Beginning on May 1, the Criterion Channel is presenting a curated collection of the films of Kimi Takesue. “Directed by Kimi Takesue: Crossings and Encounters” will stream three of her most acclaimed features and eight of her shorts.

I reviewed her 2023 film “Onlookers” two years ago. It was an immersive study of tourists shot in Laos constructed of longish master shots of foreigners walking by Laotian landmarks and daily life scenes of monks and street vendors. I encouraged “viewers new to this documentary approach to relax any anticipations about the work and just notice the rhythms of the people in the frame, listen to the rich ambient sounds recorded, think about why one sequence follows the next.”

The retrospective includes two other feature documentaries by Takesue, her 2016 film “95 and 6 to Go” and “Where Are You Taking Me?” (2010). “95 and 6 to Go” is a portrait of her 95-year-old Japanese-American grandfather Tom who lives in Hawaii, where Kimi was born. She asks her grandfather to read a screenplay she has written and give her feedback, a task he enthusiastically accepts. (I’m not aware that Takesue has done any narrative film work.) She watches as he sorts through coupons he got in the mail. “You’re going to keep that one? ‘Bra Wallet?'” (I suddenly thought of an article I saw in the “National Enquirer” in the 1970s: “Movie Star Aldo Ray So Destitute He Collects Food Coupons!”) Shots of the lush beauty of Hawaii are intercut with sequences of the quotidian life of Tom as he offers script-doctoring advice and discusses his past. A retired postal worker, he talks about the discrimination he and other Japanese-Americans suffered during World War II. He is a widower but instead of wallowing in the loss of his wife (he complains that she was not interested in anything) he is optimistic about finding a new love. Fascinating historical photos of Tom and his family are shown as he channel-surfs, sets off New Year’s Eve fireworks and muses about life. Hoping to live past 100 he says “I am 95 with 6 to go.” A lovely portrait of how a person with a seemingly unremarkable life retains rich memories and experiences comparable to any.

I haven’t seen “Where Are You Taking Me?” (2010), an ethnographic study of post-war Uganda, or any of her shorts the Criterion Channel will stream during the month of May. David DeWitt praised the 2010 film in his New York Times review, saying it “is no survey of Uganda; it’s too quiet, slow and personal for that. But the film is an unusual, visually rich visit to the nation.”