…9 hours later! The Criterion Mobile Closet.
Instant image of me in the Criterion Mobile Closet with my three movie picks!
At the end of May, I had the awesome opportunity to stand in line with fellow passionate film lovers to await the chance to step inside the Criterion Collection’s Mobile Closet and choose three films to buy and talk about on video. I have never stood in line for something as long as I did that day. While I am not eager to stand for that long again anytime soon, I am surprised by how fast time flew and enjoyed how freeing it felt to be in the moment. Not being able to do chores, having to work, or worry about my next obligation and be present with fellow film nerds for nine hours was the unexpected break I needed. It has been a while since I have been joyously forced to be present with myself and carry on finding entertainment right there in front of me.
The people watching was great, and by hour seven, my line mates and I got really into watching a group of people decorate the front of the Portland Art Museum for the Cinema Unbound awards happening later that night. They were bringing out very large and shiny spheres that looked like giant tree ornaments. Eventually we were mesmerized by watching them blow up the spheres and find their resting spots in the display. There was a collective moment where we were all rooting for the them to throw one at the museum just to see what would happen.
That is all to say, what an experience. In line I got to meet many local and semi-local movie lovers and discuss top picks with them all. As conversations went along, our picks would narrow down, shift, or completely reset. By the end I held true to two of my three picks but kept shifting which direction I wanted to go with the third (a favorite, something I haven’t seen, something very critically acclaimed… etc.). Two of my line buddies decided to pick something out for each other as their third film and kept it a surprise until the final reveal in the closet. Overall, I had to set some boundaries around my picks and decided to focus on three films that hold important meaning for me from different moments in my cinematic journey.
Once we got inside, I feel like I did blank out a little. Between four of us, we had three minutes to find our picks and talk about why we chose them. Maybe someday I’ll share the video of my picks but for now check out some photos from the day and see my picks below!
Now for my picks and why I chose them:
Arsenic and Old Lace - 1944 - Dir. Frank Capra: I chose this film to represent this time in cinema history, which I came to appreciate and love thanks to my grandpa. Criterion has yet to release some of my favorites from that time, but Arsenic and Old Lace is a wonderful comedy, full of pure and joyous entertainment. I also saw a local stage production of the show a while back and grew to love the story even more. This film is special to me because of my grandparents, but also because it is a story that has always thoroughly tickled me. Let’s just say I am excited to watch this blu-ray copy every Halloween season.
Punch Drunk Love - 2002 - Dir. Paul Thomas Anderson: There are many reasons I chose this film, but I’ll limit myself to a few. First of all, I want the blue suit Adam Sandler wears in it… badly! Second, I first saw this film in one of my favorite college classes, Color in Film. I later revisited it in another favorite college course, where I did a deep dive into PTA’s films and looked at how he used color in his body of work to represent surrogate relationships. To me, this film is special because it has played — and continues to play —a big role in my obsession with color and how central it is in filmmaking. As someone who is deeply engrossed in studying color in cinema, I had to have this film. Plus: the score!
Personal Shopper - 2016 - Dir. Olivier Assayas: My last pick was a tricky one. While I cannot say this is one of my favorite films, it is a film that was a part of a time when I was discovering a variety of different international directions. The biggest reason I chose this was that I had the awesome opportunity to go to the premier of this film at Cannes in 2016 while I was interning in the Marché. 2016 in general was a big year for me in film, going to lots of film festivals, doing an independent study of French Cinema, spending a month in LA visiting with many people in the industry, etc. This film represents that awesome year and how lucky I was to attend its premiere. One of the strongest images that has stuck with me from that experience was Kristen Stewart wearing these insanely high heels on the red carpet, while by the standing ovation at the end she had switched into Converse. Personal Shopper does happen to mark the beginning of my changing my opinion of her as an actor and a creative.
Alternates I considered:
Days of Heaven - beautiful score and cinematography
Portrait of a Lady on Fire - I have always really wanted to see it and people keep telling me I would like it
Life of Brian - humor is essential to life
I, Daniel Blake - Also saw at Cannes and it was one of my favorites from that year
Three Colors set - color cinema studies!
The Adventures of Antoine Doinel set - I love French cinema and want to see all of these
Too many others I want!
P.S. I was initially surprised to find that despite being in Portland, OR for this event, I was the most colorfully dressed. Most people were wearing dark colors, and of course many were sporting movie T-shirts or those from Movie Madness, Portland’s famous rental shop. Yes, my amazing yellow boots got many compliments and were surprisingly easy to stand all day in!
