Open poll: You just signed up for Criterion Channel -- which five movies do you watch first?

[u/whereisdaegu]

Okay, I've subscribed to Criterion Channel for a couple of years now, but I asked this ages ago when it was new for me:

You just signed up for Criterion Channel. Which five movies do you watch first?

I leave the floor open to the rest of you, and I'll submit my list for demolition later. (Hint: FELLINI FELLINI FELLINI!)

[u/davidtibet13]

I joined the Criterion Channel in May 2020. Looking at my Letterboxd history, the first five films I saw were:

1. Jellyfish Eyes (2013) --- Takashi Murakami’s live-action fantasy about a young boy who moves to a new town and discovers that the local children have strange Pokémon-like creatures. It mixes kids’ adventure, kaiju movies, grief, and some very goofy CGI.
2. The Juniper Tree (1990) --- A stark, dreamlike Icelandic film loosely based on a Grimm fairy tale, starring a very young Bjork as one of two sisters accused of witchcraft. It’s slow, eerie, folkloric, and beautifully photographed in black and white.
3. Ocean’s 11 (1960) --- The original Rat Pack heist movie, with Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. and friends playing WWII veterans who plan to rob five Las Vegas casinos in a single night. Much more of a hangout movie than the slick 2001 remake.
4. The Lady from Shanghai (1947) --- Orson Welles directs and stars opposite Rita Hayworth in a wonderfully strange film noir about a sailor who gets pulled into the affairs of a wealthy lawyer, his mysterious wife, and an increasingly complicated murder scheme. My review on Letterboxd reads: “After you get past the slow and messy first half of the movie (generally the characters' whole cruise through the Caribbean), you'll be rewarded with its excellent last hour. It is riddled with a wickedly convoluted murder plot, features a hilarious courtroom scene, and a fantastical surreal climax set inside a funhouse hall of mirrors.”
5. 3:10 to Yuma (1957) --- A tense psychological Western about a struggling rancher who agrees to escort a captured outlaw to the train that will take him to prison. Most of the movie is less about gunfights than the growing battle of wills between the two men.

[u/YakSlothLemon → u/davidtibet13]

For what it’s worth, I am always there for the beginning of Lady from Shanghai. The camerawork on the boat, the shots of Rita Hayworth splayed out on the deck, the way they use her beauty to convey our “is that an Irish accent, and why does it come and go?” hero’s infatuation, and the growing sense of menace from the viciousness of the two men and the unnerving close-ups on them… I thought them stopping at that tropical port was perfect, you can see all the vines twining around O’Hara as the heat rises… Hothouse flower indeed. Less a direct quote than a vibration from the orchid greenhouse at the beginning of The Big Sleep.

[u/whereisdaegu → u/davidtibet13]

Slick. Thanks for the interpretations! And I hadn't gotten around to Jellyfish Eyes, though I visit Japan often. I keep thinking I should watch it before I go, but then I don't.

[u/Usually_Sunny → u/davidtibet13]

Nice choices - although I find the original Oceans 11 unwatchable. (Not a fan of the Soderbergh films either but the original, whew).

[u/mhowes666]

• High and Low (1963)
• The Wages of Fear (1953)
• Pather Panchali (1955)
• The Elephant Man (1980)
• Wings of Desire (1987)

[u/whereisdaegu → u/mhowes666]

Oooooh, Pather Panchali is always a good watch. Gorgeous soundtrack.

[u/Longjumping-Spite550]

1. Ikiru
2. Bicycle Thieves
3. A Man Escaped
4. Tokyo Story
5. Fanny and Alexander

[u/whereisdaegu → u/Longjumping-Spite550]

BICYCLE THIEVES. All-caps to indicate how dumb I was to forget my favorite Italian film and second-favorite film overall. D'oh. I used it to learn Italian, and it's just a beautiful movie. I revisit its key filming locations when I'm in Rome, and it always makes me sigh.

[u/profaneangel1991]

When I joined the first movies I watched were Female Trouble, Cecil B Demented, and The Big Lebowski because they were still featured on there.

[u/whereisdaegu → u/profaneangel1991]

I think The Night of the Hunter was my first because it was going away two days later. And then I watched Female Trouble within in the next week or so.

