The Eclipse Viewer – Episode 34 – Agnès Varda in California

This podcast focuses on Criterion’s Eclipse Series of DVDs. Hosts David Blakeslee and Trevor Berrett give an overview of each box and offer their perspectives on the unique treasures they find inside. In this episode, David and Trevor discuss Eclipse Series 43: Agnès Varda in California.

About the films:

The legendary French filmmaker Agnès Varda, whose remarkable career began in the 1950s and has continued into the twenty-first century, produced some of her most provocative works in the United States. After temporarily relocating to California in the late sixties with her husband, Jacques Demy, Varda, inspired by the politics, youth culture, and sunshine of the San Francisco and Los Angeles areas, created three works that use documentary and fiction in various ways. She returned a decade later, and made two other fascinating portraits of outsiderness. Her five revealing, entertaining California films, encompassing shorts and features, are collected in this set, which demonstrates that Varda was as deft an artist in unfamiliar terrain as she was on her own turf.

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Episode Links

Agnès Varda

• Biography at the European Graduate School


• Senses of Cinema “Great Directors” essay by Helen Carter


• Agnès Varda: The Punk-Spirited Grand-Mère Terrible – AnOther essay  by Laura Havlin


• IndieWire interview by Susan Kougell


• Interview in The Guardian (2009)


• Roger Ebert essay (2009)


• Variety archive of Varda coverage


• Top 10 Best Varda Films on NewWaveFilm.com

Box Set Reviews

• New York Times review by J. Hoberman


• IonCinema review by Jordan M. Smith


• Metro review by Matt Prigge


• DVD Savant review by Glenn Erickson


• RogerEbert.com review by Steve Erickson


• J!-Ent Online review by Dennis Amith

Uncle Yanco

• Not Coming to a Theater Near You review by Evan Kindley


• Only the Cinema review by Ed Howard

Black Panthers

• Senses of Cinema review by Beth Mauldin


• Only the Cinema review by Ed Howard (scroll down)

Lions Love (… and Lies)

• New York Times review by Vincent Canby (1969)


• Not Coming to a Theater Near You review by Leo Goldsmith


• Rupert Pupkin Speaks review by Brian Saur


• Brandon’s movie memory review


• Review by Dennis Grunes


• James Rado, Gerome Ragni and “Hair”


• Viva’s account of the shooting of Andy Warhol in 1968


• Shirley Clarke’s website

Mur Murs

• New York Times review by Janet Maslin (1981)


• Not Coming to a Theater Near You review by Evan Kindley


• JustSeeds Artist Cooperative review by icky


• ArtPrize official website

Documenteur

• Not Coming to a Theater Near You review by Matt Bailey


• AFI Fest 2015 capsule review by Doug Cummings


• That Fuzzy Bastard and the Belgian review by Daniel McKleinfeld

Next time on the podcast: Eclipse Series 29: Aki Kaurismäki’s Leningrad Cowboys

Contact us

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• Email: theeclipseviewer (at) gmail.com


• David Blakeslee ( Twitter / Website )


• Trevor Berrett ( Twitter / Website )