Step into the Closet

May 19, 2024 11:07 AM

The Criterion Collection, a revered distributor of classic and arthouse cinema, built a vast library of 3,500+ films over the last 40 years. It can be overwhelming, even for cinephiles. Want a savvy friend to guide you? Enter Criterion's Closet Picks, a lo-fi YouTube series which invites top filmmakers, actors, musicians, and other artists into the vault to freely sample while musing about core influences, all-time favorites, and hidden gems. Highlights: Willem Dafoe - Maya + Ethan Hawke - The Daniels (EEAAO) - Richard Ayoade - Comic Patton Oswalt - Yo La Tengo - Cinematographers Roger + James Deakins - Charlie Day - Nathan Lane - John Waters - VG designer Hideo Kojima - Barry Jenkins (Moonlight) - Dan Levy (Schitt's Creek) - Cauleen Smith (Drylongso) - Animator Floyd Norman - Jane Schoenbrun - Paul Giamatti - Marc Maron - Wim Wenders - Cate Blanchett + Todd Field - Hari Nef - Photographer Tyler Mitchell - Molly Ringwald - Peter Sarsgaard - Udo Kier - Gael García Bernal - Pixar's Lee Unkrich - Singer St. Vincent - Critic Elvis Mitchell - Anna Karina - Bong Joon Ho (Parasite) - Flying Lotus - Agnès Varda - Alfonso Cuarón + Paweł Pawlikowski - Mary Harron - Saul Williams + Anisia Uzeyman - Carl Franklin - Roger Corman - Michael K. Williams - SNL's Bill Hader // Watch the full playlist, or see this cool database of picks (info), including the most popular.
posted by Rhaomi (33 comments total)

The Criterion Collection's disregard of India's auteurs is shameful.

Shyam Benegal. Mani Kaul. Govind Nihalani. Buddhadeb Dasgupta. Jahnu Barua. Adoor Gopalakrishnan. Not a single film by any of these, seriously?
posted by splitpeasoup at 11:50 AM on May 19 [4 favorites]

Note that they do have a collection of films by Indian directors, though it's hardly comprehensive.

Personally I wish they gave more love to animation (only 8 films!), though their excellent treatment of WALL-E recently helped.
posted by Rhaomi at 12:10 PM on May 19 [2 favorites]

I was a huge fan of the Criterion Collection in the laserdisc days, in which they were able to license all sorts of major critically-acclaimed movies because the laserdisc market was so small, release them in the right aspect ratio (so important in those days when the chopping block of pan & scan was the rule on TV and VHS), plus have all kinds of extras. The Criterion treatment was a film fan's dream, a major improvement over what were more often than not extremely sloppy home video and TV presentations. I paid over $100 in '90s dollars for certain Criterion lasers! They were worth it at the time!

Now, it's not the same. Movies are commonly released on Blu-ray at the correct aspect ratio and with good or even great transfers from the studios, and those same movies are also widely available inexpensively via streaming in a similar (although slightly inferior) way. It's not like the old days, when Criterion was rescuing us from total garbage with impeccable transfers and impeccable curation. The Criterion Collection today is good, but now it's more about what they can license and what will succeed on the market.

Don't get me wrong, I think Criterion still does a great job and I will buy future Criterion titles to be sure, but people mistake a film having a presence in the Criterion Collection as being an indication of being something worthy of being in the canon of great films, and also mistake the lack of that film in the Criterion Collection as making a film less worthy. Neither is the case. Ultimately, Criterion is bound by business deals and the limitations of commerce.
posted by eschatfische at 12:10 PM on May 19 [13 favorites]

Oh, this is fabulous.

I love the Criterion Collection, and I love Criterion for sharing and boosting enthusiasm, for encouraging and enabling greater appreciation of great films with their outstanding bonus features, and for preserving and restoring so many great early films.

I have a saved search set up for my library website to find Criterion films.

I find the database wonderful and also a little confusing - it says "The notes for each film in this list reflect which person(s) picked it during their respective visit. " but when I click one of the films I don't see that information.

No matter. I'm delighted to learn about this Closet Picks series and to have so many great ways to explore it.

Thank you so much for this great post, Rhaomi! You've added joy to my day today.
posted by kristi at 12:11 PM on May 19 [2 favorites]

The Criterion Collection's disregard of India's auteurs is shameful.

