"Possessed of incisive humor and an uncanny knack for startling juxtaposition, Dušan Makavejev uses a veritable crazy quilt of stylistic elements to create an affecting portrait, at once funny and heartbreaking, of a romance gone awry, while at the same time lambasting the conventions and pretenses of society, including, not least, the constraints of narrative cinema itself."

"It is probably the only film that I’ve ever seen which has something like a perfect balance, which does not occur in filmmaking very often. You sense it sometimes in great music, but I haven’t experienced it in cinema, and it’s mind boggling. I don’t know how [Akira] Kurosawa did it. It’s still a mystery to me. That’s greatness."

"So I was in a crowded New York City cinema in 1997 watching Breaking the Waves in absolute awe as my girlfriend talked through the entire film, joked with her friends, and continually jumped up and down for cigarette breaks. I realized at that moment that I was dumping her. Thank you, Lars, for helping me see the light."

"Early on, surprisingly enough, Italian cinema broke the Hollywood barrier by making simple, down-to-earth stories. Most of the films were made without live sound but dubbed later by experts. It meant that noisy, unblimped cameras would give flexibility to image-making. Stories like Bicycle Thieves, Rome Open City, and Paisan all fell into that category."

"Quick cheat again. I could easily have listed Le cercle rouge, Army of Shadows, Le doulos and Le deuxieme souffle, which are all in the Criterion collection. Melville is probably my favorite director and was a huge influence on the script of Drive. The cinema of process and silent taciturn heroes whose tough-guy exteriors hide lonely, fragile hearts."

"It’s unfortunate that there aren’t more movies about working-class people killing rich perverts and taking their money. Paul Bartel is one of the great gonzo satirists of cinema, and with apologies to Costa-Gavras or whomever, this is probably the most common-sense, pragmatic political film in the Criterion Collection. Also one of Mary Woronov’s greatest roles."

"For me the whole essence, the whole entity of Akerman's cinema, of Akerman's being – not psychologically, artistically, as a filmmaker – exists already in her first feature. In a way I feel that it's typical for filmmakers like Akerman who have their own existential melody. It's so unique and so sincere that it's played loudly from her very first shot."

"Med Hondo is a hero of mine; he encapsulates everything that I would like to see more of in cinema; intellect and effect. This musical deals with years of oppression due to French imperialism in the colonial West Indies. It is set entirely on a slave ship and the climax is at the end, an exhilarated spinning shot."