Racism, Silent Comedy, And Pop Culture For The Criterion Collection in December
2023 is nearly upon us and Criterion Collection with a little help from Sony, they want us to end the year in style. News of the December UK slate has been unveiled, a month racism and cultures clash, Silent comedy classic and avant-garde.
On 12th December we get two releases. First up comes Mira Nair‘s luminous look at the complexities of love in Mississippi Masala. Tackling thorny issues of racism, colourism, culture clash, and displacement with bighearted humour and keen insight, Nair serves up a sweet, sexy, and deeply satisfying celebration of loveโs power.
The second release is Charlie Chaplin’s crowning achievement of silent comedy, City Lights is released. The most cherished of his films, this is also Chaplin‘s ultimate Little Tramp chronicle.
Finally on 26th December The Velvet Underground arrives. Director Todd Haynes vividly evokes the bandโs incandescent world: the creative origins of the twin visionaries Lou Reed and John Cale, Andy Warholโs fabled Factory, and the explosive tension between pop and the avant-garde that propelled the group and ultimately consumed it.
MISSISSIPPI MASALA (1991) DRAMA, ROMANCE
The vibrant cultures of India, Uganda, and the American South come together in Mississippi Masala by MIRA NAIR (Monsoon Wedding), a luminous look at the complexities of love in the modern melting pot. Years after her Indian family was forced to flee their home in Uganda by the dictatorship of Idi Amin, twentysomething Mina (Homelandโs SARITA CHOUDHURY) spends her days cleaning rooms in an Indian-run motel in Mississippi. When she falls for 
the charming Black carpet cleaner Demetrius (The Tragedy of Macbethโs DENZEL WASHINGTON), their passionate romance challenges the prejudices of both of their families and exposes the rifts between the regionโs Indian and African American communities. Tackling thorny issues of racism, colourism, culture clash, and displacement with bighearted humour and keen insight, Nair serves up a sweet, sexy, and deeply satisfying celebration of loveโs power.
DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION FEATURESย
- New 4K digital restoration, supervised by director Mira Nair and director of photography Ed Lachman, with 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
- New audio commentary featuring Nair
- New conversation between actor Sarita Choudhury and film critic Devika Girish
- New interviews with Lachman, screenwriter Sooni Taraporevala, and production designer and photographer Mitch Epstein
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
UK | 1991 | 117 MINUTES | COLOUR | 1.85:1 | ENGLISH/SWAHILI
CITY LIGHTS (1931) COMEDY, DRAMA
The most cherished film by CHARLIE CHAPLIN (Modern Times) is also his ultimate Little Tramp chronicle. The writer-director-star achieved new levels of grace, in both physical comedy and dramatic poignancy, with this silent tale of a lovable vagrant falling for a young blind woman who sells flowers on the street (a magical 
VIRGINIA CHERRILL) and mistakes him for a millionaire. Though this Depression-era smash was made after the advent of sound, Chaplin remained steadfast in his love for the expressive beauty of the pre-talkie form. The result was the epitome of his art and the crowning achievement of silent comedy.
- New, restored 4K digital film transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
- New audio commentary by Charlie Chaplin biographer Jeffrey Vance
- Chaplin Today: โCity Lights,โ a 2003 documentary on the filmโs production, featuring Aardman Animations cofounder Peter Lord
- Chaplin Studios: Creative Freedom by Design, a new interview program featuring visual effects expert Craig Barron
- Archival footage from the production of City Lights, including film from the set, with audio commentary by Chaplin historian Hooman Mehran; a costume test; a rehearsal; and a complete scene not used in the film
- Excerpt from Chaplinโs short film The Champion (1915), along with footage of the director with boxing stars at Chaplin Studios in 1918
- Trailer
- PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic Gary Giddins and a 1966 interview with Chaplin
USA | 1931 | 87 MINUTES | BLACK & WHITE | 1.19:1
THE VELVET UNDERGROUND (2021) MUSIC, DOCUMENTARY
Emerging from the primordial soup of glamour, gutter sleaze, and feverish creativity that was New Yorkโs 1960s underground culture, the Velvet Underground redefined music with its at once raw and exalted blend of experimentation and art-damaged rock and roll. In his kaleidoscopic documentary The Velvet Underground, TODD HAYNES (Velvet Goldmine) vividly evokes the bandโs incandescent world: the creative origins of the twin visionaries LOU REED and JOHN CALE, ANDY WARHOLโs fabled Factory, and the explosive tension between pop and the avant-garde that propelled the group and ultimately consumed it. Never-before-seen performances, 
interviews, rare recordings, and mind-blowing transmissions from the eraโs avant-garde cinema scene come together in an ecstatic swirl of sound and image that is to the traditional music documentary what the Velvets were to rock: utterly revolutionary.
DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
- New 4K digital master, approved by director Todd Haynes and cinematographer Ed Lachman, with Dolby Atmos soundtrack
- Audio commentary featuring Haynes and editors Affonso Gonรงalves and Adam Kurnitz
- Outtakes of interviews shot for the film with musicians John Cale, Jonathan Richman, and Maureen Tucker; filmmaker Jonas Mekas; and actor Mary Woronov
- Conversation from 2021 among Haynes, Cale, and Tucker
- Complete versions of some of the avant-garde films excerpted in the movie, including Piero Heliczerโs Venus in Furs (1965)
- Teaser
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Optional annotated subtitle track that identifies the avant-garde films seen in the movie
- PLUS: A 2021 essay by critic Greil Marcus
USAย | 2021 | 120 MINUTES | COLOUR | 1.77:1 | ENGLISH
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