Criterion Releases You Adore So Much You Can Totally Even

[jenkins]

[intro]

this is both a topic i sometimes search for across the internet and one i've thought of making now and then especially recently. i believe it's hard to pick one's favorites but absolutely fun to try. in the near future criterion will release spine 900, that's a lot of movies, and plus there are all those laserdiscs. i'm not going to select a laserdisc release because i never owned one, but anyone can select whichever release they want to. cherish your own memories and maybe inspire others. basically that last part means that i'll probably end up buying whatever movies you mention, or perhaps register at filmstruck, or simply rewatch from my personal collection.

anyone can list however many titles they want to, for any reason or for no reason, with whatever explanation comes to their mind at the time or just mention the title it's no big deal.

[example]

Chungking Express

it's the cinematic embodiment of daydreaming is that true. sometimes when all my thoughts are pointed in the wrong direction i watch this movie and then my thoughts enter a cloud that's composed of daydreams, exactly. what happens after daydreams? oh, one wonders, yes. but as long as the daydream is happening there is nothing to fear.

Shadows in Paradise

in terms of always feeling fucked, one still keeps going, and this movie feels me on that.

The Apu Trilogy

i didn't see this trilogy early enough in my life to call it developmental toward my sense of life. when i did see it i did feel a strong sense of affirmation, and i would go as far as to say the strongest sense of affirmation i could possibly feel in relation to this topic discussed in this manner. these are the best movies about the life of a writer which i am aware of.

The Docks of New York

the immediate results of me seeing this movie were i called it my favorite movie ever. and this was within a time period during which pre-code films were overwhelming my sense of life—try and tell me that life isn't a short story full of dramatic surprises—and this just felt like the grandest display of all the cinematic elements used to illustrate the dimensional complexities of city life, i thought. they called these city operas, then. this movie has it all. although one day of course i should return to this movie, which is now becoming a fond memory to me. i don't at all fear going back to it, it's not some childhood favorite, but when i go back i will see it differently. and the same is true for Vampyr. an example of what might happen is i might prefer Vampyr over The Docks of New York now. i'm not quite sure. but i'm sure i'd rewatch those two movies and Pandora's Box, and Underworld, with maybe a preference for People on Sunday actually, now that i mention it.

Jules and Jim

who is going to list Godard if i don't list Godard? i hope someone lists Godard, there are at least five titles that could easily be listed. but really Jules and Jim and Shoot the Piano Player expressed how i longed for life to feel.

Grey Gardens

that's a clip from Beales, btw. but you know what i mean. s/o to San Soleil and Harlan County U.S.A.

Nashville

after this song is one of my favorite scenes in the movie, when she overshares and her manager kindly removes her from the stage, explaining the situation to the audience. i actually far and away prefer Nashville to McCabe & Mrs. Miller, for example, although Short Cuts is right there, kicking the shit out of The Player. and 3 Women is watching the whole thing.

Naked

oh i get it, i think life is always difficult, but there's beauty too, so the difficult can be beautiful. a younger me would have mentioned Kes over this movie, but the older me thinks there really is a lot that's wrong with this world, you know, and here in the city i can see it, describe it, a lot, to my friends and other random people who also think the world is obviously a problem which deserves considerable conversation.

[closing]

how did i not mention Kieslowski? i know how i didn't mention Bergman. but what about Antonioni? was i pretending to act like The 400 Blows doesn't exist? like i've never seen Tokyo Story? even if i really think that Kubrick is seriously the most exaggerated person ever it's hilarious, i still think Seven Samurai is fire so why didn't i mention it--because 900 fucking releases. a way shorter list than the Criteiron releases i like would be the Criterion releases i don't like. in conclusion, really i should have mentioned a movie with provincial characters, like I Fidanzati or The Fireman's Ball or The Executioner, since i love movies which love provincial characters. and i cherish the bizarre so i'm saying Carnival of Souls and The Honeymoon Killers. also, i could've expressed my familiarity with modern cinema by mentioning Edward Yang, you know. it's like Chungking Express is there to represent all of modernity, so where is Slacker and Code Unknown and George Washington omg what. oh you know. i look forward to your list, put them all on your list, tastes are a Two-Lane Blacktop and all of life is just a Threepenny Opera, my friend.

[p.s.]

Luis Buñuel is the director most represented within my personal collection and i didn't even mention John Cassavetes i mean seriously. my guess is it'll be a joy to read everyone's list.

[polkablues]

I bought the Last Year at Marienbad blu-ray a few years ago and I haven't even taken it out of the plastic yet because I'm afraid when I watch it I'm not going connect with it the way I did when I first saw it fifteen years ago and it's going to tarnish the memory of that initial experience somehow, and that pretty well describes my relationship with movies these days.

[Axolotl]

Paris, Texas. Naked. Chunking Express. Five Easy Pieces. Three Women. The Long Day Closes.

I was thinking The Terrorizers but checked and it's not a criterion movie.

Not feasible for me to ever buy criterions so for the past 5 years my equivalent of a criterion collection collection has been a google spreadsheet (which I used to go back to and edit once every few months) of all criterion releases by spine number and two columns indicating if I've downloaded the movie and if I've watched it.

It's kind of the lame dorky completism that misses the point of the criterion collection and that I'd laugh at other people for, but it's really satisfying and leads you to watching stuff like the phantom carriage or a brakhage anthology or haxan: witchcraft through the ages early on so you can start pretending that you know shit about movies.

[WorldForgot]

Not feasible for me to ever buy criterions so for the past 5 years my equivalent of a criterion collection collection has been a google spreadsheet (which I used to go back to and edit once every few months) of all criterion releases by spine number and two columns indicating if I've downloaded the movie and if I've watched it.

This is so cool 

[Just Withnail]

I bought the Last Year at Marienbad blu-ray a few years ago and I haven't even taken it out of the plastic yet because I'm afraid when I watch it I'm not going connect with it the way I did when I first saw it fifteen years ago and it's going to tarnish the memory of that initial experience somehow, and that pretty well describes my relationship with movies these days.

Let it blow up your memories. No better film for that.

[jenkins]

it's also true that for a short spell my nighttime movie was the opening of his Muriel, or The Time of Return, which has this active cutting technique that engages me in all the ways he wants to engage me, i'm a big fan of it