Alan Arkin's Adventures in Moviegoing - The Criterion Channel

By A Mystery Man Writer

From earning an Academy Award nomination for his very first screen role in THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING, THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING to his Oscar win forty years later for LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, Alan Arkin has enjoyed an eclectic and distinguished career as both an actor and director. A lifelong cinephile who grew up watching international masterpieces at New York’s legendary Thalia theater, he sits down with his son and fellow actor, Adam Arkin, to discuss his passionate opinions on movies, sharing what he learned about acting from the great French film stars and singling out the director he would have given anything to work with. As something of a specialist in black comedy, the films Arkin has selected unsurprisingly include several superlative examples of the genre, including a devastatingly funny Italian gem (MAFIOSO), a wild counterculture parable (GREASER’S PALACE), and an absurdist art-world satire (THE SQUARE).