The Criterion Project: Or How Watashi Will Go Insane By Watching Every Criterion Film

[Watashi]

I've decided to log my journey into this ill-advised realm of pretension, sex, torture, and obscure Asian filmmakers.

I will to attempt to watch the complete Criterion Collection in order of their spine number release. The complete list is here (http://www.criterion.com/library/dvd/criterion/all/list/sort_spine_number). Now this is a feat I will likely alter the official rules as I go along. I'm excluding certain box sets and films I've seen recently within the past few years. However there will be films I will revisit due to my inadequate memory or my plain curiosity to see if I missed the so-called greatness from a prior viewing.

I will chronologically review (more like blurb about) each film as I view them. I will not review anything out of order unless I skip a film because I've seen it recently or it is completely unavailable through Netflix or other matters. I will only be watching the Criterion print.

I expect the internet to be non-existent once I complete this mission.

1. Grand Illusion (Jean Renoir, 1937) (http://match-cut.org/showpost.php?p=185576&postcount=2)
2. Seven Samurai (Akira Kurosawa, 1954) (http://match-cut.org/showpost.php?p=185844&postcount=23)
3. The Lady Vanishes (Alfred Hitchcock, 1938) (http://match-cut.org/showpost.php?p=190282&postcount=37)
4. Amarcord (Federico Fellini, 1973) (http://match-cut.org/showpost.php?p=191965&postcount=43)
5. The 400 Blows (Francois Truffaut, 1959) (http://match-cut.org/showpost.php?p=194481&postcount=49)

[Watashi]

http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm137/youarethepan/1GrandIllusion.jpg?t=124796722 6

(Jean Renoir, 1937)

La Grande Illusion is one of the very first POW films that would go on and inspire great artists through out cinema history seen in films like Casablanca, Stalag 17, A Man Escaped, The Great Escape, and even more modern films like The Shawshank Redemption. However, like the best prison escape films, the tension and drama doesn't come from just the escape, but as a microcosm of prison camp and the prisoners that inhabit them. Despite being light on any actual war, Renoir's film is brimming with anti-war statements that would echo in films today. The key scene involves the sympathetic Captain von Rauffenstein and Captain de Boeldieu conversing about their similar positions in opposite roles and only complying to their rules because "duty is duty".

***½


Up Next: Seven Samurai (rewatch)

[angrycinephile]

Interesting project.

The big question is of course... are you skipping Armageddon or not? ;)

[Watashi]

Interesting project.

The big question is of course... are you skipping Armageddon or not? ;)
Yes, I will be skipping both Armageddon and The Rock.

Along with Wes Anderson's films and Robocop, I've seen them countless times and will not be reviewing them.

[balmakboor]

I don't think any of their Asian filmmakers are all that obscure. Except maybe some from the Eclipse line.

[BuffaloWilder]

trying not to make a really predictable joke at the expense of the thread title

[MadMan]

But I thought you were already insane? :P




Is that the predictable joke you were thinking of Buffalo? Cause I have no shame and thus am posting it. Heh.

Anyways good luck. I can't recall how many Criterions I've seen so far.

[baby doll]

I don't think any of their Asian filmmakers are all that obscure. Except maybe some from the Eclipse line.I was going to say. But even putting aside the non-obscureness of Kurosawa, Mizoguchi, and Ozu, the very fact of Criterion putting out film after film by Seijun Suzuki automatically makes him non-obscure by making his work available and raising his profile in North America.

[Qrazy]

Okamoto, Nakahira, Kobayashi, Teshigahara, Imamura, Kinoshita and Shinoda are obscure in some spheres.

[soitgoes...]

Cool. Great idea Wats, I'll be following this thread closely.

[B-side]

Cool. Great idea Wats, I'll be following this thread closely.

this.

[transmogrifier]

Seems like we are getting the requisite semantic argument out of the way early in this thread. :)

[soitgoes...]

Seems like we are getting the requisite semantic argument out of the way early in this thread. :)
There will be others. ;)

[Ezee E]

I'll give this until #28, Blood for Dracula, and then this thread will disappear.

[Ezee E]

For myself, I'm around 110 or so.

[balmakboor]

I'll give this until #28, Blood for Dracula, and then this thread will disappear.

Here's hoping my memory is correct and it's OOP. I've generally heard that it is better than Flesh for Frankenstein though.

[Sven]

Here's hoping my memory is correct and it's OOP. I've generally heard that it is better than Flesh for Frankenstein though.

Other way around.

And I'm assuming that Wats isn't needing to watch the Criterion versions of these films. For practicality's sake.

I wish you the best, Wats. Hopefully you do not give up, though I've never seen anyone start this without eventually petering out.

