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This article is regularly updated as films leave and enter the Criterion Channel.
But where should you start?
In the interest of relative brevity, we chose one masterpiece each from 30 illustrious directors.
You could get lost for days.
The 400 Blows
Year:1959Runtime:1h 38mDirector:Francois Truffaut
With Truffaut, why not start at the beginning?
The original negatives were burned in an infamous 1993 fire in the Hendersons film lab in South London.
Criterion sought for years to reconstruct the films and eventually released their 4K restorations in 2015.
Chimes at Midnight
Year:1965Runtime:1h 55mDirector:Orson Welles
Where does one start with Orson Welles?
Instead, we haveChimes at Midnight, Welless 1965 riff on Sir John Falstaff.
How important is Varda to film history?
More Varda on the Criterion Channel:47 other movies, almost all of them worth your time.
Irene Jacob stars both as a Polish singer and as her double, a French music teacher.
Kieslowskis use of lyrical, haunting visual imagery is breathtaking.
Lynchs blend of mundane details heightened by dream logic was there from the very beginning.
Its as captivating now as when it was released because its unique style doesnt marry it to the 70s.
It would still be powerful if it came out today.
The whole set is available now on The Criterion Channel and its essential for anyone interested in film history.
The legend plays an ordinary woman in a blue-collar family who basically starts to come apart at the seams.
Nominated for Best Actress and Best Director, its Cassavetess true breakthrough film and one that inspired countless imitators.
His best movies had more humanism and relatable emotion than the vast majority of the talkies that would follow.
Perhaps the toughest part of being a Chaplin fan is picking one for newbies.
No matter, they generally end up watching them all.
Its hard to believe Kurosawa made it when he was just over 40.
More Kurosawa on the Criterion Channel:Too many to list.
What if someone could just disappear off the face of the Earth?
Thats what happens to a young woman on a yachting trip, butLAvventurais no mere mystery movie.
Its more about disillusionment and disenchantment with society, themes he would continue to explore.
They are windows into lives that seem genuine and three-dimensional.
The resulting career is one of the most acclaimed of his generation, including multiple award winners.
Soon the whole world starts to feel dangerous and unsettling.
More Reed on the Criterion Channel:Kid for Two Farthings, The Third Man.
He has claimed this will be his last film.
The Passion of Joan of Arc
Year:1928Runtime:1h 54mDirector:Carl Th.
Dreyer
Carl Theodor Dreyer is one of the most important and influential filmmakers of all time.
Most importantly, you should watch this classic to see how much it influenced the next century of filmmaking.
It really changed everything.
For cinephiles, its a sacred text.
This Grand Prix winner at Cannes in 2001 was one of his major turning points.
There are character pieces likeWinter LightandFanny and Alexanderand more challenging films likePersonaandThe Virgin Spring.
More Bergman on the Criterion Channel:So much.
Suffice it to say its a visual and tonal experience that simply mesmerizes the viewer.
You wont feel the length, and you wont feel the same after you see it.
Ozu regulars Chishu Ryu and Setsuko Hara star in a story of generational differences amid societal change.
It becomes the kind of film that can be paused and analyzed scene by glorious scene.
More Ozu on the Criterion Channel:More than two dozen other titles.
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
Year:1964Runtime:1h 31mDirector:Jacques Demy
Why do people still watch Jacques Demy?
Well,The Umbrellas of Cherbourghas a cinematic energy thats unlike any other film.
The premise alone is perfectly thrilling: Four men take a job driving explosive nitroglycerin over a mountain pass.
Every bump could be their last moment on Earth.
Its a model of how to produce tension through narrative and pacing.
One of the most poetic, lyrical films ever made.
