Filmed 2025-01-13
John David Washington
Guest
Criterion's own upload · on criterion.com
The actor joins the director of his new film The Piano Lesson in the Criterion Closet, where they shout out the importance of Menace II Society, reflect on the beauty of Jacques Demy and Agnès Varda’s artistic relationship, and praise Spike Lee’s Malcolm X as the “greatest achievement in American filmmaking.
What they took
14 cases, in the order Criterion lists them. Three are box sets, which is why 14 choices reach 45 films.
Least-picked choice here: Irma Vep, taken by nobody else.
Table view
| Chose | Director | Year | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Dekalog | Krzysztof Kieślowski | 1988 |
| 2 |  Mirror | Andrei Tarkovsky | 1975 |
| 3 |  Menace II Society | Albert Hughes, Allen Hughes | 1993 |
| 4 |  Drylongso | Cauleen Smith | 1998 |
| 5 |  Irma Vep | Olivier Assayas | 1996 |
| 6 |  Rosetta | Luc Dardenne, Jean-Pierre Dardenne | 1999 |
| 7 |  Black Orpheus | Marcel Camus | 1959 |
| 8 |  The Underground Railroad | Barry Jenkins | 2021 |
| 9 |  Faces | John Cassavetes | 1968 |
| 10 |  The Essential Jacques Demy box set, 6 films | · | · |
| 11 |  The Complete Films of Agnès Varda box set, 22 films | · | · |
| 12 |  Jackie Chan: Emergence of a Superstar box set, 6 films | · | · |
| 13 |  Malcolm X | Spike Lee | 1992 |
| 14 |  Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai | Jim Jarmusch | 1999 |
Watch the video · On criterion.com · This visit · filmed with Malcolm Washington
United States accounts for six of their eleven single films. The three box sets are what carry the reach to 45 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 eleven 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.