If you treasure the "collector's set" then prioritize them as long as you can afford them. These are good sets: 3 Silent Classics by Josef von Sternberg The Complete Films of Agnès Varda Essential Fellini

I was definitely thinking of getting the complete films of Agnes varda and Fellini but I’ve never seen anything from Josef von Sternberg

The Double Life of Veronique - another solid Kieslowski title Le Cercle Rouge - a slow burn, underrated gem Andrei Rublev - Tarkovsky’s best, IMO

I love Andrei rublev and the double life of Veronique but I’ve never seen le cercle rouge so I’ll have to check it out

Taste similar to mine. Check out: Tree of Life Wings of Desire Hiroshima Mon Amour City Lights Videodrome

Also Paris, Texas

Just recently saw Paris Texas so am very excited to see wings of desire

I particularly like: BRD Trilogy Complete Jean Vigo Eclipse Ozu and Shimizu sets Tati box

Love fassbinder but still haven’t seen any from the BRD trilogy, I’ll definitely get to them soon

These titles are solid. Perhaps Lost Highway or Fire Walk with Me if you like Mulholland Drive. The Lost Highway 4k is insanely well done

You got some great titles already. Some additional must haves: - Army of Shadows, dir. Jean-Pierre Melville - Barry Lyndon, dir. Stanley Kubrick - Shoah, dir. Claude Lanzmann - Sweet Smell of Success, dir. Alexander Mackendrick - The Ascent, dir. Larisa Shepitko - Essential Fellini Box Set, dir. Federico Fellini - On the Water Front, dir. Elia Kazan - Citizen Kane [4K], dir. Orson Welles - Andrei Rublev, dir. Andrei Tarkovsky - The Complete Jacques Tati, dir. Jacques Tati - The Human Condition, dir. Masaki Kobayashi

How was Shoah? I’m a bit intimidated by it

I’ve watched it six or seven times now. There’s a melancholic beauty to the film, despite the subject matter, not only in its cinematography, but also in its use of silence, in the sound of the speakers’ voices, in the film’s confidence about the power of storytelling. Rather than posing deep philosophical questions to the interviewees, Lanzmann asks things like, “Was this a Jewish house? And that one over there? What about this one?” “Which was harder on the Jews, summer or winter?” Upon first viewing, his questions seem childlike and sort of silly, harping upon the mundane instead of trying to uncover the mysteries of the Holocaust, how something so evil could have happened in the twentieth century. But after a couple of viewings, you begin to realize that Lanzmann’s questions are a stroke of genius. By paying close attention to detail—“Ask Mr. Gawkowski why he looks so sad.” “Because I saw men marching to their deaths.” “Precisely where we are now?” “It’s not far…a mile and a half from here”—he coaxes survivors and witnesses into sharing their stories, revealing a grander portrait of the human condition than deep philosophical questions might have. It’s worth noting that the film focuses on three different subjects: victims, witnesses, perpetrators. And the latter are often filmed via a hidden camera. As Lanzmann presses them for details, things can get pretty intense. He also invites the preeminent Holocaust historian Raül Hilberg, author of The Destruction of the European Jews, to illuminate the intricacies of the transit camp system, and his revelations are mind-blowing. It inspired me to go out and buy his work. Long story short, I can’t recommend this movie enough. In fact, to call it a movie is to do it a disservice. It is a true eulogy to the victims of the Shoah. As Lanzmann says in an interview on the Criterion supplements, those who died are the real subject of the film.

Great response. You summed it up perfectly.

Thank you!

Could always use more Tarkovsky

That’s what I was thinking 😏

The French Lieutenant's Woman and a bag o popcorn

Letter Never Sent

samurai outlaw fantastic mr fox eraserhead solaris

Any Chaplin (specifically Modern Times)

Rules of the Game for sure

Naked pretty much everything by Michelangelo Antonioni McCabe & Mrs. Miller

W Phantom Carriage

Walker

I would get Fear Eats the Soul, Pierrot le fou, Badlands, and Red Desert.

The most essential films in the collection are probably Seven Samurai and 12 Angry Men. Outside of that I'd just say get what you like.

I don't like telling people certain film's are a "must have" as people's taste vary greatly, and I for one have watched films that have been placed under this constructed category that I've either felt luke warm on or straight up disliked. If anything, there are films that any fan of cinema should see, and with that being said here are some of my Criterion recommendations: The Night of the Hunter Naked Good Morning Andrei Rublev Le Silence De La Mer The Passion of Joan of Arc Vampyr Yi Yi A Brighter Summer Day In the Mood For Love House High and Low M Funny Games Rosemary's Baby Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom Ikiru Seven Samurai Blue Velvet The 400 Blows Days of Heaven Barry Lyndon Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb Paths of Glory The Celebration Drive My Car Parasite Portrait of a Young Lady on Fire My bad. I said some and gave you a laundry list. Just remember, you may not jive with some of these, but they're essential films worth viewing that are on my collection that I noticed aren't in yours.

In terms of both film quality and Criterion release quality (packaging and special features): - Rumble Fish - The Magnificent Ambersons - Häxan (a great pairing with The Phantom Carriage) - F for Fake - Qatsi Trilogy - Odd Man Out - Zeman Trilogy - In a Lonely Place - Ashes and Diamonds - Double Indemnity - Citizen Kane - Carnival of Souls Of course, cater to your tastes in movies!

Solaris, lost highway and the new world.