy Wilder, 1960

      - The Big Clock, John Farrow, 1948*

      - Bitter Cane, Ben Dupuy and Kim Ives, 1983

      - Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets, Turner Ross and Bill Ross IV, 2020

      - Bound, Kimi Takesue, 1995

      - Breathless, Jim McBride, 1983

      - Cat People, Jacques Tourneur, 1942

      - Cat People, Paul Schrader, 1982

      - A Chinese Ghost Story, Ching Siu-tung, 1987

      - A Chinese Ghost Story II, Ching Siu-tung, 1990

      - A Chinese Ghost Story III, Ching Siu-tung, 1991

      - Clockwatchers, Jill Sprecher, 1997

      - Conbody vs Everybody, Debra Granik, 2024

      - D.O.A., Rudolph Maté, 1949

      - D.O.A., Annabel Jankel and Rocky Morton, 1988

      - Daughter’s Daughter, Huang Xi, 2024

      - Desk Set, Walter Lang, 1957

      - E=NYC2, Kimi Takesue, 2005

      - Él, Luis Buñuel, 1953

      - Four Letter Words, Sean Baker, 2000

      - Grenada: The Future Coming Towards Us, Carmen Ashhurst, Samori Marksman, and John Douglas, 1983

      - Haiti: The Way to Freedom, Arnold Antonin, 1973

      - Heaven’s Crossroad, Kimi Takesue, 2002

      - His Girl Friday, Howard Hawks, 1940

      - House of Cardin, P. David Ebersole and Todd Hughes, 2019

      - K-On! The Movie, Naoko Yamada, 2011*

      - Looking for Adventure, Kimi Takesue, 2013

      - Lumière, le cinéma!, Thierry Frémaux, 2025

      - Man Wanted, William Dieterle, 1932

      - The Man Who Loved Women, François Truffaut, 1977

      - The Man Who Loved Women, Blake Edwards, 1983

      - Maya, Give Me a Title, Michel Gondry, 2024

      - More Than a Secretary, Alfred E. Green, 1936

      - My Ain Folk, Bill Douglas, 197