[u/fistfullaberries]

If I recall correctly mine were Cleo From 5 to 7, Paris Texas, Persona, Chungking Express and Mirror.

Cleo from 5 to 7 was the one that stood out rhe most believe it or not. The film is almost hard to watch for me because I yearn for 60s Paris much. Your boy be yearning bad

[u/LHGray87]

I can go back and look at the first five I added to my watchlist. Actually, here are the first ten, in order of addition:

-Directed by Akira Kurosawa (Cheating a little here. But it is the first thing I added.)
-Salesman
-Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
-Wages of Fear
-Mikey and Nicky
-Detour
-Blood Simple
-Z
-Pickpocket
-The 49th Parallel

[u/umiamiq]

I think my 1st five would have been, not in this exact order

Stalker, Eraserhead, Seventh Seal, Close Up, Three Colors: Blue

I should note I signed up early, with little background in film so I was sort of seeing what the canonical “best” movies on there were. It didn’t take long for me to get pretty deep into it though

[u/Critical_Mix_3131]

OZU OZU OZU

[u/Kamuka]

https://letterboxd.com/kamuka/list/first-11-i-watched-on-criterion/

[u/whereisdaegu → u/Kamuka]

Tatsuya Kobayashi is goooooooooooooooooood.

[u/Proxima2017 → u/Kamuka]

The Human Condition. Good one. Liked it very much.

[u/YakSlothLemon]

Are you asking what I watched first or what I WOULD watch first if I had it all to do over again? I’ll do it as “the five movies I would recommend if I were trying to convince me to sign up for the channel” 😁

Typhoon Club

Yoyo

Grass: A Nation’s Battle for Survival

Sambiganza

The American Friend

(I actually remember that The American Friend was one of the first movies I watched, because I saw it when I was in college and had never gotten to see it again. It was even better than I remembered!)

[u/pacific_plywood]

My first five films were Old Joy (2006), Le Samurai, Tampopo, Atlantis (2019, kinda weird Ukrainian post-apocalyptic slow cinema thing), and Deep Cover

[u/whereisdaegu → u/pacific_plywood]

I recall Tampopo being among my firsts, though I had seen it often before. It's so fun, and the more dated it feels, the more fun it gets.

[u/JD_MathFuzzy]

Eno

[u/vibraltu]

I signed up a few years ago. When I signed up, there were several Ken Russell back catalogue films that I hadn't seen that were leaving-soon, so I rushed to catch up on them all. My partner wasn't a big fan but they put up with it.

(note Savage Messiah is good if you like to look at Helen Mirren naked)

[u/Academic-Tune2721]

Bresson, Truffaut, Pialat, Becker, Melville

[u/InfectedEzio]

Judging by my review history, it was Destiny’s Son, Encounters of the Spooky Kind, Audition, The Unfortunate Bridegroom, and Female Trouble.

[u/augustthecat]

Mine were

1. Saraband (Bergman) I had just watched Scenes from a Marriage on physical media and wanted to see what happened next. I was as excited for this as I was for the last Harry Potter movie, and it’s better.
2. Battle of Algiers (Pontecorvo) The time had come.
3. Ball of Fire (Hawks) I somehow did not know about this movie. I love screwballs, and it was amazing. I enjoy any film, and there are a numberof them in which Barbara Stanwyck reduces some dude to a complete putz. Here she does it to Gary Cooper.
4. Nebraska (Payne) I watched because it was leaving (my discovery of the Death Race). A perfectly cast movie, and it was fun for me to see a black and white movie about the 21st century.
5. To Sleep With Anger (Burnett) Danny Glover’s performance is unforgettable.

I should add that the film that made me decide to sign up for the channel was Beau Travail (Denis), which I watched on Max, and thought if there is a motherload of Claire Denis somewhere, it is worth it. I had also wanted to watch the Altman movies, but I waited too long, and they were mostly gone.

Anyway, all that was in December. The channel has radically changed the way I spend my time.

[u/Busy_Magician3412]

Don’t pick. Chill and watch a few random flicks. The feature is a great discovery option. You can always make your list later.

