The Criterion Collection’s July lineup has a little bit of everything—David Lynch in ravishing black and white tragedy, Martin Scorsese reframing the maternal melodrama through a New Hollywood lens, Neil Jordan’s slippery romantic thriller, Nagisa Oshima at full-bore nihilistic fury, and a sweeping Mike Mills set that turns three intimate features into a kind of autobiographical mosaic.
The month begins on July 7 with David Lynch’s “The Elephant Man,” returning in a new 4K UHD and Blu-ray edition. Starring Anthony Hopkins and John Hurt, the 1980 film remains one of Lynch’s most accessible works. Still, it also carries the director’s unmistakable visual and sonic sensibility—turning the life of John Merrick into something mournful, haunted, and deeply humane. Criterion’s edition includes a 4K restoration, archival interviews, a documentary on the making of the film, a program on the real Joseph Merrick, and audio material with Lynch at the American Film Institute.
A week later, on July 14, Criterion rolls out one of the strongest clusters in the slate. Martin Scorsese’s “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore” arrives in 4K UHD and Blu-ray, with its new restoration supervised and approved by Scorsese. The film gave Ellen Burstyn one of her defining roles as a newly widowed mother trying to build a life on her own terms, and it remains one of the sharpest studio films of the 1970s about independence, labor, romance, and survival. Criterion’s supplements include a new Burstyn conversation, a new interview with editor Marcia Lucas, and a commentary featuring Scorsese and several cast members.
That same day also brings Martin Ritt’s “Hud,” the great American anti-western that let Paul Newman weaponize his charm into something far colder and uglier. The 1963 film has never really lost its sting, and Criterion is leaning into its legacy with a new 4K restoration, archival material with Ritt, and fresh interviews with Sally Field and Roger Deakins discussing the film and the work of cinematographer James Wong Howe.
Also on July 14, Neil Jordan’s “The Crying Game” joins the slate in a director-approved special edition. The film’s reputation was flattened for years by the way it was marketed and discussed, but its staying power has always come from something richer and sadder: a bruised, shape-shifting story about identity, guilt, desire, and political violence. With Stephen Rea and Jaye Davidson at the center, the film still feels emotionally singular, and Criterion’s release includes a new restoration, interviews with Jordan and Rea, a 2005 making-of documentary, and an alternate ending with commentary.
On July 21, Criterion gets more adventurous with Nagisa Oshima’s “Cruel Story of Youth,” a 1960 blast of postwar despair and corrupted idealism. The release pairs Oshima’s breakthrough feature with his first feature, “A Town of Love and Hope,” and the short film “Tomorrow’s Sun,” giving the disc the shape of a compact early-career survey. The same date also brings Hlynur Pálmason’s “The Love That Remains,” arriving through Criterion Premieres after its theatrical run. The Icelandic drama, centered on a separating couple and their children, comes with a filmmaker interview, Pálmason’s companion film “Joan of Arc,” and notes by David Schwartz.
The month closes on July 28 with the biggest item in the lineup: Mike Mills’s “I’ll Remind You of Everything: The Films of Mike Mills.” The set gathers “Beginners,” “20th Century Women,” and “C’mon C’mon” into one director-approved collection, turning three already beloved films into a fuller portrait of Mills’ obsessions—parents and children, memory and inheritance, how people teach one another to live. Criterion is also stacking the box with new restorations, commentaries, making-of programs, a documentary conversation with Kirsten Johnson, music videos, and several of Mills’ shorter works.
For collectors, July will unfold in waves: “The Elephant Man” on July 7; “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore,” “Hud,” and “The Crying Game” on July 14; “Cruel Story of Youth” and “The Love That Remains” on July 21; and the Mike Mills set on July 28.
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.
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