Wondering why the Criterion Collection was tweeting out Spotify links to Roy Orbison this afternoon? Well, David Lynch loves the dearly departed blues rocker, his music is featured in several of his movies and “In Dreams,” the song in question, gets quite the spotlight in the director’s seminal 1985 masterpiece “Blue Velvet.” Yep, it was a tease, and “Blue Velvet” is coming to the boutique Blu-Ray DVD label this May. Starring Kyle MacLachlan, and launching that long tradition of collaboration between Lynch and the actor who would go on to be his “Twin Peaks” star, if you’ve somehow never seen it (correct that immediately), the drama centers on a young man on an investigation related to a beautiful, mysterious nightclub singer and a group of psychopathic criminals who have kidnapped her child. Co-starring Isabella Rossellini, who would go on to become Lynch’s romantic partner for several years, Laura Dern, Dean Stockwell and perhaps one of the most iconic roles of Dennis Hopper’s already iconic career. “Blue Velvet” is simply a haunting, landmark piece of cinema, transformative for Lynch’s career, and a stone-cold masterwork of the 1980s that has endured the test of time and then some.
May is something of a cinephile blockbuster month for Criterion this year. Not only do they have Lynch’s (arguably) most important work in their collection now, they have added new titles by the German minister of fear Michael Haneke, French New Wave icon Agnès Varda, French auteur Claire Denis, American playwright/filmmaker David Mamet, and venerable 1950s and 60s and “Ben Hur” director William Wyler.
Wyler’s psychologically piercing period drama”The Heiress,” featuring a heartbreaking, Oscar-winning performance by Olivia de Havilland opposite Montgomery Clift joins Criterion in May along with Haneke’s creepy, notorious and twisted home invasion thriller “Funny Games,” a provocation which is both nervously funny and kind of reprehensible at the same time. Haneke famously reshot the movie shot for shot with famous actors in 2007, but Criterion will be releasing the 1997 original.
On the more modern side of things, Criterion also releases “Let The Sunshine In,” in May, Claire Denis’ unlikely attempt at a kind of skewed romantic comedy with French acting icon Juliette Binoche. May also brings David Mamet’s underrated “House Of Games” with Joe Mantegna and Lindsay Crouse and Agnès Varda‘s poignant feminist musical “One Sings, the Other Doesn’t,” which comes with lots of great extras including a few documentaries and Varda short films. She turns 91 this year, and it’s a fitting tribute to one of cinema’s greats. Start saving now.
Here’s the cover art and more details from Criterion
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