Educational Media Reviews Online

There are three kinds of collectors: those who collect valuables; those who collect objects that are valuable only because people compete for them (such as stamps, baseball cards, and comic books); and collectors who hear the call of an object, and don’t resist it. This third kind of collector is featured in this film—those with no embarrassment about the mass of objects they accumulate. Unlikely Treasures is a unique film in that instead of attempting to approach its subject through a larger context, it jumps straight into featured collectors exhibiting their collections.

One collector acquires jerseys and vinyl records. Another collects ceramic E.T. figures. A third collects objects with no theme other than that they fascinate her, one example being the skeleton of a mouse. They visit thrift shops, antique stores, and occasionally eBay. The film has these collectors show off their collections, discuss how and why they began collecting, and even the ways that collecting affects the functionality of their lives. One collector acknowledges that collecting often becomes an obsession, but that a museum he works with, the City Reliquary in Brooklyn, offers a way to make collecting healthy again by allowing collectors to share their treasures with others.

The film continues into an exploration of how these rooms of “junk” can be transformed into something that, if not useful, is at least beautiful. At Elsewhere, an old shop-turned-museum in Greensboro, North Carolina, artists have used objects to create transitory art as a metaphor for dealing with societal overproduction.

Unlikely Treasures is a leisurely but engaging and well made look at an unconventional hobby, or even lifestyle, that isn’t commonly acknowledged. This film should be enjoyed by anyone interested in transitory art with recycled materials, or seeing the treasure in an unlikely object.