"Edward Yang died way too young. Everything he did was wonderful, including Taipei Story and Mahjong, but these two are especially staggering. In both films he somehow manages to say just about everything you can about life without ever getting high-minded about it. Talk about an incredible craftsman! All of the stories being told in Yi Yi are kind of unremarkable—it’s the telling that is so remarkable. And A Brighter Summer Day is just an amazing gangland epic. I don’t know how you watch it without becoming convinced that you’re watching the greatest movie ever made. It’s like The Godfather in that way."

"Edward Yang died way too young. Everything he did was wonderful, including Taipei Story and Mahjong, but these two are especially staggering. In both films he somehow manages to say just about everything you can about life without ever getting high-minded about it. Talk about an incredible craftsman! All of the stories being told in Yi Yi are kind of unremarkable—it’s the telling that is so remarkable. And A Brighter Summer Day is just an amazing gangland epic. I don’t know how you watch it without becoming convinced that you’re watching the greatest movie ever made. It’s like The Godfather in that way."

"I’ve played in heavy rock bands, funk bands, jazz bands, and this film captures the hilarious madness of touring life: the egos of musicians and managers, the pedantry behind getting the right things on riders, the bathos behind big epic concerts… I got lost in a labyrinth of corridors before getting to the stage once, just like Spinal Tap! This remains a tour bus favourite because of the attention to detail, particularly in the actors’ performances. I couldn’t believe it when I realised that Michael McKean from Better Call Saul was the guy who played David St Hubbins. But of course he was. He was always that good."

"Huge, magical, realist epic about Indian Independence through the eyes of a child born on the stroke of midnight. Funny, dense, flowery, the story goes on huge tangents, but I love this crazy novel, which somehow manages to depict and sum up the essence of the incredible vast country of India. A real education for me as someone who grew up in London, who had never been to India while growing up. This book helped me better understand what my parents had been through, where they came from before they chose to travel across the world to settle in the the U.K., where I was born."

"This is another book I read in high school when I could not have possibly understood it. I read the whole thing, too, all seven volumes of it. I don’t know who I was trying to impress. At the time, I felt very sophisticated in figuring out that Charlus was gay and the first thing I did when I went to Paris was to go to a bakery and eat a madeleine. I’m still determined to read Proust’s epic depiction of society again. The newest translation sits on my desk but I think I’ll stick with my old Moncrieff. I’ve had a date with it since high school."

"Oh, The Godfather. If it gets any better than that… I mean, it’s so beautifully shot. I’m not a fan of violent movies, but that one is such an epic film. The violence is part and parcel of the story they’re telling, so, it’s legitimate. In a weird way, I find there’s no gratuitous violence in it. Even though there’s a lot of shooting in that thing, every time there’s a shootout, I found it upsetting and horrifying as opposed to films which just trade on mowing human beings down. Those I find pornographic and not sad. I think it does damage to our society, personally."