Shyam Benegal. Mani Kaul. Govind Nihalani. Buddhadeb Dasgupta. Jahnu Barua. Adoor Gopalakrishnan. Not a single film by any of these, seriously?

They did have a series on Mani Kaul a year or two ago, but it seems all of those films have left streaming.

In my experience MUBI features a more diverse range of Indian cinema - it was where I discovered Amit Dutta - but because it is MUBI it tends to come and go.
posted by Stilling Still Dreaming at 12:34 PM on May 19 [5 favorites]

they do have a collection of films by Indian directors,

Yes but that list is nearly entirely Satyajit Ray films. It's saying that Satyajit Ray is the only non-commercial Indian filmmaker who matters, which is precisely the problem.
posted by splitpeasoup at 12:34 PM on May 19 [2 favorites]

Great post, thanks. I was watching the Hideo Kojima one where he says there aren't many japanese films from the 50s and 60s released on blu-ray in Japan, so he gets these from Criterion. This reminded me of Criterion's fantastic Ingmar Bergman-set - there's never been anything remotely like it here in Sweden. Most of the films haven't even been released on blu-ray by Svensk Filmindustri, who keeps a couple of Bergman's Oscars in their office foyer.
posted by Petersondub at 12:54 PM on May 19 [3 favorites]

My wife gifted me the Criterion Channel for Christmas and I swear it's the best $100 she's ever spent on me. Their "Looking For Something To Watch" emails on Friday are the only marketing emails I look forward to, and their curation efforts have led me to movies I would never have thought to look at, not to mention ones I've never heard of, especially noir and musicals. Their fairly new "Starring Shirley MacLaine" collection led me to Sweet Charity this weekend, and oh my gosh I love me some Bob Fosse (and Shirley, too, of course). A few weeks ago, it was Sunset Boulevard. For non-English films their subtitling is excellent.

There's some really weird stuff there as well, and that's good, even if i don't watch it. Film, like books, is a wide umbrella, and we should all be able to find shade there.
posted by lhauser at 1:08 PM on May 19 [8 favorites]

The Criterion Collection's disregard of India's auteurs is shameful.

I mean, they're a distribution company, not a prize-giving organization. Undoubtably, there are tons of films they'd love to publish, but simply can't (affordably) get the rights to.
posted by kickingtheground at 2:06 PM on May 19 [7 favorites]

I haven’t gone through all of these, but a memorable highlight for me was Bill Hader pulling out the copy of Salo and calling it a great date night movie.
posted by neuracnu at 3:06 PM on May 19 [1 favorite]

There's a lot of Indian and Pakistani movies on Netflix. Maybe not Criterion worthy, but still. And they include some oldies. I've watched a few of the comedic ones and they were quite enjoyable
posted by Czjewel at 3:21 PM on May 19 [1 favorite]

Ihauser. Agree, Shirley McLaine is a treasure. And Bob Fosse is genius. I've watched "Chicago" at least 5 times. BTW, the high school productions on YouTube are mostly brilliant. The kids are alright.
posted by Czjewel at 3:23 PM on May 19

Ultimately, Criterion is bound by business deals and the limitations of commerce.

I've been buying 4k movies partly because streaming in 4k can't match the quality of a 4k disc. There are several movies Criterion put on on DVD and Blu-ray but lost the rights to put out the 4k edition. Paths of Glory and Taxi Driver are particularly sad losses.

Anyway, I liked Colin Quinn's visit to the closet.
posted by riruro at 3:32 PM on May 19

Czjewel, I have a friend who worked a high school production of Sweet Charity. She choreographed Big Spender and had a recent arts high school transfer playing Charity. She said it was sublime. There is nothing quite like a high school musical.
posted by lhauser at 3:43 PM on May 19

As a person who owns more than one Criterion box set (the Agnès Varda & Wong Kar-Wai ones) and also watches a lot of movies ... I love Criterion and what they do but I have never considered them to be the ultimate authority on film. They can do better and I think they try! (Especially with the Criterion Channel, which I acknowledge is a different thing than a physical product).

I am not trying to overly defend them because ... uh, Armageddon (which I know happened because Michael Bay gave Criterion a lot of money ... but ... still).

