Several people asked for recommendations. Without knowing others'
personal tastes, I'll share mine. I'm looking for art - expression,
beauty, intellect, and especially things that change me, that stretch
and challenge my perspective and vision of the world.

(Also, I'm going to use 'film' for movies and 'tv'. I don't distinguish
them beyond one being structured episodically.)



Where to Look

Criterion channel is by far the best source IME, and as importantly,
they do an excellent job of making discoverable the movies I've never
heard of, which is much of Criterions collection. They also restore
older movies, many of them gems.  (Software, however, is not their
strong suit; the UI is laughably absurd in some ways - but it doesn't
interfere with the films.)

Kanopy, which is connected to public library memberships (U.S.  only?),
has an amazing selection - I never knew so many incredible films
existed, far beyond what appears at art house theaters - and they also
do a good job of offering interesting films I've never heard of,
particularly in the 'related movies' section under each film.

In Criterion and Kanopy, you could spend the rest of your life and I
think never run out.

Netflix's recommendation algorithm works decently for me; I've
discovered some excellent films. Amazon's recommendations do little for
me; I've canceled my Amazon subscription as redundant (and out of
distaste for the company). I haven't tried Hulu or Apple.




How to Look

More important than Where to Look is How to Look.

Practically: Life is short. You t have time to watch maybe 0.001% of
films (my estimate). It may be hard to judge if a film is 1 in 1,000 or
just 1 in 50; but often it's clear when a film is not even 1 in 10 -
turn it off!

Philosophically, asthetically: If you look for films that both challenge
you - that make you uncomfortable - and grab you, some of each, then you
will surely expand your universe inch by inch, each step forward
exposing you to several new possibilities - you can see how you can't
possibly keep up with the exponentially expanding opportunities. It's
true - there are too many wonderful films; why ever waste your time on
something less?

The journey itself, the exploration of all these intimately crafted
worlds and visions of every director in history, is worth it. A great
word I learned in the last several years is "curiosity": Don't bring
your own filter; there's another mind in the room, one who doesn't know
you, isn't accomodating your limitations - take advantage of that,
explore what they know, their universe, a new and independent one from
yours.

Not everyone, every day, is up for a big challenge. But I still just try
to push myself a little. Instead of another Hollywood action / romance
/ whatever, see how an innovative Korean director makes one.




What I've Found

Some personal favorites, in no order:

 * "I Am Love" or "Io sono l'amore": Italian film from the last few
   decades, based around a John Adams contemporary (classical)
   composition. Intense.

 * "Me and You and Everyone We Know" by Miranda July: July is an autuer
   with amazing insight into human beings on a personal level. It's a
   comedy, a bit quirky, but that understates it by orders of magnitude.

 * "Poetry" by Lee Chang-dong. Personal drama with an elderly woman who
   is has early stage Alzheimers as the protagonist.  She is not at all
   a stereotype or object of pity, but a real, living, breathing
   protagonist. It's almost confusing to see her portrayed this way, as
   a person with agency and a point of view. Lee breaks conventions
   (afaict) in pacing and storytelling. In ways it doesn't make sense,
   until you understand something about the perspective (I won't say
   more).


 * "Chronicle of a Summer": A documentary from the early 1960s that gets
   working people talking about their lives, a la Studs Terkel, and then
   breaks boundaries. I'm not conveying well how special it is, and to
   say more would ruin it.

 * "My Girlfriend's Boyfriend" by Mike Barbiglia: Stand-up performance
   by a somewhat well-known comic. Barbiglia turns the usual flow of
   tangentially-related jokes into story-telling that brialliantly
   weaves together many threads into one special moment after another.

 * "Overlord" by Stuart Cooper: Film about WWII following a young
   soldier from boot camp to D-Day. Powerful, funny, conceptual,
   excellent direction/editing; conveys soldier's life and war.
   Integrates, as part of the story, a lot of powerful, unusual archival
   footage of WWII. The best war movie I've seen.

 * "Salvatore Giuliano" by Francesco Rosi: Post-war Italian film about a
   revolutionary who fought the Nazi's, and his fate after under a
   civilian government. It's almost two excellent films in one. Again, I
   hate to undermine the experience by saying more.

 * "Flame on the Pier" ("Namida o shishi no tategami ni" or "Tears on
   the Lion's Mane") by Masahiro Shinoda (1962): Set among violent labor
   struggles on the Japanese waterfront, somewhat reminiscent in theme
   of "On the Waterfront". It somehow mixes realism, central-casting
   stereotypes, and Broadway-like acting and scenes - like several
   genres somehow fitting into one. The protagonist is the star:
   amazing, unique character, moving, acting, and singing like a very
   unusual Broadway lead.

 * "Discrete Charms of the Bourgeoisie" by Luis Bunuel: Absurd, surreal,
   intellectual, amazingly funny social critique comedy. Yes, he's
   talking about you, probably. Early 70s movie that won an Oscar.

 * "Taxi" by Jafar Panahi: The story is, Panahi was banned by Iranian
   authorities from making films. So he setup a taxi with a few small
   cameras and himself as the driver. An amazing journey through ideas,
   Iranian society, and Panahi's experiences.

 * "Giri / Haji": Eposidic film on Netflix. Starts off somewhat genre
   crime drama, though well done, and then transforms - or transcends -
   in the last few episodes into something unique and truly special.

 * "American Spendor" biopic about underground comic book artist Harvey
   Pekar: Pekar is his own person, an unusual and genuine protagonist,
   and an artist from a background that has few (and needs many more) -
   working class poor. Pekar is the deeply challenging, mind-expanding
   part, and the film is very creatively done itself.

 * "Justice, My Foot" by Johnnie To: Legal comedy, farce, satire, comedy
   of wit, out of 1992 Hong Kong, like nothing else I know of.  Maybe
   like "Airplane", but much quicker.  Absurdly brilliant, witty lawyer
   whose superpower is to reason anyone in circles about anything. Add
   wuxia, sight gags, puerile humor, all moving faster than you can keep
   up with.

 * "Mikey and Nicky" by Elaine May: Maybe not quite in league with the
   best above, but an example of a true gem: A genre, 70's-era low-level
   buddy criminal drama turns into one of the best acted (not
   exaggerating), most emotionally challenging films I've seen in a long
   time. Be sure to see the 2019 Criterion version. The original
   release's editing was reportedly butchered by the film studio, over
   May's protests.


 * "Carol" by Todd Haynes: Perfection.


I'm out of time ... I hope you enjoy!