Summertime is movie time as the latest films in the Criterion Collect offer a wide variety of cinema for film fans, spanning across nearly ninety years of filmmaking. As the month begins, two masterpieces of 1985, that previously entered the collection, get their 4K Blu-Ray upgrade in Brazil and Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters. In his dystopian sci-fi dark comedy, director Terry Gilliam delivered his best film, following a pitch-perfect Jonathan Pryce as a daydreaming everyman who finds himself caught in the hellish gears of a nightmarish bureaucracy. Inspired by the works of George Orwell, Aldous Huxley, and Kurt Vonnegut, Brazil is a dazzling piece of work, featuring breathtaking production design, cinematography, and special effects way ahead of its time. With Mishima, writer-director Paul Schrader uses his signature investigative eye in looking at the life of acclaimed Japanese author, playwright Yukio Mishima (played by the incredible Ken Ogata). As he looks at the inner turmoil and the contradictions of a man who attempted the impossible task of finding harmony within oneself, art, and their society, Schrader provides his best work as well, alongside an unforgettable, highly influential score by Philip Glass and rich cinematography by John Bailey that changes throughout each chapter. Bold, beautiful work by two masters of cinema.
If you watched the Oscars a couple of months ago, you would know that Wicked and the world of Oz were front and center on Hollywood’s biggest night. Both in the opening number featuring Oscar nominees Cynthia Erivo, and in a tribute to the late, great Quincy Jones featuring a performance from Oscar nominees Queen Latifah, the film entering the collection in the second week of the month of June was center stage, making The Wiz’s Criterion debut timely and very necessary. A lavish adaptation of the landmark Broadway show based on the classic story The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, veteran director Sidney Lumet brought to screen a dazzling spectacle for a new generation to fall in love with the characters of Oz. With Diana Ross as Dorothy, a Harlem schoolteacher who is transported to a surreal fantasy of New York City, where wonders and terrors are around every corner. Supported by an all-star cast that includes Michael Jackson, Richard Pryor, and Lena Horne, The Wiz reframes the beloved epic through the eyes of the modern Black American experience and is a must own from this month.
Next up in the month of June is two titles, very different in approach, but important entries for their subgenres. For Charlotte Zwerin’s Thelonious Monk Straight, No Chaser, the renowned documentarian takes us on a journey through the brilliant, complex life of the visionary jazz musician, Thelonious Monk. Captured by archival footage, we see the pianist, composer, bebop innovator in rare moments of his life both on and offstage, revealing a portrait of an artist that is eccentric and complicated, as many of our favorite artists usually are. But Zwerin’s approach provides us a chance to see the unique perspective of one of the twentieth century’s most revolutionary souls. While you are picking up Thelonious Monk Straight, No Chaser, go ahead and grab a great screwball comedy from the sophisticated minds of writers Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett, Midnight. Following a penniless American chorus girl (the incomparable Claudette Colbert) who crashes Parisian high society pretending to be a wealthy baroness, director Mitchell Leisen masterfully composes a hilarious social observation with a cynical bite at richer side of life.
Two unconventional forms of filmmaking make up the final titles of the month, with the first one being François Girard’s visionary portrait of renowned pianist Glenn Gould with Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould. Set across multiple vignettes encompassing almost every type of storytelling device, the film pieces together Gould’s life from cradle to grave, highlighting the significant moments of his musical career. Led by an immaculate performance by Colm Feore, Girard’s film deconstructs the musical biopic as well as the genius behind the music. Lastly, the film release of the month is the highly anticipated release of William Friedkin’s hallucinatory masterpiece, Sorcerer. Known as being a reimagining of The Wages of Fear (also in the collection), this was one of the last bold films made in the New Hollywood era of the 1970s, following four doomed souls on a mission in the jungle, carrying two trucks full of explosives that could blow at any moment. Aided by Tangerine Dream’s all-time score, Sorcerer is the film personification of tension, and a defining piece of art from one of cinema’s greatest auteurs. We covered the film recently on an episode of Director Watch, where the hosts talked extensively about the haunting brilliance found at the heart of the film, which can now be displayed in glorious 4K for the first time ever.
Below are the special features for all films from the June 2025 Criterion Collection releases.
BRAZIL Director-Approved Special Edition Features:
MISHIMA: A LIFE IN FOUR CHAPTERS Director- Approved Special Edition Features:
SORCERER Special Edition Features:
THE WIZ Special Edition Features:
THELONIOUS MONK STRAIGHT, NO CHASER Special Edition Features:
MIDNIGHT Special Edition Features:
THIRTY TWO SHORT FILMS ABOUT GLENN GOULD Director Approved Special Edition Features:
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