"Edith Wharton’s use of language alone isn’t easily paralleled. She takes you into this woman’s life and makes you feel for her while showcasing her shallowness, materialism, and lack of honor. It is a timeless story we have seen play out for hundreds of years — yet, it feels like it would only apply to modern day society in the form of a Kardashian. Her turn of phrase and sentence structure are beautiful."

"If I had to choose just one Wilco album to own this would be it if I could only be it. As consistently good as they are, there is something undeniably unique about this record. The song writing it beautiful but the production is what takes it over the top. Handled differently the record would be simply a fantastic indie folk record, but the strangely textured recording raises it up to become something entirely other."

"Another very formative movie. It’s a film that Bergman initially made for television with the beautiful Ingrid Thulin – a lesser known Bergman actress but my favorite. It’s a very claustrophobic film. It uses scene/chapter headings and that’s where I stole the structure for Buy It Now. I had never seen a film that dealt with sexuality in such an honest way, without being overly graphic, and with a very sensual feeling."

"People talk about Fellini and Mastroianni, but for me it’s all about Fellini and his wife, the endlessly watchable and entirely unique Giulietta Masina. This is one of the most beautiful, sad, and funny human stories ever told. I love all sides of Fellini so much, but if I must choose, it’s this—for its heart, Giulietta’s face, and an ending that is a testament to the resilience of the human soul."

"Warren Beatty directed, about the life of John Reed. Jack Nicholson is Eugene O’Neill, one of his greatest performances. It combines everything I love about movies: great acting, unbelievable romance, and politics. Sondheim did the music, Elaine May helped write it. It’s kind of the bar. I just think of what cinema can accomplish. It’s like a great, great novel, only better. And with one of the great endings of all time. Just so beautiful."

"Angels inhabit the earth and long to be human because the pain and love of mortality is beautiful. Wim Wenders mixes color with black and white, dialogue with voice-over, aerial with handheld cinematography, and the historical with the magical in this intimate, poetic vision of ordinary life. This film came out when I was in college and was so new and fresh that many of us saw it on a weekly basis."

"I would say, Vacances romaines. I don’t know the English title. With Audrey Hepburn. Roman Holiday? I was not at all a baby girl who just wanted to be a princess, at all, but the fact is, in my movie choices, I was really obsessed with those beautiful and strong and funny and fragile women. [laughs] I was not wearing any princess dress or things like this, but in movies, I was very into it."

"One of the most beautiful films ever made. It’s a French movie with almost no dialogue, and I remember watching it in school several times. The innocence and the imagination of the young protagonist are threatened by bullies and adults, but the relationship he forms with his balloon gives us marvelous insight into childhood. I love how the film explores universal themes that can be enjoyed by audiences of all ages and backgrounds."

"I really love all of Bresson’s movies, but I’m picking this one because it was the first one I saw by him and one of the first VHS tapes I ever bought. I still own that tape. There’s this beautiful, tender, awkward quality to all of Bresson’s movies that I really love. You feel like the actors might forget their lines at any moment . . . but then they don’t, and it just feels so transcendently real . . ."