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A CRITERION GIFT GUIDE | |||
| This holiday season, give the gift of Criterion. And let us help you find the perfect present with our gift guide. From the devoted movie lover to the burgeoning cinephile, everyone on your list will be thrilled to get something from the Criterion Collection’s online store. Order now—there are only ten days left until Christmas. Don’t forget, our gift certificates also make great presents. As always, for every $500 you spend at the Criterion store, you’ll receive a free $50 gift certificate. Happy viewing, and happy holidays! | |||
It’s clear that Criterion shoppers have eclectic tastes, from the glossy fifties melodrama of Magnificent Obsession to the gritty contemporary gangster saga Gomorrah. Unsurprisingly, one of this year’s favorites is Wim Wenders’s unforgettable tale of angels among us, Wings of Desire, available in Blu-ray and DVD special editions. Wenders’s touching, visually extraordinary ode to Berlin in the 1980s is truly heavenly cinema. | |||
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BLU-RAY FAVORITES | |||
 | Criterion has put out twenty-eight gorgeous Blu-ray editions, and in 2010, we plan to release even more. For a particularly beguiling high-definition holiday treat, check out Arnaud Desplechin’s A Christmas Tale, a dark-edged family reunion drama laced with acid humor and starring Catherine Deneuve and Mathieu Amalric. It’s one of the best French films of recent years, featuring crystalline cinematography and a creative, witty script. | ||
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KIDS’ STUFF | |||
| Albert Lamorisse’s effervescent The Red Balloon has delighted kids for more than fifty years. This iconic, Oscar-winning tale of a Paris boy and his inflatable friend can be purchased individually or in a set of three classic children’s films, which also includes White Mane, Lamorisse’s poignant story of an untamed horse, and William Mason’s Oscar-nominated Paddle to the Sea, adapted from the beloved book by Holling C. Hollings. | ||
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FOR THE ASPIRING CINEPHILE | |||
| If you’re trying to decide what to get an adventurous, movie-loving young person in your life, how about turning that daughter, son, niece, nephew, or godchild on to the art of cinema? We can think of no better place to start than Truffaut’s The 400 Blows, the Catcher in the Rye of film, which helped usher in a revolutionary movement that would change the future of movies. | ||
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FOR THE CINEPHILE WHO’S SEEN IT ALL | |||
| There are gaps in even the most experienced movie lover’s knowledge. We can help remedy that, whether with rediscovered classics from the Criterion Collection or hidden gems from the Eclipse series. Check out our thrilling Nikkatsu Noir set, a wild bunch of Japanese crime films from the fifties and sixties that mix elements of the comedy, gangster, western, and teen-rebel genres. | ||
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$25 AND UNDER | |||
 | Criterion has plenty of items that cost $25 or less, from mugs to clothes to tote bags to Essential Art House single-disc releases. We also offer a selection of beautiful limited-edition posters: there’s the stunning new Rashomon poster, for example, painted by renowned artist Kent Williams—not to mention posters for the horror freak (House), the New Waver (Pierrot le fou), the classic-French-movie lover (Grand Illusion), and the rock-and-roll aficionado (Gimme Shelter). | ||
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UNDER $40 | |||
One of 2009’s most pleasant surprises (for us and for delighted viewers) has been the collection Science Is Fiction: 23 Films by Jean Painlevé. Though he’s not a household name, Painlevé, a French biologist-filmmaker-inventor, was a cinematic groundbreaker. He was one of the first people ever to take a camera underwater, and what he recorded was not only scientifically important but also staggeringly beautiful and surreal. This three-disc set also features Yo La Tengo’s score for eight of the films. | |||
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12.15.2009
Criterion Gift Guide
