Two visits · 30 Mar 2017 to 20 Oct 2025
Benny Safdie
The writer, director and actor
Also on the shelf as a director: what guests take of theirs
What they took
21 choices across two visits, of which two are box sets, which is why they reach 27 films.
across 2 visits
The two box sets are what carry the reach to 27 films.
What changed between visits
Two visits, 8.6 years apart, measured the same way each time. Nothing came off the shelf twice.
90% of any two visits in the series share nothing
| Measure | 30 Mar 2017 | 20 Oct 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Chose | 12 | 9 |
| Of those, box sets | 0 | 2 |
| Films reached | 12 | 15 |
| Median release year | 1977 | 1971 |
| Credited to the US | 2 of 12 | 6 of 15 |
| Mean visits per choice | 5.08 | 4.11 |
Films reached, the median year and the US count open the box sets. The three counts above them do not: a set is one choice, taken once. The shelf itself grew between these dates, so a shift can be the collection's rather than theirs, and nothing here adjusts for that.
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.
416 visits compared · 32 filmed-together pairs excluded
Two ways to be obscure
Every guest the two floors admit, on the two measures this site keeps of what a person reached for. Across: how many visits took the same things, averaged over their choices, a box set counting once. Up: where their single films sit in Criterion's spine numbering, which is roughly release order. Left is picks the series ignores; low is the early catalogue, and the two are not the same thing.
374 guests placed · 62 short of one floor or the other
Table view
| Measure | Benny Safdie | Median guest |
|---|---|---|
| Visits that took the same things, on average | 4.67 | 6.25 |
| Spine percentile of their single films | 58% | 50% |
| Choices counted across | 21 | · |
| Of those, single films carrying a spine number | 19 | · |
The two axes count different things. Across counts every choice, a box set as the one choice it was; up counts only single films that carry a spine number, which leaves out box sets and the 458 non-spine releases entirely, so a dot is here only where a guest cleared both floors.
Their choices had been taken by 4.67 visits each on average, against a median of 6.25 across the field, and their single films sit at the 58% spine percentile against 50%. So: less picked-over than most guests, and later in Criterion's numbering.
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.
Where their films come from
Every film they reached, box sets opened, by the country Criterion credits, against the collection's own mix. Countries they never reached are not rows, so the shelf's column does not add up to everything on the shelf.
27 films · 6 countries
Criterion credits one country per film, so a co-production counts only under the country named first.
Their strongest lean is Germany: 4 of the 27 films they reached, 15% against 2% of the shelf.