"There’s a film called Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… and Spring. I saw it at the Angelika on my birthday in New York, maybe ten years ago? It never left me — it’s such a good film. It’s tremendous and beautiful. There’s like twelve words in the whole thing. It’s about a floating monastery in the middle of a lake. There’s like three people in it. That was amazing."

"I was so excited by the news of this incredible release and restoration. Every moment is beautiful—as, of course, is the soundtrack by Ravi Shankar. Some scenes even seem to be able to penetrate the boundary of your own personal memory. Electrifying but peaceful. Throughout the entire trilogy, everything is leaving Apu behind, but the final scene shows all currents flooding home to him."

"The apotheosis of the Italian Western. Sergio Leone had been examining themes from the West of a number of pictures and here they coalesced into one poetic fable that is strikingly beautiful to watch and very moving. Again, it was not a success when it came out, and was brutally cut after a number of engagements, but now has belatedly been appreciated and restored."

"I adore melodrama. All That Heaven Allows and Written on the Wind are movies that I learned so much from. The trick for me is: how can you create something so beautiful, with such amazing mise en scène, color, and composition, and also talk about something profound? Sirk’s films grab viewers in an oblique way by getting through their hearts, not through their minds."

"I adore melodrama. All That Heaven Allows and Written on the Wind are movies that I learned so much from. The trick for me is: how can you create something so beautiful, with such amazing mise en scène, color, and composition, and also talk about something profound? Sirk’s films grab viewers in an oblique way by getting through their hearts, not through their minds."

"The first Tarkovsky I saw was Nostalgia, and I kept asking myself, how can someone have done this? Where does this mind come from? Later, I saw Andrei Rublev for the first time at Anthology. What I love about it is that it just hits you in places you don’t expect—the composition of the shots and how he fills them with emotion is so beautiful."

"Probably the most beautiful overall film/package combo in the Criterion Collection. Mizoguchi’s eerie, haunting, and elegant film is one of the most devastating morality plays I’ve ever seen, and it just might scare you into being a better person. It will most likely haunt you for quite a while. The design of the packaging is also really gorgeous. Most likely my favorite Criterion disc set."

"Another one with a massive text resting on that second disc. How delightful it was to marvel in the splendor of this film and then watch the Godard–Fritz Lang special feature! Also, a truly beautiful cover of which I was always quite fond. This spot could just as easily be Masculin féminin, my favorite Godard for years. Criterion’s support of sixties Godard has always been remarkable."

"Munro is a touchstone for me, and she’s been my favorite writer for more than 25 years. This is the first book I read by her, when I was a junior in high school. Right away, I found in her work something that was recognizable to me—and, at the same time, I found some fictional alchemy that even now remains beautiful and inspiringly elusive."

"It’s a really amazing orchestral arrangement, which I think is actually an improvement on the original recording. It’s a total reimagining and it’s got a really beautiful clarinet part in it and takes what is a simple rock’n’roll song and turns it into something really special. It sounds like it’s from the soundtrack to The Wind In The Willows or something, just really forest-y and dreamy."