Almost all of us own the stray Criterion disc or two of our favorite films. Some of us have dozens of Criterion titles but collect far more than we watch, content to let that growing number of numbered spines make us look more cinematically well-rounded than we really are. That was me anyway, Mr. Comfort Zone, happy to pick up The Blob or Godzilla or Carnival of Souls but far less likely to try the experimental films of Stan Brakhage, or the work of people like Godard, Rosselini, Tati, Bergman, Tarkovsky... the list had no end.
The list still has no end. Join me on my journey. I hope to use the Criterion Collection to challenge you to go out beyond your comfort zone to find feel and reflect on what film means to you and why it has been as powerful a medium in your life as it has in mine.
Maybe your first Chaplin awaits? Or your first Neorealist film? New Wave? Kurosawa? Uzo? Vintage Japanese horror and sci-fi? Or a trip through Maysles Grey Gardens? Wherever you wind up, it will be richer for each step through the greatest collection of film under one label that the world has ever seen.
Please begin by watching the video below.