"It’s hard for me to pick one Cassavetes film, so I’m going to default to this great documentary about him, which is included in Criterion’s John Cassavetes: Five Films set. See them all, but see this first and get a sense of what he’s all about. There’s no more unique and important filmmaker in American history—his impact on independent film was massive, having arguably invented it in the States, and his films are honest in a way that Hollywood simply is not. Many imitate his loose style, but he's the master of the raw conversation. Although now that I’m getting into Bergman . . ."

"I purchased this around the time that I decided I needed to own as many Criterion titles as possible. Also may hold my personal record for shortest time between first seeing a film and spending thirty dollars to own it. I just loved this film and was always rewatching it. Jarmusch was fairly major for me in my early discovery of truly lo-fi independent cinema, and I often found myself returning to his earlier films to study just how simple a film can be and still seem wildly innovative and truly, idiosyncratically the director’s own."