I think of Criterion in this way -- if you need a starting point for movies (classics, certain filmmakers, whatever), it's a good one. I don't think it should be the stopping point, though.
posted by edencosmic at 7:33 PM on May 19 [3 favorites]

neuracnu: "I haven’t gone through all of these, but a memorable highlight for me was Bill Hader pulling out the copy of Salo and calling it a great date night movie."

My favorite from that one was Hader gushing about how much he loved House for 10+ seconds before realizing that he was in fact wearing a T-shirt with the exact same cover art under his hoodie.
posted by Rhaomi at 11:21 PM on May 19 [3 favorites]

Anyone who enjoys the short Criterion Closet videos will probably flip over the Konboni Video Club series from JM Video in Paris, one of the city's last video stores, which gives actors and directors a full 20 minutes to play around and talk about their favorite films (previously). Jodi Foster does hers almost entirely in French.
posted by mediareport at 3:28 AM on May 20 [4 favorites]

I have the Criterion Channel app and it’s not what I had hoped for. When I search for a specific director, like Scorsese, only one film comes up. But when I search their DVD collection many are for sale, so it’s really best for purchasing rather than on demand streaming. I watched Son of Sam yesterday and hated it. I loved Bringing out the Dead!
posted by waving at 3:55 AM on May 20

They can do better and I think they try!

They definitely improved the Collection's list of Black directors after a spate of bad publicity a few years ago about how awful it was. The NYT in 2020 (non-paywalled):

In such an expansive catalog, encompassing films from more than 40 countries, the relative absence of African-American filmmakers stands out. There are, for example, more directors in the Criterion Collection with the last name Anderson than there are African-Americans...

It’s a thorny topic that Black directors have been discussing among themselves for decades.

“You always wanted as a filmmaker to be part of the Criterion Collection, you’re always hoping for that call,” said Gina Prince-Bythewood, the director of acclaimed Black-led dramas like “Love & Basketball” and “Beyond the Lights.” Though Criterion has never reached out to her, Prince-Bythewood still feels a rush of anticipation when the company announces new titles. “Every month, they put out an alert about their films coming out, and every month, I open it to see if they’re going to highlight any Black filmmakers,” she said. “And it never happens.”

In an interview this month with The New York Times, the Criterion president, Peter Becker...expressed regret about the lack of Black representation in the collection.

“There’s nothing I can say about it that will make it OK,” he said. “The fact that things are missing, and specifically that Black voices are missing, is harmful, and that’s clear. We have to fix that.”

The article is great and has a bunch of quotes from folks like Julie Dash, Ava DuVernay, one of the Hughes brothers and many more, all discussing how awful and out-of-touch Becker's decision-making had been.

So maybe there's hope, splitpeasoup, if enough folks make noise.
posted by mediareport at 4:00 AM on May 20 [1 favorite]

The first 3 minutes of Udo Kier's video are a great story about Paul Morrissey, Andy Warhol, Frankenstein and Dracula. "Otto, I need the blood of a virgin; the blood of these whores are killing me..."

Then his setup of the story of seeing a young Lars von Trier for the first time had me laughing out loud:

I expected someone like Fassbender or Kubrick, dressed in black, scratching themselves, being in a bad mood, their eyes are closed...

They let him go on for a bit longer than most which is very fun.
posted by mediareport at 4:21 AM on May 20

Today I learned Willem Dafoe is aging into a New York Jewish grandmother.
posted by Pedantzilla at 7:29 AM on May 20

Today I learned Willem Dafoe is aging into a New York Jewish grandmother.

[Willem Dafore voice]: "I'm something of a bubbe myself."
posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:28 AM on May 20 [3 favorites]

I love Criterion. They definitely have blind spots, but they have some conscientious people attempting to broaden their reach and inclusivity. They get better regularly. I really want to start picking up some of the Scorsese World Cinema sets.

At this point, I can sort of quickly identify what kind of physical media fan a person is by the brands they favor. I'm an Arrow/Criterion/Synapse/Kino Lorber/Severin/Second Run guy. But I'm also in groups with people who tilt more Vinegar Syndrome/Blue Underground/88. Those folks are wild because they'll post a pic of their newest buys and it's all like Farts of Cthulu or Women's Prison Volleyball or Death Camaro whatever. Just bonkers things that sound made up.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:35 AM on May 20 [2 favorites]

@kristi -- the notes aren't attached to the individual films, they're attached to the list. There's a button towards the top of the list called "Read Notes" with an eyeglasses icon; that's the thing you want to click.

