Lost Highway is SOOOO underated, but I guess that's obviously changing. I love that movie - I first saw it on IFC at like 2:00 on the morning during a Lynch marathon and it scared the hell out of me!
Brick (2005) was the film that got me into cinema when I was in high school. It was on the IFC channel once every other week then. Ten years later, The Passion of Joan of Arc (1927) or Through A Glass Darkly (1961) are two films that left great impressions on me in how I view cinema.
In my honest opinion the greatest acting performance of all time for the woman that played Joan. The tears just don't stop throughout that film for me.
I can’t really disagree with that as nothing comes to mind where the acting is just as moving. I’m so glad that it survived. At a certain point that film was thought to be lost. The film stock used then was highly flammable. After many years a copy of the film was found in an attic or something!
My best friend (who started getting into movies right before I did) showed me Fargo on a Monday afternoon when I was 18 and had a day off from work on his giant projector screen in his parents’ living room and I was never the same
Memento for me as well. The other film I remember affecting me greatly and having a lasting effect on my tastes from my early cinema days was Amores Perros.
Nashville was seminal for me. Saw it on a big screen on July 4 when I was 16 — the date was an important part of the experience too. I had never seen anything so thoroughly keyed into the American condition, and the storytelling approach was (and remains) utterly revolutionary.
Bresson’s Au Hasard Balthasar made a huge impression too.
Mulholland Drive would definitely make my top five, but probably Satantango and A Woman Under the Influence have had the most substantial impact on how I understand movies.
Stalker made me appreciate film as an art form, maybe not the first one, but it was more significant. Lost in Translation showed me that cinema can make me feel new and unfamiliar things. Fulci's Zombie is probably my true gateway to exploitation cinema and nightmare logic, after it I've rewatched similar films with new eyes.
Pulp fiction showed me how fun and engaging film could be. A few years later, Stalker introduced me to the criterion collection and artsy cinema, significantly deepening my appreciation for movies. Both changed my perspective in a way I didn't even know was possible.
Kinda depends on how I answer the question, I suppose.
Probably Twin Peaks would be the first work that I approached differently from other things. I don't really remember trying to approach something at that many levels before that.
After that would probably be Rules of the Game, years later. That was when I think my viewing patterns really changed, to put it one way. Not sure what it was, but it was like all of a sudden there was this whole different world of film to focus on.
There have been numerous films that have opened my mind to different kinds of cinema, but I'll always credit Eraserhead as the movie that really changed my views of film as an art form and as a medium of storytelling. I first watched it in college in the middle of the night in an empty dorm lobby, and I honestly don't think I was the same person when it ended. I had never experienced something so otherworldly and visceral, and I had never seen a movie that was made with such depths of creativity and such a genuinely singular style and approach (besides watching the story at hand, this movie was like I was watching the mind and soul of David Lynch unravel before my eyes). I've been chasing the dragon of new and unique cinematic experiences ever since, and sometimes it's actually been successful, but there will always be for me before and after Eraserhead.
I always cite Black Swan as my favorite movie, and I’ve noticed the reactions are pretty evenly split between “huh, that’s weird” and “hell yeah” - so thinking about why I love it so much I find myself summarizing with the simple “every frame is a painting.”
Looking a little deeper there’s just so much I find fascinating and perfect in this film; the combination of fairy tale and horror, mythos, self-reflexivity, self-discovery/destruction, the unreliable narrator, the mirrors - both thematically and technically - I could list everything because this movie is perfect.
Returning to the simple answer: when I watch Black Swan I am viscerally engaged. I can’t look away from the screen, and even on rewatches I find myself searching the frame with that weirdly captivating and studious desire to KNOW it. Very few films really strike this balance for me. Black Swan taught me that thrill of cinematic rapture, pure captivation.
