The Sunday Read: ‘Sure, It Won an Oscar. But Is It Criterion?’

my name is Joshua hunt and I'm a. contributor to the New York Times. magazine this week's Sunday read is my. story for the magazine about the history. and enduring cultural influence of the. Criterion Collection a home video. company that's been around for 40. years it started out selling laser discs. in the early. 1980s these days its mission to. highlight what it calls important.

classic and contemporary films from. around the world is mostly carried out. through sales of DVD and Blu-ray. discs criteria not only survived all. these technological shifts in the. business of how movies get made and. distributed but it's. prospered 5 years ago it launched a. streaming service of its own but in an. age when our tastes are so. algorithmically determined the Criterion. Channel stands out for its reliance on.

human. curation every film is. handpicked nothing gets recommended. based on what others are watching or. what you've watched. before I first came across Criterion in. the late '90s when I became obsessed. with its DVD release of Akira kurosawa's. 7. Samurai eventually I bought every. Kurosawa film criterian released on DVD. and over time I developed his trust in. the Criterion brand where I would.

occasionally buy movies that I knew. nothing about I think it's how a lot of. people's relationship with Criterion. goes it starts with movies they know but. eventually they're taking a leap of. faith based on the brand and not the. filmmaker Criterion is who they trust to. tell them what is good. cinema so here's my article sure it won. an Oscar but is it Criterion read by.

Shawn Taylor. Corbett this week's audio was produced. by Jack disidoro the music you'll hear. was written and performed by Aaron. [Music]. Esposito in October 2022 amid a flurry. of media appearances promoting their. film tar the director Todd field and the. star Kate Blanchett made time to visit a. cramped Closet in. Manhattan this closet which has become a. secret space for movie Buffs was once a.

disused bathroom at the headquarters of. the Criterion Collection a 40-year-old. company dedicated to Gathering the. greatest films from around the world and. making highquality additions available. to the public on DVD and Blu-ray and. more recently through its streaming. service the Criterion. Channel today Criterion uses the closet. as its stock room housing films by some. 600 directors from more than 50. countries a catalog so synonymous with.

cinematic achievement that it has come. to function as a kind of film Hall of. Fame over four decades through a. combination of luck Obsession and good. taste this 55 person company has become. the Arbiter of what makes a great movie. more so than any Hollywood studio or. awards. ceremony for more than a decade the. Criterion closet has also served as the. backdrop for a popular online video. series in which actors and filmmakers.

Nathan Lane Aubrey Plaza and Ethan Hawk. among them pick out their favorite. Criterion titles to take home like other. celebrity guests in the closet pcks. series field and Blanchet plucked their. selections from the neatly ordered. shelves and used them as conduits for. spontaneous bursts of. evangelism field praised raymon. Bernard's Wooden Crosses as one of the. greatest war movies ever made while. Blanchet singled out Lissa sheepit Co. the ascent as something something that.

has to be owned by every single human in. the. world neither bothered to mention tar. the film they were otherwise working so. hard to promote inside the closet even. the biggest stars are reduced to a state. of childlike fandom there's no cynicism. in the closet field told me it's all. love it's all about why people do what. they do and how powerful movies are for. us each year Criterion selects 50 or 60. new entrance to add add to its catalog.

which now includes 1,650 films some. Hollywood directors campaign. relentlessly for their films or their. favorite films from the past to make the. list for Legions of film fans Criterion. is akin to the lra but with an aura of. hip the writer and director Josh safy. told me in an email when saf's film. uncut gems which he directed with his. brother Benny entered the Criterion. Collection with the spine number. 1101 he said they couldn't help feeling.

as if they had snuck into the museum. that they had admired for so. long being a part of the collection is. something that were both incredibly. proud of safy told me it may sound corny. but it was more meaningful than. Awards criterion's commitment to film. and filmmakers has helped the company. which began in the 1980s by releasing. films on VHS and Laser dis a precursor. to DVDs with a comparatively enormous. diameter of 12 in to stay relevant and. Prof Prof able through a series of tech.

revolutions that have upended the. industry while Studios and streaming. services Chase audiences by producing. endless sequels and spin-offs trying to. ring fresh content from old ideas. Criterion has built a brand that. audiences trust to lead them even to the. most obscure corners of the film. Universe Criterion success in marketing. beautiful strange complex movies is the. road not taken by most of. Hollywood a steadfast belief in the.

