Criterion Collisions #1: Ground Rules

Cinema is often attached to the word "magic," a word not usually attached to other art forms. We don't often say that the newest Arcade Fire album is imbibed with "magic," or write about the "magical" qualities of gallery shows in New York and Los Angeles. Film is the only visual medium to which we continue to attach the "magic" modifier. Perhaps it's the allure of entering a darkened room, the flickering lights on the wall inducing us to feel sadness, happiness, fright - forgetting for a moment that we are still sitting in a darkened room. "Magic" becomes the shorthand we use to describe all the things about film that we cannot easily articulate or even see, and with the magic comes the mythos. Of stars, of a film's cultural clout, of art becoming part of the fabric of our daily realities. Films speak to us, and we talk back.

The point of my preamble is that cinema is inextricably woven into the ways we speak to each other, imagine foreign countries, and conceptualize ourselves. There are tens of thousands of films in the world, and out of those many thousands, I'm looking at 750+ films pre-selected by the Criterion Collection - films that have been studied and scrutinized many times over. Criterion does an excellent job of contextualizing every single film in its catalogue, including bonus features and film essays. I will not just rehash what scholars and documentarians have already covered. Criterion Collisions is about the pairing of a double feature, and the dynamics of that pairing.

Cinema is a conversation - between filmmakers, between lens and subject, between audiences. Cinema is collaborative (involving the individual choices of actors, directors, editors, and an entire crew behind the scenes) and should be spoken of as a collaboration. As I work my way through the Criterion Collection, I will put two films on a "collision course" with each other. The reasons for pairing two films vary from feature to feature: THE GAME (1997) and THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON (2008) share a director (and not much else), but are the only two films of that director to be included in the collection. ALI: FEAR EATS THE SOUL (1974) is a remake of ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS (1955), and their differences may speak louder than their similarities. TINY FURNITURE (2010) and FRANCES HA (2013) are contemporary dramedies about young women finding themselves at a crossroads in New York City, yet their protagonists would have very little to say to each other if they ever met at a party. 

I came into the collection having already seen ~20 or so films, so anyone hoping to see a Wes Anderson vs. Wes Anderson showdown will be sorely disappointed. Some films are behemoths in their own rights (SHOAH (1985) and SALO: 120 DAYS OF SODOM (1976) come to mind), and their conversation partners will be determined when I get to those films. Criterion occasionally groups its titles by series, director or production company (the AMERICA: THE BBS STORY box set comes to mind). In Criterion Collisions, I will go in depth and beyond the "themes" page on the Criterion website, discussing their groupings and incongruities.

The comments section is open for conversation, and I would love to hear about the Criterion films that you think would make an excellent double feature.