"Mabel and Jack are a homesteading couple in the unforgiving Alaskan wilderness whose bitter lives change the moment they encounter Faina, the primitive child they may or may not have conjured out of fresh snow and longing. An incredibly moving retelling of a Russian fairly tale. Absolutely haunting from page one."

"This is Terry Gilliam’s classic—his best film. The music, the visuals, the fantasy, the dark surrealism. It all works to make a haunting masterpiece. A bit of trivia: the hero’s boss, H. Kurtzman, is named after Harvey Kurtzman, the originator of Mad magazine, and Terry’s boss at Help magazine."

"Here’s a great double bill: watch this film with its haunting original score by Georges Auric, then again as a Philip Glass opera. (Thank you, Criterion, for including both tracks.) This Cocteau-Marais collaboration still intoxicates. Not since Sternberg had a director put his star (also his lover) on such luminous display."

"Agoraphobia, colonialism, trespass and gravity of sacred spaces, and a haunting portrayal of institutionalized abuse. I truly love how this film has become such a potent part of the fashion canon, via those pretty white dresses in afternoon sunlight. That golden light! And the subterranean hum in the sound design is perfect."

"My favorite of Flann O’Brien’s novels, although I love At-Swim-Two-Birds. Profound, haunting, mystical and utterly hilarious. The bizarre narrative is accompanied by an eccentric parallel saga about something obscure called The De Selby Codex, a red herring that gradually grows in quantity until it all but obscures the main story."