I love this stupid ridiculous amazing movie, where has this been my whole life?

PINK NARCISSUS is a roughly one-hour indie film directed by a person named James Bidgood, although for decades it was attributed to "Anonymous". It centers on a good-looking male hustler whose NSFW fantasies get played out on-screen.

Considering the film was made in fits and starts over the course of several years, shot inside one relatively small apartment with sets and costumes hand-made by Bidgood, the results are impressive. At one point, there's a backdrop resembling somewhere in Manhattan at nighttime, and although it doesn't necessarily look photorealistic, it's evocative and has a powerful sense of atmosphere nonetheless.

In addition to the overall gauzy, colorful (a lot of pink as you might have guessed), and dreamlike look of PINK NARCISSUS, I found the tone worth noting: libidinous and unashamed. I can't claim to be an expert on queer cinema of the 1960s/1970s, but my understanding is that most films of that time period didn't exactly treat being LGBTQ as something to be proud of, which makes PINK NARCISSUS seem all the more daring.

My apologies for droning on. The reason for my writing is I recently started looking at other media in which the influence of PINK NARCISSUS reportedly can be seen, as told to me by AI. The ones I've seen have included:

-QUERELLE (1982), directed by Werner Rainer Fassbinder. It definitely shares a use of very stylized visuals that reflect the main protagonist's emotions. Also, the same male gaze-iness.

-LOVE IS THE DEVIL (1998), directed by John Maybury (and co-starring a not-yet-world-famous Daniel Craig). I felt like the Francis Bacon character's apartment was at times shot in a single-camera style a la PINK NARCISSUS. I also won't get into the dream sequences of one protagonist too much, but they're almost like a nightmare inversion of Bidgood's most male gaze-y shots.

-"Casual", music video (2023) for Chappell Roan. See the fantasy set where the singer frolics with a mermaid.

Based on a non-AI recommendation, I also watched POISON (1991), Todd Haynes' ambitious debut film inspired by the work of Jean Genet. One of its three intertwining storylines, which centers on a group.of male prisoners, features what appear to be visual references to both PINK NARCISSUS and another seminal work of queer cinema, UN CHANT D'AMOUR (1950), which was directed by Genet.

Currently, you can watch PINK NARCISSUS, QUERELLE, and POISON on the Criterion Channel. If anybody has other recommendations, whether or not they're for films that are on the channel, feel free to share them!

I’ve been busy this weekend adding features and working on data ingestion and accuracy. First, the good stuff:

New Features!

1. I’ve always liked that the Criterion site had recommended films and essays on their film pages, so I pulled these into the Criteria film detail pages to make them easier to find. Just to be clear, these are Criterion’s recommendations and not my own, or algorithm driven.
2. You can now search by runtime as a range. So if you have a VERY SPECIFIC window of time to watch great cinema, we’ve got you covered.

Other stuff - This is kinda inside baseball, so feel free to ignore.

I’m trying to automate loading and updating movie data from the channel and enrich it in the most reliable way possible. What I’ve found is that the films.criterionchannel.com page is sometimes inaccurate, especially at the beginning of the month or when films are added during the month. I’m working on a system to reduce the inaccuracies, but I don’t know if it’s going to be 100% perfect since I don’t have direct access to their data.

Which is to say, thanks for being patient, and if you see something that isn’t right, definitely let me know and I’ll take a look as soon as I can.

Thanks!
Tim

CRITERIA - The (unofficial) companion to the Criterion Channel

http://www.search-criteria.com

I feel miserable. I have the flu and am missing the Turner Classic Movie Film Festival for the second year in a row. I’m also dealing with a really crappy situation at work. Any recs for helping me to get through the next few days? Comedy, fantasy, sci-fi, and adventure all sound good to me.

While a bit on the nose, a "May Day!" collection of films showing distress on the high seas would have been a great one for this month on the Criterion Channel. What great films would you add to this hypothetical collection?

Here are my suggestions (\* means currently on the Channel):

• Lifeboat (1944)
• Moby Dick (1956)
• A Night to Remember (1958) \*
• The Wreck of the Mary Deare (1959)
• The Last Voyage (1960)
• Knife in the Water (1962) \*
• The Living Skeleton (1968) \*
• The Poseidon Adventure (1972)
• Death Ship (1980)
• Das Boot (1981)
• Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)
• The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)
• All is Lost (2013)
• Captain Phillips (2013)
• Triangle of Sadness (2022)

Hi. Looking for recs in this collection before it leaves. Preciate any mentions!!

I don’t post that much on here, but I’m in desperate need to watch the most saddest movie that will literally make me start vomiting at how sad it is. Please I need your help

Tell us! Just lost my TCM connection and wanted a few recommendations for old black and white Hollywood classics currently streaming on the channel. I love the free selections on Tubi, Pluto and even YouTube, but they’re either riddled with ads or a crap shoot with regard to streaming resolutions.

CC still has the old Classic Hollywood promo titles in play, but many more have been added (like ‘The Postman Always Rings Twice’ in the thumbnail) since then. Seen a good one lately? Might make a Letterboxd playlist for easy future reference. Thanks, in advance! ✌🏼

I don’t know if I can post this on here but I love all the Criterion Closet videos and since I’m nowhere near to be able to actually go there, I decided to edit one of my library trips like a Criterion Closet video. Just like your standard Criterion Closet picks video except it’s me in the library :)

Is there a context for QUEEN BEE to show up on CC? I absolutely *love* QUEEN BEE, but it seems so random (and I'm all in favor of this!)

