One Criterion Forum Award After Another (2025)

[domino harvey]

I will not be able to tabulate until the weekend so feel free to edit any ballots or continue posting ballots if you haven’t done so already until I announce voting is closed

[ryannichols7]

legendary, I have had a very busy time so haven't gotten to do one yet. can now

and yes, I had months lol

[swo17]

BEST OVERALL RELEASE - Pick between 1-5

Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure (Criterion)
Dirty Work (Vinegar Syndrome)
The Movie Orgy (AGFA/VS)
Oscar Micheaux: the Complete Collection (Kino)
The Barnabáš Kos Case (Second Run)

BEST UPGRADE - Pick between 1-5

Eclipse 47: Early Kiarostami (Criterion)
He Who Gets Slapped (Flicker Alley)
Wake in Fright 4K (Umbrella)
I Know Where I'm Going (Criterion)
Je t’aime je t’aime (Radiance)

BEST BOXSET - Pick 1

Radical Japan: Cinema and State - Nine Films by Nagisa Oshima

BEST LABEL - Pick 1

Radiance

BEST CRITERION RELEASE - Pick 1

King Lear

BEST INDICATOR RELEASE - Pick 1

Carnal Knowledge

BEST RADIANCE RELEASE - Pick 1

Va savoir

BEST WARNER ARCHIVES RELEASE - Pick 1

7 Women

BEST DISCOVERY (RELEASED THIS YEAR) - Pick 1

The Shepherd of the Hills

BEST COVER - Pick 1

Oil Lamps

[domino harvey]

You have until Monday morning when I wake up to update or post a new ballot

[domino harvey]

My ballot:

BEST RELEASE
01 King Lear (Criterion)
02 Une femme douce (Radiance)
03 Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Season One (Imprint)
04 Alfred Hitchcock: the Early Years (Imprint)
05 the Hitchcock Nine (Imprint)

BEST UPGRADE
01 Lili (WA)
02 Je t’aime je t’aime (Radiance)
03 Gabriel Over the White House (WA)
04 Splendor in the Grass (WA)
05 I Love Melvin (WA)

BEST BOXSET
World Noir Vol 4 (Radiance)

BEST LABEL
Radiance - truly a banner year for Radiance, and that comes from someone who is often amongst the most critical of the films they release. I honestly don’t understand any vote not for this label for 2025

Unofficial runner up: Ineligible, but still: Imprint, who make the most of the money they charge by commissioning what are consistently the most interesting and valuable new extras in the field right now (and Radiance is excelling in rescuing the best vintage materials)

BEST CRITERION RELEASE
King Lear

BEST INDICATOR RELEASE
Carnal Knowledge

BEST RADIANCE RELEASE
the Inspector/Deadly Circuit

BEST WARNER ARCHIVES RELEASE
Lili

BEST DISCOVERY (RELEASED THIS YEAR)
the Shepherd of the Hills (Indicator)

BEST COVER
Two films by Edward Yang (Criterion)

[domino harvey]

And a reminder that I don’t count ties, so either pick a winner or accept your vote is irrelevant

[bottlesofsmoke]

Best Release
1. Girl with a Suitcase
2. Une femme douce
3. Hardboiled: Three Pulp Thrillers
4. King Lear
5. The Mother and the Whore

Best Upgrade
1. He Who Gets Slapped
2. Winchester ‘73
3. Gabriel Over the White House
4. Splendor in the Grass
5. Jean de Florette / Manon des sources

Best Boxset
Hardboiled: Three Pulp Thrillers

Best Label
Radiance - I easily bought (and enjoyed) more of their releases than any other label in 2025, and so far that hasn’t changed in 2026 either
Shout out to Flicker Alley, they don’t release a ton but put out out some of the most fun releases last year - the silents, Four Weimar Comedies

Best Criterion Release
King Lear

Best Indicator Release
Sahara

Best Radiance Release
Girl with a Suitcase

Best Warner Archives Release
Gabriel Over the White House

Best Discovery
The Ogre of Athens

Best Cover
Hell’s Angels

[Finch]

