Heard about the boutique home video label Criterion Collection but never splurged on one of their releases? Then their new 40-film box set may be the perfect purchase for you. The company announced CC40, Criterion’s latest Blu-ray box set, curated with forty different titles from the Collection that includes special features, essays, and more.
Where’d Criterion get the idea for the boxset? Their Criterion Closet videos, a long-standing viral tradition. Each video showcases a famous actor, director, or movie-adjacent person stopping into the CC offices in NYC and picking their favorite releases to bring home with them. CC40 is a sample of Criterion titles often picked in these videos. As per Criterion’s press release: “Neither a historical survey nor a top-40 compilation, this exciting, personal, unpredictable anthology reflects the cinematic joys and inspirations of the creative community that makes the Criterion Collection possible.”
So what filmmakers should purchasers expect in CC40? The complete list runs the gamut of auteurs from every era of cinema: Jean-Luc Godard, Wong Kar-wai, Gus Van Sant, Federico Fellini, Agnès Vardas, Powell & Pressburger, and more. Read on for the complete list of titles included in the the box set.
The films: 8½ (1963), Tokyo Story (1953), All That Jazz (1979), Bicycle Thieves (1948), Repo Man (1984), Naked (1993), Jules and Jim (1962), Being There (1979), Weekend (1967), Yi Yi (2000), The Night of the Hunter (1955), Pickpocket (1959), Sweet Smell of Success (1957), On the Waterfront (1954), Do the Right Thing (1989), Ratcatcher (1999), Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971), Mirror (1975), Barry Lyndon (1975), Safe (1995), Seconds (1966), His Girl Friday (1940), Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985), Y tu mamá también (2001), My Own Private Idaho (1991), Love & Basketball (2000), Night of the Living Dead (1968), Ace in the Hole (1951), 3 Women (1977), The Red Shoes (1948), Down by Law (1986), La Ciénaga (2001), Wanda (1970), House (1977), Sullivan’s Travels (1941), The Battle of Algiers (1966), A Woman Under the Influence (1974), Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962), Persona (1966), In the Mood for Love (2000)
CC40 includes digital restorations of all 40 films, hundreds of hours of supplemental features, and a 216-page book featuring essays on each film by critics, scholars, and authors. The box set will be available for purchase on November 19.
Make no mistake: CC40 is a perfect holiday gift for any cinephile and the latest in a long line of stellar home video box sets by Criterion. It also indicates that Criterion’s new owner, Indian Paintbrush founder Steven Rales, wants to keep the video label working at the highest pedigree. Rales also owns Galerie, an online film club and subscription service that offers access to films, essays, and live events featuring a rotating selection of filmmakers, including Wes Anderson, Pablo Larraín, and more. AKA: Galarie is the perfect companion to The Criterion Channel, Criterion’s streaming subscription service, which boasts several CC titles in its catalog plus a rotating monthly selections.
Once again, CC40 is available on November 19. Stay tuned for Criterion Collection’s November new releases later this month.