2 visits · 2017-03-30 to 2025-10-20
Benny Safdie
The writer, director and actor
Criterion's own upload · on criterion.com
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.
What they took
21 cases, in the order Criterion lists them. Two are box sets, which is why 21 choices reach 27 films.
across 2 visits
Least-picked choice here: The War Room, taken by nobody else.
Table view
| Chose | Director | Year | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  The Princess Bride | Rob Reiner | 1987 |
| 2 |  The War Room | Chris Hegedus, D. A. Pennebaker | 1993 |
| 3 |  When We Were Kings | Leon Gast | 1996 |
| 4 |  Wim Wenders: The Road Trilogy box 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 Lamorisse box set, 5 films | · | · |
| 8 |  Husbands | John Cassavetes | 1970 |
| 9 |  The Great Escape | John Sturges | 1963 |
Least-picked choice here: The Moment of Truth, taken by 1 other visits.
Table view
| 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 |
Watch the video · On criterion.com · This visit · filmed with Josh Safdie
United States accounts for eight of their 19 single films. The two box sets are what carry the reach to 27 films.
Closest taste
Jaccard overlap against every other visit, counted on what came off the shelf rather than on films, so a shared box set counts once rather than as the films inside it.
403 visits compared · 31 filmed-together pairs excluded
Their decades
Their 19 single films with a release year on record, against where every guest's single-film picks land. Box sets are left out of both sides, so the two bars measure the same thing.