Greta Gerwig’s Adventures in Moviegoing
18 Episodes
From indie darling to helmer of 2023’s biggest (and pinkest) blockbuster, Greta Gerwig has blazed a unique trail by remaining true to her idiosyncratic voice—forged by a lifelong passion for literature, theater, and dance—at every step of her evolution. In this edition of Adventures in Moviegoing, the Barbie director sits down with Criterion president Peter Becker to discuss her formative love of classic MGM musicals, the first director’s filmography she ever binge-watched, and the rare movie she considers “perfect.” The films she has chosen to present reflect her interests in acting and innovative performers like Toshiro Mifune (YOJIMBO) and David Thewlis (NAKED) and in auteurs like Max Ophuls (THE EARRINGS OF MADAME DE . . .) and Claire Denis (BEAU TRAVAIL) for whom camerawork is a kind of choreography.
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Greta Gerwig’s Adventures in Moviegoing Teaser
Episode 1
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24:15Episode 2Greta Gerwig in Conversation
Episode 2
From indie darling to helmer of 2023’s biggest (and pinkest) blockbuster, Greta Gerwig has blazed a unique trail by remaining true to her idiosyncratic voice—forged by a lifelong passion for literature, theater, and dance—at every step of her evolution. In this edition of Adventures in Moviegoing...
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03:41Episode 3Greta Gerwig on BRIEF ENCOUNTER
Episode 3
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1:27:00Episode 4Brief Encounter
Episode 4
Directed by David Lean • 1945 • United Kingdom
Starring Celia Johnson, Trevor HowardAfter a chance meeting on a train platform, a married doctor (Trevor Howard) and a suburban housewife (Celia Johnson) begin a muted but passionate, and ultimately doomed, love affair. With its evocatively fog-en...
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04:29Episode 5Greta Gerwig on THE RED SHOES
Episode 5
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2:14:40Episode 6The Red Shoes
Episode 6
Directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger • 1948 • United Kingdom
Starring Moira Shearer, Anton Walbrook, Marius GoringTHE RED SHOES, the singular fantasia from Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, is cinema’s quintessential backstage drama, as well as one of the most glorious Tech...
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Greta Gerwig on THE EARRINGS OF MADAME DE . . .
Episode 7
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1:40:24Episode 8The Earrings of Madame de . . .
Episode 8
Directed by Max Ophuls • 1953 • France
Starring Danielle Darrieux, Charles Boyer, Vittorio De SicaThe most cherished work from French master Max Ophuls, THE EARRINGS OF MADAME DE . . . is a profoundly emotional, cinematographically adventurous tale of deceptive opulence and tragic romance. When...
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02:44Episode 9Greta Gerwig on YOJIMBO
Episode 9
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Yojimbo
Episode 10
Directed by Akira Kurosawa • 1961 • Japan
Starring Toshiro Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai, Yoko TsukasaThe incomparable Toshiro Mifune stars in Akira Kurosawa’s visually stunning and darkly comic YOJIMBO. To rid a terror-stricken village of corruption, wily masterless samurai Sanjuro turns a range war...
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04:24Episode 11Greta Gerwig on AMARCORD
Episode 11
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Amarcord
Episode 12
Directed by Federico Fellini • 1973 • France, Italy
This carnivalesque portrait of provincial Italy during the fascist period, the most personal film from Federico Fellini, satirizes the director's youth and turns daily life into a circus of social rituals, adolescent desires, male fantasies, an...
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Greta Gerwig on WHERE IS THE FRIEND’S HOUSE?
Episode 13
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1:23:23Episode 14Where Is the Friend’s House?
Episode 14
Directed by Abbas Kiarostami • 1987 • Iran
The first film in Abbas Kiarostami’s sublime, interlacing KOKER TRILOGY takes a simple premise—a boy searches for the home of his classmate, whose school notebook he has accidentally taken—and transforms it into a miraculous, child’s-eye adventure of ...
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04:39Episode 15Greta Gerwig on NAKED
Episode 15
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Naked
Episode 16
Directed by Mike Leigh • 1993 • United Kingdom
The brilliant and controversial Naked, from director Mike Leigh, stars David Thewlis as Johnny, a charming and eloquent but relentlessly vicious drifter. Rejecting anyone who might care for him, the volcanic Johnny hurls himself around London on a n...
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04:13Episode 17Greta Gerwig on BEAU TRAVAIL
Episode 17
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1:33:22Episode 18Beau travail
Episode 18
Directed by Claire Denis • 1999 • France
Starring Denis Lavant, Michel Subor, Grégoire ColinWith her ravishingly sensual take on Herman Melville’s “Billy Budd, Sailor,” Claire Denis firmly established herself as one of the great visual tone poets of our time. Amid the azure waters and sunbaked ...