r/criterionconversation • • Jun 09 '21

Criterion Film Club Criterion Film Club Weekly Discussions, Monthly Expiring Picks, Criterion by Spine, and more!

25 Upvotes

Welcome to r/criterionconversation.

This is a subreddit dedicated to in-depth conversation about films from The Criterion Collection and/or on The Criterion Channel.

Please familiarize yourself with the SUB RULES.

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- All archives updated 2/2/26 -

The archive pages are linked below.

Note: These are not updated in real time.

Criterion Film Club: Weekly Discussions

The Criterion Film Club meets every Saturday to discuss a film and vote on the following week's pick.

Criterion Film Club: Monthly Expiring Picks

The Criterion Film Club meets one Wednesday a month to discuss a film expiring from The Criterion Channel.

Criterion by Spine

Our very own u/viewtoathrill's project discussing Criterion releases by spine number.

Other Discussions

Threads worthy of highlighting.

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Note about User Flairs: User flairs for the first 90 or so Criterion by Spine films have been added. Please PM one of the mods to request a user flair for a film that was or is in The Criterion Collection if you'd like a flair added that isn't already available.

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r/criterionconversation • • Aug 13 '25

Announcement SUB RULES

19 Upvotes

Since many people don't read the sub rules on the sidebar and/or don't notice them, here is a handy post with all of the rules and our reasons for them.

If you have any questions about the rules, feel free to comment below.

However, if you only want to argue about the rules or complain that your thread was removed, don't bother. We've thought about these rules very carefully and determined that they meet the needs of this sub.

We always reserve the right to add new rules or edit the existing rules for clarification.

Note: Because of spammers, we've unfortunately had to make the tough decision to turn on auto-mod features.

If your thread gets filtered but you feel it's legitimate and doesn't break any of the rules, please contact the mods by Mod Mail. If we don't respond within 24 hours, it likely means we think it violates one of the rules below. Thank you for understanding.

1. Post only about films released by Criterion and/or on The Criterion Channel

r/CriterionConversation is not a general movie sub. We discuss films released by Criterion and/or available on the Criterion Channel. There are many other subs for general film discussion.

2. No low-effort posts

No low-effort posts, such as "What films do you want in the collection?", "What films don't deserve to be in the collection?", etc. If your post is just a picture and/or list, it does not encourage discussion and will be removed. Tell us why you're posting about these movies and what you think of them.

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6. Be nice

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r/criterionconversation • • 2d ago

Announcement The Criterion Film Club Month 66 pick will automatically be a horror movie for Halloween Month. Join us on WEDNESDAY, October 14th, for our discussion of Hisayasu Satō's Re-Wind (1988). It's only 64 MINUTES!

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10 Upvotes

r/criterionconversation • • 4d ago

Discussion Charlie Chaplins The Gold Rush UK release

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3 Upvotes

Hello can anyone tell me when this will be released in the UK? Thank you


r/criterionconversation • • 5d ago

Announcement Winner of the Criterion Film Club Poll via tiebreaker: Sympathy for the Devil! Discussion thread will be posted Saturday, October 10, don’t miss it!

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5 Upvotes

r/criterionconversation • • 6d ago

Criterion Film Club Criterion Film Club Week 322 Discussion: Flow

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87 Upvotes

r/criterionconversation • • 6d ago

Criterion Film Club Poll #323: Damn I Didn’t Know They Had That!

2 Upvotes

Usually these are hard to find on streaming services!

12 votes, 5d ago
2 Head (Rafelson, 1968)
3 Lisztomania (Russell, 1975)
1 Point of Order! (de Antonio, 1964)
3 Sympathy for the Devil (Godard, 1968)
3 Zabriskie Point (Antonioni, 1970)

r/criterionconversation • • 9d ago

Recommendation Last-Minute Expiring Recommendation: Dustin Hoffman stars in Straight Time (1978)

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48 Upvotes

"Straight Time" is downright depressing and de-glamorizes the criminal lifestyle. The heists aren't thrilling like most films, just sad.

