"Before the Rain is one of my favorite movies of recent years. I think, in a very interesting way, there is a lot of spiritual thought hidden in the movie. When I saw it, the structure of the movie was very new, how it works with time. In my opinion, “time” will be one of the big topics in the future of telling stories, and how we approach it narratively will change in the next twenty to thirty years."

"After I saw this, I was certain I was being pursued . . . for months. I think I’ve avoided all of Italy because of this film. The score rocked me to my core. To this day I can not. This film has no chill. The side characters are also really upsetting. It’s peak stressful. Just so wonderful. And in it there is the best lovemaking scene I’ve ever seen in my life and, trust me, I have seen plenty of sexy."

"This has to be number one because it’s the film that opened the door to foreign cinema for me. I first saw it at the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1967. I was stunned by the playful mix of romance, jazz, gangsters, and Paris. I must have seen it fifteen times since. In 1976, I played the lead in an homage to Breathless, Amos Poe’s Unmade Beds—though my connection to Belmondo sadly ends there."

"Reality check. The last time I saw it was with my wife and several friends. We are all about the same age, have elderly parents, or have lost our parents in the last couple of years. After the movie, we talked about our parents and how we had treated them. Everyone felt guilty for days. I studied the disc of documentaries, and treasure the Ozu films in my collection. “Real life intrudes just when you’re making other plans.”"

"I used to tell Mel Brooks stories about the guys I knew hanging around a diner, and he mentioned Fellini’s I vitelloni as something I should see. Back in those days, it was very hard to find a film like that. So I wrote Diner and eventually saw I vitelloni. In retrospect, I’m glad I didn’t see it before making Diner. If I did, I think it might have made me too intimidated to write about my own friends."

"I came to Larisa Shepitko through reading about Elem Klimov after watching Come and See. When I saw that Criterion had put out two of her films through their Eclipse label, I snapped them up. These discs are probably my most prized in my collection. Watching The Ascent feels like being punched in the nose and rolled in the snow. I felt like I’d time traveled to the Second World War and was there as a silent witness."

"I came to Larisa Shepitko through reading about Elem Klimov after watching Come and See. When I saw that Criterion had put out two of her films through their Eclipse label, I snapped them up. These discs are probably my most prized in my collection. Watching The Ascent feels like being punched in the nose and rolled in the snow. I felt like I’d time traveled to the Second World War and was there as a silent witness."

"It was made in 1968, and it’s kind of old school. I actually ended up watching it for school, but I was home schooled, so I watched it in my house. For whatever reason, when I saw that film, dude, I loved it. I [was] addicted to it. Kind of ended up falling in love with Olivia Hussey. I became a fan girl, I’m not even kidding you. I thought about it nonstop for a long, long time."

"It’s another game changer for me. I saw it when I was 12, I think. 11 or 12. I just remember saying to my brother, “I didn’t know movies could make me feel like this.” So it transported me. I believed in it. It was fun, it was funny, I was on the edge of my seat — everything about it. I remember saying that to him: “I didn’t know movies could make me feel like this.”"