KeithGordan

"While everyone loves Bicycle Thieves, I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for DeSica’s heartbreaking film about an old man and his little dog. It is a great object lesson for the idea that you can deal with tremendous, unabashed, heartbreaking emotion and not be manipulative or schmaltzy."

"I still think this may be the most nerve-racking film I’ve ever seen. It blows away modern action thrillers, doing so much more with so much less. No big effects, no CGI. Just a few desperate men, a few old trucks, a bumpy old road, and tons of explosives. Add in a political consciousness that was sharp enough it was censored out of early U.S. cuts, and a sense of irony that raises this beyond “entertainment,” and you have a thriller unlike anything before or since."

"I loved this film when I was younger (still do), dragging friends and family to revival houses to see its wonderful, pointed, sad satirical lunacy. It also has one of the best in-camera scene transitions ever done, and Peter O’Toole’s gloriously over-the-top performance is priceless. I understand some of the criticisms I’ve heard—it’s theatrical, it’s awkward at times, but it’s also fearless, funny, chilling, and unique, qualities that trump anything else you can say about it."

"One of the scariest, most disturbing, and most beautifully shot films ever made, this was somewhat overlooked until recent years, and I’m glad it’s finally getting the reputation it deserves. It’s as much like actually experiencing someone’s nightmare as I can remember a film being. It blew me away when I first saw it on-screen (knowing nothing about it only added to its power), and I was so happy that Criterion gave us a beautiful transfer—which is the only way this film can really be appreciated."

"In recent years, with financing so much harder to come by and the best television raising itself to the level of great filmmaking, I’ve been happily earning a living working in serialized cable dramas, while still trying to get my own films made. For me, Berlin Alexanderplatz was the grandfather of all the best of modern television, using the expanse of hours to dig ever deeper under the skin of characters, seducing us into caring for a dark antihero in spite of ourselves, and showing that television can be as visual and inventive and surreal as the best movies. I hope we get a Blu-ray version soon!"

"Do I have to say anything? I don’t know if I’ve ever met anyone who didn’t love this film. There’s a reason it ran for over a year in one theater near me growing up in New York (as well as a reason its distributors tried to dump it, since it was so resolutely odd and unique . . . and wonderful). Having Bud Cort do a cameo in my first feature was a private dream come true. A film to live by, this affected and inspired me as much as a person as as a filmmaker."

"If Terry Gilliam was my “wild man” hero in my youth, then Terrence Malick was my poet. Both of these films were textbooks on how films can transcend simple storylines with visual poetry. Both still hold a tremendous amount of power today, and I try to rewatch them at least once a year for a shot of inspiration."

"If Terry Gilliam was my “wild man” hero in my youth, then Terrence Malick was my poet. Both of these films were textbooks on how films can transcend simple storylines with visual poetry. Both still hold a tremendous amount of power today, and I try to rewatch them at least once a year for a shot of inspiration."