BAD TIMING — THE CRITERION COLLECTION

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Nicolas Roeg is at his most inventive in this suspenseful erotic psychological drama.

The visionary filmmaker behind “Performance,” “Walkabout,” “Don’t Look Now,” and “The Man Who Fell To Earth” reached his peak of cinematic daring with “Bad Timing: A Sensual Obsession.”

Art Garfunkel represents an unbalanced academic narcissist who exploits a romantic interlude with Milena, an ostensibly bi-polar adulterer (Theresa Russell) while visiting cold-war Vienna.

Jealousy and tortured distance are at the heart of the couple's dysfunctional relationship.

Garfunkel's psychoanalyst Dr. Alex Linden would make an effective serial killer. Perhaps he's working up to it.

"Bad Timing" is twisted, in a good way.

Love, romance, and sex are overrated. 

Rated R. 123 mins.

Episode #92 — Brooklyn artist Valleire Trachsler came on the show to talk about one of Isabelle Huppert's favorite films included in the Criterion Collection, Nicolas Roeg's BAD TIMING: A SENSUAL OBSESSION. Bon appétit!

PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE — THE CRITERION COLLECTION

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Céline Sciamma's lesbian romantic fantasy almost works on its own terms, but falters during crucial elements.

18th century French portrait painter Marianne (Noémie Merlant) travels by boat to paint a wedding portrait of Héloïse (Adèle Haenel) at an idyllic seaside estate surrounded by a community that consists solely of women.

Héloïse is bereft over the recent loss of her sister, and angry about her arranged fate of marrying a man she doesn't know.

Thus the table is set for a doomed lesbian tryst after Héloïse's mother leaves the women alone for a few days.

An abortion subplot, involving the mansion's servant, allows for a scene of artistically inspired exploitation that breaks the film.

"Portrait of a Lady on Fire" is Céline Sciamma's weakest film to date.

Rated R. 122 mins. 

RUSHMORE — THE CRITERION COLLECTION

Groupthink doesn't live here, critical thought does.

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Before Wes Anderson became a pale imitation of himself, he made a splashy sophomore comedy with punch.

Anderson's attention to meta/micro details gets filtered through an up-tempo youthful comic tone that flies in the face of adult romance.

Jason Schwartzman is Max Fischer, Anderson''s hilarious spoof on Dustin Hoffman's character in "The Graduate."

Bill Murray does an early version of the Bill Murray he would become, while indulging in laugh-inducing slap-stick bits.

Precocious but not precious, "Rushmore" is heavy-hearted comedy with a light touch.

Here is an over-achiever's paradise.

Funny stuff.

Rated R. 93 mins.