John Hay

Comments

The Godfather

An object lesson in how to understand a group of characters' motivation without identifying with them. Cinematography and script are pretty much as close to perfection as it gets.

Moonlight

It feels as intimate as being brushed by the wing of a butterfly. A film about love that works so cleverly because the central protagonist’s life is defined by the lack of it.

Son of Saul

It still haunts me to this day. On a practical level it made me think about how much ratios affect the way we take things in; it also proves to me that cinema doesn’t have to be "big" to be cinema.

Lost in Translation

The closest film gets to jet-lag; extraordinary performances and extraordinary direction. And some mornings I still wake up and wonder what he said in her ear at the end.

À bout de souffle

Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut and Claude Chabrol all in one. Plus when you have seen it you can never un-see it.

12 Angry Men

For the dialogue.

Star Wars Episode V The Empire Strikes Back

For the great twist; the courage to give it a really dark demeanour and also the courage to let it all end pretty badly.

Amélie

A piece of magic realism that actually works at the cinema; so much that sometimes it's a bit like reading a book rather than watching a film.

Schindler's List

A masterpiece not least because of the way that Spielberg goes against the grain and gives it an extraordinary documentary quality that makes everything even more immediate and heart wrenching.

In the Mood for Love

A beautifully shot love story for all those who have ever felt lost at some time in our lives… which is I guess is all of us.