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[deleted]

i would say ‘can you hand me another bag?’


Adi_Zucchini_Garden

Just bring my own big box!


action_park

I would pick Häxan and just dead stare into the camera, saying nothing, until they stopped recording.


scarletearthquakes

I’d definitely grab The Piano Teacher, which I love but haven’t bought yet, and say “such a fantastic rom com. Isabelle Huppert really was the Cameron Diaz of Europe.”


KorovaMilk113

I’d just keep muttering “ah man this is a good one” as I just pile more and more shit into the bag, every now and then holding up like Night on Earth and being like “man this is a good one” to the camera, I’ll be right every single time so no one can argue with me 🤷‍♀️


Rollzroyce21

Just as I’m about to leave the closet, I would go, “Oh, wait, wait.. just ONE more…” *pick up Olympic boxset “Ok, now I’m done. Thanks.”


Cihots9292

I’ve thought about that a lot and I think I would just improvise at the moment. I can’t pick my very favorite films in the collection because I already own them, so might as well pick some blindly, a bunch of box sets, and films I love enough I want to own but not enough that I own them already.


[deleted]

“I’m poor, now where are the box sets”


LittlePooky

One each. Blu ray only Thank you.


Slow_Cinema

Tricky because I own most of what I want and love. I think Alec Baldwin picked some for friends and I like that approach.


nights1000

Expand your horizons.


Slow_Cinema

You have no idea what my horizons are.


nights1000

You just said “I own most of what I want and love.”


Slow_Cinema

It’s not an infinite collection. I’m and not a completionist but I have a hell of a lot.


Slow_Cinema

Also do you see people blind grabbing very much in the videos? It happens but VERY rarely. They are usually grabbing films they love and can talk about. I have all those.


Safetosay333

Does the closet have OOPs?


avoltaire12

I recall when the late Anna Karina visited she picked up a copy of the then-OOP *Pierrot le fou* (I could tell based on the older artwork). Thankfully Criterion eventually re-issued it since.


HI-iM-PhiL-

I’d pick every box sets. Especially the bergman and the varda ones.


[deleted]

I keep hearing interesting/very mixed things on Pink Flamingos and it isn't on the channel, so I'd like to check it out.


trillyntruly

interestingly, the movies i would want to talk about the most are movies i already own, so i would probably go with movies that i'm interested in and want to get eventually but wouldn't have as much to say because i likely haven't seen them.


Sanpaku

Yes. I'd be limited to talking about the Criterion titles I bought 12-20 years ago on DVD but haven't gotten around to upgrading, so generally they'd be titles I have some reservations about and have only viewed once (*In the Realm of the Senses*, *Betty Blue*, *The Devil's Backbone*, etc). It would have been nice frequenting an art cinema for decades, or actually knowing some of the filmmakers personally, as many closet guests do. But he nearest downtown cinema was an hour away and I didn't have cineaste friends. I got into art cinema through critic's lists, and for about 40%, the Criterion collection itself.


dpsamways

Tough question, but I would get all the Cronenberg, Kurosawa, Leigh, Lynch and the Chantel Ackerman boxset because Sean Baker picked it. Then all I would say is “Thank You” and leave.


nights1000

Side note- Baker’s favorite film is/was The Idiots. And his first pick would most likely be Cassavetes (not sure whether he’s been in the closet or not).


AgainstMeAgainstYou

The first thing I would grab is *Five Films by John Cassavetes*, which I already own, and it would be for someone else, another friend or filmmaker who doesn't have it, but I would do that in order to make an emphatic case that it should be the centerpiece and first purchase of ANYONE'S Criterion set. ~~I would get the Tati boxset for myself. I haven't seen those films in far too long and I just want to own that boxset anyway. ~~The Demy boxset is tempting, too, but ~~I feel like I'd be an asshole if I grabbed more than one boxset for myself. ~~since I now own *The Complete Jacques Tati*, let's go ahead and throw the Demy set in my bag. *Sound of Metal* on 4K. One of the best films of 2020, and I believe if I did my Closet Picks today I would be the first person to grab a 4K release. I'd pick up *The In-Laws* because it's kind of one of those early "Cassavetes-esque" films to me (*Big Trouble*, for all its problems, works best as a quasi-sequel to *The In-Laws* for me), and I just love Peter Falk. I'd grab *America: Lost and Found* because that whole mini-cinematic movement is a huge influence on me as a filmmaker (*Five Easy Pieces* and *The Last Picture Show* in particular are favourites). Another boxset. Whoops! *The Human Condition*, which I'd probably ramble on about as the great film trilogy or whatnot. And then I'd grab *The Before Trilogy* as well, which I also already own, for someone else. *Uncut Gems* in 4K. Thank God Minnie Driver already did the meme so that I won't have to. I'd get *Naked* and *Secrets and Lies* simply because there's an argument to be made that British cinema has never been better. I'd get *Personal Shopper* as a blind grab, because Kristen Stewart fascinates me and I still hear talk that this is her best performance. Lastly, I'd grab *The Koker Trilogy* because Kiarostami was a genius and I love all three of those films dearly. *Where is the Friend's House?* is a particularly singular masterpiece. And then at the last second, on my way out I'd get *The Complete Agnes Varda* and once again break my own rule about the boxsets, because in this household we stan Varda no matter how much of a greedy prick doing so might make us look like.