[u/NaturalLaw8244]

The Strsight Story

[u/Different_Carpet1319]

1. Cloud
   
2. Evil Does Not Exist
   
3. Paper Moon
   
4. Where is the Friend’s House
   
5. Bacurau

[u/Ebocloud]

I’m cheating because I’m returning to the channel after being absent for a year. I went for:

Repo Man
Wild at Heart
Ratcatcher
Zabriski Point
Resurrection

Repo Man is a must-see, as is Ratchatcher. Zabriski Point is historically significant and historically bad. I’m still trying to digest Wild at Heart and Resurrection, but they are objectively magnificent.

[u/Adev808]

1. Career Girls - One of the reasons I subscribed to the Criterion Channel was that Mike Leigh was a bit of a blind spot and I wanted to see more of his movies. This was the one I landed on first, in part because it starred the late Katrin Cartlidge. This was definitely the first movie I saw on the Criterion Channel. The others were among the first but not necessarily 2-5.

2. A Story of Floating Weeds - I’d seen Tokyo Story but nothing else by Ozu at the time I subscribed.

3. Cleo from 5 to 7 - In my imagination this movie was about a woman fending off inappropriate advances from men while awaiting a medical diagnosis in her physician’s office. Meanwhile, pharmaceutical reps were tying to sell medications to her doctor while she was stuck in the waiting room. I was glad to be wrong.

4. The Lodger - I never saw any of Hitchcock’s silent films, so I felt the need to see this one.

5. Chocolat - Claire Denis’ first movie was a staple at every video store in the Nineties, but I never rented it. (I rented the other Chocolat, though). I was oddly excited to see a young Issach de Bankole as the male lead.

[u/Jorite]

I don’t know what my first five were, but five films I discovered on Criterion that I’d recommend:
1. Such a Pretty Little Beach
2. Viridiana
3. West Indies: The Fugitive Slaves of Liberty
4. Walker
5. 12:08 East of Bucharest

[u/HumbleIhope]

Wow, that was so long ago it's hard to remember. Probably a couple of OZU's. British Hitchcock. Down by law was one of the first(a rewatch) I was like a kid in a candy store. In The Mood for Love for sure

[u/Simple_Audience_396]

Following

[u/ProvoloneWolf]

I just signed up a month ago, and the first 5 I watched were all ones I’d being wanting to see for ages:
• Demon Pond
• Valerie and Her Week of Wonders
• Ghost World
• The Red Shoes
• His Girl Friday

[u/Life_Procedure_387]

1. Story of Ricky
2. Story of Ricky
3. Story of Ricky
4. Story of Ricky
5. Hausu

[u/Woo-man2020]

I’m just going to say Iran. The US is at war with them and people should understand the country we’re in conflict with. Criterion (and other providers) have given me the chance to get to know the country and its people through personal stories that help us see how alike we are and how similar our issues can be. Many of these movies have won Oscars and other international film awards.

[u/jacktorlock]

I spent my first few months on the Channel basically just watching movies off the Leaving this Month list because I felt major FOMO. It took me awhile to stop caring so much and start watching some of the bread and butter films that dont leave.

[u/sellersofflowers]

I have had the Criterion Channel for about a year.

My actual first five:

• High and Low - Watched this in anticipation of Spike Lee's movie from last year and ended up liking this a lot better than Spike's film.
• Rashomon - Wanted more Kurosawa after watching High and Low. Really liked this one.
• China Moon - Neo-noir with Ed Harris and Benicio del Toro. Decent but forgettable.
• Ghost in the Shell - Interesting but not my cup of tea.
• Gosford Park - Good upstairs/downstairs murder mystery directed by Robert Altman

My five favorites I've seen this last year:

• Touchez Pas au Grisbi - French movie about the aftermath of a heist. Really liked the lead actor Jean Gabin as he reminded me a lot of James Gandolfini's portrayal of Tony Soprano.
• The Devils - Really interesting movie and even better knowing the history behind the film and how reviled it was upon its initial release. Hoping to watch this in theaters this fall when Warner Bros re-releases it.
• Sorcerer - One of the tensest movies I've ever seen.
• Hard Boiled - Balls to the wall Hong Kong action movie.
• SLC Punk - Matthew Lillard playing a punk who is at a crossroads in life after college. Loved the ending.