A long time ago, Ric Bretschneider warned that we didn’t own what we thought we owned on digital media. Then came streaming, and we inferred that we would have access to everything everywhere and we didn’t have to worry about it. Oh, how wrong we were.
Partially, that’s because maintaining a streaming library turned out to be expensive. Bean counters wondered why they were hosting things that nobody seemed to watch. Thank heavens, then, that small boutique home video labels are here to pick up the slack. Mostly.
Maybe documentarian Ry Levey made Boutique: To Preserve and Collect to justify his own physical media habit. Who’s to say? But a good film should occasionally put its hand on your shoulder and remind you that whoever you are, you’re not alone.
Because it isn’t just allegedly popular films and television that’s getting lost in streaming cuts. Though in Levey’s film you might be surprised at a couple of titles deemed “boutique” now. There are films that would have been utterly lost if not for labels like Vinegar Syndrome, Criterion, or Kino Lorber, to name a few. When you watch Boutique, you might want to keep a notebook handy and write down some films you didn’t know you wanted to see.
Levey isn’t just focusing on labels you can find today. As a good documentarian, he dives into the history of “lost” film preservation. There’s a brief segment on RCA videodiscs, competitor to VHS/Beta and precursor to laserdisc. Don’t worry; those get their time, too. An entire other documentary could be made about the rise of VHS collecting, perhaps as a companion piece.
One section that triggered major memories explored the Something Weird label. Which might also explain the appeal of boutiques. In the days of video stores, if you picked up a tape with the Something Weird seal of approval, it might not have been a great movie, but it stood a good chance of being great to you.
The film spends a decent amount of time dissecting what it takes to get an obscure film to blu-ray. Even when lost, these movies still come with red tape. A lot of blood, sweat, and tears went into bringing me my collector’s edition of Reform School Girls.
Let’s be fair, too, that many of the films discussed here won’t be your cup of tea. But the passion of the talking heads – film writers, film makers, and label executives – drives home the point that they deserve to find their audience, even if you aren’t that audience.
It’s also fitting that Boutique: To Preserve and Collect makes its U.S. debut at Cinequest next week. One of Levey’s interviewees, Wes Hurley, made a splash years ago with a VR short version of his later feature Potato Dreams of America. Wes and I spoke a couple of years ago when Vinegar Syndrome released that film.
And so Levey’s documentary brings things full circle. If you have the chance, watch Boutique at Cinequest, and then in a few months, take it home from… well, we don’t know yet which label will release it, but no doubt one of them will.
The film will screen on Saturday, March 15th at 2:30 p.m. and Monday, March 17th at 2:40 p.m. at the 3Below San Jose.
Fanboy Planet is an Amazon affiliate, but none of the links on this page are for Amazon. If you’re interested in films on these boutique labels, please go directly to them. We make no commission, but good small companies are supported.
