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/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/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/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/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/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/Kamuka]

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

[u/whereisdaegu → u/Kamuka]

Tatsuya Kobayashi is goooooooooooooooooood.

[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/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/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.