My Top Ten Criterions

Frank Kozik

Credited with single-handedly reviving the lost art of the concert poster, Frank Kozik credits his career to his enthusiasm for Austin, Texas's growing underground rock scene in the mid-eighties. Find out more, at frankkozik.net and fkozik.com. In addition to the poster included with Dazed and Confused, Kozik also designed Criterion's cover art for Gimme Shelter.

1. General Idi Amin Dada     Barbet Schroeder Possibly the most surreal documentary ever filmed. The restored print propels this into a realm of “reality” that’s nearly hallucinogenic. What a snappy dresser! A must for any accordion enthusiast.

2. The Last Wave     Peter Weir Death, bones, secret underground caverns . . . apocalypse. What more could anyone possibly want?

3. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou     Wes Anderson A masterpiece of art direction and set design. No other film in history has ever quite captured the essential dry rot of the 1970s' fourth-rate Mediterranean beach world. Having spent sixteen summers in areas near, but not quite in, low-rent Med tourist towns, it was a thrill ride straight back to childhood.

4. The Naked Kiss     Samuel Fuller Fuller at his atavistic best. No way out. No redemption. Possibly the best opening sequence in film history.

5. Oliver Twist     David Lean This contains some of the most luminescent black-and-white cinematography ever seen. Fagin, as portrayed by Alec Guinness, will have you squirming with repulsion, yet unable to take your eyes off his balding pate.

6. Time Bandits     Terry Gilliam Best film Napoléon ever—courtesy of Bilbo Baggins, no less. Connery as Agamemnon isn’t bad either.

7. Walkabout     Nicolas Roeg I saw this when I was maybe twelve years old. The father’s suicide, the dead guy in the tree—images that bothered me for decades. Chop that meat.

8. Brazil     Terry Gilliam Ian Holm seems to get into all the good movies (even, like, Alien). What’s with that? Never has dystopia looked so appealing. Count me in.

9. Burden of Dreams     Les Blank All the goofy nature footage is worth sitting through for the ten seconds of pure hate that is Kinski’s freakout.

10. Lord of the Flies       Peter Brook Something’s to be said for the Bicameral Mind. Kill the Pig and the Gods will commune through the head on the pole. I think I’m getting Lasik—just in case the veneer shatters.