"One more. Let me say Persona, one of my favorite movies of all time. That’s another one that I saw later. I saw it in my twenties, like 20 to 21 or something. It feels like it wasn’t made by a human being, because what it does is like magic. I could never imagine making something of that level. It’s just a beautiful thing of its own, and it blew me away. I don’t know how to talk about it. I love a lot of his stuff, but that one – man – it’s one of the greatest movies of all time."

"One of my favorite reads from those fundamental years of art school, I first discovered this book when trying to come to terms with western Enlightenment culture’s broad impact on ideation in artistic practice. So much of Enlightenment thinking is poisoned by prior notions of race that one must ask: Is it ever possible to separate some of our greatest understandings derived from the Enlightenment era from its problematic history? In Race and the Enlightenment, Eze examines foundational writings on race by major Enlightenment figures and lays bare the toxic notions of their time in their own words."

"Le plaisir is probably my favorite Ophuls movie. It’s three stories by Guy de Maupassant. The camera work in this movie (as in all of Ophuls’s movies) is astounding. The masked figure dancing in the first story is incredibly haunting. Then there are the tracking shots from window to window at the bordello in the second story. And there’s a camera move in the third story that, given the equipment of the time, has to be one of the best in film history (I can’t say what it is or it’ll ruin the story—you’ll know it when you see it)."

"Number four would be a movie called The Piano Teacher by Michael Haneke. That’s a really interesting character study to me, and that is my other favorite on-screen performance, Isabelle Huppert. I just think it’s a really, really interesting character study; again, disturbing. I guess there’s a theme here. [laughs] And her last frame of acting in that movie — not actually the last frame; the last frame is her walking, but the one before that is the best piece of acting I’ve ever seen in my entire life. If you don’t know what I’m talking about you have to go watch it."

"It’s my favorite documentary, and that’s just because of its characters. It’s about two ‘90s indie bands, the Brian Jonestown Massacre (the lead singer Anton is a truly wild crazy guy, completely out of control) and the more successful Dandy Warhols. They envy each other and end up having this super Shakespearian love affair/friendship/rivalry. It’s an example of how great storytelling can get you unbelievably engaged, whether you have any connection to the world of the film or not. If it’s human, it’s human. For me, this film is as important among docs as Goodfellas (1990) is among narrative features."

"I love this film and can watch it over and over. Hal Ashby is one of my favorite filmmakers. Both the lead characters are so unique and their pairing even more so. The thing that I love about it the most is Maude’s incredible sense of freedom and her direct influence on Harold. Death awaits us all, and it’s easy to shrink in that knowledge, but she teaches him to embrace life and be himself and choose to be positive and open. Their connection is so lovely and inspirational. This film tackles life, death, and everything in between in the most entertaining way."

"One of my all-time favorite books that’s always by my nightstand. I regularly read a few pages of it before going to sleep. Marcus Aurelius was the emperor of Rome for 19 years and a Stoic philosopher who can teach us all how to find the eye of the hurricane in the middle of our hectic and stressful lives. There’s so much wisdom on every page, you can just let the book fall open — he was an emperor, after all, so let him choose — and find something that will be meaningful for whatever you’re facing that day."

"My favorite book ever. My father was a Dickens fanatic and brought me up to be one too. I’ve read all of his novels but I think this is the best. The story of an orphaned boy who wants so badly to be a gentleman that he forgets how to be a gentle man and becomes morally corrupt, until he is forced to accept the ugly reality of his true provenance. The early scenes where young Pip plays cards with the icy and cruel Estella, whom he worships and hates, are the ones that stay with me the most."

"I like The Game; it’s one of my favorite movies. I love The Game. Oh, that movie was so good. I love not knowing what’s going to happen. I become a detective. My brain — I put myself in the character’s position. I sit there and I wonder how I would’ve reacted to this. You know, because there were parts of that movie that had me tripping. And you could not tell what was the part of the game and what wasn’t. That was the genius part of how they shot that movie. I just absolutely love it."