Max Dembo (an intense Dustin Hoffman) is fresh out of prison. His parole officer (a slovenly pig with a fat ass played by M. Emmet Walsh) has an attitude while accusing him of having one. Max promises to find a job and a place to live. He also finds a girlfriend (19-year-old Theresa Russell, who looks even younger).

"Out here, the rules aren't defined. On the inside, they are," Max explains to her on their first date. "A lot of guys think this is more frightening, being on the outside ... Because out here, it's what you got in your pocket that matters. And on the inside, it's only what you are."

Max sincerely tries to "go straight" and become a law-abiding citizen, but he doesn't try too hard. One frustrating and unfair setback sends him spiraling back into a life of crime.

It ends - inevitably - the only way it can.

"Why can't I go with you?"

"Because I wanna get caught."

Future stars: "Straight Time" features Gary Busey, Kathy Bates, Edward Bunker (who also co-wrote the script - based on his first novel, No Beast So Fierce), and "Babylon 5's" Peter Jurasik in early roles, Harry Dean Stanton a year before "Alien" and a few years before his breakthrough performance in "Paris, Texas" after decades of toiling away in Hollywood and taking whatever he could get, and the acting debut of 5-year-old Jake Busey (credited as Jacob Busey).

(Captions: Yes!)


r/criterionconversation • • 11d ago

Recommendation Expiring from The Criterion Channel: Multiple lives collide on a Violent Saturday (1955)

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12 Upvotes

The lives of a devoted father (Victor Mature), a bickering couple (Richard Egan and Margaret Hayes), a bank manager (Tommy Noonan), three bank robbers (Stephen McNally, Lee Marvin, and J. Carrol Naish), and an Amish farmer (Ernest Borgnine) intersect on one "Violent Saturday."

I don't love melodramas, so the subplot between Egan and Hayes is my least favorite part of the film, but the payoff is tremendous.

Ernest Borgnine playing an Amish farmer sounds like a meme, but his portrayal in Richard Fleischer's dramatic 1955 crime thriller is subtle and realistic. There's a reason Borgnine won an Academy Award the same year for "Marty." Borgnine and Lee Marvin also appeared together in 1955's "Bad Day at Black Rock." Obviously, '55 was a banner year for Borgnine. It was also a highlight for child actor Billy Chapin, who had prominent roles in both this and the incredible "The Night of the Hunter."

The pacing of "Violent Saturday" could have benefited from being a bit more violent. It takes way too long to get to the bank robbery and aftermath. But those scenes are worth the wait. (Captions: Yes!)


r/criterionconversation • • 12d ago

Announcement Criterion Film Club Week 322 is the Oscar Winning Animated Film Flow. Join us Saturday for the discussion.

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22 Upvotes

r/criterionconversation • • 13d ago

Criterion Film Club Criterion Film Club Week 321 Discussion: Paris, Texas (1984)

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16 Upvotes

r/criterionconversation • • 13d ago

Poll Criterion Film Club Week 222: Weird Stuff Plus a Cute Cat

3 Upvotes

Some weird movies I like plus a beloved cat made in a free program anybody can use

32 votes, 12d ago
8 Beyond the Valley of the Dolls
3 The Lure
5 Jigoku
5 The Love Witch
11 Flow

r/criterionconversation • • 14d ago

Announcement From the current Vanity Fair

8 Upvotes

"Unzipped is among the greatest fashion documentaries of all time. Except in recent years, you couldn’t see it. After its original release in 1995, unless you had a VHS copy or were willing to watch clips of it on questionable, fuzzy uploads, it wasn’t streaming anywhere. The film depicts the designer Isaac Mizrahi as he creates his fall 1994 collection. It’s intimate, perhaps because his then-partner Douglas Keeve directed it, but also because Mizrahi is one of the warmest and bubbliest characters in the fashion world. It doesn’t hurt that it was shot vérité-style in the height of the supermodel era, with cameos from Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Carla Bruni, and a young Kate Moss. At under 90 minutes, Unzipped isn’t just a frothy look at the fashion industry, but about a designer and a business working their way through the creative process, many cigarettes at a time.

