"I could have easily filled this list with ten Bergman movies. (Cries and Whispers, Fanny and Alexander, The Magician, Persona, Sawdust and Tinsel, The Seventh Seal, Smiles of a Summer Night, Through a Glass Darkly, The Virgin Spring, Wild Strawberries—there, I did it anyway.) His filmic artistry, his seriousness of purpose, his love of actors, and, above all, his literate examinations of the human condition never fail to inspire me. I think I’ve stolen more from Bergman than any other writer. Cries and Whispers is a masterpiece. Visual storytelling, a lean narrative, exacting characterization, formal experimentation—all in the service of painful, honest humanity."

"Simple storytelling at its best, character driven, beautiful and cinematic. The ending of that movie, if you’re not feeling good and your heart’s not twisted up and then melted back together then, I mean, I dunno, you don’t have a heartbeat. It’s one of the best feelings walking away from a piece of cinema. It’s all chalked up to really great characters. A really simple story, really. And that’s why I really enjoy it. It’s a beautifully… it’s a masterpiece. It’s a masterpiece of filmmaking in its simplicity. Its characters are lovely and tormented and flawed and beautiful and heroic. And I, again, love the themes of it."

"“Redoubt” isn’t Matthew Barney’s finest work (“River of Fundament” would be on my top 10 of the decade list I haven’t bothered to make), but his control of rhythm, editing and non-verbal storytelling is unmatched. I wonder what it would be like if he made one of those Pixar shorts that play before features. As a rule, I generally try not to put movies by close friends on these lists but I’ve known Daniel Schmidt since we went to NYU together and couldn’t believe the leap forward he (and Gabriel Abrantes) made with “Diamantino.” I think these two would be a swell double feature. Speaking of double features…"