Rachel Kushner’s Adventures in Moviegoing

Rachel Kushner’s Adventures in Moviegoing

18 Episodes

With her latest novel, "Creation Lake," hitting shelves this September, acclaimed writer Rachel Kushner—whose "The Flamethrowers" was recently named one of the best 100 books of the twenty-first century by the New York Times—sits down with Criterion Channel curator Aliza Ma to discuss her long-standing fascination with film and the ways in which cinema has influenced her own art. Reflecting on her favorite movies made in her onetime home of San Francisco, why Michelangelo Antonioni is always with her, and why she considers Barbara Loden’s WANDA to be the greatest film ever made about the United States, Kushner offers astute cultural insight into the filmgoing experience and the alchemical relationship between the cinematic image and the printed word.

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Rachel Kushner’s Adventures in Moviegoing

18 Episodes

  • Rachel Kushner's Adventures in Moviegoing Teaser
    01:01
    Rachel Kushner's Adventures in Moviegoing Teaser
    Episode 1

    Rachel Kushner's Adventures in Moviegoing Teaser

    Episode 1

  • Rachel Kushner in Conversation
    19:31
    Rachel Kushner in Conversation
    Episode 2

    Rachel Kushner in Conversation

    Episode 2

  • Rachel Kushner on WANDA
    06:18
    Rachel Kushner on WANDA
    Episode 3

    Rachel Kushner on WANDA

    Episode 3

  • Wanda
    1:43:13
    Wanda
    Episode 4

    Wanda

    Episode 4

    Directed by Barbara Loden • 1970 • United States
    Starring Barbara Loden, Michael Higgins

    With her first and only feature film—a hard-luck drama she wrote, directed, and starred in—Barbara Loden turned in a groundbreaking work of American independent cinema, bringing to life a kind of characte...

  • Rachel Kushner on THE PIG
    04:47
    Rachel Kushner on THE PIG
    Episode 5

    Rachel Kushner on THE PIG

    Episode 5

  • The Pig
    53:32
    The Pig
    Episode 6

    The Pig

    Episode 6

    Directed by Jean Eustache and Jean-Michel Barjol • 1970 • France

    Jean Eustache returned to his hometown, the farming community of Pessac, to create this cinema-verité record of the ritual slaughter of a pig, codirected with Jean-Michel Barjol. The documentary captures in unflinching detail—and i...

  • Rachel Kushner on L'ENFANCE NUE
    06:44
    Rachel Kushner on L'ENFANCE NUE
    Episode 7

    Rachel Kushner on L'ENFANCE NUE

    Episode 7

  • L’enfance nue
    1:23:09
    L’enfance nue
    Episode 8

    L’enfance nue

    Episode 8

    Directed by Maurice Pialat • 1968 • France
    Starring Michel Terrazon, Marie-Louise Thierry, René Thierry

    The singular French director Maurice Pialat puts his distinctive stamp on the lost-youth film with this devastating portrait of a damaged foster child. We watch as ten-year-old François (Miche...

  • Rachel Kushner on MR. KLEIN
    06:35
    Rachel Kushner on MR. KLEIN
    Episode 9

    Rachel Kushner on MR. KLEIN

    Episode 9

  • Mr. Klein
    2:03:59
    Mr. Klein
    Episode 10

    Mr. Klein

    Episode 10

    Directed by Joseph Losey • 1976 • France
    Starring Alain Delon, Jeanne Moreau, Francine Bergé

    Neglected for decades, this chilling existentialist mystery has reemerged as one of director Joseph Losey’s most virtuosic works. In perhaps the finest performance of his career, Alain Delon stars as the...

  • Rachel Kushner on MOTHER KÜSTERS GOES TO HEAVEN
    07:44
    Rachel Kushner on MOTHER KÜSTERS GOES TO HEAVEN
    Episode 11

    Rachel Kushner on MOTHER KÜSTERS GOES TO HEAVEN

    Episode 11

  • Mother Küsters Goes to Heaven
    1:57:54
    Mother Küsters Goes to Heaven
    Episode 12

    Mother Küsters Goes to Heaven

    Episode 12

    Directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder • 1975 • Germany
    Starring Brigitte Mira, Ingrid Caven, Margit Cartensen

    One of director Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s most provocative (the Berlin Film Festival banned it) variations on the Sirkian melodrama takes subversive, darkly comic aim at the media, polit...

  • Rachel Kushner on SANS SOLEIL
    07:06
    Rachel Kushner on SANS SOLEIL
    Episode 13

    Rachel Kushner on SANS SOLEIL

    Episode 13

  • Sans Soleil
    1:44:01
    Sans Soleil
    Episode 14

    Sans Soleil

    Episode 14

    Directed by Chris Marker • 1983 • France

    Chris Marker, filmmaker, poet, novelist, photographer, editor, and now videographer and digital multimedia artist, has been challenging moviegoers, philosophers, and himself for years with his complex queries about time, memory, and the rapid advancement ...

  • Rachel Kushner on TEOREMA
    07:35
    Rachel Kushner on TEOREMA
    Episode 15

    Rachel Kushner on TEOREMA

    Episode 15

  • Teorema
    1:38:45
    Teorema
    Episode 16

    Teorema

    Episode 16

    Directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini • 1968 • Italy
    Starring Terence Stamp, Silvana Mangano, Massimo Girotti

    One of the iconoclastic Pier Paolo Pasolini’s most radical provocations finds the auteur moving beyond the poetic, proletarian earthiness that first won him renown and notoriety with a coolly ...

  • Rachel Kushner on THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH
    07:06
    Rachel Kushner on THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH
    Episode 17

    Rachel Kushner on THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH

    Episode 17

  • The Man Who Fell to Earth
    2:19:17
    The Man Who Fell to Earth
    Episode 18

    The Man Who Fell to Earth

    Episode 18

    Directed by Nicolas Roeg • 1976 • United States
    Starring David Bowie, Rip Torn, Candy Clark

    THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH is a daring exploration of science fiction as an art form. The story of an alien on an elaborate rescue mission provides the launching pad for Nicolas Roeg’s visual tour de fo...

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