I wonder if I'm the first person to make a double-feature night out of Spring Breakers and Things to Come. I'm pretty sure that I'm the first. I
coined this double feature, yessiree. I'm so glad that I purchased the
Criterion Blu-ray of Things to Come, and I'm so glad that I only rented the Blu-ray of Spring Breakers.
Anyway, onward to my write-up...
Things to Come, the 1936 movie based on the expansive H.G. Wells story, The Shape of Things to Come, is not a riveting edge-of-your-seat science fiction thriller in the vein of other Wells film adaptations, such as 1932's Island of Lost Souls, 1933's The Invisible Man, or 1960's The Time Machine. Things to Come is, however, a wondrous work of cinema that excels in presenting a variety of haunting and hopeful images while asking some big questions and examining philosophies that viewers will kick around in their minds long after the instant gratification pleasures of many faster-paced films have passed into memory.
The first thing that one will notice about this pre-WWII film is that it is eerily prophetic in a myriad of ways. The refuge of Londoners into the subway systems during the German air raids was still a few years over the horizon, but the sounds of air raid sirens and the images of mass city destruction in Things to Come are almost faithfully accurate to those real tragedies that would soon occur during the darkest days of WWII. The sight of a cinema building crumbling under the bomb attacks early in the film surely raised an eyebrow or two with theatergoers back then! The predictions of H.G. Wells become even more incredible later in the film, and the cityscape design of Everytown in the year 2036 immediately makes me think of the interior of the famous Marriott Marquis hotel here in Atlanta. In fact, the idea of Everytown circa 2036 becomes a reality more and more these days as inner city areas are revitalized to feature more green space and wildlife above ground while presenting modern architectural designs with an eye for leisure and convenience.
Throughout history, increased industrialization and innovation have improved the quality of life for the masses, despite the resistance of Luddites who resent change, but events of the past century have introduced increasingly fearful prospects of innovation, such as nuclear technology, genetic engineering, and nanotechnology. Even the most progressive members of society are driven to ask if progress can go too far. Things to Come examines these questions with equal measures of horror and optimism. The notion that mankind is falling behind unless it moves ahead is certainly one that H.G. Wells brought to our attention time and time again, and a fictional representation of this philosophy has rarely, if ever, been brought to the screen in a way that it is in this particular film. Things to Come, like a trip through Tomorrowland in Disney's Magic Kingdom, must have left initial viewers wide-eyed with wonder at a future world of hope and fears. As Christopher Frayling explains during a supplement interview on this
Criterion Blu-ray, though, science fiction stories are, in truth, more concerned with the time of their creation than they are with the future, and Things to Come remains a fascinating time capsule look at 1936, when humanity stood on the edge of a terrifying abyss, but was also graced with a thirst for knowledge, advancement, and improvement.
Things to Come is a cool-looking movie, through and through, and the grand picturesque scope of this feature stands out even when the storytelling and acting aspects do not quite match the ambition. I will probably not put this movie on repeat rotation to the same frequency that I do with Island of Lost Souls or the 1960 adaptation of The Time Machine, but I nonetheless look forward to future trips to Everytown.
This
Criterion Blu-ray presentation of Things to Come gives us a great-looking restoration of an older film, along with a hugely informative commentary from historian David Kalat, who sheds light on the mindset of H.G. Wells when the author probably learned more about the nature of cinema than he expected as he sought full control of this production. An array of short supplementary documentaries provides a fun tour of the design and effects of this unforgettable eye candy movie.
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not sure about the second movie... Hunger or a Godard.
with tax and shipping i will end up paying around 26$ for each movie... 
can't wait!
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