value of human creativity and curation. over the output of any. algorithm one day in the spring of 1992. a year after taking over as director of. Criterion Michael Nash was sitting in. his beach front office in Santa Monica. when he got an unexpected phone call. like many people who work for years in. Hollywood Nash has a tendency to. describe events as if he were reading. lines from a. screenplay you're sitting in the office. and on the desk there's the old style.

intercom he told me the operator takes. an incoming call and then it's like. Michael Nash David Boe online. four Bowie was calling about Nicholas. rogue's 1976 film The Man Who Fell to. Earth in which Bowie starred as an alien. visitor who masquerades as human and. succumbs to The Human Condition Nash. remembered seeing the movie years. earlier and finding it amazing but. difficult to. understand I was totally confused he. said the reason audiences couldn't make.

sense of it Bowie explained was that the. theatrical release for the man who fell. to Earth was missing 18 minutes of film. that was cut by the distributor it got. butchered Nash told me years later it. star was hoping that Criterion might. consider releasing rogue's original cut. of the film on laser. disk Criterion was founded nearly a. decade earlier by the CD ROM Pioneer Bob. Stein along with his wife alen Stein and. a former Warner Brother brother's. executive named Roger Smith to explore.

the technological possibilities of the. laser disc then a novel format that. could accommodate multiple audio tracks. and allowed viewers to stop on any frame. of a film with no image. Distortion Criterion would track down. the original negative or best surviving. pre-print version then hire technicians. to scan the film remove blemishes when. possible and correct colors that may. have faded or turned pink over. time the vision says Rebecca OIC who. worked as head of design at Criterion.

from 1991 to 1994 was getting people. access to all these great. films before the emergence of the Home. Video Market in the late 1970s Hollywood. Studios had little use for films whose. theatrical runs had. concluded they ceased to be Commodities. and were often destroyed or transferred. to public archives where they remained. vulnerable to fire deterioration and. discoloration nonprofits led the nent. movement to preserve and restore Motion.

Pictures until Criterion helped create a. market for them the company's first. release was a laser dis edition of. Citizen Cane that included supplementary. materials like a video essay and. extensive liner notes on the provenance. of the negative from which the. restoration was made next came King Kong. which featured the first ever audio. commentary track inspired as an. afterthought by the stories that the. film scholar Ronald Haver told while. supervising the tedious process of. transferring the film from.

Celluloid the novelty of the laser disc. meant licensing fees cost virtually. nothing compared with the dominant VHS. tape. format acquiring the rights to Citizen. Kane and King Kong from RKO pictures. cost Criterion around. $10,000 securing the best surviving. print of a film often required assiduous. detective work the original negative for. Doctor Strange Love was lost says Morgan. Holly who served as an in-house producer. for the Criterion laser disc of Stanley.

Kubrick's 1964 Cold War. satire there was one print that was. struck from the original negative that. was somewhere in the world one of. criterion's editors Maria palazola. tracked it down only to learn that on. its Journey to the United States it took. a detour through Japan where strict. anti-pornography laws prompted Customs. officials to order a test screening that. would almost certainly have degraded or. destroyed Kubrick's sole personal print. of the film it was this battle Holly.

told me but in the end they persuaded. the Japanese authorities to send the. print on its way unscreened and. unscathed Criterion sought to restore. films not only to pristine condition but. also with the intent of the filmmaker in. mind the company popularized the. practice of letter boxing or presenting. a film in its original aspect ratio by. adding black bars at the top and bottom. of the screen rather than cropping the. image to fit a standard television.

display director's commentary tracks. were another Criterion Innovation some. of the earliest were recorded by Martin. scorsi for the taxi driver and Raging. Bull laser discs which helped cement his. influence on an entire generation of. young. directors I knew from scori from those. commentaries sometimes how they were. accomplishing those shots the filmmaker. Wes Anderson told me and I think I got a. sense of his approach with actors of. trying to get a sort of documentary. feeling to certain aspects of those.

movies criterion's respect for creators. was what caught Bowie's attention on the. phone with Nash he offered to record an. audio commentary for the Criterion. addition of the man who fell to Earth. which was released on laser disk in. March 1993 and quickly became a cult. classic the thing about the man who fell. to Earth and so many of the other. projects is you've got films whose. greatness was squelched somewhat by the. process of taking Tak them to Market.

