K^D3C63 - 20250810 There's a place far away
I saw a video on youtube recently with an interesting challenge: If you could have only 10 Criterion Collection DVDs what would you pick? THe He presents it in one of two ways, what would be the disks you would take if you were going to be stranded on a desert island (with everything else needed to survive) for some extended period of time (ten years maybe?) or if your house was on fire, (and everyone else was safely evacuated,) what 10 discs would you grab first? I do think these are slightly different questions, even though they're trying to get to the same point. On the desert island version, you're thinking about long-term rewatchabaility, whereas in the burning building, I personally would be picking based on what is going to be the hardest to replace. So when I decided to tackle the challenge, I went with the former, so I'm focusing more on the movie quality itself, rather than the the rarity of the physical object.
The original video creator also added the rule limiting himself to a single box set, because box sets kind of feel like cheating, which I agree with. But it didn't really come into play because, while I do have a few great box sets (Zatoichi, John Cassavetes, Bruce Lee) none of them quite rise to the level of desert island discs for me.
To clarify the rules
The original video creator also added the rule limiting himself to a single box set, because box sets kind of feel like cheating, which I agree with. But it didn't really come into play because, while I do have a few great box sets (Zatoichi, John Cassavetes, Bruce Lee) none of them quite rise to the level of desert island discs for me.
To clarify the rules
- At most, one box set
- I must already own the movie
- Limited to criterion collection releases
So here, in roughly the order I thought of them, are my 10 Desert Island Criterion Selections
- Meantime - I've talked about this movie elsewhere, but this is a deeply personal film for me. It's directed by Mike Leigh, and while it's not usually pointed to as his best work (that usually goes to Secrets and Lies or Naked, both arguably better movies than this) Meantime is the one I ind myself going back to most often. A portait of life on unemployment in Thatcherite London, it is, like so much of Mike Leigh's work, deeply human and sympathetic to everybody.
- For All Mankind - This movie, a documentary about going to the moon told through footage of the trips we made there and with narration from the men who did it, is a masterpiece of documentary film making. I think humanity has done a lot of absolutely astonishing things, but going to the moon and back is near the top of the list. It's the sort of thing that can only be accomplished through people working towards a common goal and I get emotional thinking about it.
- True Stories - This movie feels like home to me. The only film directed by Talking Heads front man David Byrne, it's a meandering journey through a small Texas town. Spending time with the people there. Not a documentary, to be clear, but a stylized fictionalization that evokes a specific time and place. Some of John Goodman's best acting work (and that's saying a lot) and a killer soundtrack make this an easy choice.
- Arsenic and Old Lace - Maybe the best screwball comedy of all time? Arguments could be made for other ones, but this would have my vote every time. And not just because I performed the role of Teddy in high school. A perfect example of how "dark" comedy doesn't have to be bleak, and a reminder that we're all a bit mad sometimes.
- My Dinner with Andre - I don't know when I first saw My Dinner with Andre, it's one of those easy punchline movies that kind of shows up in pop culture. There was a joke about it in an episode of The Simpsons, one near the end of Waiting for Guffman (a film that would have made this list if Criterion released it) and I can distinctly hear my mom saying "It's just two guys having dinner!" when she described going to see it to me. And it is just two guys having dinner, but while they're doing that, they have one of those conversations that feels like it is about everything. I deeply connect with Wallace Shawn's character in this movie, and not just because my mom said I looked like him when I was a baby.
- Mikey and Nicky - Another movie that's mostly two guys talking to eachother, but this time it's John Cassavetes and Peter Falk as two low level gangsters trying to hide out and survive the night. Elaine May directed this movie, and it feels like she didn't direct the actors as much as unleashed them. I love Peter Falk as Columbo, and he'll always be remembered for that the most, but this is some of his absolutely best work.
- This is Spinal Tap - Because sometimes you just want to laugh. I own the original Criterion DVD release of this movie, and I will absolutely be picking up the 4k release when it comes out later this year. A genre defining mockumentary and one of the funniest things to ever exist. I think the mockumentary format has been deeply watered down by shows like The Office or Modern Family and the format is worse off for it. I am also very excited about the sequel coming out in just a few weeks.
- F for Fake - Citizen Kane is still probably Orson Welles' best movie. Or at least the best one I've seen (I'm still making my way though his catalog) but F for Fake is a cinematic masterpiece of a magic trick. A movie about hoaxes and fakes and charlatans presented by the biggest fake hoaxing charlatan of them all. Orson Welles is laughing at you, but he does it so well that you'll laugh along too.
- The Battle of Algiers - This is a movie that changed the world. Or at least changed the world for me. Watching it was a turning point in my life, and put into focus things that had been unsuccessfully been explained to me before. A movie that feels like it was cut together from clips of newsreels (even though it wasn't) as it depicts conflict in a way that I don't think has really been matched before or since.
- Police Story 1&2 - OK, this kind of counts as a box set. It's only two movies though, so I hardly think it's padding out the list. I'm not putting the 30 film Bergman Box here (and not just because I don't own it). But I had to include some of the best practical stunt work ever put to film. Even if I didn't have the rest of the movie, and could only watch the finale in the mall, it would still be worth taking to the desert island with me. Also: They don't say this enough, but the movies are also very funny.
It was hard narrowing this down to just 10, but that's the whole point. I'd list some of the movies that almost made the list, but that feels like just an excuse to get away with more movies. So We'll leave it at these 10.