"This is a record that shaped my musical path as a musician for a long time. My hardcore trump card in life is that I saw them in 1998 in front of about 100 people. They were fucking amazing. When I went to that gig I had the record and I was a little bit confused by it. It was a very divisive record in the scene because of the electro elements. Over time I came to adore it. I did once fly to Sweden to buy a Dennis Lyxzén solo album because I couldn’t find it anywhere I can play this entire record in my sleep. Everything I did with Million Dead was informed by this album. I wasn’t really a fan of the new record, but I did once fly to Sweden to buy a Dennis Lyxzén solo album because I couldn’t find it anywhere. The guy in the record store thought I was out of my fucking mind, which arguably I was"

"When I went on my first non parent holiday to Skegness with my mates, this was the soundtrack. We were in a nightclub and 'Go Buddy Go' came on and we were bouncing off the walls. I mean, the Stranglers sounded like the Doors; they were about as punk rock as Genesis, they jumped on the bandwagon. I saw pictures of them from six months before and they were wearing flares, for gods sake! But they were a great band, it didn't matter. They outlived punk. They were making outrageously different music - sometimes limitations create great music. 'Down In The Sewer' - it was great, the bass sound was insane. It did the same thing to my heart as Ian Drury 'New Boots and Panties'; it was just bloody brilliant. I loved it all. That Stranglers record is dark and exciting and weird. A lot of my choices here are a bit off kilter, actually. Indie movies as opposed to Hollywood blockbusters."

"Most of my favorite films are those in which the lead character is in every scene of the film. When I was a teenager I saw Blow-Up, The Graduate, and Midnight Cowboy at a revival art-house cinema, and these films had an enormous impact on me. I’ve collected Criterion editions since the laserdisc days, and my favorite from that time was the Midnight Cowboy disc, with John Schlesinger’s commentary. But having two out of the three films available now on Criterion Blu-ray is great. I love the package design and transfer of the Blow-Up disc, and the scene in the park where David Hemmings stalks the couple with his camera really comes to life with the new transfer—it’s maybe my favorite scene in any film ever made. And what can I say about The Graduate except that it’s the one film I never tire of seeing? I love all the extras and screen tests on the disc."

"Most of my favorite films are those in which the lead character is in every scene of the film. When I was a teenager I saw Blow-Up, The Graduate, and Midnight Cowboy at a revival art-house cinema, and these films had an enormous impact on me. I’ve collected Criterion editions since the laserdisc days, and my favorite from that time was the Midnight Cowboy disc, with John Schlesinger’s commentary. But having two out of the three films available now on Criterion Blu-ray is great. I love the package design and transfer of the Blow-Up disc, and the scene in the park where David Hemmings stalks the couple with his camera really comes to life with the new transfer—it’s maybe my favorite scene in any film ever made. And what can I say about The Graduate except that it’s the one film I never tire of seeing? I love all the extras and screen tests on the disc."

"It’s so funny, I was literally laughing out loud. I heard it was on Quentin Tarantino and Ed Norton’s list of top movies ever of all time, and I didn’t even know what it was. I’d never heard of it. I heard it was a huge box office flop, and then I saw it and wondered why it isn’t more known. I think people just don’t know what it is or don’t understand the idea. These guys are in North Africa, in these awful situations, with the mafia involved. It was totally over the top. For me, it was so funny. Such a great story, so original, just hilarious. I have very rarely laughed this much in a movie. I have no reason why it wasn’t a huge smash success, in the top five funniest movies ever. It’s Dustin Hoffman — I could make a Top Five just around him. Like Rain Man. Watch that again. It will touch your soul."

"This is a really obscure one, but there’s a really weird French-Canadian movie called Leolo. Roger Ebert loved it. He gave it a four-star review when it came out. The filmmaker, Jean-Claude Lauzon… He made two movies and then he died. It’s a really tragic story. It’s this surreal, messed-up story about a kid whose family is going insane, and so he comes up with these fantastical stories to escape from his world. I saw that movie when I was in high school, and it just made such an impression on me because of the way it balanced humor and absurdity, and surrealism, and then just tragedy. It’s great. I should probably see it again. I haven’t seen it in a couple of years, so I want to make sure it still stands up. That movie is another very particularly strange coming-of-age movie that will always be a reference for me."

"This movie has been a touchstone for me through my entire adult life. I first saw The Apu Trilogy when I was in art school, and I think I was confused or overwhelmed by it at the time—it was my first encounter with that kind of cinema. But it stuck with me, and I return to it over and over again because it’s endlessly beautiful. I love the economy of Ray’s shooting style; he always does these simple pans, or he’ll just have people walk toward and away from the camera. There are no complicated bilateral moves, and he really just goes with what’s in the frame. And his sound design is so powerful. These films manage to fit big political elements into tiny, familiar stories that follow the course of the life of a family. I got to see Pather Panchali in Portland on the big screen right before I started shooting First Cow, and it definitely had an impact on that film."

"Another one I saw as a kid and have seen many times since. It’s etched itself into my mind, both the visuals and the story. First of all, this melancholy provincial town, this shabby hotel where the Victory Day is being celebrated. I adore these atmospheres in Poland. And this typically Polish situation, where the urge to live clashes with the sense of duty, where hope is mixed with cynical despair. The way that history gets in the way of love—that obviously stayed with me. Then there are the deep-focus compositions and the dramatic lighting. And it has so many memorable scenes, like the vodka glasses that are lit and sent sliding down the bar counter in a kind of All Souls ceremony. And the assassinated politician embracing his petrified killer. And Cybulski. I love films carried by a bravura performer, especially when it’s not posturing and the character is complicated and real."