[Ezee E]

I just find it very exhausting to try and watch nothing but Criterion after Criterion. I'm sure Wats will mix it up a little, but even having a streak of five of the last eight movies you've seen seems a bit much to me.

[balmakboor]

Okamoto, Nakahira, Kobayashi, Teshigahara, Imamura, Kinoshita and Shinoda are obscure in some spheres.

That was just my first thought when I read the Asian film comment. But yeah, other than Imamura, all of those would qualify as reasonably obscure in my mind. Hell, Kurosawa and Ozu are obscure to 99.9% of the American public.

Looking at these lists of "Asian" directors in their catalog though makes me wonder why they don't branch out beyond Japan more. All they have outside of Japan is Yi Yi and the Wong Kar-wai films.

[dreamdead]

La Grande Illusion... Despite being light on any actual war, Renoir's film is brimming with anti-war statements that would echo in films today. The key scene involves the sympathetic Captain von Rauffenstein and Captain de Boeldieu conversing about their similar positions in opposite roles and only complying to their rules because "duty is duty".

***½


The prevailing attitudes about war are strewn all about this film, despite the lack of explicit wartime affairs, and one of my most memorable cinema experiences is the finale, with the escape across snowy borders and the other soldiers accepting and even pretty much celebrating the escape. I even love the short sojourn with the mother and how that adds texture to the character dynamics, even if some of the tension dissipates at that point.

But yeah, the civility of the two Captains, and the sense that even here there can be honor and respect is a pleasing notion and it's well handled throughout.

[Qrazy]

Here's hoping my memory is correct and it's OOP. I've generally heard that it is better than Flesh for Frankenstein though.

I guess I prefer it slightly but they're both crap.

[eternity]

I'll give this until #28, Blood for Dracula, and then this thread will disappear.
ZE BLOOD OF ZES WHORES IS KILLING ME

[Watashi]

http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm137/youarethepan/2SevenSamurai.jpg?t=1248038800

(Akira Kurosawa, 1954)

Seven Samurai was my first exposure to Akira Kurosawa back in senior year of high school. It was also my first real exposure to foreign cinema (not including Miyazaki). I wasn't real sure what to expect of this daunting epic at first. I had no real insight into the film's history beyond its aforementioned legendary director and the high acclaim it receives among film circles. I guess you could have called me one of those naive teenagers who fought hard to sit through it due to its length and no real source of action outside of the final battle.

Good thing I matured out of that flimsy mold. This film rules. It's one of the greatest films ever made and I'm so glad I rewatched it. The direction, the cinematography, the pacing (those 200+ minutes fly by), but most of all... the Mifune. His performance carries this film through most of its hefty runtime and his goofy antics and barbaric expression gives a well-needed lighter tone from the central farmer tragedy. Despite Mifune's performance being the scene stealer, Kurosawa masters his perfection into giving each of the remaining six samurais a load of personality and depth so they never come off as simply background characters. For an ensemble epic, Kurosawa makes us care very deeply about every one of his samurai from the moment we meet them to the climatic stand-off at the end.

****


Up Next: The Lady Vanishes (rewatch)

[soitgoes...]

http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm137/youarethepan/2SevenSamurai.jpg?t=1248038800

(Akira Kurosawa, 1954)

Seven Samurai was my first exposure to Akira Kurosawa back in senior year of high school. It was also my first real exposure to foreign cinema (not including Miyazaki). I wasn't real sure what to expect of this daunting epic at first. I had no real insight into the film's history beyond its aforementioned legendary director and the high acclaim it receives among film circles. I guess you could have called me one of those naive teenagers who fought hard to sit through it due to its length and no real source of action outside of the final battle.

Good thing I matured out of that flimsy mold. This film rules. It's one of the greatest films ever made and I'm so glad I rewatched it. The direction, the cinematography, the pacing (those 200+ minutes fly by), but most of all... the Mifune. His performance carries this film through most of its hefty runtime and his goofy antics and barbaric expression gives a well-needed lighter tone from the central farmer tragedy. Despite Mifune's performance being the scene stealer, Kurosawa masters his perfection into giving each of the remaining six samurais a load of personality and depth so they never come off as simply background characters. For an ensemble epic, Kurosawa makes us care very deeply about every one of his samurai from the moment we meet them to the climatic stand-off at the end.

****


Up Next: The Lady Vanishes (rewatch)
I think too much praise is given to Mifune in this film. Yes, he is great, but the film itself wouldn't hold up as well if the other six actors, as well as those playing the main townfolk (especially the perpetually sad/scared looking Bokuzen Hidari) weren't also as great. Other films of this sort have run into the problem of not fleshing out the entire band of characters, to the point where you are trying to keep tabs on who is who. That's never the case with this film.

