Vanya On 42nd Street - The Criterion Collection (BLU-RAY)

In the early nineties, theater director André Gregory mounted a series of spare, private performances of Anton Chekhov's Uncle Vanya in a crumbling Manhattan playhouse. This experiment in pure theater - featuring a remarkable cast of actors, including Wallace Shawn, Julianne Moore, Brooke Smith, and George Gaynes - would have been lost to time had it not been captured on film, with subtle cinematic brilliance, by Louis Malle. Vanya On 42nd Street is as memorable and emotional a screen version of Chekhov's masterpiece as one could ever hope to see. This film, which turned out to be Malle's last, is a tribute to the playwright's devastating work as well as to the creative process itself.