Criterion Film Club: Suggestions and General Discussion

[Mr Sausage]

We tried it with only Criterion films last time and it went nowhere for reasons that might apply your idea: the format (taking it numerically from spine 1) meant that we rarely ever landed on the films people were eagre to discuss.

Was that indeed how it was done? I've been trying to remember this, and my clearest memory is that 8 1/2 was one of the few chosen and discussed before the thing was abandoned. If my memory about that is accurate, then I'm thinking perhaps we were going alphabetically by title (that was back when there were only a couple titles starting with numerals in print from Criterion) or by nomination or something.

On second thought it might've been alphabetical, as I remember the 39 Steps was one of the first choices as well.

[jindianajonz]

I had a slightly longer post typed up, but it somehow went missing. I love the idea, but a few thoughts:

1) Choose stuff that is both in the main collection and eclipse (I personally don't have any EAH titles) and on Hulu. I'm thinking the previous lack of participation may have stemmed from a lack of access, this way obsessive spine hunters like myself and moe and Hulu viewers will both be satisified.

2) Give a week between naming the movie and starting discussion on it. That should be enough time for people to acquire and watch the movie in question, and ensures that people don't jump into the discussion after pages of lengthy posts (yeah, optomistic, I know).

3) I like the idea of finding a balance between random (to ensure variety) and popular (to ensure participation) films for discussion. Voting on a randomly chosen list seems like a great idea, but I'd extend it to 5 or 6 films. We can provide our top three choices and let Swo use mathemagic to figure out which one we watch.

[domino harvey]

Below are all of the released Criterion titles with ten or fewer responses in their dedicated thread. As you can see, plenty of selections available!

047 Insomnia
050 And the Ship Sails On
072 Le Million
077 And God Created Woman
078 the Bank Dick
085 Pygmalion
092 Fiend Without a Face
113 Big Deal on Madonna Street
122 Salesman
158 the Importance of Being Earnest
162 Ratcatcher
172 Pepe le Moko
177 the Lost Honor of Kathaina Blum
178 My Life as a Dog
183 Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne
189 the White Sheik
192 Coup de grace
193 Quai des Orfevres
198 Ali: Fear Eats the Soul
237 Smiles of a Summer Night
246 I Vitelloni
258 Tanner '88
266 the King of Kings
270 Casque d'or
388 the Two of Us
571 Black Moon
628 the Forgiveness of Blood
629 Sunday Bloody Sunday
638 Following
648 Chronicle of a Summer

[Mr Sausage]

Hulu only titles are out simply because they only cater to US viewers, and I'm not going to help run something I'm excluded from.

[Matt]

But it would be helpful if titles chosen were also available on Hulu so as to broaden access for everyone. I realize that can't be the case for everything, but it might be taken into consideration. And also, obviously, don't pick an out-of-print title.

[domino harvey]

Sausage, this kind of thing will be killed by committee. I was joking about the voting on votes thing but now actually I think you should just pick the rules, pick the process, and offer it up as-is, assuming you want to helm the process. We need a leader in these hard times </Christopher Nolan>

[mfunk9786]

Or you could designate someone to put something together. I'd do it if you'd dare trust me with such a thing, though like Swo, I can't guarantee I'll be able to participate in each and every discussion. I'm with Matt on his two points, and I think your list, Dom, should be counted twice in the list in order to give them a boost, perhaps. This is the platform I'm running on if you choose me, Sausage. And I'll think through the rest of the details. But no hard feelings if you pass me by.

EDIT: Thinking more about the Hulu thing - how many of us actually have it/use it? The thread about it is far from a sensation around here.

[Matt]

Hulu's not a deal-killer for me. I just thought it would help broaden access. But it may just be you and me who subscribe.

[domino harvey]

If you can't find mfunk's post, be sure to check under his birth name, "Robin"

[mfunk9786]

I'm with you in theory, for sure. And using Criterion's website, it wouldn't be that tough to put a list of film together based on a certain number of criteria. We'd just need to either assign someone with the task of putting those criteria together, or iron the criteria out together.

[colinr0380]

Below are all of the released Criterion titles with ten or fewer responses in their dedicated thread. As you can see, plenty of selections available!