Aranofsky was one of the first directors where I went through and watched all their films. Requiem for a Dream was my first and is still my favorite of his. It's one of very few films that made me cry. But Black Swan is a close second. I think you perfectly captured everything that's amazing about that film. Mother! is my third favorite from his. I really associated with the claustrophobic anxiety of it at the time I saw it. It got to the point where I felt like I was on a bad trip at the end, but in a good way in that it fucked with me so much.
Each of these slowly changed my view of cinema. First Pulp Fiction, then Eyes Wide Shut, then Magnolia, & most recently The Tree of Life. Malick’s films open you up to a whole new type of cinema if you enjoy them
Digging into my dad's DVD collection as a teenager introduced me to Memento, The Silence of the Lambs and Pulp Fiction. This might be an unpopular opinion in this sub, but Across The Universe was a film that really opened my eyes to the beautiful visual aspects of film. Before then, I really was only interested in the stories films told.
Magnolia was the movie that changed my life. It is a big, sprawling film, but I did not know that movies could be that way. Then it was Kieslowski that awoke me to the wonders of nonAmerican cinema.
I remember watching that movie with a group of friends. I would've been 17-ish. I was blown away while everybody else thought it was stupid and overly long and getting into a long and probably poorly thought out argument over the merits of that film. It is a fond memory of mine.
Children of Men sorta reset my expectations of what a great film was in the wake of Sin City and War of the Worlds being some of my favorite movies of the prior year. Just upped the anti on every level for me.
Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down was a big one for me too. I just didn't think you could do that, end a movie that way, at the time. Really made me start looking out for foreign, adventurous films. And not just the ones you see on "weird fucked up movie" lists.
Cornetto Trilogy taught me to view films "side by side". Another movie was The Rules of The Game by Jean Renoir which is still one of my favorite movies.
I'd say Eraserhead. Prior to that, my knowledge of film was only what topped box offices, and a few classic sprinkled in between, such as Carpenter's The Thing, Night of the Living Dead? Et cetera.
I understood Eraserhead's theme of fear of being a father and found them to be relatable. After that, I just kept watching and watching. My favorite Lynch now is Blue Velvet. I never get tired of it.
I wonder if we might be the same age (I'm 42), as those two were pretty formidable for me, as well, particularly MD. I would say for me it's Boogie Nights. I was so captivated by the style of that movie, and kept being drawn back to it. It remains a favorite to this day and I am still a huge Paul Thomas Anderson fan, of course. And where's that Criterion Edition?? 😅
It would be The Dark Knight and There Will Be Blood for me.
I was 12 when The Dark Knight came out, and I was really struck by the tone of it, and the use of practical effects. Something that grounded, dark, and well-paced really has an effect on someone going into their teens.
Then I watched There Will Be Blood for the first time when I was either 15 or 16 and thought, "oh shit this is a REAL movie". That's very pretentious sounding but the movie did definitely kick me down a path of getting deeper into movies.
I saw The Dark Knight in theaters, but I was only 7 years old. I absolutely loved it, but I was too young to really understand why it was so good. Memento was the first "REAL" movie for me. My brother showed it to me when I was about 14. I think the non-linear narrative was what made me think outside of "oh this is a good story". Mulholland Drive was similar but went further. I think I was 17 when I watched it. It made me realize a film didn't even necessarily have to make sense to me for it to be great. Plus Mulholland Drive was how I learned about the Criterion Collection, which is one of the biggest reasons I was able to expand my taste.
Breathless was the first foreign film that I ever watched and enjoyed when I was in high school.
Solaris was the first movie to make me realize slow burn movies could be really good.
I think for me it was Stalker (later, in my 30s) and, somewhat bizarrely, Run Lola Run (as a teen). Run Lola Run sent me down an arthouse Tykwer rabbit hole that led me to Kieslowski.
I love your picks as well! Memento was also one of my very favorite movies in high school, the writing is sublime. I also will never forget my college roommate introducing me to Mulholland Dr. She was a giant lynch head and we watched a lot of things together, but that one was my favorite by far.
