Inside Criterion

Top 10 Lists

253 Results
Lana Wilson’s Top 10

The Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker chooses a selection of favorite movies that reflect the pain and beauty of human connection, including masterpieces by Yasujiro Ozu, Mike Leigh, and Aki Kaurismäki.

Aaron Schimberg’s Top 10

The director of A Different Man pays tribute to great American go-getters Harold Lloyd and Samuel Fuller, contemplates the unique qualities of different periods in a director’s career, and shares a personal story about Monte Hellman.

Jessica Pratt’s Top 10

Among the Los Angeles–based singer-songwriter’s favorites are a music documentary she knows by heart, a Wes Anderson film with an iconic soundtrack, and a courtroom drama propelled by brilliant character actors.

Lee Grant’s Top 10

The Oscar- and Emmy-winning actor and director gets personal with her selections, highlighting the work of friends, former collaborators, and filmmakers she admires.

Miryam Charles’s Top 10

The director of Cette maison chooses a group of favorite films that defy her attempts to explain and describe them, including works by Claire Denis, Charles Burnett, and Frank Borzage.

John Carpenter’s Top 10

The director of Halloween, They Live, and other horror masterpieces embraces the darkness and doom of such noir classics as Double Indemnity, The Killers, and Kiss Me Deadly.

Molly Manning Walker’s Top 10

The award-winning writer and director of How to Have Sex shares her love for Carol Reed, discusses her favorite Adam Sandler performance, and names her ultimate feel-good movie.

Hlynur Pálmason’s Top 10

The director of Godland pays tribute to Robert Bresson, Andrei Tarkovsky, Stanley Kubrick, and other filmmakers with an awe-inspiring command of their craft.

Chloe Domont’s Top 10

The director of Fair Play throws the spotlight on bracingly candid explorations of heartbreaking love and destructive obsession.

Jordan Firstman’s Top 10

The actor, writer, and director offers irreverent commentary on some of his favorite films, including the gay classic Weekend and the provocative satire Putney Swope.

Andrew Bujalski’s Top 10

The writer-director of Computer Chess and Support the Girls lets his eye and heart wander freely through our collection, and gives us a list of some films he admires.


Celine Song’s Top 10

The director of Past Lives shares a list of favorite films, many of which reflect her background in theater and her interest in the smallness of human life in the face of time and history.

Daisy von Scherler Mayer’s Top 10

The director of Party Girl celebrates two favorite dance films; a classic noir by her favorite director, Billy Wilder; and a pair of comedies written by Edwin Justus Mayer, her grandfather.

Mark Jenkin’s Top 10

The director of Enys Men celebrates the holy trinity of Bergman, Bresson, and Tarkovsky, and expresses his love for films that are narratively simple but thematically complex.

A. V. Rockwell’s Top 10

The winner of the Grand Jury Prize at this year’s Sundance Film Festival throws the spotlight on filmmakers who have paved the way for the kind of stories she strives to tell.

Davy Chou’s Top 10

The director of Return to Seoul expresses what he values most in cinema through this selection of ten favorite films.

Marie Kreutzer’s Top 10

One of Austria’s most lauded contemporary directors chooses some of her favorite movies, including a few that made a profound impression on her in film school.

Kazuo Ishiguro’s Top 10

The Nobel Prize–winning novelist shares a list of films that illuminate his artistic sensibility, including one British classic that inspired him to write his masterpiece The Remains of the Day.

Nina Menkes’s Top 10

The director of Queen of Diamonds shares a list of favorite films, including uncompromising classics of world cinema that reveal the mysteries of the human condition.

Aubrey Plaza’s Top 10

The star of Emily the Criminal and Ingrid Goes West chooses favorite films by John Cassavetes, Ingmar Bergman, and other art-house masters.

Owen Kline’s Top 10

The director of Funny Pages gathers an eccentric list of favorite films, including classics by W. C. Fields, Robert Downey Sr., and Robert Montgomery.

Ty Segall’s Top 10

The Los Angeles–based musician’s list of favorite films celebrates the kooky, the trippy, and the dystopian.

Heidi Bivens’s Top 10

The costume designer, known for her work on Inland Empire, Spring Breakers, and Euphoria, reflects on a few favorite movies that have shaped her aesthetic sensibility.

Joel Potrykus’s Top 10

With his features and new short film, Thing from the Factory by the Field, currently playing on the Criterion Channel, the writer-director selects ten movies that influenced his style.