where the people who had the projects. didn't understand them and would recut. them for commercial release Nash told me. his priority was to help make Criterion. an Enterprise that would restore the. director's vision and get the film right. for. posterity when Terry gilliams dystopian. classic Brazil entered the collection as. a special edition box set in. 1996 the director told me that he seized. the opportunity to invite viewers to. take sides on his well publicized Feud.

with the head of Universal Pictures. Sydney. shinberg they had cut almost all the. fantasy sequences out Gilliam said they. were making a different film they were. making Sid's film which was ultimately. missing 20 minutes of. footage gilam told me he insisted that. Criterion include both his own cut and. shinberg version in its release so. people could decide for themselves was I. the idiot or was the studio.

always in awe of autors but never in. their thrall Criterion producers have. never been afraid to look beyond the. biggest and most marketable names when. Criterion released peeping Tom a 60s. psychosexual Thriller by the English. director Michael Powell the company. chose not to ask soressi to record the. audio commentary though he would have. been the obvious candidate having done.

them for other Criterion editions of. Powell films the job instead went to a. feminist scholar Laura mvy the author of. The influential essay visual pleasure. and narrative Cinema which brought. forward the concept of the male Gaye. over the years such decisions added up. to an editorial voice that became. influential even authoritative. transforming a mere distributor of films. into a creator of film. culture As Time passed and and its. catalog grew so too did a sense among.

Criterion leaders that the collection. could become more than a mere archive. that it should have something to say. about contemporary Cinema. too during his brief stint at the Helm. of the company Nash focused on acquiring. newer movies that he found both. commercially interesting and culturally. important like shortcuts by Robert Alman. and kahiro Alo dystopian anime. Masterpiece. Akira he also made Criterion an early. proponent of the new wave of.

African-American cinema by releasing. laser dis editions of films by Young. directors like John Singleton boys in. the hood and the Hughes Brothers Menace. to Society the year after Nash left the. company it released a laser disc for do. the right thing the first of three Spike. Lee films to join the. collection Criterion staff was fewer. than 50 employees each with different. interests and tastes and they were soon. forced to confront a question that film. Buffs argue about to this day what makes.

a film worthy of inclusion in the. Criterion Collection in 1989 the. company's most controversial Choice was. Ghostbusters a comedy starring Bill. Murray that grossed more than $200. million at the box. office it was important but in a. different way than the other films in. the collection were you know the Bergman. films in the Kurosawa films Holly told. me it was an important film because a. lot of people watched it some of Holly's.

colleagues nevertheless disagreed. vehemently with the decision there was. one producer I won't name his name but. he wrote this 10-page internal memo. about why we should not do Ghostbusters. he told. me that was one of many attempts. Criterion made to curb its stuffy image. among them the Rock and Armageddon by. Michael Bay those are frequently cited. as outliers in the collection a former. criterian producer Issa Club told. me and yet he said they serve as.

examples of what was once a very. important genre of Hollywood. Blockbusters built around big budgets. and big movie stars which has been. supplanted by franchise properties a. shift Bay played a prominent role in as. the Director of the first five films in. the Transformers. franchise in September when I called. Michael Bay at his home in Miami he. seemed blissfully unaware that many. ciles don't think his films belong in. the. collection he was also unaware of. Criterion continued to existence but.

told me quite earnestly how cool it was. that they were still around his. enthusiasm for its laser discs was. palpable as he described washing cars. for the cash to buy them just as he did. to afford the best stereo. equipment I just remember it being the. Pinnacle they said of the brand ba also. gamely entertained my questions about. the most infamous feature of criterion's. commentary track for. Armageddon in which the movie's star Ben. Affleck mentions an onset bat with Bay. over the.

plot why Affleck wondered would it be. easier to prepare oil rig workers for. outer space travel than to train NASA. astronauts how to drill into and then. destroy an asteroid on a collision. course with Earth I told him to shut the. up they said Ben has a rye personality. so you just have to come back at him. with that same type of. personality in the late '90s as. Criterion shifted to DVD the company had. a tried and true template but also a.

desire to keep growing they started to. push the boundaries Peter Becker. criterion's president told me they. released films like a collection of. music videos by the Beasty Boys in the. experimental films of Stan. bage the Brand's cultural cache had. grown to such an extent that being. selected for inclusion in the collection. could boost a young filmmaker's sales as. well as. reputation Kelly reichart whose films. certain women and old Joy did not enter. the collection until much later.