When it comes right down to it, Kurosawa is the reason this film is so great though. By the time the final battle starts, you know the town as well as the samurais. You know their defenses, you know who is where, you know their weaknesses. The pacing that you mentioned is perfect. The film never really lags, which is astonishing for films of such length. And Jesus the story! Who wouldn't give up their left nut to come up with the idea for this film, and then write a screenplay that works so well.

[Ezee E]

I'm due for a rewatch on Seven Samurai as well.

[soitgoes...]

I'll give this until #28, Blood for Dracula, and then this thread will disappear.
If it doesn't, #34 might.

[Qrazy]

Have many people seen Fishing with John? It's low-budget and amateurish at times but it's also often wryly funny. It strikes me as the type of thing MatchCut would really enjoy.

[Milky Joe]

I've seen it. The episode with Tom Waits is especially amusing.

[Qrazy]

I've seen it. The episode with Tom Waits is especially amusing.

I also like the Defoe episode because it just completely jumps off the deep end.

[Milky Joe]

Heh, yeah I remember them building a cabin to go ice fishing and just being amazed at how bizarre the whole thing was. I feel like Defoe was probably channeling that episode when he played Klaus in the Life Aquatic. Fans of Fishing With John will also probably enjoy this entry in Tom Waits' Top 20 Most Cherished Albums of All Time:


7. Lounge Lizards - Lounge Lizards
They used to accuse John Lurie of doing fake jazz - a lot of posture, a lot of volume. When I first heard it, it was so loud, I wanted to go outside and listen through the door, and it was jazz. And that was an unusual thing, in New York, to go to a club and hear jazz that loud, at the same volume people were listening to punk rock. Get the first record, The Lounge Lizards. You know, John's one of those people, if you walk into a field with him, he'll pick up an old pipe and start to play it, and get a really good sound out of it. He's very musical, works with the best musicians, but never go fishing with him. He's a great arranger and composer with an odd sense of humour.

[Qrazy]

Haha awesome.

[Dukefrukem]

I never knew Netflix had all of these in stock. That's pretty impressive. Maybe I'm not giving them enough credit.

[D_Davis]

Have many people seen Fishing with John? It's low-budget and amateurish at times but it's also often wryly funny. It strikes me as the type of thing MatchCut would really enjoy.

It's great.

[Spaceman Spiff]

Have many people seen Fishing with John? It's low-budget and amateurish at times but it's also often wryly funny. It strikes me as the type of thing MatchCut would really enjoy.

It is genius.

[Sycophant]

Impressive goal, Wats. Reminds me of many lofty projects I'd set up for myself, but you've already got a good foot forward on it.


I never knew Netflix had all of these in stock. That's pretty impressive. Maybe I'm not giving them enough credit.

No way, man. The Criterion Collection is pretty much all they have these days, so while they still have some good movies, Netflix's selection still fucking sucks.

[MacGuffin]

I tried to do this too, and then realized that I didn't want to do it after all. Good luck though. I'll be reading and I'll also be watching Grand Illusion soon for the first time.

[Watashi]

http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm137/youarethepan/3TheLadyVanishes.jpg?t=1248979 084

(Alfred Hitchcock, 1938)

The Lady Vanishes was one of the very first Hitchcock films that I viewed so I was hoping revisiting would bump up my previous lukewarm response now that I am familiar with Hitchcock's canon. I wish I could say this was true, but my opinion really hasn't swayed one way or the other. The film has a great lead couple, wonderful claustrophobic setting, and a cast of supporting characters that keep the mystery much more interesting. Where the film flies off the tracks is in the last 20 minutes. I know Hitch was all about the suspense and less about the reveal, but Miss Froy was never a character I cared about. She was too caricatured as the sweet grandma from next door, I felt cheated that Hitch wanted so much investment into her disappearance, but I honestly wouldn't care if they never found her. I would have been much more worried if the two cricket buffs vanished instead.

I will give it props in Hitch's efforts to blend the frantic screwball comedy with his traditional suspense-thriller. It can be really funny at sometimes (mostly any scene involving the two cricket enthusiasts). The lead couple played by Margaret Lockwood and Michael Redgrave have the classic pitch-perfect Hitchcock chemistry that would later on expand in Hitch's more iconic couples. However, there is something from the final revelation and on that leaves me sour. It doesn't fulfill the brilliant 70 or so minutes that came before. The sudden jump to an action set piece is executed poorly and that stakes are never properly settled. After the action, the film sorta ends on this cheesy tacked on note and takes us back to that damn Miss Froy.

**½

Up Next: Amarcord

[Qrazy]

The Lady Vanishes: Better than Flightplan.

[Ezee E]

Amarcord is my favorite Fellini.

