Introduction Into The Second Criterion

If I ask a movie buff what he or she expects from The Criterion Collection, I’ll probably hear talk about an excellently crafted, artfully made film released with a high standard of audio/visual quality and a handful of in-depth special features. And while these are true attributes of what makes the Criterion Collection one of the most beloved home video distributors in the world among cinema fans, it’s not what makes the collection itself compelling.

As a body of films, The Criterion Collection spans from 1915 to 2011, and features films from all manner of countries and film movements and contains more than a few interesting choices (Chasing Amy, two Michael Bay films, Robocop). While it could be considered a film canon, what’s more interesting is that if something is in The Criterion Collection, it often gets revisited, both from fans who have been waiting for a caringly packaged release and detractors who might have hated the film on a first viewing.

The recently release of Heaven’s Gate in the Criterion Collection (as well as some screenings in key cities) challenged the critical consensus that surrounded the film’s initial release, asking people to go back and revisit the film, give it a second chance. Yes, it was one of the most infamous box-office flops and one of the most critically panned films from an up and coming director, but its release in the Criterion Collection challenged the established notion and suggested the film might have merits that were either suppressed or missed at the time of its release. After all, Heaven’s Gate is a revisionist Western with Marxist overtones released during the Regan Era.

In order to do a series on the Criterion Collection, I think it is essential to consider that while the collection often inspires an audience member to discover something, even more than that I think it prompts them to consider the value of watching a film again, to give it a second chance if they hated it, or further explore a film they love it. If you buy a Criterion film and only watch it once, you’ve probably missed the point of the collection. My own personal collection of Criterion films is populated with films I’ve watched at least—if not more than—twice.

Since the focus of this series will be revisiting films, both ones I love dearly and others I didn’t care for on first (or even second) viewing, I won’t be talking about elements of the craft directly. While these elements are important, I think we can assume that most films in the collection meet the criterion of being technically well-made and almost always artfully presented. This is not to say discussion of these elements will never be present, but if they are, it will be in service to the focus of the series, a second criterion, if you will: theme.

Films in the collection are often known for being thought-provoking, poignant and insightful about many facets of life and the world around us. I’m interested in delving into what these films are saying, which is often the reason I find myself returning to them time and time again. I wouldn’t have watched The Double Life of Veronique time and time again if there film wasn’t asking deep, philosophical questions about whom we are and why we are here.

Revisiting films in the Criterion Collection and exploring what they are about and what they say about life, the universe and everything is the focus of this series. It’s an outlook we could apply to many films outside the collection, but I think the collection itself fosters this approach; asking us to dig deeper into these films and listen to what they have to teach us.