Paul Schrader’s Adventures in Moviegoing

Paul Schrader’s Adventures in Moviegoing

17 Episodes

A legendary screenwriter, director, critic, and cinephile whose work searches for spiritual salvation in the modern world, Paul Schrader did not in fact see a movie until he was a teenager—a result of his being raised in a strict Calvinist household that forbade filmgoing. In this edition of Adventures in Moviegoing, he sits down with Criterion Channel programmer Aliza Ma to discuss how he came to worship at the altar of cinema—a journey that began with the discovery of the films of Ingmar Bergman and his life-changing association with the critic Pauline Kael. As he explains, each movie he has selected proved a revelation in his understanding of the medium, including masterpieces by Carl Theodor Dreyer (ORDET) and Yasujiro Ozu (AN AUTUMN AFTERNOON) that reflect his interest in what he famously dubbed “transcendental” film style.

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Paul Schrader’s Adventures in Moviegoing

17 Episodes

  • Paul Schrader in Conversation
    24:09
    Paul Schrader in Conversation
    Episode 1

    Paul Schrader in Conversation

    Episode 1

    A legendary screenwriter, director, critic, and cinephile whose work searches for spiritual salvation in the modern world, Paul Schrader did not in fact see a movie until he was a teenager—a result of his being raised in a strict Calvinist household that forbade filmgoing. In this edition of Adve...

  • Paul Schrader on JOURNEY TO ITALY
    03:30
    Paul Schrader on JOURNEY TO ITALY
    Episode 2

    Paul Schrader on JOURNEY TO ITALY

    Episode 2

  • Journey to Italy
    1:25:38
    Journey to Italy
    Episode 3

    Journey to Italy

    Episode 3

    Directed by Roberto Rossellini • 1954 • Italy
    Starring Ingrid Bergman, George Sanders

    Among the most influential films of the postwar era, Roberto Rossellini’s JOURNEY TO ITALY (VIAGGIO IN ITALIA) charts the declining marriage of a couple from England (Ingrid Bergman and George Sanders) on a tri...

  • Paul Schrader on ORDET
    05:01
    Paul Schrader on ORDET
    Episode 4

    Paul Schrader on ORDET

    Episode 4

  • Ordet
    2:06:09
    Ordet
    Episode 5

    Ordet

    Episode 5

    Directed by Carl Th. Dreyer • 1955 • Denmark
    Starring Henrik Malberg, Emil Hass Christensen, Cay Kristiansen

    A farmer’s family is torn apart by faith, sanctity, and love—one child believes he’s Jesus Christ, a second proclaims himself agnostic, and the third falls in love with a fundamentalist’s...

  • Paul Schrader on LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD
    05:33
    Paul Schrader on LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD
    Episode 6

    Paul Schrader on LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD

    Episode 6

  • Last Year at Marienbad
    1:34:45
    Last Year at Marienbad
    Episode 7

    Last Year at Marienbad

    Episode 7

    Directed by Alain Resnais • 1961 • France
    Starring Delphine Seyrig, Giorgio Albertazzi, Sacha Pitoëff

    Not just a defining work of the French New Wave but one of the great, lasting mysteries of modern art, Alain Resnais’ epochal LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD has been puzzling appreciative viewers for de...

  • Paul Schrader on AN AUTUMN AFTERNOON
    05:05
    Paul Schrader on AN AUTUMN AFTERNOON
    Episode 8

    Paul Schrader on AN AUTUMN AFTERNOON

    Episode 8

  • An Autumn Afternoon
    1:53:39
    An Autumn Afternoon
    Episode 9

    An Autumn Afternoon

    Episode 9

    Directed by Yasujiro Ozu • 1962 • Japan
    Starring Chishu Ryu, Shima Iwashita, Keiji Sada

    The last film by Yasujiro Ozu was also his final masterpiece, a gently heartbreaking story about a man’s dignifed resignation to life’s shifting currents and society’s modernization. Though the widower Shuhei...

  • Paul Schrader on RED DESERT
    04:49
    Paul Schrader on RED DESERT
    Episode 10

    Paul Schrader on RED DESERT

    Episode 10

  • Red Desert
    1:57:03
    Red Desert
    Episode 11

    Red Desert

    Episode 11

    Directed by Michelangelo Antonioni • 1964 • Italy
    Starring Monica Vitti, Richard Harris

    Michelangelo Antonioni’s 1960s panoramas of contemporary alienation were decade-defining artistic events, and RED DESERT, his first color film, is perhaps his most epochal. This provocative look at the spirit...

  • Paul Schrader on MASCULIN FÉMININ
    03:50
    Paul Schrader on MASCULIN FÉMININ
    Episode 12

    Paul Schrader on MASCULIN FÉMININ

    Episode 12

  • Masculin féminin
    1:44:31
    Masculin féminin
    Episode 13

    Masculin féminin

    Episode 13

    Directed by Jean-Luc Godard • 1966 • France
    Starring Jean-Pierre Léaud, Chantal Goya, Marlène Jobert

    With MASCULIN FÉMININ (“Masculine Feminine”), ruthless stylist and iconoclast Jean-Luc Godard introduces the world to “the children of Marx and Coca-Cola,” through a gang of restless youths engag...

  • Paul Schrader on CLAIRE’S KNEE
    04:42
    Paul Schrader on CLAIRE’S KNEE
    Episode 14

    Paul Schrader on CLAIRE’S KNEE

    Episode 14

  • Claire’s Knee
    1:46:19
    Claire’s Knee
    Episode 15

    Claire’s Knee

    Episode 15

    Directed by Eric Rohmer • 1970 • France

    "Why would I tie myself to one woman if I were interested in others?" says Jerôme, even as he plans on marrying a diplomat's daughter by summer's end. Before then, Jerôme spends his July at a lakeside boardinghouse nursing crushes on the sixteen-year-old L...

  • Paul Schrader on IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE
    03:07
    Paul Schrader on IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE
    Episode 16

    Paul Schrader on IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE

    Episode 16

  • In the Mood for Love
    1:39:06
    In the Mood for Love
    Episode 17

    In the Mood for Love

    Episode 17

    Directed by Wong Kar Wai • 2000 • Hong Kong
    Starring Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Maggie Cheung Man-yuk

    Hong Kong, 1962: Chow Mo-wan (Tony Leung Chiu-wai) and Su Li-zhen (Maggie Cheung Man-yuk) move into neighboring apartments on the same day. Their encounters are formal and polite—until a discovery abo...

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