Guillermo del Toro's 10 Criterion Closet Picks (2025): Must-Watch Classics from The Red Shoes to Roma

As a huge Guillermo del Toro fan, I was thrilled when the new Criterion Closet Picks video dropped just before Christmas. Del Toro, the very first guest in the series back in 2010, is back for his second visit—this time in the Mobile Criterion Closet at the Toronto International Film Festival. The Criterion Collection is that amazing home video company dedicated to restoring and releasing important classic and contemporary films, and their "Closet Picks" series on YouTube is pure gold: filmmakers and stars raid their legendary closet (now on wheels!) and gush about their favorites.

Watching del Toro light up as he talks about these masterpieces reminded me why I love cinema so much. His enthusiasm is contagious—he dives deep into color, staging, repression, and heartbreak. Here are all the films he picked, with the highlights of what he said about each one.

See also: Best Movies of 2025: All Major Critics' Lists in One Place

Guillermo del Toro's Criterion Closet Picks (Second Visit)

• The Red Shoes (1948) directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger: Del Toro calls it one of the pinnacles of color narrative, alongside Black Narcissus. He sees it as a parable of how the passion for the arts can destroy us all.
• Black Narcissus (1947) directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger: He says it's easily one of the five most beautiful movies ever made—all done artificially with matte paintings and sets. A parable of desire.
• Notorious (1946) directed by Alfred Hitchcock: He raves about the precise staircase sequence and Hitchcock's concern for rhythm (even using a metronome with actors like Kim Novak).
• Salesman (1969) directed by Albert Maysles, David Maysles, and Charlotte Zwerin: One of the greatest documentaries about the working man. He suggests pairing it with Glengarry Glen Ross and a bottle of booze.
• All That Heaven Allows (1955) directed by Douglas Sirk: A masterclass in staging with mirrors and reflections. Del Toro drew from Sirk (via cinematographer Gabriel Figueroa) for the black-and-white values in his color film Nightmare Alley. Try watching it desaturated—it still works perfectly.
• The Wes Anderson Collection (book/archive): Del Toro feels a deep kinship with Wes Anderson—they both create mannered tableaus with undercurrents of heartbreak, loss, and pathos.
• Roma (1972) directed by Federico Fellini: One of his most revisited Fellini films (along with Casanova). He loves the frescoes scene in the subway and a horror-like set piece with cardinals.
• Roma (2018) directed by Alfonso Cuarón: Del Toro praises Cuarón's transcendental beauty—the poetic ending with ascension into the clouds. He says he envies and adores him.
• The Age of Innocence (1993) directed by Martin Scorsese: An underrated Scorsese that understands repression in Edith Wharton and Henry James. Del Toro used it as inspiration for Crimson Peak and Frankenstein—repression builds pressure for explosion.
• Au revoir les enfants (1987) directed by Louis Malle: A masterpiece he watched repeatedly before making The Devil's Backbone.

He also mentions Fellini's Casanova fondly but notes it's not in Criterion.

See also: Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein (2025): 13 Hidden Symbols & Secret Meanings

Here is the full video:

Full Transcript of Guillermo del Toro's Speech

Hi, I’m Guillermo. I’m back in the Closet. I was the first guy to be on video and I’m super happy to be back.

I want to talk about The Red Shoes. Black Narcissus and this, to me, are the pinnacles of color narrative. Along with Fellini and some of the yellow in this and that. Black Narcissus is maybe one of the five most beautiful movies ever made. Easily.

And the fact this is all done artificially, meaning matte paintings, set extensions. When people say, “Well, you have to go to location.” Yes, if you’re not talking about a parable. And Black Narcissus is a parable of desire. And Red Shoes is a parable of the passion of the arts destroying us all.

Now, Notorious. Why do I choose Notorious? That staircase sequence, you count the steps and he has to cut five or six times: points of view, tracking with them, wide, the Nazis arriving, coming out of the study. That is such a precise film.

I was talking to Kim Novak and I asked her what she remembered the most. She said, “Well, I remember him telling me exactly how I should dress, exactly how I was going to carry myself, where am I going to land.” But she said, “Also I remember he had a metronome and we had to take a step at a certain moment in the metronome.” He was very, very concerned about rhythm. Final sequence. Watch it.

