All the World’s a Screen: Non-traditional double features for your streaming consideration

The double-feature is a practice long abandoned by movie theaters. Only repertory venues — The New Beverly, the Aero Theatre, the Egyptian — still regularly program two films back to back. While the two features are usually connected through a shared actor, writer or director, I find the most fun pairings are films that are thematically linked — and the more obscure that link, the better. 

As we continue to self-quarantine and eventually finish the semester at home, I suggest we take up the double-feature tradition to pass some of the time. I’ve thematically paired a number of films below and most of them can be found on streaming platforms. If you can, watch them in the order they are listed. I hope I’ve chosen correctly so the first film will ease you into the second. That’s the best thing about double-features, they always open the door to something new. 

Double feature No. 1: Modern romance (is weird) 

‘Punch-Drunk Love’ (2002) and ‘A Woman is a Woman’ (1961)

Blue suits and bright colors aren’t the only things these two romantic comedies have in common. Both Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Punch-Drunk Love” and Jean-Luc Godard’s “A Woman is a Woman” play with rom-com and musical genre tropes — Anderson mainly with his characters and Godard with his camera. Both films are swift and fun, with their disorienting plots rarely predictable and their peculiar characters delightfully undefinable. 

Double feature No. 2: Tales from the inside

‘Goodfellas’ (1990) and ‘City of God’ (2002)

I recently saw “City of God” for the first time, and I was immediately reminded of “Goodfellas” — the visual pauses, the accompanying narration, the gruesome violence and the decade-spanning plots based on real events. These two crime thrillers will take you inside ugly worlds for a couple of hours, and while that may sound disturbing, you eventually find yourself totally invested in the plot and actually concerned for the cast of heinous (and weirdly nicknamed) characters. 

Double feature No. 3: Come inside 

‘Annihilation’ (2018) and ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ (2006)

For most of “Annihilation,” there’s a clear border between fantasy and reality, but that’s never the case in “Pan’s Labyrinth.” The former, Alex Garland’s underrated sci-fi flick, follows a team of scientists investigating a strange territory that seems to have sprouted from an asteroid smashing into the earth — “The Shimmer,” they call it. Guillermo del Toro’s melancholy fantasy, however, always keeps us guessing whether the “fantasy” is actually real. In it, del Toro doesn’t patronize his child protagonist but gracefully invites us to see things the way she does.  

Double feature No. 4: Most misunderstood

‘Frances Ha’ (2012) and ‘Thunder Road’ (2018)

“Girlfriends” (1978) would probably be a more logical pairing with “Frances Ha;” although female friendship does play a crucial role in Noah Baumbach’s movie, I wanted to link it to a film with a similar protagonist. While Jim Arnaud (Jim Cummings) from “Thunder Road” is by no means as talented as Frances (Greta Gerwig) (as the first 12 minutes of the movie will show), what these two share is ambition, self-confidence, joy and a real love for someone else. In “Frances Ha” that’s love for friends, and in “Thunder Road” it’s love for a daughter. Although both Frances and Jim like to ramble and show off, the former qualities are much more important than any singular talent. 

Double feature No. 5: The kids are alright

‘The Florida Project’ (2017) and ‘The 400 Blows’ (1959)

Sean Baker’s “The Florida Project” follows a band of 6-year-old misanthropes whose adventures are not quite like other children’s; they live in cheap motels in Orlando, only a few miles from Walt Disney World. Like Baker’s movie, François Truffaut’s “The 400 Blows” is essentially a series of elementary school antics. The beauty here is how both films force us to spend time with human beings we would probably overlook. Clearly, Baker and Truffaut create from personal experience — the kids are the most genuine part of their films, and both directors happily let them run loose.

Double feature No. 6: Upstairs/downstairs

‘Parasite’ (2019) and ‘Us’ (2019)

Immediately after watching “Parasite,” I remembered “Us” — Jordan Peele’s sophomore feature that’s also about an upstairs-downstairs dynamic and the “haves” vs. the “have-nots.” These weren’t the only two movies concerned with social class and upward mobility in 2019; I’ll include here “Knives Out” (whose final shot is a flipped upstairs-downstairs moment), “The Last Black Man in San Francisco,” “Ready or Not” and even “Joker.” Clearly, these social issues are very prominent in the minds of our contemporary filmmakers, so now it’s just up to us to pay attention.

Double feature No. 7: Messing with the medium

‘Scott Pilgrim vs. The World’ (2010) and ‘8 ½’ (1963)

Forty-seven years apart, “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World” and “8 ½” are not that different. Yes, the former is a fast-paced, quirky video-game comedy and the latter is one of the best movies about making movies. Still, both films play around with what’s real and what’s just in the mind of their protagonist. “8 ½” is a bit more baffling and niche, so maybe “Scott Pilgrim” won’t totally prepare you for it. Either way, if someone out there actually listens to me and watches both of these movies back to back, I will be both thankful and surprised that you took my advice. 

Isa Uggetti is a junior writing about film. His column, “All the World’s a Screen,” typically runs every other Monday.