Welcome to the second annual Anti-Criterion Challenge, a companion to The Criterion Challenge 2022 . Like the real deal, this challenge features 52 categories, which you can watch in any order you want and at whatever speed best suits your viewing habits. (So long as you watch all 52 movies in 2022.)
The only catch is that you have to watch movies that are NOT in the Criterion Collection. The intention is to make these all first time watches, but that’s certainly not necessary.
I was also hoping to spotlight some of the great lists here on Letterboxd, so a huge thank you to all the list makers whose work is featured below.
Categories:
1. A film from the year you were born that is NOT in the Criterion Collection. Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
2. A film by a director whose work you haven’t seen before. Fargo
3. 1920s. Cleaning Up!!?
4. 1930s. Frankenstein
5. 1940s. The Invisible Man Returns
6. 1950s. Them!
7. 1960s. Planet of the Apes
8. 1970s. Taxi Driver
9. 1980s. Clue
10. 1990s. Edward Scissorhands
11. 2000s. Sherlock Holmes
12. 2010s. Mad Max: Fury Road
13. An Anti-War, Protest, or Social Change Film
14. A Science Fiction Exploitation film (or Science Fiction B-Movie)
15. A Dance film (Dance prominently featured!)
16. Directed by Stephen Chow
17. Directed by Naoko Yamada
18. Directed by Margarethe von Trotta
19. Directed by Catherine Breillat
20. A film from Isabel Sandoval’s In the Mood for Sensual Cinema list
21. A film from Cole Thompson’s Candy Cinema list. Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)
22. A film from Sarah’s Sarah’s great big somehow controversial lesbian cinema recommendation list list
23. A film from Stephen Gillespie’s Anti-Capitalist, Anti-Imperialist and Anti-fascist ‘Canon’ list
24. A film from Leo Koziol’s 100 Native Directors, 100 Native Films list
25. Made in Ukraine by a Ukrainian Director
26. Made in Palestine by a Palestinian Director
27. Made in Africa by a Woman, Trans, or GNC Director
28. One of the films mentioned in Alonso Aguilar’s Shared Diaspora: The Faces of Identity in Central American Cinema
29. A documentary about the making of a film
30. A film from a countercultural movement that is NOT the French New Wave or an American countercultural movement
31. A film that one an Oscar in the first decade of the awards
32. A film whose plot prominently features a cult
33. A film by a Trans, Nonbinary, or GNC director whose work you haven’t seen before
34. A 20th century film that was remade in the 21st century
35. A giallo horror (or other non-English thriller/horror film)
36. A film that was later adapted into a play or musical
37. A film with a queer protagonist from before 1980
38. A road trip film that is not set in America
39. A classic Bollywood film
40. A film made with predominantly stop motion, puppetry, or rotoscoping
41. Starring Machiko Kyō
42. Starring Aïssa Maïga
43. Starring Rachel House
44. A film with a color in the title
45. An American film from Tori🐛’s If you like (American film) watch (foreign film) list. A Clockwork Orange
46. That American film’s foreign film companion (see above)
47. A film from Black Directors: The Official Top 100 Narrative Feature Films
48. An adaptation that changes the setting of the source material (A list of such films). Eyes Wide Shut
49. A film from claira curtis’ ”Good for Her” Cinematic Universe list. Mean Girls
50. Random number generator for any list of films (like Edgar Wright’s 1000 Favorite Movies or 1001 Movies to See Before You Die)
51. A film from JulieC’s Neverending Christmas movie list
52. Any film on your watchlist!. War Dogs