What To Watch In Criterion Channel?

So I just got the Criterion Channel for Christmas, and I can not think about what to watch. I was thrilled at seeing some more modern pictures on there, but disappointed over the lack of certain films. I was disheartened that La Dolce Vita and Nights of Cabiria was not there since 8 1/2 and Amarcord were there. Then the lack of some French New Wave like Last Year at Marienbad. I still have to go to Archive.org for those.

I saw that there were some films were on the channel at some point, but have went(ex. Double Indemnity, Touch of Evil, and now Brazil and Pierrot le Fou).

I keep feeling like you can watch most of this stuff on Youtube and I am not able to find any recognizable titles. Mostly obscurities.

However, I noticed that Band a Parte left on July 31st '21 but is back now. Maybe some of them might come back and maybe some good stuff will come in January. Like any other streaming service, as many good things come as they go.

Rather than focus on what isn’t there, focus on what is. There’s a ton of French New Wave, Czech New Wave, Japanese New Wave so many other film movements worth checking out.

Obscurities on these streaming services are as much the point as the premiere titles you might expect. Just because some films have a bigger cache doesn't remotely mean they are guaranteed to be better. What becomes canonical in art is frequently arbitrary. Truffault becomes 400 Blows but not Bride Wore Black. Godard becomes Pierrot Le Fou but not A Married Woman. Resnais becomes Marienbad but not Muriel. All should be watched though. At least if we are truly in pursuit of cinema. And that is what Criterion is offering with their channel. To move beyond the obvious. To fill in the gaps. To enjoy discovering things.



Take chances. Watch unfamiliar things. Eventually the ones you were hoping for will likely show up, anyways. Stop griping about what isn't there and accept what is.

Choose one of the curated watch lists like this months Snowy Westerns or Screwball Comedies and dive in.

Give it time. Those movies will be back. Criterion does a pretty good job of rotating in movies while keeping a solid base of pretty great ones as well. And, as others have mentioned, their selection of deep cuts is pretty excellent.

Just pick some film watching theme and then use the Criterion Channel to see every movie that fits that theme.

All of it?

Here's a great channel.. Every few days is another amazing movie, with great video/audio quality.


https://www.youtube.com/@OldFilmsRevivalProject

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