@waving -- unobviously, the Criterion Channel is fairly distinct from the Criterion Collection. Most noticeably, not all the films available on physical media are available on streaming due to rights issues, etc. However, the Channel has way more movies than are available in the Collection and rotates movies on a monthly basis.
posted by Bryant at 9:09 AM on May 20 [5 favorites]

The paucity of films in the collection from Black directors is a good example of the kind of thing CC has gotten wrong, but also a good example of how they can do better when pushed.

Gina Prince-Bythewood, Julie Dash, Ava Duvernay, one of the Hughes Brothers, and Barry Jenkins commented in that article. Criterion now has Love & Basketball by Prince-Blythewood, Menace II Society by The Hughes Brothers, and three films by Jenkins. They've added a four film Melvin Van Peebles box set, Cheryl Dunye's Watermelon Woman, Hollywood Shuffle by Robert Townsend, Shaft by Gordon Parks, Saint Omer by Alice Diop, Nanny by Nikyatu Jusu, Devil in a Blue Dress by Carl Franklin, Deep Cover by Bill Duke, and probably some others I have overlooked. Not close to the ground they need to make up, but it reflects a real effort to make up that ground (and some staff changes behind the scenes, one would assume).

Put the pressure on them for Indian film, and we may yet see similar tidal shifts, but they'll never be a perfect repository of all peoples and all things. As long as they're moving forward, it's good.

I'm a fan of bleak and/or darkly funny Eastern European stuff and I have learned that outside of Cristian Mungiu and Bela Tarr films, I mostly have to look elsewhere. There's no Radu Jude, no Kusturica, no György Fehér.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 12:30 PM on May 20

(IMO, the omission of African-American filmmakers was by far the most egregious. Maybe they aren't aware of Radu Jude, but they sure as hell knew who Melvin Van Peebles was long before they did that boxed set. There are films that people haven't heard of, films they have not ventured into yet, and then there are films they just flat out overlook.)
posted by DirtyOldTown at 12:37 PM on May 20

they sure as hell knew who Melvin Van Peebles was long before they did that boxed set

Yeah, the article even notes Criterion put out a few Black directors on laser disc in its early years, but then promptly forgot about them:

In the early 1990s, it put out several acclaimed films by Black directors on laser disc, including Melvin Van Peebles’s “Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song,” John Singleton’s “Boyz N the Hood,” Spike Lee’s “She’s Gotta Have It,” and the Hughes brothers films “Menace II Society” and “Dead Presidents.” But none of those titles survived the transition, in 1998, to DVD.

Becker ("Criterion’s longtime president and creative lead") sounds legitimately contrite and apologetic in that article about his blindness to Black artists, and the fact that he was only tuned in to directors who looked like him for so long. That gives a little hope, anyway, that we may eventually get a better ratio of Satyajit Ray to other Indian directors than that surprising 13 out of 16 directed by Ray at Criterion's Indian films page. I mean, Bollywood has existed for how many decades?
posted by mediareport at 3:13 PM on May 20

I'm a fan of bleak and/or darkly funny Eastern European stuff

I'm having a Kingsajz (1988) watch party on the 1st, I'd invite you but we're an ocean apart.
posted by Molesome at 7:43 AM on May 21 [1 favorite]

Latest entry in the series: Tim Blake Nelson!
posted by Rhaomi at 12:37 PM on May 21

Mod note: We're making a batch of popcorn as we add this post to the sidebar and Best Of blog!
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 6:13 AM on May 22 [2 favorites]

Next up: Cheryl Dunye!

(Also, wow, they put these out more often than I thought)
posted by Rhaomi at 7:43 PM on May 24 [1 favorite]

DEVO: Gerald Casale and Mark Mothersbaugh’s Closet Picks
posted by Rhaomi at 12:40 PM on May 31

Jeremy O. Harris: The award-winning playwright, actor, producer, and director shares his love for SWEET SWEETBACK'S BAADASSSSS SONG, celebrates how Bob Fosse captured dance on-screen like no one else, and talks about the artists who have shaped him, from Lena Dunham and the Dogme 95 directors to Pasolini and Fassbinder.
posted by Rhaomi at 7:16 PM on June 9