writer, director and actor
Benny Safdie
2 visits, reaching 27 films in the collection.
20 Oct 2025
The writer, director, and actor returns to the Criterion Closet, where he shares how he and cinematographer Maceo Bishop studied documentaries like The War Room when making their new film The Smashing Machine, shouts out the singular performances in Carnal Knowledge, and talks about watching Flow with his kids and their cat.
| Chose | Director | Year | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Princess Bride | Rob Reiner | 1987 |
| 2 | The War Room | Chris Hegedus and D. A. Pennebaker | 1993 |
| 3 | When We Were Kings | Leon Gast | 1996 |
| 4 | Wim Wenders: The Road Trilogybox set, 3 films | ||
| 5 | Carnal Knowledge | Mike Nichols | 1971 |
| 6 | Flow | Gints Zilbalodis | 2024 |
| 7 | The Red Balloon and Other Stories: Five Films by Albert Lamorissebox set, 5 films | ||
| 8 | Husbands | John Cassavetes | 1970 |
| 9 | The Great Escape | John Sturges | 1963 |
Least-picked choice here: The War Room , taken by nobody else.
30 Mar 2017
Mike Leigh’s Meantime, Ermanno Olmi’s Il posto, and Robert Bresson’s A Man Escaped top the list for the sibling duo behind Good Time and Uncut Gems.
With Josh Safdie
| Chose | Director | Year | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Meantime | Mike Leigh | 1984 |
| 2 | A Man Escaped | Robert Bresson | 1956 |
| 3 | My Beautiful Laundrette | Stephen Frears | 1985 |
| 4 | Fox and His Friends | Rainer Werner Fassbinder | 1975 |
| 5 | Bicycle Thieves | Vittorio De Sica | 1948 |
| 6 | Walkabout | Nicolas Roeg | 1971 |
| 7 | The Moment of Truth | Francesco Rosi | 1965 |
| 8 | Blood Simple | Joel Coen | 1984 |
| 9 | The Player | Robert Altman | 1992 |
| 10 | Il posto | Ermanno Olmi | 1961 |
| 11 | L’argent | Robert Bresson | 1983 |
| 12 | Tess | Roman Polanski | 1979 |
Least-picked choice here: The Moment of Truth , taken by 1 other visits.
Closest taste
Guests who chose the most of the same things. Anyone filmed alongside Benny Safdie is left out, since they picked from one list.
| Guest | Shared | Jaccard | In common |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cristian Mungiu | 2 | 0.083 | Bicycle Thieves, Blood Simple |
| Matthew Rhys | 2 | 0.074 | The Great Escape, The Princess Bride |
| Maya Hawke | 2 | 0.065 | Husbands, Tess |
| Garrett Bradley | 2 | 0.061 | A Man Escaped, Wim Wenders: The Road Trilogy |
| Ethan Hawke | 2 | 0.044 | Husbands, Tess |