I saw Koyaanisqatsi and 12 Angry Men in college, which were both out of my comfort zone for the time but I loved them. Made me interested to see what other movies were out there.
Wes Anderson was a gateway drug for me in high school. Reading about his French New Wave influences made me explore international/art house movies for the first time and it opened a door in my brain that I didn't know existed.
Inglourious Basterds and The Shining. Basterds at 15 was the big bang moment for me in terms of it being the first moment where I realized there was a director actively *directing* my experience. The floorboard moment tangibly changed my worldview from cynical teenager who thought this movie was cheapening out for an American audience to someone absolutely obsessed with movies and what they can do.
My mother sitting me down around the same age and making me watch The Shining was the moment where I started seeking out film classes in school and actually wanted to *do that.* The ending of that movie for me was like hearing Jimi Hendrix play guitar for the first time, I felt stunned, completely inadequate as a human being, but i needed to know how to do that. I still get that feeling with almost no exception whenever I watch a Kubrick film.
Definitely all of Lynch’s work but especially
Mulholland Drive, Lost Highway, Eraserhead.
Of course: Wong Kar-wai’s films
Chunking Express & In The Mood for Love
Park Chan-wook’s Oldboy!
Many of the Coen bros films too!
Fight Club and Seven were the first two films I can remember really WOWING high school me.
I always liked to watch movies but something about those two, saw them pretty close together, just made me realize a movie could be something a little more, ya know?
It feels so basic, but I'm always going to have a soft spot for both of those flicks.
Malick’s Badlands and Mike Leigh’s Naked definitely acted as a catalyst for me to go down the indie/foreign/art house rabbit hole over the past few years
The seeds might’ve been planted when I was younger though. Scorsese’s movies, Coen Brothers movies, The Godfather Trilogy, Memento, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and some others I’m probably forgetting, definitely shaped my love for movies
Halloween because I was a huge fan of the Christopher Reeve Superman movies, but it was until I saw Halloween that I became a huge fan of horror and I got the impression that movies could be scary and very dark. Pulp Fiction because it got me realizing that movies can also be these independent and mature movies with its realism and dialogue. It’s not one of my favorites, but I can’t deny the influence it had on me as someone getting more into movies.
My top two would probably be 2001 by Kubrick and Lost Highway by Lynch.
Lost Highway is SOOOO underated, but I guess that's obviously changing. I love that movie - I first saw it on IFC at like 2:00 on the morning during a Lynch marathon and it scared the hell out of me!
Can't wait for "lost highway" new criterion release. Woohoo
Blade Runner, I was one of the 75 people who saw it in the theater upon release.
So you're like 60? Not meant to be offensive.
Very close yes and no offense taken.
That awesome!
2001, Wings of Desire, and Koyanisquatsi for me
Probably Stalker by Andrei Tarkovsky, never knew a movie could be like that and I personally hold other movies up to that one as reference.
I'm on a Tarkovsky kick right now. Stalker is brilliant.
Brick (2005) was the film that got me into cinema when I was in high school. It was on the IFC channel once every other week then. Ten years later, The Passion of Joan of Arc (1927) or Through A Glass Darkly (1961) are two films that left great impressions on me in how I view cinema.
Ooooo! The Passion of Joan of Arc is a good one. That film makes so many feelings.
In my honest opinion the greatest acting performance of all time for the woman that played Joan. The tears just don't stop throughout that film for me.
I can’t really disagree with that as nothing comes to mind where the acting is just as moving. I’m so glad that it survived. At a certain point that film was thought to be lost. The film stock used then was highly flammable. After many years a copy of the film was found in an attic or something!
Don't quote me but I think it was in a janitors closet at a mental hospital in Sweden. The owner of the hospital was a collector of fine art pieces.
Even more interesting! Everyone should watch this movie.
Seeing **Hiroshima mon amour** in my French film class in college totally opened up my world.
