Closet Picks

filmmaker

Ari Aster

2 visits, reaching 41 films in the collection.

18 Jul 2025

The filmmaker returns to the Criterion Closet, where he praises seventies thrillers like The Parallax View and Straw Dogs , talks about You Can Count on Me and how “no one writes dialogue like Kenneth Lonergan,” and connects Targets to his film Eddington .

Chose Director Year
1 Winchester ’73 Anthony Mann 1950
2 The Parallax View Alan J. Pakula 1974
3 Lacombe, Lucien Louis Malle 1974
4 Revanche Götz Spielmann 2008
5 Straw Dogs Sam Peckinpah 1971
6 Ace in the Hole Billy Wilder 1951
7 A Face in the Crowd Elia Kazan 1957
8 Wanda Barbara Loden 1970
9 Do the Right Thing Spike Lee 1989
10 Graduation Cristian Mungiu 2016
11 The Grifters Stephen Frears 1990
12 You Can Count on Me Kenneth Lonergan 2000
13 The Wages of Fear Henri-Georges Clouzot 1953
14 Lone Star John Sayles 1996
15 The Last Picture Show Peter Bogdanovich 1971
16 Targets Peter Bogdanovich 1968
17 Young Mr. Lincoln John Ford 1939
18 My Darling Clementine John Ford 1946
19 No Country for Old Men Joel Coen and Ethan Coen 2007

Least-picked choice here: Revanche , taken by nobody else.

Watch the video · On criterion.com · This visit

1 Apr 2023

The director of Beau Is Afraid talks about one of the best experiences he’s had in a movie theater, the inspiration he’s taken from Karel Zeman, and the possibility that Cure is “the greatest movie ever made.”

Chose Director Year
1 Closely Watched Trains Jiří Menzel 1966
2 Michael Haneke: Trilogybox set, 3 films
3 Daisies Věra Chytilová 1966
4 Cure Kiyoshi Kurosawa 1997
5 Mr. Klein Joseph Losey 1976
6 The Koker Trilogybox set, 3 films
7 La poison Sacha Guitry 1951
8 Three Fantastic Journeys by Karel Zemanbox set, 3 films
9 The New World Terrence Malick 2005
10 Secret Sunshine Lee Chang-dong 2007
11 Woman in the Dunes Hiroshi Teshigahara 1964
12 Che Steven Soderbergh 2008
13 Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters Paul Schrader 1985
14 Bigger Than Life Nicholas Ray 1956
15 Brand upon the Brain! Guy Maddin 2006
16 Walkabout Nicolas Roeg 1971

Least-picked choice here: Three Fantastic Journeys by Karel Zeman , taken by nobody else.

Watch the video · On criterion.com · This visit

Closest taste

Guests who chose the most of the same things. Anyone filmed alongside Ari Aster is left out, since they picked from one list.

GuestSharedJaccardIn common
Marc Maron 3 0.070 A Face in the Crowd, Ace in the Hole, My Darling Clementine
Ryusuke Hamaguchi 3 0.064 Bigger Than Life, Cure, My Darling Clementine
Denis Villeneuve 2 0.050 Che, The Wages of Fear
Atom Egoyan 2 0.049 Michael Haneke: Trilogy, Walkabout
Billy Crudup 2 0.049 My Darling Clementine, No Country for Old Men