In October 2022, amid a flurry of media appearances promoting their film “Tàr,” the director Todd Field and the star Cate Blanchett made time to visit a cramped closet in Manhattan. This closet, which has become a sacred space for movie buffs, was once a disused bathroom at the headquarters of the Criterion Collection, a 40-year-old company dedicated to “gathering the greatest films from around the world” and making high-quality editions available to the public on DVD and Blu-ray and, more recently, through its streaming service, the Criterion Channel. Today Criterion uses the closet as its stockroom, housing films by some 600 directors from more than 50 countries — a catalog so synonymous with cinematic achievement that it has come to function as a kind of film Hall of Fame. Through a combination of luck, obsession and good taste, this 55-person company has become the arbiter of what makes a great movie, more so than any Hollywood studio or awards ceremony.
Sunday Special: 'Modern Love'
'The Interview': Marlon Wayans Lost Nearly 60 Loved Ones. Comedy Saved Him.
The Protesters and the President
Biden Loosens Up on Weed
The New Abortion Fight Before the Supreme Court
The Secret Push That Could Ban TikTok
Trump 2.0: What a Second Trump Presidency Would Bring
Introducing ‘The Interview’: Yair Lapid Says the World Misunderstands Israel
Introducing ‘The Interview’: Anne Hathaway Is Done Trying to Please
Harvey Weinstein Conviction Thrown Out
The Crackdown on Student Protesters
Is $60 Billion Enough to Save Ukraine?
A Salacious Conspiracy or Just 34 Pieces of Paper?
The Evolving Danger of the New Bird Flu
Sunday Special: 'Modern Love'
The Supreme Court Takes Up Homelessness
The Opening Days of Trump’s First Criminal Trial
Are ‘Forever Chemicals’ a Forever Problem?
A.I.’s Original Sin
Iran’s Unprecedented Attack on Israel
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Up First
Post Reports
The Journal.
The Ezra Klein Show
Today, Explained