At the top of movie lovers’ wish lists this holiday season should be “CC40,” a lavish collection designed to celebrate the 40s.th Anniversary of Criterion, the most important company in the preservation and appreciation of physical media. To celebrate its big event, Criterion launched an exciting project. Over the years, the company has allowed filmmakers and other special guests access to the “Criterion Closet”, which is basically a storage room in which copies of Criterion releases are kept. They have also changed the encounters a series of videos In which guests tell their choices and you can buy them. Why not buy 40 at once? Reportedly “CC40” is the 40 most selected Blu-rays by people who are lucky enough to get out of the closet with some free flicks. This is a brilliantly assembled box set with all the special features previously available on these standalone releases, and collected into a showcase package for collectors with a huge book and hardbound case. It’s expensive, but it’s worth it.
The story goes that the Criterion Closet was a well-known secret for years as guests of the company would stop by and leave with some of their favorite films. It took on another life in 2010 when Guillermo del Toro asked Criterion to shoot his journey in September of that year, and spoke passionately about his choice before calling it a “pretty little robbery”. Hundreds of videos and millions of views would follow, leading Criterion to attempt to replicate these enjoyable journeys for those who can’t access a real closet.
So he assembled a list of the most frequently edited films, included all available features, and even assembled the essays into an accompanying book. This section also features photos from those trips and quotes from people who chose that particular film. For example, Yorgos Lanthimos calls “Pickpocket” “the most touching film I have ever seen”. Claire Denis described “His Girl Friday” as “very, very important”. In a strange twist, Gael García Bernal chose his own “Y Tu Mama Tambien”.
Those three films are joined by the following, all in standard Blu-ray, an interesting choice considering how much Criterion has been pushing into 4K recently, but that’s the only minor complaint about a major physical media release. Which runs like a movie class in a box. One of the many wonderful things about the set is the breadth of cinema it covers, from horror to drama to comedy (although it would have been nice to get a little love for a Doctor Who character). Get it for someone this holiday season and insist they watch all 40 and report back to you. When their work is completed they will become film lovers.
Note: We’re also including links to our reviews of these films when available, most of them by Roger, many of them from his Great Movies collection.
“8 1/2”
“Tokyo Story”
“all that jazz”
“Bicycle Thief”
“repo Man”
“Naked”
“Jules and Jim”
“Going there”
“weekend”
“Yi yi”
“Night of the Hunter”
“Sweet Fragrance of Success”
“Coast to Coast”
“Do the right thing”
“Ratcatcher”
“Sunday Bloody Sunday”
“mirror”
“Barry Lyndon”
“Safe”
“second”
“Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters”
“My Own Private Idaho”
“Love and Basketball”
“Night of the Living Dead”
“Ace in the hole”
“3 women”
“the red Shoes”
“down by law”
“La Ciénaga”
“Wanda”
“Home”
“Sullivan’s Travels”
“Battle of Algiers”
“A Woman Under the Influence”
“Cleo from 5 to 7”
“Persona”
“in the mood for Love”