The cinetrix just finished teaching a world cinema survey class in which she used only Criterion-issued titles [and attempted to interrogate the implicit imprimatur that release on the imprint seems to connote], so she found this sentence in Dave Kehr's weekly DVD roundup both puzzling and vindicating:
This month it was released on DVD by the Criterion Collection, which puts it as close as any movie can come to joining the official canon.
Ah, the official canon!* Is this it, then? Even this bit? Fascinating. Thank God we've gotten that cleared up. As you were.
I kid, but I do think this canon business [and who decides] is important to consider. To that end, my final exam asked students to select and argue on behalf of a film, on Criterion or not, that they felt should be added to the syllabus. Their answers suggested that there's still some play in this notion of the official canon, I'm happy to report.
