"This is a film of startling humanity. Ozu is so honest and generous with us; he communicates without guise or flourish. He shows us what it means to be human in the most direct yet gentle way. He respects his characters too much to distract the viewer from their lives. He gives us the opportunity to sit with them. We join them in quiet communion. This will always be my favorite film."

"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."

"I would die to work with the Coen Brothers. I love their sense of humor. This film is hysterical on so many levels, but I guess it’s the diverse group of characters that really gets to me. Jeff Bridges is perfection as “the dude” and Julianne Moore kills it as Maude, but my favorite may be John Turturro as “Jesus.” To me, this is a perfect comedy. Oh yeah and the soundtrack is SICK!!!"

"This film contains some of my favorite quiet moments in all of cinema, and Kieślowski is a master of using restraint as a means to tell a powerful story. Small moments in a Kieślowski film can often carry the weight and impact of a sledgehammer. Just watch the beginning of Blue and you will see what I mean. And while you’re at it, I recommend checking out the rest of the great Three Colors trilogy."

"Assayas is one of my favorite living filmmakers, and this film is a testament to why that is. To me, it is the most effective film on grief and loneliness in the twenty-first century, when everyone views their electronic devices as extra appendages. It’s a genre-pushing investigation into the unknowable ways in which we communicate with one another through devices and airwaves, which we are still only just beginning to understand."

"I choose this not because it’s my favorite but because, alongside the great sixties and seventies documentaries of Ken Russell and Peter Watkins and the films of Nicolas Roeg, this was a big influence on the stylistic choices I made when approaching my film SHOT! It’s so excessive and theatrical, and the choreography is of course stunning, but Fosse’s complete irreverence toward the subject of his own death is what really gets me."

"Bowie has been a huge inspiration to me with regard to creating concept albums, new worlds and alter egos. When I heard this song for the first time, it took my music tastes to another level; I wanted my own writing to be just as interesting and clever. I once performed a cover of ‘Moonage Daydream’ with one of my favorite bands, Of Montreal. The song remains a source of inspiration for me."

"This is my favorite Fellini movie. It’s so fun and sweet and bold and effortlessly weird. You feel this young filmmaker surprising himself. It also captures the claustrophobic yet epic feeling of growing up in a small town and hanging out with your childhood friends all the time. And the whole carnival sequence is so great . . . especially the aftermath, when Alberto Sordi is wandering around the town square at dawn dragging an oversize clown head."

"Probably my favorite role of all time was Heath Ledger as the Joker in The Dark Knight. That’s one of my favorites to this day. Just watching his performance in that is like… It never gets old to me. Sometimes I’ll just watch the movie, and I’ll fast forward, and I know exactly where his scenes are, and I’ll just fast forward to every scene and just watch them. So that’s another one."

"Melville is master of the jump cut. I fell in love with this book. The words were songs, the flow embraced the way we actually think. Backtracking, looping, jumping. But here’s a tip: if you’re thinking of making a multimedia opera from your favorite book, don’t do it! I tried it and didn’t have the nerve to rough it up. I never took off the white gloves. So obviously it didn’t work out.”"