I say it loud and proud: I love the Criterion Collection.
Where with other DVD labels two out of ten titles may make the site, with the CC it's practically the inverse.
But like you and me, the Criterion Collection is only human and therefore fallible. Remember they released an edition of "Chasing Amy" with Ben Affleck, hardly in the same league with "M" and "Grand Illusion".
I think they've slipped again with their new set of two Chris Marker films, "La Jetee/Sans Soleil", the first thankfully short, the second feature length, and the two made twenty years apart.
But there is a sliver lining here as these titles remind us that art films can be every bit as bad as popular movies.
Clearly Marker is aiming for profundity and in the latter film, visual poetry, to shine a light on our complex and fluid humanity. Unfortunately, that light gets blurred in self-conscious, heavy-handed execution. Particluarly tedious is the precious sounding female voice-over running throughout "Sans Soleil", who continually reads excerpts from a fellow deep thinker. I was counting the number of times she breathily repeated, "He wrote me..." Sometimes to keep it lively, I think she said "He wrote to me..."
Anyway, I found myself sinking further and further into my seat as the time dragged by. Only people who habitually wear black turtlenecks should catch this one.
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