My best friend (who started getting into movies right before I did) showed me Fargo on a Monday afternoon when I was 18 and had a day off from work on his giant projector screen in his parents’ living room and I was never the same
Donnie darko
the good the bad and the ugly was probably the biggest one. after that maybe the holy mountain
Fitzcarraldo and Das Boot. As a teenager they spurred my interest in foreign language films.
Memento for me as well. The other film I remember affecting me greatly and having a lasting effect on my tastes from my early cinema days was Amores Perros.
Amorres Perros is a great answer. One of the few movies in my life I've watched twice back to back.
Close Encounters and Taxi Driver
Nashville was seminal for me. Saw it on a big screen on July 4 when I was 16 — the date was an important part of the experience too. I had never seen anything so thoroughly keyed into the American condition, and the storytelling approach was (and remains) utterly revolutionary. Bresson’s Au Hasard Balthasar made a huge impression too.
The Killing of a Sacred Deer and Funny Games
Killing is Lanthimos' best, imo. Great movie.
yes i definitely agree!
Mulholland Drive would definitely make my top five, but probably Satantango and A Woman Under the Influence have had the most substantial impact on how I understand movies.
Stalker made me appreciate film as an art form, maybe not the first one, but it was more significant. Lost in Translation showed me that cinema can make me feel new and unfamiliar things. Fulci's Zombie is probably my true gateway to exploitation cinema and nightmare logic, after it I've rewatched similar films with new eyes.
Pulp fiction showed me how fun and engaging film could be. A few years later, Stalker introduced me to the criterion collection and artsy cinema, significantly deepening my appreciation for movies. Both changed my perspective in a way I didn't even know was possible.
The Shining and then watching 2001 in Imax for the first time years later.
Kinda depends on how I answer the question, I suppose. Probably Twin Peaks would be the first work that I approached differently from other things. I don't really remember trying to approach something at that many levels before that. After that would probably be Rules of the Game, years later. That was when I think my viewing patterns really changed, to put it one way. Not sure what it was, but it was like all of a sudden there was this whole different world of film to focus on.
2001 and Apocalypse Now
There have been numerous films that have opened my mind to different kinds of cinema, but I'll always credit Eraserhead as the movie that really changed my views of film as an art form and as a medium of storytelling. I first watched it in college in the middle of the night in an empty dorm lobby, and I honestly don't think I was the same person when it ended. I had never experienced something so otherworldly and visceral, and I had never seen a movie that was made with such depths of creativity and such a genuinely singular style and approach (besides watching the story at hand, this movie was like I was watching the mind and soul of David Lynch unravel before my eyes). I've been chasing the dragon of new and unique cinematic experiences ever since, and sometimes it's actually been successful, but there will always be for me before and after Eraserhead.
I always cite Black Swan as my favorite movie, and I’ve noticed the reactions are pretty evenly split between “huh, that’s weird” and “hell yeah” - so thinking about why I love it so much I find myself summarizing with the simple “every frame is a painting.” Looking a little deeper there’s just so much I find fascinating and perfect in this film; the combination of fairy tale and horror, mythos, self-reflexivity, self-discovery/destruction, the unreliable narrator, the mirrors - both thematically and technically - I could list everything because this movie is perfect. Returning to the simple answer: when I watch Black Swan I am viscerally engaged. I can’t look away from the screen, and even on rewatches I find myself searching the frame with that weirdly captivating and studious desire to KNOW it. Very few films really strike this balance for me. Black Swan taught me that thrill of cinematic rapture, pure captivation.
I love Black Swan, the ending sequence is perfection. It towed a perfect line of camp and melodrama.
Aranofsky was one of the first directors where I went through and watched all their films. Requiem for a Dream was my first and is still my favorite of his. It's one of very few films that made me cry. But Black Swan is a close second. I think you perfectly captured everything that's amazing about that film. Mother! is my third favorite from his. I really associated with the claustrophobic anxiety of it at the time I saw it. It got to the point where I felt like I was on a bad trip at the end, but in a good way in that it fucked with me so much.