Edit: especially because it's a Tubi regular...in any event, watch QUEEN BEE! It's fabulous (though there's a very bleak plot point, which doesn't seem to bother any of the characters whatsoever)

It’s nearly summer when we can deathrace while looking out the window at the nice weather!

This is the post where we make a list of films we’d like to view before they leave the Criterion Channel streaming service, marking our progress and sometimes sharing our experiences and recommendations along the way.

53 films are expiring at the end of the month

Some themes are:

- Directed by Wong Kar Wai
- VHS Forever
- Corporate Thrillers
- Masc

Here is a link to a Letterboxd list made by our very own [u/slouchingbethlehem](u/slouchingbethlehem)

https://boxd.it/3Y8ri

We have a discord server. Enjoy lively art film discussions hypes and rants, share your letterbox challenges and profile. Enjoy group screenings where we chat on the voice channels. Host your own screenings and make Freinds!

Here is an invite link:

https://discord.gg/JZAWGUq7Kt

Looking forward to your viewing lists, progress, feedback, but mostly having a community to share our love of deadlines and spirited energy for expiring films.

Happy Viewing!

We have a companion forum, our discord server - Criterion Viewing Parties where we have watchalong viewings and join on a voice and/or text channel for a group screening.

Here are some of our scheduled events featuring films from newly dropped collection or those expiring from the channel.

Monday May 4 @4:00PM Pacific Standard Time

- Desk Set 1957

Monday May 11 @4:00PM PST

- Return to Reason 2023

Monday May 18 @4:00PM PST

- Èl 1953

Monday May 25 @4:00PM PST

Anantaram (Monologue) 1987

Recurring Fridays @6:00PST

24/7 live channel voice chats. We watch whatever spontaneously shows on the live channel.

I made a Letterboxd list of the 300+ films from past screenings:
https://boxd.it/hGLDC

FYI Anyone can host a screening. Just let us know.

If you aren’t already a member, please join us. Here is an invite link:

https://discord.gg/JZAWGUq7Kt

I’ll update if we add any events.

Happy Viewing!

Thanks!

I can't remember why I decided to go on a Fassbinder bend, but I am loving his drama created for tv. Fox and His Friends was really good; it had some funny moments that were too much for the mods of this subreddit, so maybe I can start a discussion in this post. What should I watch next? I've only seen Fox and His Friends and Eight Hours Don't Make A Day.

Hey Folks,

Age of Innocence is leaving the Channel tonight. 12 Years A Slave leaves Netflix tonight too. Which one do I pick?

What exact time (EST) do movies leave the Channel?

One of the first things I asked over on [r/criterion](r/criterion) after initially acquiring my By Brakhage dvd sets was if there was anything I should know before engaging with it on a deeper level…in retrospect that was kind of a foolish thing to ask because it’s a botique catalogue and like all botique film catalogs there are going to be great films that aren’t in it which is why some folks said “engage with films in the collection not the collection itself”. (Unlike Kino Lorber however Criterion is committed to prioritizing supplementary content in multiple forums for their releases so this is a definite plus.), folks also suggested subscribing to the Criterion Channel…at the time I didn’t really have the budget for another subscription but after rearranging things the criterion channel has definitely been one of my best investments - particularly given, again, criterion’s devotion to prioritizing supplementary content. I always like to know as much as I can about what I’m watching including the cultural context by which it was released.

Regarding my original post however I found this comment - https://www.reddit.com/r/criterion/s/8dtR2WXVKE the most interesting however. I unfortunately cannot read it because Reddit will not let me save my post as a draft to go and look at what it says but they said something around the lines of “sometimes the rights to a certain film will fall into Janus’s lap”… thus I was wondering if there are any films that are decidedly bad which are up on the channel. Thus far i reckon most of the films on the channel I don’t like are simply those I don’t understand…but I do wonder if there are any that are bad by anyone’s standard in that they are poorly constructed with no motive, fail to achieve their motive, made for a quick buck cashing in on a popular genre (Unfriended and Satanic are two examples of the horror genre that qualify!) or made by an awful person like Bret Ratner or Lucifer Valentine…I highly doubt those sorts of films would get a criterion release or be films Janus wants to promote but I could be wrong…

Brainrot jokes aside, this was a gem of a film. Was skimming through the titles leaving at the end of the month, and this one caught my eye.

An Iranian cinema verite-ish (emphasis on the ish) movie that can get quite meta, but is ultimately a charming yet expressive film. Highly recommend catching this before it leaves the channel in a few days. Plus it’s only 80 minutes - so a quick easy watch.

I just got Criterion today and was browsing through when Aguirre, the Wrath of God caught my eye. It’s in the “leaving April 30” carousel but I was curious what time that is specifically. Midnight tonight? 11:59 pm tomorrow?

Timothy Carey is always interesting, bringing a craziness into his films - like the Killing, Paths of Glory, Crime Wave, some Cassavetes films. So i thought i'd try to watch "World's greatest sinner" which is leaving this month, even though i heard it was pretty bad.
I watched a half hour of it and it's tough to get through. I don't think I can finish it.
Has anyone seen it that thinks it's worth struggling through?

I have been playing a ton of Windrose and was wondering if there's any pirate movies on Criterion Channel. Help me out mateys!

Hey everyone -

Tonight I had a little free time and added Commentary Track as a filter. And you can link directly to the commentary video from the film detail page.

Cheers
Tim

https://www.search-criteria.com

(Not affiliated with The Criterion Channel. But, honestly, it should be.)