explained that at the time the Criterion. in primature meant getting the. equivalent of dedicated shelf space in. video stores alongside bigname male. directors back in the video store days. it was really hard to get a shelf if you. were a woman reikart told me they have. all the dudes stocked by director with. their entire catalog in one place and my. stuff would be all spread throughout the. store over time Becker told me me there. was a creeping awareness that little by.

little somewhat accidentally we had. supported and propped up a cannon that. was largely white and mail in August. 2020 after the New York Times published. the article how the Criterion Collection. crops out African-American directors. Becker took responsibility for what he. called his blind spots subsequently and. in response to the murder of George. Floyd he said the company set out to. correct course since then it has. released additional film by Steve. McQueen and Usman sben and added among.

others Marlon Rigs and Cheryl dun whose. 1996 romantic comedy the watermelon. woman is a landmark of the '90s Indie. Renaissance and of queer black. Cinema it's a film that is so genuine. and connects with audiences so. beautifully Becker told me adding it to. the collection was a no-brainer once the. rights became available dun told me that. she was proud of its inclusion and happy. to have made something that enriches the.

global storytelling that Criterion. represents securing the rights to films. remains a defining factor in determining. what ends up in the collection licensing. often starts with a wish list submitted. to various Hollywood. Studios what goes on that list is often. a result of conversations and meetings. among technical staff producers and. editors and of course Becker and the. chief executive of Criterion Jonathan. Terrell I've seen more movies than a lot. of my friends Becker said I certainly.

haven't seen more movies than all of my. colleagues put together occasionally. high-powered Interlopers have their Say. by lobbying. Becker for a few years I kept asking him. about this film by dinoi ilur Paso says. Jim jarm director of Down By Law Ghost. Dog and other Criterion. titles and he says damn it Jim it's you. and Marty scorsi you guys are calling me. every month month or so about this damn.

film Becker didn't remember those calls. he said Antonio Monda an Italian writer. and filmmaker was its major Champion but. one way or another ilur Paso entered the. collection in. 2014 Criterion has shaped generations of. filmmakers who grew up under its. influence Josh safy told me that he. watched countless Criterion releases in. high school starting with C sa 7 Samurai.

and Fritz Lang's M he got his first. glimpse of the directing process from a. behind the-scenes documentary included. with the Criterion DVD for Wes. Anderson's film. Rushmore among the supplementary. features for the Criterion DVD of. franois truo the 400 blows he recalled. seeing his first glimpse of an actor's. audition tape back then you were lucky. to get a theatrical trailer as an extra. on a DVD he said getting a look into tro. process was really special which in turn.

made the disc a really special. object the extra touches that made them. special objects also meant they were. more expensive than standard DVD. releases so safy and his brother Benny. would make illicit copies of the. Criterion discs they rented by mail. through. Netflix Benny would make his own. Criterion DVD inserts safy. said he would do this by mimicking the. unifying aesthetic features of each. Criterion DVD a catalog number on the. spine designating its place in the.

collection and drawn across the top of. its cover a thin line above which. distinctive text with extra wide kerning. spelled out the Criterion. Collection criterion's distinctive. visual language began to emerge in the. early 90s when odic the former head of. design started building up its art staff. with an aim to really show the power of. these films through the cover designs. she told me to do that it was sometimes. necessary to go through every frame a. film In Search Of The Perfect Image.

other times images alone were not enough. for the cover of Robocop we had an. actual aluminum cast letter press plate. made and then photographed the plate. with a 4x5 camera otic says it took days. she told me but using a physical piece. of metal gave it a feeling of aesthetic. truth when Wes Anderson started working. with Criterion on DVD releases of his. films the cover designers Incorporated. illustrations that his brother Eric.