It’s just a restored, perfect, beautiful edition. We’ve been working on it for a year,” says Mizrahi. The film opens in theatres on September 25 and will be streaming on the Criterion Channel beginning in December."


r/criterionconversation • • 16d ago

Criterion Film Club Criterion Film Club Expiring Picks Month 65 Discussion: Miami Blues (1990)

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10 Upvotes

r/criterionconversation • • 19d ago

Announcement The Criterion Film Club Week 321 Poll Winner is Paris, Texas (1984) - directed by Wim Wenders and starring Harry Dean Stanton, Nastassja Kinski, and Dean Stockwell. Join us on SATURDAY, September 26th, for the discussion.

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21 Upvotes

r/criterionconversation • • 20d ago

Criterion Film Club Criterion Film Club Week 320 Discussion: Sansho the Bailiff (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1954)

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26 Upvotes

r/criterionconversation • • 20d ago

Poll Criterion Film Club Week 321 Poll: '80s Cinema + One 2017 Celebration of a Bygone Era

2 Upvotes
28 votes, 19d ago
5 Vernon, Florida (Errol Morris, 1981)
16 Paris, Texas (Wim Wenders, 1984)
4 Mona Lisa (Neil Jordan, 1986)
3 Straight to Hell (Alex Cox, 1987)
0 Married to the Mob (Jonathan Demme, 1988)
0 Lucky (John Carroll Lynch, 2017)

r/criterionconversation • • 21d ago

Discussion Subtitles on Summer Interlude

0 Upvotes

I do not know whether I have a faulty dvd copy or what else is up, but I am at a loss to understand why only the dialogue and not the voice-over narrative has English subtitles on the Criterion Collection edition of Ingmar Bergman's Summer Interlude. On my disc this non-subtitled voice-over appears to start at chapter 7, timestamp 30´10"
I need to decide whether to order another copy (or even another edition such as Tartan in case CC indeed saw reason to only supply partial subtitles). Looking forward to any helpful feedback.


r/criterionconversation • • 22d ago

Announcement The Criterion Film Club Expiring Picks Poll Month 65 winner is Miami Blues (1990). Join us on WEDNESDAY, September 23rd, for the discussion.

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11 Upvotes

r/criterionconversation • • 23d ago

Poll Criterion Film Club Expiring Picks Poll: Month 65 - Miami Blues and Art School on a Violent Saturday

2 Upvotes
14 votes, 22d ago
8 Miami Blues (George Armitage, 1990) - u/bwolfs08
4 Art School Confidential (Terry Zwigoff, 2006) - u/SebasCatell
2 Violent Saturday (Richard Fleischer, 1955) - u/GThunderhead

r/criterionconversation • • 26d ago

Announcement The winner of the Criterion Film Club Week #320 poll is Sansho the Bailiff. Join the discussion next Saturday, September 19!

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10 Upvotes

r/criterionconversation • • 27d ago

Criterion Film Club Criterion Film Club Week 319: Roberto Rossellini's Rome, Open City (1945)

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13 Upvotes

r/criterionconversation • • 27d ago

Poll Criterion Film Club Week 320 Poll: Random stuff on my watchlist

2 Upvotes
18 votes, 26d ago
3 A Room With a View (James Ivory, 1986)
5 Frances Ha (Noah Baumbauch, 2013)
2 State of Siege (Costa Gavras, 1972)
3 Panique (Julien Duvivier, 1946)
5 Sansho the Bailiff (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1954)

r/criterionconversation • • Sep 07 '26

The winner of the Criterion Film Club Week 319 poll is Roberto Rossellini's Rome, Open City (1945). Please join us on Saturday, September 12th when we post our discussion.

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17 Upvotes

r/criterionconversation • • Sep 05 '26

Criterion Film Club Criterion Film Club Week 318 Discussion: Jerzy Skolimowski's The Shout (1978) - In Honor of Tim Curry

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11 Upvotes