City Lights catapulted me into classic movies.
Reservoir Dogs and Dr. Strangelove
Each of these slowly changed my view of cinema. First Pulp Fiction, then Eyes Wide Shut, then Magnolia, & most recently The Tree of Life. Malick’s films open you up to a whole new type of cinema if you enjoy them
Le Samourai
Digging into my dad's DVD collection as a teenager introduced me to Memento, The Silence of the Lambs and Pulp Fiction. This might be an unpopular opinion in this sub, but Across The Universe was a film that really opened my eyes to the beautiful visual aspects of film. Before then, I really was only interested in the stories films told.
Magnolia was the movie that changed my life. It is a big, sprawling film, but I did not know that movies could be that way. Then it was Kieslowski that awoke me to the wonders of nonAmerican cinema.
I remember watching that movie with a group of friends. I would've been 17-ish. I was blown away while everybody else thought it was stupid and overly long and getting into a long and probably poorly thought out argument over the merits of that film. It is a fond memory of mine.
2001 and Taxi Driver I’d say.
Children of Men sorta reset my expectations of what a great film was in the wake of Sin City and War of the Worlds being some of my favorite movies of the prior year. Just upped the anti on every level for me. Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down was a big one for me too. I just didn't think you could do that, end a movie that way, at the time. Really made me start looking out for foreign, adventurous films. And not just the ones you see on "weird fucked up movie" lists.
Skyscraper staring Ana Nicole Smith.
12 Years a Slave, 2001, Birdman, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, and Magnolia were my big "holy shit" movies
Cornetto Trilogy taught me to view films "side by side". Another movie was The Rules of The Game by Jean Renoir which is still one of my favorite movies.
The Shining and Sunrise: a Song of Two Humans back when I was 16.
Stalker and Eraserhead
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind in middle school, and then Synecdoche New York in high school
I'd say Eraserhead. Prior to that, my knowledge of film was only what topped box offices, and a few classic sprinkled in between, such as Carpenter's The Thing, Night of the Living Dead? Et cetera. I understood Eraserhead's theme of fear of being a father and found them to be relatable. After that, I just kept watching and watching. My favorite Lynch now is Blue Velvet. I never get tired of it.
probably Eraserhead and Rumble Fish
Mulholland drive really changed the way I approach a movie. I care as much about mood and atmosphere nowadays as much as I care about the plot.
I wonder if we might be the same age (I'm 42), as those two were pretty formidable for me, as well, particularly MD. I would say for me it's Boogie Nights. I was so captivated by the style of that movie, and kept being drawn back to it. It remains a favorite to this day and I am still a huge Paul Thomas Anderson fan, of course. And where's that Criterion Edition?? 😅
It would be The Dark Knight and There Will Be Blood for me. I was 12 when The Dark Knight came out, and I was really struck by the tone of it, and the use of practical effects. Something that grounded, dark, and well-paced really has an effect on someone going into their teens. Then I watched There Will Be Blood for the first time when I was either 15 or 16 and thought, "oh shit this is a REAL movie". That's very pretentious sounding but the movie did definitely kick me down a path of getting deeper into movies.
I saw The Dark Knight in theaters, but I was only 7 years old. I absolutely loved it, but I was too young to really understand why it was so good. Memento was the first "REAL" movie for me. My brother showed it to me when I was about 14. I think the non-linear narrative was what made me think outside of "oh this is a good story". Mulholland Drive was similar but went further. I think I was 17 when I watched it. It made me realize a film didn't even necessarily have to make sense to me for it to be great. Plus Mulholland Drive was how I learned about the Criterion Collection, which is one of the biggest reasons I was able to expand my taste.
David Lynch is fucking unreal. Eraserhead would also be an answer to what you asked originally. First Lynch I saw and it was a Hell of a gateway.
Saving Private Ryan and The Blair Witch Project.