Chase Anderson had made as part of the. pre-production. process Anderson who asked that verbal. ticks like uh and um not be excised from. his quotes told me that he had always. admired how Criterion covers tended to. be more adventurous than uh what a movie. studio would be inclined to go with the. work being done by its art Department he. said was on par creatively with the. famously impressionistic movie poster. designers of Soviet era Poland they. invent their own uh their own posters he.

said their own imagery to go with the. movie Anderson was equally eager to work. with Specialists like the mastering. supervisor Lee kleene who inherited from. his mentor Maria palazola a rigorous. approach to editing that begins with. preserving the intent of a filmmaker. rather than the results they achieved if. some technical limitation had made the. film look a certain way Klein might try. within reason to help them get closer to. their VIs. than they had the first time.

around across three decades at the. company Klein told me his actual duties. On Any Given project have varied wildly. depending on the filmmaker and the. source material Michael man for example. wants the digital copies of his films to. be faithful to the 35mm print John. Waters makes the most of Klein's ability. to improve the look of films that were. originally shot for very little money. he's a guy who wants to make the movies. look as good as they can and everyone. always thinks he would probably want to.

make them look as bad as they can CLE. said of the pink flamingo's director. it's just the opposite he wants them to. look like Bergman. films Klein sometimes works for years on. a restoration project as in the case of. Sait Ray's paur. panchali aito and opur. Shaner three films from the second half. of the 1950s that are collectively known. as the aput. the late Indian filmmaker was beloved by.

other great masters of Cinema sessi saw. paur panchali as a young boy and. kurasawa once compared never seeing a. ray film to never having seen the Sun or. the moon but he was not very well known. even among. ciles changing that through the release. of a Criterion box set required the. restoration of sections of the films. from the trilogy that had been badly. damaged in a fire by the time Klein. started working on them. Klein repaired what he could found other.

sources to replace what he couldn't and. digitally married them in such a way. that they matched the undertaking was a. source of great pressure he told me you. feel the Cinematic weight of the world. on your shoulders when you're dealing. with those Classics he said one wrong. move and the print might be damaged. irreparably another great film Lost to. history in 2019 after the sudden demise. of its popular streaming partnership.

with TCM called film struck Criterion. started its Standalone. subscription-based streaming service. which features a broader range of films. than just those in the collection. getting the Criterion Channel off the. ground was hugely energizing Jason Alman. a producer at Criterion said because it. was ours we weren't partnering with. anybody the abrupt shuttering of film. struck was the work of Warner Brothers. bosses several Criterion staff members. told me and there was a sense of relief.

to be free of such. relationships it was a tremendous. opportunity I think from an aesthetic. standpoint a Content standpoint for a. Criterion to have our own space and our. own place in this kind of new streaming. World Altman said Criterion made a. conscious decision Becker told me to use. the architecture of streaming technology. differently from the way others have. instead of an algorithm viewers are. guided to what they might want to watch. through careful human curation video.

essays interviews with filmmakers and. programming blocks resembling those once. common at independent movie theaters. throughout. America some as straightforward as. retrospectives celebrating specific. filmmakers others as niche as. collections dedicated to obscure genres. like Gaslight Noir and Gothic Noir. between which Becker assures me there is. a difference they're not algorithmic by. Nature Becker said of the major. streaming services their algorithmic by.

intention the workload associated with. keeping the service going however can be. immense The Strain was particularly. acute after Criterion laid off 20% of. its staff near the end of. 2022 a reorganization as Becker called. it from which many staff members have. since been brought back to the company. as its financial situation improved. Altman who was among those temporarily. laid off and brought back on a freelance. basis nevertheless felt that doing.

things the hard way was still the. correct path forward for the Criterion. Channel just as it had been for the. brands laser discs and. DVDs you know all those streaming. channels it's all the content War right. Alman said I mean it's like who has the. most content it's not necessarily the. best content that's the challenge for. Criterion the benefit of this curation. Kelly reichart told me was that that you. don't feel like you've entered a mall.

and you're going to exhaust. yourself with some other streaming. services she told me she often gives up. before settling on anything to. watch when we spoke She Was preparing. for a talk she was invited to give in. Tokyo on what would have been the. director yujiro U's 120th birthday by. watching as many of the 40 or so films. of his that are available on the. Criterion channel for weeks afterward I. did the same often stopping between. dayong oou matinees to reflect on what.

Todd field had called the messiness of. our own narrative which is to say the. process by which friends lovers and. strangers guide us toward movies that. end up changing our lives field told me. a story about waiting tables at a. Manhattan Restaurant in 1984 and being. shoved across the street to see a film. festival at Lincoln. Center he saw films by Victor Nunes Jim. jish the Cohen Brothers and Vim vendors. he said but that's just because somebody. pushed me across the street for field.

that's what Criterion represents not an. algorithm saying this will turn you on. but the gift of being shoved toward. great. [Music]. Cinema.