Original intent
Criterion employs 45 people and works
with 10 regular freelancers, from editors to
producers of special features. Becker says that
as many as 25 people, including a specific
producer, designer and research director,
work on each title.
When Criterion began, it inaugurated its
long-running line of director-approved
releases in which film transfers and cuts were
personally supervised by the directors themselves to ensure that home video audiences
could see their work the way they intended.
After scanning in the original film negative, usually in whichever city or country it was
found, Criterion restores it digitally, from
removing dirt and scratches to adjusting the
color to cleaning up the audio. While technicians are meticulous in their work, they are
careful not to overdo it. “Part of the reason that
we use such a light hand in restoration is we
want it to feel like film,” says Becker. Especially
as many people have a projector at home now
and can watch movies on a wall.
Becker walks me through the art department to the digital-restoration facility. In one
room, digital-restoration artist Phoebe
Harmon scouts out chroma breathing (
fluctuation in the hue of a film) in Peter Weir’s
Picnic at Hanging Rock. She points out the
often subtle effect and presents a before-and-after image created through special software.
In another room, technical director Lee
Kline performs color correction on Judex, a
1963 black-and-white film from French
director Georges Franju, who also made Eyes
Without a Face. The quasi-superhero movie,
long unseen and procured from a private collection, was brought to Becker’s attention by
rocker Patti Smith and the late Adam Yauch
of the Beastie Boys. “It has this amazing
mash-up, almost graphic-novel sensibility,”
says Becker.
In an audio room, Ryan Hullings utilizes a
spectral repair tool on Peter Davis’ Vietnam
documentary Hearts and Minds. On the
screen it looks like a heat map through which
Hullings pinpoints the clicks and noises. “This
tool allows us to surgically remove those
imperfections without affecting the sound
above, below, before and after it,” he says.
Director’s cut
Back in Becker’s office we encounter
director Wes Anderson, who has had a few of
his films reissued via Criterion and has come
in to screen a movie in the company’s intimate screening room.
Becker and Anderson’s bromance
is evident as they discuss their
various experiences together. The
director reveals that, on each of
his releases through Criterion,
“we have to make a point of having something on the DVD that
doesn’t quite make any sense. Or
something that we can’t explain.”
For example, Fantastic Mr.
Fox features a special analysis by two brothers who are “single-digit-age critics” (one of
them acted in Moonrise Kingdom), who offer
their take on the film. “They have views,”
quips Anderson.
Anderson calls himself “a part-time
employee of the Criterion Collection.” The
Royal Tenenbaums and The Life Aquatic with
Steve Zissou never got studio releases on disc;
they are exclusively available from Criterion.
“I consider the Criterion Collection to be one
of the great art collections anywhere,” declares
Anderson. “Someone could open a film
school that is called the Criterion Collection,
and that’s the textbook, these films in these
editions. I think you could learn everything.”
His peers agree
“The Criterion releases have the strength
of a final archival copy for the filmmaker,”
says director Guillermo del Toro, whose
debut film, Cronos, was resurrected and
restored by the company. “They look, sound
and are curated better than in any other for-
mat at any other time. The seal of approval of
a Criterion film is a five-star review, a blue
ribbon—an endgame. Criterion is, and will
always be, the watershed and the touchstone.”
In the end, Criterion feels privileged to
work on the films it does, whether classic art
films or studio pictures. “When it works really
well, it’s a well-built, well-curated kind of
museum exhibit or course in film,” notes
Becker of each release. “We have this incred-
ible luxury of only having to work on good
films. Columbia doesn’t have to let us work on
On the Waterfront, but they’ve entrusted it to
us and we have this responsibility to the films,
the filmmakers, to our licensors and to our
audience.” C
Freelance writer Bryan Reesman ( www.bryan
reesman.com) is an avid movie fan.
JUNE 2014 ;e Costco Connection 63
Ryan Hullings, Criterion audio
supervisor, hard at work on
A Hard Day’s Night.
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In our digital editions
Watch a sample Criterion
Collection extra from Fantastic
Mr. Fox with George Clooney.
(See page 16 for details.)
Name: Criterion Collection
President: Peter Becker
Number of employees: 45
Contact: www.criterion.com
Products at Costco: Costco currently
offers 19 Criterion titles.
Comments about Costco: “The Criterion
Collection has always been dedicated to
presenting the greatest films from around
the world in editions of the highest technical quality, and to getting them out to the
broadest possible audience. Costco, with
its dedicated, demanding customer base
and innovative marketing strategies, is the
perfect partner for us, and we are very
proud to be working closely with them to
make sure the Costco customer gets the
most out of the Criterion experience.”
—Peter Becker
SUPPLIERPROFILE
supervisor, hard at work on
