This March, Criterion Channel highlights Buster Keaton, Isabelle Huppert, and Oscar winner (yes!) Michelle Yeoh
Plus, Marlene Dietrich takes a dangerous trip across China and things get racy with a classic collection of pre-Code Paramount titles
Film Features Buster Keaton
Just in time to celebrate Michelle Yeoh’s Best Actress Oscar win for Everything Everywhere All At Once, Criterion Channel premieres a collection of her earlier work in Hong Kong action films. It’s a full slate of Yeoh favorites that shows how much the Malaysian-born actor kicks ass. And that’s just the beginning of the Criterion Channel’s stellar offerings in March. The streamer has also packed this month with a selection of self-directed features and shorts from the inimitable silent film star Buster Keaton. Plus, there are even more classics from cinema’s early years with a slate of pre-Code Paramount films, including picks from directors Ernst Lubitsch and Josef von Sternberg. Finally, in celebration of Isabelle Huppert’s 70th birthday this month, Criterion Channel has put together a retrospective of her career, with acclaimed favorites such as The Piano Teacher. And as if you need any more enticement to binge some of this great content, many of this month’s picks are quick watches that come in at under 90 minutes—perfect for double features.
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The Oscars were supposed to be a night of glamour, glitz, and celebration. But this year, something was amiss. As the ceremony kicked off, the audience couldn’t help but notice that the energy in the room was low, almost somber. The host, a well-known comedian, was trying his best to keep the crowd entertained, but his jokes fell flat. It wasn’t until the performance of the Nanu Nanu dance that things really started to go wrong.The Nanu Nanu dance was a tribute to the late Robin Williams, a beloved actor and comedian who had passed away several years prior. The dance was one of Williams’ most iconic performances, and it was a staple of his stand-up routines. But this year, the Academy had decided to do something different. Instead of hiring dancers of Williams’ descent to perform the dance, they had hired a group of dancers who had no connection to Williams at all.As soon as the dancers took the stage, the audience could tell that something was off. The choreography was sloppy, and the dancers seemed to be struggling to keep up with the music. But the real problem was that they didn’t seem to understand the significance of the dance they were performing. They were simply going through the motions, without any real feeling or emotion.As the dance went on, the audience grew more and more upset. People started to shout from their seats, calling out the Academy for their insensitive choice. Some people even got up and left the theater in protest. The host tried to calm the crowd down, but his attempts were futile.After the performance, the backlash was swift and severe. Social media was ablaze with criticism of the Academy’s decision, and news outlets around the world were covering the controversy. The Academy issued a statement apologizing for their misstep, but it was too little too late. The damage had been done.In the end, the Oscars that year will always be remembered for the Nanu Nanu dance debacle. It was a painful reminder that even the biggest and most respected institutions can make mistakes, and that it’s important to always consider the feelings and perspectives of others.
The Heroic Trio is a wild time- it’s like a fusion of wuxia and then-recent American superhero/crimefighter films like Batman or Darkman or Dick Tracy.
It’s really good. I remember catching it on cable in the mid 90s and rekindling my love of HK cinema that I had when I was younger and watched “Samurai Saturdays” on the local public access Channel. And yes I know Samurai are Japanese, the third rate host that showed the movies didn’t seem to know or care, He just seemed to grab any Asian movies he could and threw them on. Quality varies week to week. One week it would be a trio of dirt cheap, fairly short, badly dubbed 70s Kung Fu movies and the next week he’d be playing Seven Samurai.
It totally reminds me of Batman!
Anyone know what language these HK movies are in on Criterion? I’d like to watch the Cantonese version but oftentimes what I find on services are the English dub.
Criterion is likely to go with original tracks whenever possible–I’ve only checked Heroic Trio and Police Story 3 and those are Cantonese.
The most recent Heroic Trio dub is good quality. I believe Yeoh even dubs herself. Edit: not sure if the Criterion has that version though. They usually stick to subtitles. For me, I kinda feel like HK action movies feel more “correct” to me if they are dubbed because that is how I saw them as a kid.
I used to borrow mine from a local Asian grocery—the movies were often split between two VHS tapes and there’d be commercials inbetween for local businesses. Forbidden Kingdom’s love letter to that kind of joint, even though it came out well into the dvd era, warms my heart.What’s funny is how variable even the original dubs are. For Drunken Master, I think it’s just not available, or at least the last version I owned has Cantonese sometimes, and others when there are gaps. And then there’s factoids like Jet Li never learned Cantonese, so he’s always dubbed and Lethal Weapon 4 was maybe the first time his own voice was used.
Yeah, I mean they’re all pretty much dubbed since it was often cheaper/easier to just film the video part first and do the audio later, so it’s hard to say what is the “true” version. I remember hearing an interview with Michelle Yeoh where she said she would just be saying numbers during the dialogue scenes in her early action movies. But I’d appreciate a Cantonese version to make it easier for my parents to watch and because it sadly seems to be dying out as the language used in Chinese media.
Awesome, thank you!
I love “Design For Living.” It’s a lot of fun, and, as you say, surprisingly risque for people who aren’t familiar with pre-code talkies and think that all of the Golden Era was squeaky-clean.