By: Bridey Heing Category: FILM Date: 7.Jul.2014

The Big Chill (Lawrence Kasdan, 1983)

 

The Criterion Collection will be releasing four films and one box set over the course of July, beginning with Scanners and Pickpocket on the 15th. The Essential Jacques Demy and Insomnia will be available on the 22nd, and The Big Chill will round out the month on the 29th.

David Cronenberg’s 1981 hit Scanners combines horror, science fiction, and action. In it, one man with psychic powers is enlisted to defeat an underground movement of fellow scanners bent on world domination.
Scanners was Cronenberg’s first commercial success in the United States and was awarded the 1981 “Best International Film” Saturn Award by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror. It has since become a cult
horror classic.

The original trailer for Robert Bresson’s Pickpocket describes the 1959 film as “The story of a man who loved to steal and sacrificed everything to his passion.” The film was Bresson’s first original screenplay, and is an example of the filmmaker’s parametric narration style. Although nominated for the Golden Berlin Bear award at the 1960 Berlin International Film Festival, the film did not win any significant awards upon release.

The 13-disc boxset The Essential Jacques Demy features films spanning two decades of work by the influential New Wave filmmaker. From his 1961 debut Lola to 1982’s Une Chambre en Ville, this tribute explores the various genres in which Demy played, bringing to life his signature visually striking and emotionally stirring tales. Concerned less with politics and formality than his New Wave contemporaries, Demy is considered a more approachable and fantastical filmmaker.

Erik Skjoldbjærg’s 1997 film Insomnia follows a troubled detective (played by Stellan Skarsgård) as he investigates the mysterious small town murder of a teenage girl. The Norwegian noir was a critical hit in the U.S., but failed to draw crowds at the box office. Nonetheless, the film continues to be celebrated today for its tension and complexity, while Skarsgård performance is considered one of the best of his long career.

Lawrence Kasdan’s The Big Chill (1983) is a defining film of the Baby Boomer generation. When a friend commits suicide, now 30 something group of friends reunite to bond and look back at their lives both together and
apart. Featuring an all-star cast, the film is a meditation on the passing of time and nostalgia. It was nominated for a number of prestigious awards, including three Oscars, two Golden Globes, and one BAFTA.