Mahershala Ali Opens the Closet and His Movie Taste Does Not Miss
Actor extraordinaire, Mahershala Ali, steps into Criterion’s beloved Closet Picks and, naturally, Mister Ali comes prepared with taste.
The two-time Academy Award winner digs through the shelves while talking about movies that stuck with him — from Akira Kurosawa and Robert Altman to Robert Townsend, Jim Jarmusch and one especially personal stop at Julian Schnabel’s Basquiat.
entertainment
Mahershala Ali — Criterion Closet Picks
Mahershala Ali digs through the Criterion Closet and comes out with Kurosawa, Altman, Robert Townsend, Jim Jarmusch and more.
Some links may be affiliate links. INYIM may earn from qualifying purchases.
His Hoop Dreams pick lands exactly where you’d expect from somebody who clearly watches movies for more than just performance. Steve James’ 1994 documentary follows two young Chicago basketball players over several years as talent, family, money, school and the machinery surrounding the sport all collide.
Then there’s Hollywood Shuffle, Robert Townsend’s razor-sharp 1987 satire about the typecasting and limited roles Black actors were routinely handed in Hollywood. It is funny because it has to be, but the target underneath the jokes has never exactly disappeared.
And when Ali reaches for Basquiat, the conversation turns to Jeffrey Wright, who played Jean-Michel Basquiat in Julian Schnabel’s 1996 film. Ali gives Wright his due while revisiting a performance that helped introduce an entirely different audience to the artist’s life and mythology.
Mahershala Ali’s Criterion Closet Picks
- Yojimbo — Akira Kurosawa, 1961
- Hoop Dreams — Steve James, 1994
- Short Cuts — Robert Altman, 1993
- Hollywood Shuffle — Robert Townsend, 1987
- Basquiat — Julian Schnabel, 1996
- Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai — Jim Jarmusch, 1999
That is a pretty ridiculous little stack: samurai cinema, one of the defining American documentaries of the ’90s, Altman at full ensemble sprawl, independent Black satire, downtown art-world mythology and Jarmusch’s hip-hop samurai oddity. Mister Ali knows exactly what shelf he is standing in front of.
Criterion recorded Ali’s visit on July 30, 2026, adding him to the wonderfully nosy series that lets actors, directors, musicians and other film people reveal themselves through what they grab off the shelves. Sometimes six movie picks tell you more than another red-carpet interview ever could.
Watch Mahershala Ali’s Criterion Closet Picks
Watch Mahershala Ali discuss Yojimbo, Hoop Dreams, Hollywood Shuffle, Basquiat, Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai and more inside the Criterion Closet.
Source: The Criterion Collection.