I could add a small anecdote to the Ali: Fear Eats The Soul thread - I remember from one of Channel 4's last attempts to do a 'serious' film programme back in 1998, called Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, that one of the regular segments was a celebrity talking about their favourite film. Apparently Fear Eats The Soul is Julie Christie's favourite film, or at least was at the time, and she spent a good couple of minutes waxing lyrical about how moving she found the central relationship.

[Drucker]

Looking at some of those early spine numbers, the price for a used copy starts pretty low on Amazon, so that is encouraging (and how I will be participating).

[Mr Sausage]

Sausage, this kind of thing will be killed by committee. I was joking about the voting on votes thing but now actually I think you should just pick the rules, pick the process, and offer it up as-is, assuming you want to helm the process. We need a leader in these hard times </Christopher Nolan>

I think I'll just end up making the rules myself and letting trial and error decide any changes.

[movielocke]

My thoughts are that we should keep out of print off the list unless it's easily available in print from somewhere else.

I'd say feature one film a week, but post a schedule for what the next three months will be. The way a selection is chosen can rotate from week to week. And I'd sugar coat the pill, if it is only films people don't want to watch, participation will be negligible, so mix the selections up.

For example:
week 1 - orphan criterion title (defined by lack of posts, or oldest 'new' post)
week 2 - rediscovering the canon (defined by most posts or by your typical canon indicators, like S&S list)
week 3 - non criterion title
week 4 - a criterion title that has been released in the last three months.

Repeat for the next month. Because this approach results in a three month schedule, this allows you to have four polls: Orphans, Canon, Non-Criterion, New Release and you can just take the top three titles from each poll to fill out your schedule. Then new polls to build a new schedule after the first three months. If it's not a success, kill it.

[swo17]

For what it's worth, here are five randomly generated Criterion titles, in case anyone wanted to vote for a first film club title based on this selection:

Still Walking
Suzanne's Career
Hobson's Choice
Certified Copy
Pigs & Battleships

[Murdoch]

I think we should stay away from the more popular and discussed recent fare (i.e. Certified Copy, Tiny Furniture), although films like Secret of the Grain that flew under the radar would be worthwhile.

[colinr0380]

I really like movielocke's suggestion, maybe with the addition of a 'list project' or 'decade project' title every fortnight.

[jindianajonz]

I think I'll just end up making the rules myself and letting trial and error decide any changes.

I think this is best; we can fix any problems that come up later.

[Mr Sausage]

I had decided that if I got at least 20 votes this was a go, and we now have 25 so I'm officially going to get this thing going and will moderate it for the forseeable future.

Keep offering suggestions, I'll read them all, but ultimately I'm going to come up with the rules myself. Look for something soon.

[neal]

You may select up to 2 options

I must admit that I considered selecting both options...

[domino harvey]

Relevant and forum-appropriate

[zedz]

I'm a bit late to the discussion, but I'd suggest that whoever the moderator is, they just pick a title using some common-sense parameters such as:

- it's still in print
- it's under-discussed on this forum
- it's a good / interesting / discussable film (you just know that if you select Border Radio you're going to get little more than rants and wisecracks)

Additional positive factors to consider would be:
- availability on Hulu
- availability in other regions

In the course of discussion, participants could passionately lobby for the film they want to discuss next, and the moderator could take that on board or ignore them.

I will probably take part in some discussions if I have something to add, but I doubt that I'll be part of a regular 'Film Club', since I am beholden to the higher calling of Kevyip, so I didn't bother voting.

[Moe Dickstein]

I'd just throw one thing in about OOPs, perhaps so long as they are available in an in-print non Criterion edition they can still be considered for inclusion (such as Third Man)

[mfunk9786]

If we'd be voting on 5 films, wouldn't we be missing the point of watching an underseen title? Or will certain titles be excluded from the random number generator? If a Bottle Rocket gets into the bunch, wouldn't it spoil the bunch?

[Mr Sausage]

I'm not worried about getting people to talk about under-seen and under-discussed films at the moment. Maybe for the next film. For now I'm just going to let people vote for the film they most want to discuss. If that's Bottle Rocket, so be it. If no one comments it'll get shut-down quickly anyway.