The Criterion Channel’s February lineup leans into craft and feeling, a month where the connective tissue is how movies move: bodies in space, desire in the bloodstream, politics in the frame. It’s built for double features and rabbit holes, jumping from silent-era peril to contemporary Oslo without losing its shape.
The most enormous umbrella is “Stunts!,” co-curated with stunt coordinator Buddy Joe Hooker. The collection tracks a century of screen spectacle, from silent classics like “Safety Last!” and “The General” to later action milestones that treat choreography and risk as their own language. It can pivot from the clean, controlled cool of “Bullitt” to the precision of Hong Kong action in “Police Story” and “Hard Boiled,” and it stretches into modern entries like “Death Proof.” The program also notes that stunt design will be celebrated at the 100th Academy Awards in 2028 via a new category.
On the romantic side of the Criterion Channel, “Yearning” gathers films that treat longing as the point, not a detour toward closure. The selections move across eras and sensibilities, from classic Hollywood melodrama (“All That Heaven Allows”) to modern restraint (“In the Mood for Love”), period swoon (“Bright Star”), and queer ache (“My Own Private Idaho,” “God’s Own Country”). The throughline is that pleasure-pain of wanting something that keeps slipping a half-step out of reach.
“Gangsters, Gold Diggers, and Grifters: Mervyn LeRoy’s Pre-Code Films” brings early-’30s Warner Bros. bite to the forefront, a run of fast, flinty stories about hustlers, institutions, and survival in the Depression. Anchors include “Little Caesar,” “I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang,” the newsroom cynicism of “Five Star Final,” and the Busby Berkeley showcase “Gold Diggers of 1933.”
The month’s most bracing political section is the “Sudanese Film Group” showcase, featuring shorts by Eltayeb Mahdi, Ibrahim Shaddad, and Suliman Mohamed Ibrahim Elnour, alongside Suhaib Gasmelbari’s “Talking About Trees,” which frames cinema as a push for creative independence against censorship and power.
For gothic romantics, “Wuthering Heights: Two Versions” pairs William Wyler’s 1939 classic with Andrea Arnold’s 2011 adaptation, two opposing temperatures for Emily Brontë’s story of love, cruelty, and obsession. With a new screen version timed for Valentine’s Day, the pairing doubles as a reminder of how radically interpretation can change a familiar myth.
February also features “Celebrate Black History,” spanning foundational landmarks and later essentials, from “Within Our Gates” to “Killer of Sheep,” “Losing Ground,” “Paris Is Burning,” “Daughters of the Dust,” and “The Watermelon Woman.”
New-to-the-channel highlights include the exclusive premiere “Peter Hujar’s Day” from Ira Sachs, starring Ben Whishaw and Rebecca Hall, plus a restorations slot for Clement Virgo’s “Rude.” Add Dag Johan Haugerud’s “Oslo Trilogy” (“Love,” “Sex,” “Dreams”) and a director spotlight on Héctor Babenco (including “Kiss of the Spider Woman”), and February starts to look like a month designed to reshape your watchlist rather than fill it.
Complete list of films premiering on the Criterion Channel this month:
“Africa, the Jungle, Drums and Revolution” — Suliman Mohamed Ibrahim Elnour, 1979
“The Age of Innocence” — Martin Scorsese, 1993
“All That Heaven Allows” — Douglas Sirk, 1955
“Anvil! The Story of Anvil” — Sacha Gervasi, 2008
“Ashes of Time Redux” — Wong Kar Wai, 2008 (U.S. only)
“Babenco: Tell Me When I Die” — Bárbara Paz, 2019
“Ben-Hur” — William Wyler, 1959
“Big City Blues” — Mervyn LeRoy, 1932
“Bullitt” — Peter Yates, 1968
“A Camel” — Ibrahim Shaddad, 1981
“Death Proof” — Quentin Tarantino, 2007
“The Deep Blue Sea” — Terence Davies, 2012 (U.S. only)
“A Different Image” — Alile Sharon Larkin, 1982
“Double Happiness” — Mina Shum, 1994 (U.S. only)
“Dreams” — Dag Johan Haugerud, 2024
“Drugstore Cowboy” — Gus Van Sant, 1989
“Face/Off” — John Woo, 1997
“Five Star Final” — Mervyn LeRoy, 1931
“Flickering Lights” — Anupama Srinivasan and Anirban Dutta, 2023
“Foolish Heart” — Héctor Babenco, 1998
“Four Times for Children” — Elyateb Mahdi, 1979
“God’s Own Country” — Francis Lee, 2017 (U.S. only)
“Gold Diggers of 1933” — Mervyn LeRoy, 1933
“Gone in 60 Seconds” — H. B. Halicki, 1974
“Hard to Handle” — Mervyn LeRoy, 1933
“Heat Lightning” — Mervyn LeRoy, 1934
“Hi, Nellie!” — Mervyn LeRoy, 1934
“High Pressure” — Mervyn LeRoy, 1932
“Hooper” — Hal Needham, 1978
“The Hunted” — William Friedkin, 2003
“Hunting Party” — Ibrahim Shaddad, 1964
“I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang” — Mervyn LeRoy, 1932
“I Am Somebody” — Madeline Anderson, 1970
“Integration Report 1” — Madeline Anderson, 1960
“It Still Rotates” — Suliman Mohamed Ibrahim Elnour, 1978
“King of the Night” — Héctor Babenco, 1975
“Little Caesar” — Mervyn LeRoy, 1931 (U.S. only)
“Love” — Dag Johan Haugerud, 2024
“Lúcio Flávio” — Héctor Babenco, 1977
“Maurice” — James Ivory, 1987
“My Own Private Idaho” — Gus Van Sant, 1991
“Nocturnes” — Anupama Srinivasan and Anirban Dutta, 2024
“Pandora and the Flying Dutchman” — Albert Lewin, 1951
“The Past” — Héctor Babenco, 2007
“Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time” — Lili Horvát, 2020 (U.S. only)
“The Road Warrior” — George Miller, 1981
“The Rope” — Ibrahim Shaddad, 1984
“Rude” — Clement Virgo, 1995
“Sex” — Dag Johan Haugerud, 2024
“SLC Punk!” — James Merendino, 1998
“The Station” — Elyateb Mahdi, 1989
“Talking About Trees” — Suhaib Gasmelbari, 2019
“The Tomb” — Elyateb Mahdi, 1977
“Three on a Match” — Mervyn LeRoy, 1932
“To Live and Die in L.A.” — William Friedkin, 1985
“Wuthering Heights” — William Wyler, 1939
“Wuthering Heights” — Andrea Arnold, 2011
Rodrigo Perez is the founder and editor-in-chief of The Playlist, which he launched in 2008. He has worked in entertainment journalism since 2000, including at MTV, and has written for SPIN, IndieWire, Pitchfork, Complex, Magnet, and various music, film, and entertainment publications over the past two decades.