Well, Black Narcissus. You can not own it too many times. Never.

Salesman, one of the greatest documentaries of the working man and the patois of the period and all that. I suggest very wholeheartedly that you have a bottle of booze, some ice, and you do a double program of this and Glengarry Glen Ross.

All That Heaven Allows. Sirk, a master of staging. He uses mirrors, glass, reflections, and the actors moving in a way that creates one-minute, two-minute masters that are breathtaking. This movie is so beautiful.

When I was preparing Nightmare Alley, I remembered Gabriel Figueroa telling me the range of values that you needed in doing a black-and-white film and how color reacted to that. And he said, “Watch Sirk.” Because Sirk has the black-and-white values built in his color. And that’s how I did Nightmare Alley. I art-directed it to work in color and to work in black and white.

Do an experiment for me: grab this movie, buy it and play it and then take out the color. Watch it in black and white, it works absolutely perfect. It’s not as expressive, it’s not as eloquent, it’s not as full of desire, but the image design is extremely powerful.

I already have this. But, you know, it’s very funny when people say, “Oh, you must love this filmmaker or that filmmaker.” They never guess Wes. But I have more– In my imagination, in my kinship, I have a lot more in common with him than with a lot of people, because we are ultimately both creating strange tableaus that can be very mannered but they try to approximate truth.

The undercurrent of heartbreak, the loss, the pathos this guy has, that’s why his stuff works, because, at the end of the day, it’s about things we never had, but we already lost. And this box is fantastic.

Now, Fellini. I love Amarcord, I love all his neorealism period and all that. But this movie and Casanova are the ones I revisit the most. I remember one of my favorite scenes ever committed to film, I won’t ruin it for you, is the scene where they discover the frescoes in the subway. Watch it.

And there are moments here where the music and the staging, the sort of fashion design for Cardinals, the way that whole set piece works is like a horror movie.

Oh, I found another Roma that I like. Alfonso had been talking about making this movie, for those of us that know him, for about 20 years. He had one plot, another plot, and he changed protagonists, but he was always incredibly interested in making it transcendental, powerful, beautiful, but incredibly solid.

I think that the last image of her going basically into the clouds is one of the most poetic. And it starts on the ground, reflecting the clouds. It’s a very pejorative beginning, and then the purity that acquires at the end, seeing her ascend into the clouds, is so beautiful.

Alfonso, I love him, but I envy him. I am in awe, and he’s very, very cruel with my brain, but I adore him.

And Age of Innocence. Another Scorsese people don’t revisit enough. I have, on and on and on and on and on, for Frankenstein, Crimson Peak, because he understands Edith Wharton, Henry James, all the pulsations of the era.

Repression is part of narrative exercise. It’s not just what you let loose, but what you contain. And Scorsese is a master of playing with repression. He absolutely is. When people imitate the violence without the containment, it’s like… the contents need to be under pressure to explode.

Well, that’s me, saying goodbye from the Criterion Closet. Au revoir– No, no. “Au revoir” he said. Au revoir les enfants. Masterpiece.

Oh my God, Louis Malle nails it. This is a movie I watched over and over again before attempting Devil’s Backbone, which is somewhere in here. But I’m not going to take it out because I know how it ends. I’ve seen it.

What movies did Guillermo del Toro pick in his Criterion Closet visits?

Here are the films from his second visit (2025 Mobile Closet at TIFF):

1. The Red Shoes (1948) – Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger

2. Black Narcissus (1947) – Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger

3. Notorious (1946) – Alfred Hitchcock

4. Salesman (1968) – Albert Maysles, David Maysles, Charlotte Zwerin

5. All That Heaven Allows (1955) – Douglas Sirk

6. Roma (1972) – Federico Fellini

7. Roma (2018) – Alfonso Cuarón

8. The Age of Innocence (1993) – Martin Scorsese

9. Au revoir les enfants (1987) – Louis Malle

10. Plus the Wes Anderson book/archive.