Intended or not, the Criterion Channel’s programming of Maurice Pialat and Michael Roemer pairs two auteurs who spoke the same death-riddled language. August’s lineup will bring nine features and one short from the former, four features and one documentary by the latter, while series on Sammo Hung and Bigas Luna will combine the misery with something poppier, sexier, more violent––the perfect way to close out summer.
On the series side, “’90s Soundtrack Movies” finds the overlap between Lost Highway and Pump Up the Volume; a highlight of Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Project features major works like Kalpana and Chess of the Wind; and a new anime program starts with Ghost in the Shell and Paprika. Criterion Editions feature The Red Balloon, Prince of Broadway, Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould, Trainspotting, Eastern Condors, and Deep Cover. Restorations of Michael Imperioli’s The Hungry Ghosts, Christophe Honoré’s Ma mère, Shinji Somai’s Moving, and Robert Lee King’s Psycho Beach Party also stream.
See more at Criterion and the full lineup below:
Akira, Katsuhiro Otomo, 1988
Bim, the Little Donkey, Albert Lamorisse, 1951
The Bodyguard, Sammo Hung, 2016
Chess of the Wind, Mohammad Reza Aslani, 1976
Circus Angel, Albert Lamorisse, 1965
The Competition, Claire Simon, 2016
Deep Cover, Bill Duke, 1992
Dig! XX, Ondi Timoner, 2024
Dying, Michael Roemer, 1976
Eastern Condors, Sammo Hung, 1987
Le garçu, Maurice Pialat, 1995
Ghost in the Shell, Mamoru Oshii, 1995
Golden Balls, Bigas Luna, 1993
Good Will Hunting, Gus Van Sant, 1997*
Graduate First, Maurice Pialat, 1978
Grosse Pointe Blank, George Armitage, 1997
The Hottest August, Brett Story, 2019
The Hungry Ghosts, Michael Imperioli, 2009
Judgment Night, Stephen Hopkins, 1993
Kalpana, Uday Shankar, 1948
Loulou, Maurice Pialat, 1980
The Magnificent Butcher, Yuen Woo-ping, 1979
Ma mère, Christophe Honoré, 2004*
Mallrats, Kevin Smith, 1995*
Maurice Pialat: Love Exists, Jean-Pierre Devillers and Anne-Marie Faux, 2007
The Mouth Agape, Maurice Pialat, 1974
Moving, Shinji Somai, 1993
Muna moto, Dikongué-Pipa, 1975
Paprika, Satoshi Kon, 2006*
Pedicab Driver, Sammo Hung, 1989
Pilgrim, Farewell, Michael Roemer, 1980
The Plot Against Harry, Michael Roemer, 1969
Prisioneros de la tierra, Mario Soffici, 1939
The Prison in Twelve Landscapes, Brett Story, 2016
Psycho Beach Party, Robert Lee King, 2000
Pump Up the Volume, Allan Moyle, 1990
Queens of the Stone Age: Alive in the Catacombs, Thomas Rames, 2025
Redline, Takeshi Koike, 2009
Singles, Cameron Crowe, 1992
So I Married an Axe Murderer, Thomas Schlamme, 1993
Sound of the Sea, Bigas Luna, 2001
Stowaway in the Sky, Albert Lamorisse, 1960
SubUrbia, Richard Linklater, 1996
Tamala 2010: A Punk Cat in Space, t.o.L, 2002
Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould, François Girard, 1993
The Tit and the Moon, Bigas Luna, 1994
Trainspotting, Danny Boyle, 1996
Two Girls on the Street, André de Toth, 1939
Under the Sun of Satan, Maurice Pialat, 1987
Van Gogh, Maurice Pialat, 1991
Variety, Bette Gordon, 1983
Velvet Goldmine, Todd Haynes, 1998
Volavérunt, Bigas Luna, 1999
We Won’t Grow Old Together, Maurice Pialat, 1972
*Available in the U.S. only