My Top 10 Criterion Closet Episodes Of 2024
Didn’t expect this, did ya?
Preface
If this ever counted as a TV show, I would classify the Criterion Closet videos as my favorite one. I’m not joking. Whenever another of these comes out, it truly feels like an MCU-level event. Whether it is the guests themselves, the movies they picks (and how they are influenced by said films), and the stories they tell always make for purely comforting entertainment. Therefore, to showcase my love for them, I would like to briefly talk about my top 10 favorite Criterion Closet videos of 2024!
Let’s get started!
10. Greg Gonzalez
While I can see people not being as high on this video as I am, there is so much about it that I find extremely lovable. The stories that he tells about his dad working in VHS distribution and him sharing his experience of the Criterion Collection with his former girlfriend are some of my favorites in the entire Criterion Closet series and they always bring a smile to my face. Plus, I adore his picks that include the likes of The Tales Of Hoffman, Risky Business, The Worst Person In The World, & Eric Rohmer’s Tales Of The Four Seasons, all of which I feel are all appropriate picks for him. Definitely a personal favorite video of mine I keep coming back to often.
9. Annie Baker & Lucian Johnston
This video contains such a relaxed yet constantly engaging vibe to it in a similar vein as the Wallace Shawn & Andrew Gregory video. It is 8 minutes of two filmmakers going on long discussions about films that they referenced while working on Janet Planet (most of which holding on for one single take) and it is pure bliss from start to finish. Much like the Greg Gonzalez video, the picks from Baker & Johnston feel very in line with their taste in cinema along with making perfect sense as to why Janet Planet looks & flows the way it does. Hilarious beginning & ending for the video as well.
8. Willem Dafoe
This video came out last January and it stood tall (and still does) as one of my absolute favorite videos in the series mainly due to how energy & personality Dafoe brings to the table here. In general, Dafoe is one of the individuals whose spirit radiates every time he is on-screen and this is yet another example of that aspect of his character. Not only does he have amazing things to say about filmmakers he’s worked with at certain points in the video, but I also love when he pulls out The Last Temptation Of Christ and gleefully recognizes himself on the cover. By far one of the most iconic videos in the series and for good reason.
7. Koji Yausho
Man, does this video bring me so much joy every time I revisit it. If anything, I see it as the Criterion Closet equivalent of Perfect Days in terms of the overall quietly beautiful and comforting mood present throughout the video. That combined with the fact that the majority of the picks he chooses here are in my top 10 favorite movies of all time is already enough for me to cement this video as a favorite for me. Massive shoutout to the Ikiru story he tells as well.
6. Catherine Breillat
After this video, I immediately wanted to listen to an audiobook narrated by Catherine Breillat. She has such a way with words in this video that is simply unreal from top to bottom. One of my personal favorite types of Criterion Closet videos are ones where you get to hear the filmmaker’s viewpoint on cinema as a whole and this is the first example of it on this list. Everything from how On The Waterfront inspired her to make movies again to how she explains that it is important to rewatch a masterpiece multiple times to her saying that how welcoming cinema is will forever be burned into my memory for the rest of my life.
5. Bill Hader (2nd Visit)
Of all the videos on this list, this has to be one of the most unique I’ve seen from this year. I love how it cuts between Hader’s previous Closet video to the current one, thus making the entire video play out like a documentary short film in the best way possible. There are also a ton of callbacks to the original video that I found to be a fantastic touch that injected it with a ton of great humor as well. Easily my favorite of the 2nd visit videos we got in 2024.
4. Andrew Garfield
Easily one of the most wholesome & charming videos of the entire series. Garfield just oozes charisma and delightfulness as he gives us phenomenal stories/takes on every single one of his picks while also having some funny moments as well (the scene where he mentions that he’s worked with Terry Gilliam, Martin Scorsese, & Mike Nichols makes me laugh every time). My favorite of the bunch definitely has to be the story where Garfield talks about his father being a cinephile and him being the central reason for his love for movies. It serves as such a powerful ode to his father and it makes me choke up emotionally every time I hear it. An easy pick for one of the best Closet videos for this year.
3. Cheryl Dunye
Now we are getting into the REAL cream of the crop of this list. Even though all of these videos are amazing, the top 3 here are ones that I consider to be utter perfection from start to finish. All starting with Cheryl Dunye in this outstanding, informative, and entertaining video where she not only has so many interesting picks, but (much like Catherine Breillat) also contains such an important viewpoint on not just cinema, but storytelling as a whole. She has such a profound understanding of the power it possesses and it all comes together during the ending where she picks her own movie (The Watermelon Woman) to drive home that idea beautifully.
2. Jane Schoenbrun
The top 2 videos on this are not only my favorite ones from 2024, but they are also heavy contenders for some of my favorite Criterion Closet videos of all time. But let’s start off with the Jane Schoenbrun video, which is honest to god so amazing that I don’t think words can fully describe its entire 5 minutes of perfect elation. I can make an entire segment based on everything about this video, whether the hilarious opening where they pitches a movie idea for Criterion, them talking about Bela Tarr movies while having the flu, their glowing thoughts on Victor Erice & Wes Anderson, or their story on David Lynch’s Eraserhead, this video is a must-see for cinephiles and Criterion lovers all across the world.
PS: “Filmmaking is an act of faith” will forever be one of my favorite quotes from this series.
1. Winona Ryder
I mean… where do I even begin with this one? This is not only the best Criterion Closet video of 2024, it might be one of the top 3 best in the entire series. This video just has it all: Winona Ryder’s infectious joy & love for cinema that we barely see nowadays in our culture, some of the best & most memorable stories that anybody has ever said about their Closet picks, an overwhelming amount of heart, and possibly the best ending passage in the entire series. This is a video that I need people to see as it is a video in which we can take so much from just from how Ryder talks about movies matched with the love that she has for physical media, art, and the world as a whole (her passage on her parents will forever be my favorite in the whole series). It is one of the pinnacles of the series and it is by far my favorite Criterion Closet video of 2024!
And that is it! Those are my top 10 Criterion Closet videos of 2024! Do let me know what YOUR favorite videos were in the comments section below and I will see you guys in my next post!
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I've actually never watched any of these, but I'm bookmarking them so I can now, thank you!
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Winona is such a light in the industry. I adore her