[Grouchy]

I like The Lady Vanishes a lot more than you, but what you say it's true - so much is invested into the mystery that any rational solution is bound to disappoint, and while I remember most of what goes on in the first half of the film, the last 20 minutes or so are a blur to me.

A movie with a similar concept made much later (in 1950) is So Long at the Fair. It's very little seen but it's made by Terrence Fisher who would go on to direct a lot of classic Hammer Films and it's pretty good. Never seen Flightplan.

[Sxottlan]

Barnes & Nobles is selling a bunch of Criterions for 50% off. I picked up The Third Man and Throne of Blood tonight.

[dreamdead]

Yeah, despite some nice themes about conspiracy and the attempt to cover-up whole identities, which could be quite interesting, the lack of humanity with Miss Froy is a killer in terms of preserving interest beyond the diverting enough screwball comedy main pair. That said, despite the attempt to chronicle an attack against Nazism and maintain a political prescience, the film lags and never recovers whenever Froy is onscreen.

A lesser Hitchcock, no doubt. Considering others' opinions of the other lesser Hitchcock, I might try locating a copy of Spellbound to compare the two Criterions in their quality.

[Watashi]

http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm137/youarethepan/4Amarcord.jpg?t=1249418190

(Federico Fellini, 1973)

Fellini isn't exactly my go-to-guy when it comes to foreign cinema. I fell asleep during 8½ (twice) and didn't connect at all towards La Strada. However, like with most of these films on this list, I was a young and naive cinephile and the days of exploring deep into this medium were far into the future.

Now that I'm somewhat adequately equipped with this knowledge, I approach Fellini again at what is considered his most accessible film. Amarcord is a carnivalesque series of episodic events from Fellini's exaggerated memories. There really isn't a narrative to bind these dreams and memories together as they often weave together loosely in a surreal, yet linear, fashion. Each character that Fellini introduces us to (often in a 4th wall breaking monologue) is a cartoon caricature of a real person Fellini might have known. Most of these characters don't even look like real people, but wax figures or circus clowns being paraded around for own amusement. Each fragmented vignette tells its own beautiful and often hilarious story from a group of school boys perversion regarding the town's main catch, Gradisca, to the big-chested tobacco shop owner to the fascist government torturing a helpless father. The film is also beautiful to look at and Fellini makes sure everything looks like something came out of a dream.

***½


Up Next: The 400 Blows (Rewatch)

[Derek]

I approach Fellini again at what is considered his most accessible film.

I can't imagine anyone finding this more accessible than his more neo-realist work from before La Dolce Vita.

Glad you enjoyed it though (I'd give it the same score).

[Qrazy]

Link (http://www.match-cut.org/showthread.php?t=2072&highlight=rocco+brothers) to my essay about Rocco and Amarcord for whoever is interested. Just skim the Rocco bits if you haven't seen it.

[Raiders]

Yeah, I've never heard of Amarcord being his most accessible work. La Strada, I Vitelloni even Nights of Cabiria have got to be considered more accessible than an episodic, scattershot and surreal/carnivalesque memoir of the director's memories and thoughts.

Then again, it was one of his most successful films, and it is certainly playful enough to overcome its indulgent oddities for even the most standard of viewers.

[Ezee E]

I'd say Nights in Cabiria is his most accessible work.

[Qrazy]

I'd also describe his neorealist work as more accessible but to be fair to Wats I've also heard Amarcord described in critical circles as one of his most accessible films.

[Watashi]

http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm137/youarethepan/5The400Blows.jpg

(Francois Truffaut, 1959)

Yep. Still a masterpiece. Even more so than my first viewing. I love everything about this movie. I love the scenes of joy and innocence of being a kid in world of adults. I love the scenes of heartbreak like the famous last shot and stealing a bottle of milk. Despite being 50 years old, the film still speaks true to a contemporary audience looking for solace and understanding of adolescence. It's weird that nothing else from Truffaut has stuck with me this much.

****

Up Next: Beauty and the Beast (rewatch)

[Amnesiac]

Antoine Doinel is looking pretty slick and disaffected there.

[Kurious Jorge v3.1]

This thread is great and reminds me that I only have 75 films left to watch to complete the collection. I have seriously slowed down on my own personal quest.

[Sven]

Up Next: Beauty and the Beast (rewatch)

You haven't even made it to 10 yet. Come on, man!

[Watashi]

You haven't even made it to 10 yet. Come on, man!
I'll update more once you post more.

[Watashi]

I'll update more once you post more.
Plus, I'm working on another special project for next month.

[Sven]

I'll update more once you post more.

Do you really miss me that much?

But for reals, I would like to see you go through these. I'm not the most vocal supporter of these kind of things, but I love active project threads. So watch those flicks! Come on, you've got two John Woo films coming up... you like John Woo.