I’ve added the five movies Kahlil Joseph picked in his Criterion Closet appearance.
Days of Heaven
Tampopo
The Color of Pomegranates
Tokyo Olympiad
Yi Yi
Kahlil Joseph had no original picks, but he is only the second person to pick Tokyo Olympiad (Roger Deakins was the first). This is why my Master List of Closet Picks in the Criterion Closet is so valuable.
In Japanese. 91 minute running time. This was hilarious and wonderfully weird. Seijun Suzuki was making fun of the typical yakuza movie and movie conventions in general. I enjoyed it, but it doesn’t get the vaunted green-go, must-see recommendation.
I discovered this movie by reviewing the LEAST picked movies among the Closet Picks in the Criterion Closet. Only Yorgos Lanthimos, who makes wonderfully weird movies himself, recommended it.
Who is No. 1?
In Swedish. There are different cuts of this movie, and I watched the three hour version. I generally have a strict 100 minute rule with movies, but this one was special and gets a pass. I loved this movie, but didn’t watch it in one go … I watched an hour a night for three nights, more or less.
It’s a stage play, not really a movie, just two people talking (mainly). It’s funny, it’s sad, it’s insightful, it’s maddening. Maybe it’s only enjoyable for people who have been married twenty years? Anyway, it’s a green-go recommended movie. Of course John Farr recommended it too (“long and demanding, but richly rewarding”) and said it is “peak Bergman.”
Four visitors to the Criterion Closet picked it out; you can see who they are here.
Liv Ullman was both beautiful and a great actress.
“Yes, she has lovely breasts.”
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The National Society of Film Critics put out a book in 2005 called “The X List.” These were the 80 films listed in the book, sorted chronologically:
Pandora's Box 1929
Morocco 1930
The Mummy 1932
Shanghai Express 1932
Trouble in Paradise 1932
Baby Face 1933
Ecstasy 1933
The Song of Songs 1933
It Happened One Night 1934
Tarzan and His Mate 1934
Wuthering Heights 1939
Rebecca 1940
Ossessione 1943
Laura 1944
Gilda 1946
Carmen Jones 1954
Picnic 1955
Baby Doll 1956
Horror of Dracula 1958
The Long, Hot Summer 1958
Eyes Without a Face 1959
Hercules 1959
Black Sunday 1960
Hercules Unchained 1960
Peeping Tom 1960
Splendor in the Grass 1961
Bye Bye Birdie 1963
Contempt 1963
Secretary 1963
Persona 1966
Belle De Jour 1967
Frankenstein Created Woman 1967
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid 1969
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls 1970
The Garden of the Finzi-Continis 1970
Klute 1971
McCabe & Mrs. Miller 1971
Behind the Green Door 1972
Deep Throat 1972
Last Tango in Paris 1972
Don't Look Now 1973
Shampoo 1975
In the Realm of the Senses 1976
Young Lady Chatterley 1977
Days of Heaven 1978
Talk Dirty To Me 1980
Body Heat 1981
The Makioka Sisters 1983
A Nos Amours 1984
Crimes of Passion 1984
Blue Velvet 1986
The Unbearable Lightness of Being 1988
The Fabulous Baker Boys 1989
La Femme Nikita 1990
Basic Instinct 1992
The Last of the Mohicans 1992
Poison Ivy 1992
The Age of Innocence 1993
Crash 1996
Irma Vep 1996
Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life 1997
The Tango Lesson 1997
Great Expectations 1998
Eyes Wide Shut 1999
Forever Mine 1999
Baise-Moi 2000
In the Mood For Love 2000
O Fantasma 2000
Intimacy 2001
Mulholland Drive 2001
Y Tu Mama Tambien 2001
Femme Fatale 2002
Irreversible 2002
Laurel Canyon 2002
In the Cut 2003
Twentynine Palms 2003
Anatomy of Hell 2004
Bad Education 2004
Kinsey 2004
Troy 2004
I’ve added the ten movies Elle Fanning picked in her Criterion Closet appearance.
The Red Shoes
The Virgin Suicides
Daisies
Bringing Up Baby
To Die For
The Power of the Dog
The Worst Person in the World
Parasite
The Princess Bride (rando pick)
I Knew Her Well (rando pick)
Ella Fanning had one original pick: The Power of the Dog. No one in the history of Closet Picks has chosen this movie. This is why my Master List of Closet Picks in the Criterion Closet is so valuable.
125 minute running time so a bit on the long side, but this was an interesting movie I’d never heard about before four people picked it in their Criterion closet picks videos. (Look at the master list to see who those four people are.) I should add that the reliable John Farr also recommended it too.
Budd Schulberg and Elia Kazan “cooperated” with the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in the early 1950s and probably felt pretty awful about it, so they made a political movie like this one to make amends maybe? It’s about the rise of a “demagogue in denim” and how TV’s invention has shaped American politics.
This movie reminded me of Nightmare Alley (1947) in a way (another movie I love and recommend) … sort of stripping away and laying bare the mythology of America. Andy Griffith’s breakout role and young Walter Matthau also appears. This is a green-go recommended movie.
… outcasts, hobos, nobodies, gentlemen loafers... one time or all time losers, call us what you want to...
I’ve added the seven movies Claire Danes picked in her Criterion Closet appearance.
A Woman Under the Influence
Defending Your Life
Dogfight
Some Like It Hot
Streetwise
The Breakfast Club
The Grifters
Claire Danes didn’t have any original picks, although to date only one other person has selected Streetwise and one other person selected The Breakfast Club. This is why my Master List of Closet Picks in the Criterion Closet is so valuable.
91 minute running time … rated R for “disturbing sexual content involving children” which made me go hmmm? The is a W.D. By movie … the young woman who made it, named Miranda July (not sure if that’s a real name … no, her real name is Grossinger, so her dad is Jewish), also stars in it. John Hawkes is in it, he looks like David Thewlis and plays the father of two beautiful mulatto boys.
This is a weird movie, unconventional … Miranda July is goofy and pretty and has shockingly blue eyes … the movie is funny and quirky and different, but not good enough to recommend. July is interested in sexuality, especially teenage sexuality, and human relationships in general.
I did watch it from start to finish, which means that it’s not terrible.
I have a lot of time on my hands so I made a sortable master list of all the closet picks ever made by those invited by the Criterion Collection to raid their closet. The movie selections made by every guest, from Agnes Varda to Zoe Kravitz, is included in the list. There are over 2,500 rows in the list (and counting).
It’s interesting to see what are the most common picks, but I find it more interesting to see which movies have only been picked once despite there having been over 300 closet videos posted to date. For instance, I never would have watched The Cremator, which I enjoyed, if Carrie Coon hadn’t recommended it, and she is the only person who did so.
Enjoy! If you find any mistakes or omissions, please email me and I’ll correct it.
