"The Age of Innocence has always been one of my favorite Scorsese films—it’s one of the most painfully beautiful unrequited love stories ever. It’s Scorsese’s Max Ophuls movie, and the best Ophuls movie that Ophuls never made. 45 Years and The Age of Innocence strike me as two sides of the same coin. Most filmmakers would tell the story of 45 Years from the perspective of the husband, the man who followed convention and married the woman he didn’t love and then lost out on the grand romance. But 45 Years is like The Age of Innocence as told from the point of view of Winona Ryder’s character fifty years later. She’s the woman who never questioned convention or the institution of marriage and then realizes later that she doesn’t recognize her own life. This illusion comes crashing down on her. I think the last shot of 45 Years is one of the all-time great shots—I feel confident in saying that even though it just came out a few years ago."

"The Age of Innocence has always been one of my favorite Scorsese films—it’s one of the most painfully beautiful unrequited love stories ever. It’s Scorsese’s Max Ophuls movie, and the best Ophuls movie that Ophuls never made. 45 Years and The Age of Innocence strike me as two sides of the same coin. Most filmmakers would tell the story of 45 Years from the perspective of the husband, the man who followed convention and married the woman he didn’t love and then lost out on the grand romance. But 45 Years is like The Age of Innocence as told from the point of view of Winona Ryder’s character fifty years later. She’s the woman who never questioned convention or the institution of marriage and then realizes later that she doesn’t recognize her own life. This illusion comes crashing down on her. I think the last shot of 45 Years is one of the all-time great shots—I feel confident in saying that even though it just came out a few years ago."

"One of my favourite contemporary new music pieces to come out in the past couple of years. She's been composing music for 20 years. This album came out last year so I've been sitting with it, going back to it this year as well. But what strikes me is how patient the music is; it develops very slowly. The ideas are really exciting. So when she marinates on a single idea for a while, it doesn't feel boring. The idea is so strong, you just want to hear it fold over on itself over and over again. And the marriage between the acoustic and the electronic in that piece is really seamless – the recording is so good too. She studied with Kaija Saariaho – another huge Finnish composer. I hear her maybe taking some elements of her way of working, although simplifying it, maybe drawing it out more. That might oversimplify what is going on here, because Ratkje does a vast amount of different kinds of music. But it was yet another element – you can hear that lineage within her work."

"I’ve been going through Scenes from a Marriage, the Bergman miniseries, and getting very invested. I think it’s the truest-to-humanity thing I’ve ever seen. I mean, every single person you’d like, or care about as a filmmaker in the past 50 years is influenced by Bergman. He is the ultimate genius when you watch those movies. Nothing’s better than the performances in (these) movies. I feel like Bergman’s movies can come across as being cold and hopeless, but it’s Liv (Ullmann) and all the women stars he made films about that took his sensibility and turned it on his head, making it more nuanced, lush, and beautiful. It’s (the women) being thoughtful and kind, and open, that makes the difference. Everyone reading should go to the Criterion Channel to watch the Bergman collection. I mean, the movies are short, and I am sure that just watching those short movies they’ll get really inspired, without a doubt. You know, think of Persona... nothing comes close to that!"