True Poets of the Cinema

Bergman's films were there for me during my own spiritual reckoning. Both he and I being sons of preachers, I understood his process of using film to deal with his repressive past; to ask his questions, to express his doubts, to open life's complexities up to discussion. I also used filmmaking to explore and cope with my own troubled past. His recurring themes: his fascination with death, repressed emotional feelings, empty relationships, questioning the existence of god, god's silence, and mankind's fixation with the unanswerable. If Charlie Chaplin had "The Tramp" character, Bergman had "the tortured Agnostic." Bergman often uses extended long takes in close-up to force the viewer into the characters' mental space and to experience their emotion with them. Ingmar Bergman pioneered much of the metaphysical filmic consciousness and is, for me, the most important director of all time.

The Seventh Seal, Winter Light, Wild Strawberries, Persona, Autumn Sonata, The Virgin Spring, Cries and Whispers, Scenes from a Marriage, Saraband, Fanny and Alexander, The Silence, Through a Glass Darkly, Shame, Hour of the Wolf, The Magician, Smiles of a Summer Night, The Passion of Anna

Tarkovsky's use of complex tracking shots creates the effect of traveling through a dream. His films, to me, are metaphysical journeys through his dreams, memories, and memories of dreams.

Stalker, The Mirror, Ivan's Childhood, Nostalghia, The Steamroller and the Violin, Solaris, Andrei Rublev, The Sacrifice, Ubiytsy, There Will Be No Leave Today

2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket, Barry Lyndon, Eyes Wide Shut, Spartacus, Lolita, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, Paths of Glory, The Killing, Killer's Kiss, The Seafarers, Fear and Desire

His idiosyncratic viewpoint shots, his sepia-filtered film with strategically-placed primary colors to evoke meaning, his attention to little idiosyncrasies that creates empathetic relation to a character and truth about the human condition and how we perceive the world -- for me, all things that Kieslowski utilized to create some of the most memorable films. If films leave behind pieces of cinematic shrapnel in the brain, Kieslowski's films have left some of the most significant impressions.

The Double Life of Veronique, Three Colors: Red, A Short Film About Love, The Decalogue, A Short Film About Killing, Three Colors: Blue, Three Colors: White, Camera Buff, Blind Chance, From a Night Porter's Point of View

Herzog shares a very similar worldview to myself. Morally, I wholly agree with his artistic vision. His meditation on the earth, its cultures, and its existence itself are always both haunting and insightful.

Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht, Aguirre: The Wrath of God, Fitzcarraldo, Grizzly Man, Cave of Forgotten Dreams, Heart of Glass, Encounters at the End of the World, Into the Abyss, My Best Fiend: Klaus Kinski, Happy People: A Year in the Taiga, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans

There Will Be Blood, Boogie Nights, Punch-Drunk Love, Magnolia, The Master, Hard Eight

Blow-Up, L'Eclisse, L'Avventura, Red Desert, La Notte

Linklater has a sublime knack for capturing the essence of a moment or period. The couple in the "Before" trilogy feel genuine; the atmosphere of the late-night kegger in "Dazed and Confused" subliminally captures the feeling of youth in the '70s. He manages to subtly instill hope and create empathy through nostalgia, using images. His socially-conscious spin always provides much to consider.

Before Sunset, Before Sunrise, Waking Life, Before Midnight, A Scanner Darkly, Dazed and Confused, Boyhood, Slacker, Tape, Bernie, School of Rock

Gangs of New York, Taxi Driver, Goodfellas, The Departed, The Wolf of Wall Street, The Aviator, Casino, Hugo, Raging Bull, The Last Temptation of Christ, Cape Fear, Mean Streets, The King of Comedy

Tesis, Abre Los Ojos, The Sea Inside, Agora, The Others

Mulholland Dr., Blue Velvet, The Elephant Man, Eraserhead, Twin Peaks, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, Lost Highway, Wild at Heart, Inland Empire

Tree of Life, Badlands, Days of Heaven, The Thin Red Line, The New World, To The Wonder

Shame, Hunger, 12 Years a Slave

Antichrist, Melancholia, Nymphomaniac, Dancer in the Dark, Breaking the Waves, Dogville, Europa

Enter the Void, Irreversible, I Stand Alone

Fight Club, Se7en, The Game, Gone Girl, House of Cards, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Zodiac, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Social Network, Alien 3, Panic Room

Requiem for a Dream, Black Swan, Pi, The Fountain, The Wrestler, Noah

Blade Runner, Alien, Prometheus, American Gangster, Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, Thelma & Louise, Robin Hood, Matchstick Men

Dead Man, Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, Broken Flowers, Down By Law, Coffee and Cigarettes, Permanent Vacation, Stranger Than Paradise

Good Will Hunting, My Own Private Idaho, Elephant, Gerry, Last Days, Paranoid Park, Drugstore Cowboy

Oldboy, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Lady Vengeance, Stoker, Joint Security Area, Thirst

(and Ethan Coen)

No Country For Old Men; Fargo; The Big Lebowski; True Grit; The Man Who Wasn't There; Raising Arizona; O Brother, Where Art Thou?; Blood Simple; Miller's Crossing; Barton Fink

Rashomon, Seven Samurai, High and Low, The Hidden Fortress, Ikiru, Yojimbo, Sanjuro

Bresson; so methodical, so meticulous, so suspenseful. So many ornate details and insights into the mechanics of a trade -- be it a prison escape or a pickpocket.

