In anticipation of The legendary David Lynch has diedsocial media timelines were flooded with tributes to the influential filmmaker, often using screenshots and gifs of his impeccable work. Yet another picture has made the rounds with just as much fervor—namely, that of Pamela Anderson in the hallowed grounds of the Criterion Closet with the subtitle We Love David Lynch. Anderson made her visit to the celebrity closet as part of the awards campaign for The Last Showgirl, a way for moviegoers to admire (or judge) her taste in cinema. (For the record, Anderson has excellent taste.) Indeed, countless creatives have made their way to the Criterion Closet since Guillermo del Toro was first filmed making his selections in 2010, with many calling it a "dream come true."

When Criterion announced it would celebrate its 40th anniversary by replicating the Closet with a portable Closet van, cinephiles across the country began planning their visits when the tour reached their hometowns. Having a film in the Criterion Collection is a great honor. However, there are several misconceptions about what the Criterion Collection actually is, what purpose it serves in our culture, and how decisions are made about which films "get in." Coming from a physically obsessed medium, consider this your crash course history lesson and criterium guide to all things criterium.

Founded by Robert Stein, Allyn Stein and Joe Medjuk in 1984, Criterion is a pioneering home media distribution company focused on restoring, preserving and publishing important works of film - classic and contemporary - in all genres and from around the world. Films that Criterion distributes on physical media are considered part of the Criterion Collection, including the early days of LaserDisc and out-of-print DVDs. Criterion was truly the first of its kind to include restorations and additional special features to encourage repeat viewings with its releases, essentially providing buyers with the ultimate viewing experience that includes enjoying the film. and film education. For more than 40 years, Criterion has worked in tandem with filmmakers and film scholars to release the best possible release of any given title.

As for the films chosen to be part of the collection, despite the 'arthouse' or 'snobbish' accusations often lobbed at Criterion, the collection has a bit of everything. An intimate, black-and-white micro-budget queer film like Go Fish exists alongside an exercise in depravity like Salò, or 120 Days of Sodom, Chantal Akerman's French masterpiece Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles . ” and an explosive blockbuster like “Armageddon” by Michael Bay. But Criterion doesn't have carte blanche to get any title it wants, including movies that have already been released. The criterion is also at the mercy of the film's rights holders. For example, Criterion published John Woo's action classic Hard Boiled on DVD and out of print for many years, but we're unlikely to see a re-release anytime soon as Shout! Factory recently acquired the rights to 156 films in Hong Kong's Golden Princess Cinema library. including "Hard Boiled."

Film buffs often confuse the Criterion Collection with the Library of Congress's National Film Registry, the United States National Film Preservation Board's collection of films selected for preservation for their historical, cultural, and aesthetic contributions. The criterion is in fact older than the National Film Registry, but while Criterion restores and preserves films from around the world, the National Film Registry is solely dedicated to preserving American-made cinema without a distribution arm. It's also why Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope is in the National Film Registry but is not (and likely never will be) in the Criterion Collection, despite the film's cultural significance and undeniable impact on science. - the fantastic cinematography.

Star Wars is one of the golden geese of Lucasfilm, a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, a company notoriously protective of its titles. When "WALL-E" was added to the Criterion Collection in 2022it was a massive deal because, since its release, only nine films owned by Walt Disney Studios or one of its subsidiaries have been added to the collection. So if you're wondering why your favorite movie isn't in the Criterion Collection, it's probably because either Criterion can't get the rights, the director doesn't want their movie as part of the collection, or Criterion doesn't feel the movie is a good fit.

Criterion still has a deep affinity for films even outside of their collection, with the Criterion Channel streaming service often showing films of questionable taste. Fun fact: Johnny Knoxville was even celebrated by both Criterion and the Academy Film Museum last year when the Criterion Channel aired the Jackass movies and John Waters' Academy exhibit had a section dedicated to Dirty Shame. Neither title is officially part of the Criterion Collection, but that doesn't make them any less important.

A film being part of the Criterion collection doesn't immediately mean it's "better" than another, and not being in the Criterion collection doesn't make a film less than. In fact, there are numerous boutique distribution labels that also release impressive restorations packed with special features that may be home to some of your favorite movies. Case in point: back in 2014, Scream Factory (the horror arm of Shout! Factory) managed to recover lost footage of Clive Barker's Nightbreed and extinguish the official director's cut for nearly a quarter of a century. after the movie first hit theaters. For horror fans everywhere, it was a chance to finally see the film as it was always meant to be experienced, and that wouldn't have been possible without the tireless work of Scream Factory.

Vinegar Syndrome, and its numerous sister labels like Melusine and the American Genre Film Archive (AGFA), are equally invaluable in preserving and rediscovering exploitation, forgotten cinematic oddities, and vintage adult films that would likely have been lost to time otherwise. t for their archivists. And "Looking for Mr. Goodbar' and 'Little Darlings' found VS releases last year, finally putting an end to their 'hard to find' statuses. And there are those so many other companies that provide Criterion-level releases worthy of your time and money. Arrow, Severin films, Kino Lorber, Radiance, Umbrella, Synapse, Imprint, Eureka!, Diabolik, and even studio branches like Warner Archives and Paramount Scares have helped keep physical media alive and ensured that all films were given the same tender care as the Criterion Collection. There is no such thing as an official film canon, and no brand should be considered the arbiter of quality.

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