"When I saw this at 17 Pasolini’s photography of Rome blasted open my ideas of Italy. I think Anna Magnani is the true face of Prada: hips, heels, laughing, crying, shouting, tragic, and terrifically beautiful."

"Director of photography Laurie Rose and I watched this before we made A Field in England. We were afraid of shooting outside in changing weather conditions and light. Marketa Lazarová shows that cutting between overcast/bright sunlight/no snow/suddenly snow . . . can work just fine."

"The power of this film is in the way it sustains the sense of mystery throughout. A young girl disappears, and we never really learn how or why. Cinematographer Russell Boyd helps create the ominous mood with photography that is beautiful and threatening at the same time."

"Just peerless. Georges Delerue’s score is my favorite of any film. Raoul Coutard’s photography is dazzling. The film seems to be, among another things, a brilliant analysis of the difficulty of translation. It’s hard to choose one Godard film, but Contempt seems to encapsulate so much of his genius."

"I thought The Godfather I and II were spectacular examples of wonderful storytelling, evolution of great characters and drama, amazing directing, Carmine Coppola’s spectacular music — I’m also a musician so I pay very close attention to music. I thought everything about [director of photography] Gordy Willis’ lighting… Of course, if we want to talk about lighting, let’s talk about Vittorio Storaro [director of photography] for The Last Emperor, breathtaking. [The two films] are sort of bookends; one doesn’t work without the other. It’s kind of the left and the right hand. I couldn’t really say which one was better to me, although in terms of creating a foundation, I think [the first one] was, once again, a masterpiece."