Jessica Pratt’s Top10

Despite being released nearly a hundred years ago, this film feels mind-bendingly modern. The tension is unrelenting and joyously thrilling. Some of the more experimental shots and transitions are breathtaking—late in the film, the camera luxuriously pans over a fresco of Weimar Republic street toughs . . . what faces! And Peter Lorre crushes this role—creepy and infantile—wandering around eating apples and making faces in the mirror. It feels like his murderous tendencies are just another mundane, human impulse to be given in to.

Kaurismäki is one of my favorite directors, and this is the first installment of his beloved Proletariat Trilogy. It’s essentially a rom-com that takes place in the bleakest of environs, a working-class love story. I’m a big fan of filmmakers pulling from the same pool of actors across multiple projects, and the two leads in this film are close to my heart. There’s a comforting aesthetic and thematic consistency to Kaurismäki’s universe, even up to the present day with the fantastic Fallen Leaves. It feels eternal. You get the sense that even in the face of an apocalypse there’d still be some guy in Finland stoically chiefing a cig, with a glass of vodka in a leather jacket.

The characters feel totally real despite the fact that the dialogue is as dense and flowery as a Jane Austen novel, but with plenty of hilarious banter and early-nineties evening wear. These kids are insufferably pretentious yet mostly endearing somehow. As distant as their world feels to me it’s one of my favorite coming-of-age films.

As a young girl I’d watch this DVD on repeat on the family Hewlett Packard desktop computer. Every moment is perfect, and it’s one of the most quotable docs of all time. The live performances are etched into my brain, even down to the guitar strings being tuned. I understood then that this was peak cool. The cameos in this film feel like they’re right out of Dylan songs of this era—wizened managers, a demure Marianne Faithfull in the corner, humorless young punishers, drunks, rabid preadolescents. Maybe that’s a reflection of how completely Dylan shaped the culture around him. I probably know the whole thing by heart.

This film is like a visual narcotic. Slow-moving and exquisite. Soundtracked perfectly by Tangerine Dream. Every shade of blue, ocean greens, black shadows, the beautiful glint of metal in many forms, sparks and car fires. Jewel tones to match the jewel thief, the great James Caan.

I love a courtroom drama, and this is one of the best ever made. A character-actor holy grail, the cast is completely stellar. I also have a special place in my heart for Jack Warden. The rhythm of the dialogue is totally hypnotic. Beautiful framing and composition, too; a lot of the shots look like paintings. Could watch it on a loop.

One of my favorite films ever, and I love Cassavetes’s work so much. Gena Rowlands’s screen presence is truly captivating. She’s one of the best to ever do it, my personal number one. The whole film feels like a fever dream, and many scenes feel like they’re treading the line between reality and delusion. I’ve also known many alcoholics in my life, and I think this film expertly captures the precariousness and chaos of alcoholism paired with mental illness. Rowlands’s portrayal of Myrtle Gordon trudging and wallowing through life is exhausting, even when her character achieves excellence. It’s also visually gorgeous, with its rich reds and burgundy and gold. Any still from this film is frame-worthy.

What a ride. The star power in this film is simply explosive. These five vignettes take you where you imagine the mysteries of the night might lead if you could only stay up late enough. Like all of Jarmusch’s films, this has an incredible wardrobe. One of his most visually bewitching films, and hilarious too. And a killer Tom Waits soundtrack.

I remember reading somewhere that both the visuals and the sound design of this film influenced Brian Eno around the time that he was making Another Green World. The landscape shots and the feel of the natural world seem to perfectly match Eno’s palette during that era. I was lucky enough to see an original print a couple years ago, and it was truly rapturous. No surprise that Kubrick would stop at nothing to get what he wanted. I’m also completely obsessed with Murray Melvin, who steals the show in many scenes. The candlelit indoor scenes are breathtaking—hard to believe!

Seeing this film in theaters when it came out in 2001 felt like bearing witness to a momentous vibe shift. The soundtrack reverberated through my social world like the detonation of a bomb. The combination of such a finely honed aesthetic and sense of style with the hilarious and occasionally tender script and performances did a number on the youth. Apart from being a star-studded and iconic film, it’s one of the best gateway drugs. How many people got into Nico’s Chelsea Girl or Elliott Smith’s self-titled album after seeing this movie? How many impressionable kids started dressing like seventies tennis stars or wearing Margot-style eyeliner? Cheers to Mr. Anderson, a legendary tastemaker.