A Man Escaped, Pickpocket, Diary of a Country Priest

Interstellar, Inception, Following, Memento, The Dark Knight, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight Rises, Insomnia, The Prestige

Chinatown, Rosemary's Baby, The Pianist, Knife in the Water, Repulsion, Carnage, Venus in Fur

Pulp Fiction, Django Unchained, Inglourious Basterds, Death Proof, Kill Bill: Vol. 1, Kill Bill: Vol. 2, Reservoir Dogs, Jackie Brown

Rear Window, Psycho, Notorious, Rope, The Birds, Vertigo, North by Northwest, Rebecca, Shadow of a Doubt, Dial M for Murder, To Catch a Thief, The 39 Steps, Spellbound, The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934), Marnie, Strangers on a Train, The Lady Vanishes, Sabotage, Young and Innocent

Contempt, Breathless, Alphaville, Band of Outsiders, A Woman is a Woman

Amores Perros, Birdman: Or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), 21 Grams, Babel, Biutiful

The Skin I Live In, Volver, Live Flesh, Talk To Her, All About My Mother

Metropolis, M

Once Upon A Time in America; A Fistful of Dollars; For a Few Dollars More; The Good, the Bad and the Ugly; Once Upon a Time in the West

That Obscure Object of Desire, The Exterminating Angel, Un Chien Andalou, Viridiana

Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, Howl's Moving Castle, Castle in the Sky, Ponyo

A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Schindler's List, Jurassic Park, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Jaws, Duel, Hook, Minority Report, Saving Private Ryan, Idiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Catch Me if You Can, War of the Worlds, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Indiana Jones: Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

8 1/2, La Dolce Vita, La Strada, I Vitelloni

Citizen Kane, The Trial

American Beauty, Revolutionary Road, Skyfall

The Godfather, The Godfather: Part II, Apocalypse Now, The Conversation, Tetro, The Godfather: Part III, The Outsiders

Y Tu Mama Tambien, Children of Men, Gravity

The Holy Mountain, El Topo, Santa Sangre

Bicycle Thieves, Umberto D, Sunflower

Paris, Texas; Wings of Desire

The Gold Rush, Modern Times, City Lights, The Great Dictator

The Celebration, The Hunt

The Dreamers, Last Tango in Paris, The Last Emperor

The Apartment, Some Like it Hot, Double Indemnity, Sunset Boulevard, Witness for the Prosecution

Nosferatu, Sunrise, Faust

Tokyo Story

12 Angry Men, Dog Day Afternoon, Network, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, Serpico

The Graduate, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Closer

Mother, Snowpiercer, The Host, Memories of Murder

Where The Wild Things Are, Adaptation, Being John Malkovich, Her

Funny Games, Cache

Holy Motors, The Lovers on the Bridge

The 400 Blows, Jules et Jim

Unforgiven, Pale Rider, Mystic River, High Plains Drifter, Gran Torino, Million Dollar Baby, Space Cowboys

The General, Steamboat Bill Jr., Sherlock Jr.

Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago

Lucia y el Sexo, Room in Rome

Vicky Cristina Barcelona; Annie Hall; Stardust Memories; Midnight in Paris; Hannah and Her Sisters; Play it Again, Sam; Blue Jasmine; Match Point; Crimes and Misdemeanors; Manhattan; Manhattan Murder Mystery; Sleeper, Broadway Danny Rose; Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex But Were Afraid to Ask

Edward Scissorhands, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Sleepy Hollow, Big Fish, Batman, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Alice in Wonderland, Planet of the Apes

25th Hour, Inside Man, Do The Right Thing, Miracle at St. Anna, Malcolm X, Mo' Better Blues, Crooklyn, Clockers, Oldboy

In The Mood For Love, Chungking Express

28 Days Later, Slumdog Millionaire, Sunshine, Trainspotting, 127 Hours

Moon, Source Code

A History of Violence, Videodrome, The Fly, Eastern Promises

Amelie, Alien: Resurrection

Cinema Paradiso, Malena

I have seen each of his films and I like them all. I particularly enjoy his signature lush color palettes and quirky characters and humor. However, his films don't impress me the way that other directors' films do; his work doesn't often give me new insight.

The Royal Tenenbaums, The Darjeeling Limited, Moonrise Kingdom, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Bottle Rocket, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Rushmore

Born on the Fourth of July, Platoon, JFK, Natural Born Killers, Wall Street, Any Given Sunday

A Prophet, Rust and Bone, The Beat That My Heart Skipped

Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring; 3-Iron

Taste of Cherry, Certified Copy

Ugetsu

The Searchers, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The Grapes of Wrath

Images, McCabe & Mrs. Miller

The Turin Horse

Hiroshima Mon Amour, Night and Fog

The Marriage of Maria Braun

Children of Heaven, The Song of Sparrows

My Dinner with Andre; Elevator to the Gallows

Ashes and Diamonds

Hero, House of Flying Daggers