Movies that are really seminal for me

In my room, I have 4 movie posters: Chinatown, Once Upon A Time in America, Footrot Flats: The Dog's Tale, and Taxi Driver. I used to have Star Wars Episode V as well. - Now I'll say something about my top 20 for the film fans: 1. The Red Shoes I watch this almost every year. It's a comforting ritual, and also it's very inspiring. Michael Powell was intending to make a film that would tell people to go and die for their art, and the film has that galvanising effect on me. 2. Chinatown Another great score. I was 16 or so when I saw it, and it blew me away. The photography is very inspiring, and the atmosphere of unease as well. The stereotypical view of New Zealand cinema is that it's a cinema of unease, so that's probably why I'm a Polanski fan. 3. Tokyo Story Was lucky enough to watch this on the big screen during an NZIFF screening. It's a touching film, and Ozu's aesthetic is something that I'm very interested in. 4. The Telephone Book Some obscure film I discovered on Usenet. About a woman who gets the world's dirtiest phone call, and then tries to track down the guy. The guy who made this was involved with the Warhol scene, but was a pro ad man. 5. Double Indemnity I'd read some pulp fiction, Chandler and Hammett, and this was the first noir that I'd seen which actually sounded like those books. A lot of noirs have creaky, shitty plots, but this also has a really tight story that moves. Plus I've got a thing for Barbara Stanwyck. 6. The Tree, The Mayor and the Mediatheque My favourite of the Rohmer films that I've seen. This was literally made with a tiny crew, so it's hella inspiring from that perspective. 7. Raiders of the Lost Ark Saw it on the big screen. I've never forgotten how surgical that film felt. 8. Utu Probably my favourite NZ movie. I'm not hugely into the colonial era myself, but it's undeniably a critical part of our history. 9. Two Days, One Night A powerful study of working-class lives. Heartbreaking, quietly devastating. 10. Mullholland Drive I'm quite into David Lynch films, and that scene where Naomi Watts auditions is wrenching. I have no idea what's going on in that final half-hour, and I don't care. 11. Allegro Non Troppo A midnight movie classic. 12. Le Notti Bianche This film moves me very deeply. I'm a sucker for doomed romance. 13. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg Sondheim hated this film. I'm a jazz fan, though, so I borrowed some ideas from Michel Legrand in terms of orchestrations, along with other 1960's pop influences. 14. Once Upon A Time In America I'm listening to the soundtrack currently. It's about Jewish gangsters as conceived by some Italian, and I was very pleased that Whakaata Māori ran it in 2022... I was watching on one of the work TV's at RNZ. 15. The Best Years Of Our Lives Wyler schools everyone. It's a masterpiece, and a powerful meditation on war. Incredible deep focus shots. 16. Before Sunrise My favourite Linklater film. I'm a real sucker for this particular type of story, which is why several of these last few are variations on that theme. 17. Paterson Saw it at the Film Festival. Loved it. 18. The Clock Minnelli schools everyone. The camera movements in this movie are really impressive. Plus it's a charmer. Very romantic. 19. A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence Well, this is the kind of taste that I have. I love weird art films, particularly ones that rigorously apply some aesthetic idea or other (in this case, tableaus). 20. Funeral Parade of Roses One of the main inspirations for Weeded Out/Just Like Yesterday. It's quite an odd film.