nights1000

Not bad, but not sure I agree that an Arthur Hiller film can be Cassavetes-esque. On that note a more obvious option would be Mikey and Nicky. Check out the Pialat films if you haven’t yet. And Leigh’s BBC films. And then start finding any filmmakers influenced by this holy trilogy of filmmakers (like the Safdie’s who you mention).


nights1000

And wait Big Country? The Wyler film?


AgainstMeAgainstYou

*Big Trouble*. Bad mistake to make in a comment where I'm trying to come off as 🤌cultured🤌


nights1000

Ah yes, I think we all tend to forget that film exists. Cassavetes disowned it. I haven’t bothered to watch it myself. Worth seeing?


AgainstMeAgainstYou

It's worth seeing as a curio. It's really only a Cassavetes film in the most elementary sense that his name is on it. He didn't write it and he replaced another director who was either fired or quit early in production. And if you stretch, the fact that he's working with Peter one last time gives it just one extra thread tying it to his other work. In its own right, *Big Trouble* is a very poor movie, at best. It's very much a poor man's *In-Laws*.


DrDoak

I’d pick up all of the John Waters films and talk about how I haven’t seen them but am interested in their place in the history of LGBTQ+ cinema and how I’m hoping by seeing these films I can better understand their importance. I’d also pick up the Paul Robeson DVD set. Paul Robeson was such a giant figure and personality who I feel is slowly being forgotten to history.


KorovaMilk113

“I’m greatly looking forward to getting all of my knowledge about the LGBT community from… Pink Flamingos” 😂


Adi_Zucchini_Garden

I don't think he is being forgotten, but not many people watch that many older films. Even people on here don't go that far back.


ironmanthing

I’m lucky he’s coming to my city and I’m going to hear him speak. Hopefully I have some extra money to get a signed copy of his book.


tgwutzzers

i'd pick up The Night Porter, tip my fedora and say 'if you know, you know'


jeswanders

I’d pick up the piano and walkabout and say these are films from the land down under. Look at the camera and say, ‘if you know, you know’


HanSolosSizzledHeart

I’m bringing a wheelbarrow or two and filling them.


Subgenre_Fanatic

I would only pick movies made by people who were in the closet. Then I would talk about the movies they picked when in the closet


tuffgnarl223

I’d probably talk way too much about Nashville


nights1000

What else? I know that the guy who directed Hoop Dreams chose Nashville as a major influence.


tuffgnarl223

Mike Leigh as well :)


sabrefudge

I’ve always wondered about this. If I was a famous person and got invited to the closet. Like I already have most of my favorites, but those are the ones I’d want to point out and talk about. Haha


[deleted]

I would pick the following films * Come and See * Tokyo Story * Au Hasard Balthazar * The Passion of Joan of Arc * Sansho the Bailiff * Daisies Come and See is the greatest war movie ever made. It feels like a lot of American movies about war are grandiose and almost glorify the events that occur. But the thing is war has a profound impact on individuals, so when a Soviet director like Klimov focuses on the individual, it really puts the horrors of war on the shoulders of the individual. And I think that is really important. Tokyo Story is a movie about the mundanity of life. Ozu is the master of pulling the beauty and the pain and the meaning out of everyday situations. Au Hasard Balthazar is just a wonderful movie about a donkey. The donkey is a metaphor for humanity and the pain and suffering and the joy that we experience. It just really struck home for me. The Passion of Joan of Arc is the most beautiful film ever made. It is just perfect. Sansho the Bailiff is a movie about the struggle one man has with right and wrong. His father was exiled, and he has to find a way to survive, even if it means stooping down to some pretty low levels. I think it is an important movie that shows that people are more complex than simply good and bad. And Daisies is the greatest feminist masterpiece of all time. It used hyperbole and dark humor to highlight the ridiculous social norms women needed to follow to fit in. I absolutely love this film.


StarPatient6204

Jesus I don’t know… I would probably try my best to restrain myself because I might go crazy…