BEST OVERALL RELEASE -
Nomad + My Heart is That Eternal Rose (Radiance)
Angel’s Egg (Umbrella)
Complete Jean Vigo 4K (Curzon)
City on Fire (Arrow)
Midnight (Criterion)

(also rans):
Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure (Criterion)
Sahara (Indicator)

BEST UPGRADE

Winchester '73 (Criterion)
The Big Heat (Criterion)
The Grifters (Criterion)
I Know Where I'm Going (Criterion)
Barry Lyndon (Criterion)

BEST LABEL

Criterion

Bought a lot more from Criterion last year than Radiance by way of excusing my vote for Criterion

BEST CRITERION RELEASE

Winchester 73

BEST INDICATOR RELEASE

Sahara

BEST RADIANCE RELEASE

Je t'aime je t'aime

BEST DISCOVERY (RELEASED THIS YEAR)

Enemy Territory (Arrow)

BEST COVER

Peewee’s Big Adventure

[ryannichols7]

buzzer beater like I'm Braylon Mullins...

BEST OVERALL RELEASE - Pick between 1-5
1. the Inquisitor + Deadly Circuit (Radiance)
2. the Barnabáš Kos Case (Second Run)
3. Flow (Criterion)
4. Girl with a Suitcase (Radiance)
5. Nomad + My Heart is That Eternal Rose (Radiance)

specifically not voting for boxsets here but rather individual releases. The Inquisitor and Deadly Circuit were not even on my radar at all but Radiance's rescue immediately put both in my canon. I enjoyed the hell out of both films and their copious extras, not to mention the 4K of The Inquisitor was just an incredible watch. this is Radiance at the peak of their power for a single case (cheating to call it a "single release" so far. the Patrick Tam twofer came close but I like those films just a little less. Girl With a Suitcase is basically a masterpiece and it has smart, solid, concise extras and is a great way to do so. wish we had a little more meat on the bone for the Barnabáš Kos Case but the film is also basically an undiscovered masterpiece so hey! I'll write about Flow below.

BEST UPGRADE - Pick between 1-5

1. Cure (Masters of Cinema)

2. Je t’aime je t’aime (Radiance)

3. High and Low (Criterion)

4. Sunset Blvd (Paramount)

5. Jean de Florette / Manon des sources (Criterion)

Cure deserved to be released on 4K by Criterion. Masters of Cinema, who have much longer been champions of Kiyoshi Kurosawa's work (Tokyo Sonata was one of the first non-US releases I ever owned, 15ish years ago), corrected this and gave us one of my favorite looking 4Ks on the market yet. add in some new interviews, a perfect cover, and what a release! Radiance deserves credit on the Resnais for color correcting! Criterion...putting out two of those on 4K that rightfully deserved such a release, and they look stunning. Paramount get some of their classics correct and I'll give them credit for that one.

BEST BOXSET

Radical Japan: Cinema and State - Nine Films by Nagisa Oshima (Radiance)


is this even a contest? stunning transfers, phenomenal extras, and an epic length book. all for a steal of a price. this set the bar impossibly high for all future boxsets from...well, any label!
BEST LABEL

Radiance

also not even a contest. I think even the heads of other labels would vote Radiance #1 for 2025, they absolutely murdered it the entire year. what an embarrassment of riches. shoutout to Deaf Crocodile and Second Run!

BEST CRITERION RELEASE

Flow

this is how you do a release of a contemporary film

BEST INDICATOR RELEASE - Pick 1

Sahara

like this film better than Peter Ibbetson but I will shout out Adrian Martin's commentary on that one - so passionate, so personal. Carnal Knowledge is an upper tier release but I'm not voting for it only because it wasn't a discovery for me.

BEST RADIANCE RELEASE - Pick 1

the Inquisitor + Deadly Circuit

BEST WARNER ARCHIVES RELEASE - Pick 1

7 Women

BEST DISCOVERY (RELEASED THIS YEAR) - Pick 1

The Shephard of the Hills

BEST COVER - Pick 1

Oil Lamps

this deserved to be in best release too but I failed to nominate

I'll try and add more later, currently writing this from vacation!

