Closet Picks

13 Jan 2025

John David Washington and Malcolm Washington’s Closet Picks

The actor joins the director of his new film The Piano Lesson in the Criterion Closet, where they shout out the importance of Menace II Society, reflect on the beauty of Jacques Demy and Agnès Varda’s artistic relationship, and praise Spike Lee’s Malcolm X as the “greatest achievement in American filmmaking.

Choices
14
Single films
11
Box sets
3
Chose Director Year
1 Dekalog Krzysztof Kieślowski 1988
2 Mirror Andrei Tarkovsky 1975
3 Menace II Society Albert Hughes and Allen Hughes 1993
4 Drylongso Cauleen Smith 1998
5 Irma Vep Olivier Assayas 1996
6 Rosetta Luc Dardenne and Jean-Pierre Dardenne 1999
7 Black Orpheus Marcel Camus 1959
8 The Underground Railroad Barry Jenkins 2021
9 Faces John Cassavetes 1968
10 The Essential Jacques Demybox set, 6 films
11 The Complete Films of Agnès Vardabox set, 22 films
12 Jackie Chan: Emergence of a Superstarbox set, 6 films
13 Malcolm X Spike Lee 1992
14 Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai Jim Jarmusch 1999

Watch the video · On criterion.com