ABSTRACT
Cult-art cinema’s cult identity always calls into question its high-art distinction. A cult-art movie seems to have, or aspire to, two kinds of status: cult value and high-art value. The most respected films of many auteurs deemed “quasi-legitimate” were shortly after their production often identified with their illegitimate cult auteurism and their illegitimate embrace of genre-branded materials and genre-branded distributions. Hence, legitimate forums like film festivals, museum archives, repertory theaters, and crossover magazines like Sight & Sound have often been among the first forums to promote the canonical value of these movies and directors at the cultural level. The best example of the ambivalence involves new cult movies that have too much legitimacy as a result of their provenance. This phenomenon is most evident on the festival circuit, where Bong Joon-ho, Tomas Alfredson, Tarantino, Park Chan-wook, Lars von Trier, and others have released movies that might well be classified as cult-art films.
