Antonio Gaudi: Criterion Collection (Blu-ray) by Justin Remer The Movie: Hiroshi Teshigahara's 1984 film Antonio Gaud is ostensibly a documentary about the famed Catalan architect. However, those looking for background on Antoni Gaud 's life, or a synthesized understanding of his work, should seek a more straightforward doc about him (Criterion has handily provided two of those in this disc's bonus features [see below]). Teshigahara instead crafts a dreamy, impressionistic study of both Gaud 's buildings and his homeland that has been oft-described -- aptly -- as a tone-poem. Structured somewhat like a travelogue, the film soaks up bits of Catalan art and culture between visual investigations of Gaud 's different creations. This includes folk dances in a city square and shots of a bustling fish market in...Read the entire review »

Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers - Alice Guy-Blache Vol. 1: The Gaumont Years (Blu-ray) by Tyler Foster She is not exactly a household name (although her profile has improved recently, thanks to the efforts of labels like Kino Lorber and Flicker Alley, as well as a feature-length documentary about her work), but Alice Guy-Blache was the first woman to ever direct a narrative fiction film, if not the first person in history. She was working as Leon Gaumont's secretary at the camera and photography supply company bearing his name when they were both invited to the first-ever projection of a film, where the Lumiere brothers showed a documentary-style clip of workers leaving their factory. Guy-Blache convinced Gaumont she could make something more inventive, and the results, La Fee aux Choix (aka The Cabbage Fairy), became the first entry in a directing resume that would eventually span over 700 films. As many of Guy-Blache's films were quite short, analysis of her work is a little less ...Read the entire review »