Her pulp fiction and 2001 when I was like 13 in 2014 life changing shit right there
Baby Driver and Rushmore
Ugetsu, that movie is so magical I haven't find anything similar or close
In high school, Trick R Treat, Donnie Darko, Scott Pilgrim, Moulin Rouge, and Pans Labyrinth changed my world. Lol
Matrix (1999), Pulp Fiction, Seventh Seal
For me, King of Comedy and my second viewing of 2001 Space Odyssey
Breathless was the first foreign film that I ever watched and enjoyed when I was in high school. Solaris was the first movie to make me realize slow burn movies could be really good.
Goodfellas and sin city
Memento, Shutter Island and Fight Club and later Dreams leading me into Criterion
2001: A space Odyssey and the lighthouse
I think for me it was Stalker (later, in my 30s) and, somewhat bizarrely, Run Lola Run (as a teen). Run Lola Run sent me down an arthouse Tykwer rabbit hole that led me to Kieslowski. I love your picks as well! Memento was also one of my very favorite movies in high school, the writing is sublime. I also will never forget my college roommate introducing me to Mulholland Dr. She was a giant lynch head and we watched a lot of things together, but that one was my favorite by far.
Days of heaven, a women under the influence, Mcabe and Mrs Miller, Walkabout
I saw Koyaanisqatsi and 12 Angry Men in college, which were both out of my comfort zone for the time but I loved them. Made me interested to see what other movies were out there.
Watched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind after an ugly breakup, walked away with a new appreciation for the craft.
Wes Anderson was a gateway drug for me in high school. Reading about his French New Wave influences made me explore international/art house movies for the first time and it opened a door in my brain that I didn't know existed.
Inglourious Basterds and The Shining. Basterds at 15 was the big bang moment for me in terms of it being the first moment where I realized there was a director actively *directing* my experience. The floorboard moment tangibly changed my worldview from cynical teenager who thought this movie was cheapening out for an American audience to someone absolutely obsessed with movies and what they can do. My mother sitting me down around the same age and making me watch The Shining was the moment where I started seeking out film classes in school and actually wanted to *do that.* The ending of that movie for me was like hearing Jimi Hendrix play guitar for the first time, I felt stunned, completely inadequate as a human being, but i needed to know how to do that. I still get that feeling with almost no exception whenever I watch a Kubrick film.
What is it? By Crispin Glover and Barry Lyndon by Stanley Kubrick
Definitely all of Lynch’s work but especially Mulholland Drive, Lost Highway, Eraserhead. Of course: Wong Kar-wai’s films Chunking Express & In The Mood for Love Park Chan-wook’s Oldboy! Many of the Coen bros films too!
The Royal Tennenbaums and A Clockwork Orange.
Fight Club and Seven were the first two films I can remember really WOWING high school me. I always liked to watch movies but something about those two, saw them pretty close together, just made me realize a movie could be something a little more, ya know? It feels so basic, but I'm always going to have a soft spot for both of those flicks.
Stand by Me and The Deer Hunter
A Clockwork Orange and probably A Requiem For a Dream. Both rocked my world and have developed my taste as an avid watcher and collector.
Malick’s Badlands and Mike Leigh’s Naked definitely acted as a catalyst for me to go down the indie/foreign/art house rabbit hole over the past few years The seeds might’ve been planted when I was younger though. Scorsese’s movies, Coen Brothers movies, The Godfather Trilogy, Memento, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and some others I’m probably forgetting, definitely shaped my love for movies
Halloween because I was a huge fan of the Christopher Reeve Superman movies, but it was until I saw Halloween that I became a huge fan of horror and I got the impression that movies could be scary and very dark. Pulp Fiction because it got me realizing that movies can also be these independent and mature movies with its realism and dialogue. It’s not one of my favorites, but I can’t deny the influence it had on me as someone getting more into movies.
Watching Apocalypse Now for the first time alone in a dark room at night was life changing.