[domino harvey]

Truly you are, I just came in here to close things up!

[ryannichols7]

Truly you are, I just came in here to close things up!

very glad I made the decision to throw a ballot up and then write my notes after!

[Noiretirc]

This beats March Madness!

[domino harvey]

Not to take away any glory but I won’t have time to sit down and tabulate until Weds morning. If anyone needs to submit, add to or edit their list before then, please PM me any changes as I’ve already gathered up existing responses

[Noiretirc]

I'm dyin' here.

[swo17]

If Kamala was president, the awards wouldn't be tabulated until next Wednesday

[Noiretirc]

If Kamala was president, the awards wouldn't be tabulated until next Wednesday

But they'd be accurate.

(Let's do Politics while we wait!)

[domino harvey]

Tabulating now, no more changes

[domino harvey]

F I N A L . R E S U L T S

BEST RELEASE
01 Une femme douce (Radiance) (5)
02 King Lear (Criterion) (5)
03 Flow (Criterion) (3)
04 Radical Japan (Radiance) (3)
05 Girl with a Suitcase (Radiance) (4)

06 Alfred Hitchcock Hour: Season One (Imprint) (3)
06 Dirty Work (Vinegar Syndrome) (3)
06 7 Women (WA) (3)
09 Nomad + My Heart is That Eternal Rose (Radiance) (3)
09 Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure (Criterion) (2)

BEST UPGRADE
01 Je t’aime je t’aime (Radiance) (5)
02 Barry Lyndon (Criterion) (5)
02 He Who Gets Slapped (Flicker Alley) (4)
02 Winchester '73 (Criterion) (3)
05 Eclipse 47: Early Kiarostami (Criterion) (3)

06 Killer of Sheep (Criterion) (3)
07 I Know Where I'm Going (Criterion) (3)
08 Complete Jean Vigo 4K (Curzon) (2)
08 Cure (Masters of Cinema) (2)
08 Dark City (Arrow) (2)
08 Splendor in the Grass (WA) (3)

BEST BOXSET
Radical Japan: Cinema and State - Nine Films by Nagisa Oshima (Radiance)

BEST LABEL
Radiance

BEST CRITERION RELEASE
King Lear

BEST INDICATOR RELEASE
Bonjour tristesse / Carnal Knowledge / Sahara (three way tie)

BEST RADIANCE RELEASE
Une femme douce

BEST WA RELEASE
7 Women

BEST DISCOVERY
the Shepherd of the Hills (Indicator)

BEST COVER
Une femme douce (Radiance)

[Noiretirc]

Thanks Dom!

[Matt]

Wow, I hadn’t been keeping up with this thread, so that #1 is a real shock to me. I’ll have to put it at the top of my kevyip stack.

[Noiretirc]

Is kevyip latin for Region B?

[Matt]

It’s CriterionForumspeak for all the physical media you’ve bought that you haven’t watched yet.

[Noiretirc]

Yeah.

I was trying to make a joke regarding epic releases that I will not enjoy seeing.

I failed.

[The Curious Sofa]

Nominating:


BEST UPGRADE

The Innkeepers 4K Blu-ray (Second Sight)

Is it for the extras? Because of all the Blu-rays I've upgraded so far, this is the biggest disappointment. It’s clearly an upscale derived from the same master and lacks the filmic texture I’d expect from a 4K presentation of a movie shot on 35mm. The grain structure is poorly resolved, there’s little to no increase in fine detail, and overall it looks barely different from the Blu-ray, with Dolby Vision providing the only slight improvement.

[Yakushima]

Nominating:


BEST UPGRADE

The Innkeepers 4K Blu-ray (Second Sight)

Is it for the extras? Because of all the Blu-rays I've upgraded so far, this is the biggest disappointment. It’s clearly an upscale derived from the same master and lacks the filmic texture I’d expect from a 4K presentation of a movie shot on 35mm. The grain structure is poorly resolved, there’s little to no increase in fine detail, and overall it looks barely different from the Blu-ray, with Dolby Vision providing the only slight improvement.

I need to review, but if I remember correctly the image improvement over Blu-ray seemed pretty substantial.