On YouTube, there are videos of actors, directors, etc. picking out their favorite criterion films. I love watching these videos, especially when directors pick out DVDs because you can learn where they get their influence from. Below is a list of directors and some of their favorite criterion films, at least from what they have picked from the closet.
Yorgos Lanthimos (director of The Lobster and Dogtooth):
Ali: Fear Eats the Soul-dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder
12 Angry Men-dir. Sidney Lumet
Salesman-dirs. Albert Maysles, David Maysles, and Charlotte Zwerin
Naked-dir. Mike Leigh
Man Bites Dog-dirs. Remy Belvaux, Andre Barzel, and Benoit Poelvoorde
Five Easy Pieces-dir. Bob Rafelson
Viridiana-dir. Luis Bunuel
Things to Come-dir. William Cameron Menzies
Branded to Kill-dir. Seijun Suzuki
Pickpocket-dir. Robert Bresson
Au Hazard Balthazar-dir. Robert Bresson
Barry Jenkins (director of Moonlight):
Fanny and Alexander-dir. Ingmar Bergman
The Apu Trilogy-Sajiyat Ray
Weekend-dir. Andrew Haigh
Five Films by John Cassavetes
Dekalog-dir. Krzysztof Kieślowski
La Haine-dir. Mathieu Kassovitz
Blood Simple-dirs. Joel and Ethan Coen
Fat Girl-dir. Catherine Breillat
Monsoon Wedding-dir. Mira Nair
Ratcatcher-dir. Lynne Ramsay
George Washington-dir. David Gordon Greene
Rashomon-dir. Akira Kurosawa
The Essential Jacques Demy
The Complete Jacques Tati
Although Barry Jenkins did not pick out any films by Wong Kar Wai when looking in the closet, Jenkins is highly influenced by Wong Kar Wai.
Guillermo del Toro (director of Pan’s Labyrinth):
The 400 Blows-dir. François Truffaut
The Red Shoes-dir. Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger
Black Orpheus-dir. Marcel Camus
Charade-dir. Stanley Donen
Crumb-dir. Terry Zwigoff
The Thin Red Line-dir. Terrence Malick
The Magician-dir. Ingmar Bergman
Repulsion-dir. Roman Polanski
Wim Wenders (director of Paris, Texas and Wings of Desire):
Rules of the Game-dir. Jean Renoir
Salo-dir. Pier Paolo Pasolini
Vivre Sa Vie-dir. Jean Luc Godard
Oshima’s Outlaw Sixties
Mike Leigh (director of Happy Go Lucky):
Bicycle Thieves-dir. Vittorio De Sica
Vivre Sa Vie-dir. Jean-Luc Godard
Late Spring-dir. Yasujiro Ozu
Judex-dir. Georges Franju
Berlin Alexanderplatz-dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Jules et Jim-dir. François Truffaut
Divorce Italian Style-dir. Pietro Germi
I love when they have directors do this. To reiterate, not only does it introduce viewers to new films but it also teaches film lovers about directorial influences. I also like when the directors give their story of the first time they saw certain films. Below is a list of other directors I would like to see go to the criterion closet and pick out DVDs:
Wes Anderson (The Royal Tenenbaums, The Grand Budapest Hotel)
Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood, Boogie Nights)
Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan, Requiem for a Dream)
Olivier Assayas (Summer Hours, Clouds of Sils Maria)
Matteo Garrone (Gomorrah, The Tale of Tales)
Todd Haynes (Far From Heaven, Carol)
Michael Haneke (Amour, The White Ribbon)
Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu (Birdman, The Revenant)
David Lynch (Mulholland Drive, Blue Velvet)
Alexander Payne (The Descendants, Nebraska)
Paolo Sorrentino (The Great Beauty, HBO's The Young Pope)
Quentin Tarantino (Pulp Fiction, Django Unchained)
Denis Villeneuve (Sicario, Arrival)
Lars von Trier (Antichrist, Melancholia)
Denzel Washington (Fences, The Great Debaters)
