"…and then a Japanese film called After Life. I mean, they’re just movies that I watch when I’m feeling kind of blue and just wanna take more emotional leave of my brain — so it would just be all about creating a head space where I’m really happy, and enjoying myself. And being really happy that people can put together movies that good. It’s all the same thing. It’s the idea that mankind can get together and make something that good — I know how hard it is, how collaborative it is to make a movie, so the idea that all those movies exist is what makes me happy."

"I was immersed in jazz for a while. I had certainly been aware of it for years, particularly the electric Miles Davis stuff, but this was a period where I went back into it and listened to a lot of Thelonious Monk records. I really love those; they’re so spiky-sounding. There was a whole bunch of Miles Davis electric records that were just never released in this country. I think Columbia or CBS or whoever it was just decided, “We don't like this stuff. We’re not gonna release it.” So you’d have to get the Japanese version CD. But it’s just amazing stuff."

"Horrors and desire, death and lust go hand in hand in Onibaba and Kuroneko, a perverse, sweaty double bill from Kaneto Shindo. I saw these two films at age ten, and they did some serious damage to my psyche. Both are perfect fables rooted in Japanese folklore but distinctly modern in their approach to violence and sexuality. As exuberant and exquisite as a netsuke carving, these atmospheric jewels show mankind trapped in a cosmically evil world. The tales seem to fit together so perfectly that they fuse into one as time goes by. Onibaba and Kuroneko make a perfect double bill for the second circle of hell."

"Horrors and desire, death and lust go hand in hand in Onibaba and Kuroneko, a perverse, sweaty double bill from Kaneto Shindo. I saw these two films at age ten, and they did some serious damage to my psyche. Both are perfect fables rooted in Japanese folklore but distinctly modern in their approach to violence and sexuality. As exuberant and exquisite as a netsuke carving, these atmospheric jewels show mankind trapped in a cosmically evil world. The tales seem to fit together so perfectly that they fuse into one as time goes by. Onibaba and Kuroneko make a perfect double bill for the second circle of hell."

"This is one of my favorite Ozu movies. On Ozu’s gravestone is the word mu, which in Japanese means “emptiness.” For me, emptiness and silence are very familiar, important family members, and I think the forms come out of emptiness. In the way Ozu makes movies, I feel deeply aware of emptiness. There is something very wise, quiet, and powerful in it. So Ozu for me is like a big brother who helps me remember from time to time the really important things about the form of moviemaking, which have nothing to do with manipulating the audience or being clever. Form can have something to do with truth."

"I love that Criterion not only focuses on the classic work of the Fellinis, the Bergmans and the Kurosawas of film history but also gives attention to controversial, camp, and cult films like Salò, Head, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, and Pink Flamingos. And none is more strangely perfect than House. One of the most beautifully strange and original films I’ve ever seen. Almost like a psychedelic, live-action Japanese version of an episode of Teletubbies, H.R. Pufnstuf, or Scooby-Doo. The fact that both this and Eraserhead came out in the same year leads me to believe there were some really good drugs floating around in 1977."