Natasha Lyonne

“Naked. Okay. This is one of my favorites. This is David Thewlis at his best. Mike Leigh. I see there’s two editions. I guess I’ll just take both. Such a crush on him from this movie. And Katrin Cartlidge, who’s so amazing, who passed away. But, yeah, don’t watch that, like, if… you know, like, if you pick up a skater, let’s say, in Tompkins Square Park and… I’ll hold the movie again so it has context. You know, you pick up a skater in Tompkins Square Park, you bring them home. Then the morning after, you think, “I think this guy’s really gonna get it. They’re gonna love Naked.” You put it on, you realize it’s, I don’t know, 2020. They don’t have the attention span for that. So watch it alone.”

“Hoop Dreams. This is a hell of a picture.”

“That’s fun. Heaven Can Wait. I really always thought that showbiz was going to be more like this. They had a good time in these.”

“Oh, La strada, of course.”

“Naked Lunch, that’s a hit. This is good, especially if, you know, you’re trying to figure out if you’re in a good or bad relationship. Remember, it’s not quite so bad that there’s a… Is it an apple placed on the eye and a gunshot? That never ends well for Judy Davis.”

“Umberto D. Okay, there we go. You need to have some classics in the mix.”

“Oh, I’m in this one, Uncut Gems. I’m a voice or something. Safdie tried to get me. And I had a real part in this. Said I’m a voice on the telephone.”

“Devil in a Blue Dress. It’s a hot film.”

“By Raging Bull. Okay.”

“Town Bloody Hall. And this one is really great. I had the opportunity to direct the brilliant Jacqueline Novak’s comedy special, Get on Your Knees, at Town Hall. And I had the opportunity to hang out with Chris Hegedus, who was D. A. Pennebaker’s wife and collaborator frequently, and we based a lot of the aesthetic on this, you know, Norman Mailer getting grilled by Germaine Greer and so on. The lo-fi nature of it.”

“Pickpocket. Is this Bresson? Let’s see. Yes. She gets it again. When I tell you the amount of brain damage on this thing, it really is something, but the movies, I guess, I got in the bones as a youth, so they stuck there.”

“And this is one of my favorite movies of all time: Sunday Bloody Sunday. This Schlesinger movie, who also, I guess, is Midnight Cowboy, right? But this movie is so fucking good. Peter Finch. Oh God, he’s good in this movie.”

“City Lights...”

“Pandora’s Box.”

“I think I’m about to have tits out, but let’s see what this adventure is about. Sweet Smell of Success. She’s going back down. ‘Cause James Wong Howe is the cinematographer of that and he’s my favorite cinematographer. So I’m going back. Come on, James, quick. I found it. You know what this is a little bit like? Go Fish. Because you gotta spot it and see it and then retain where it was.”

“So, guys, Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling, written and directed by Richard Pryor. If you’re looking for a double feature, I’d strongly suggest pairing it with the Bob Fosse movie All That Jazz. These are two sides of my favorite coins, my favorite genre. They’re movies that, you know, they start in a hospital bed. And of course, our friend Gideon, he’s in that bed in that middle space and Jessica Lange is upstairs in the rafters, and “It’s showtime,” the movie begins. But it takes you back through his complicated life, and, well, my favorite, our dear friend Richard Pryor. Now, I wouldn’t say that this is a perfect film. But it is. It is a perfect film. I’m not sure if you know about the incident that the brilliant Richard Pryor went through, but, well, he made a Fosse-esque extravaganza of it. And I’m really indebted to these two films for everything I’ve thought of since. So I love these two movies.”

“If you’re looking for a double feature, I’d strongly suggest pairing it with the Bob Fosse movie All That Jazz. These are two sides of my favorite coins, my favorite genre. They’re movies that, you know, they start in a hospital bed. And of course, our friend Gideon, he’s in that bed in that middle space and Jessica Lange is upstairs in the rafters, and “It’s showtime,” the movie begins. But it takes you back through his complicated life, and, well, my favorite, our dear friend Richard Pryor. Now, I wouldn’t say that this is a perfect film. But it is. It is a perfect film. I’m not sure if you know about the incident that the brilliant Richard Pryor went through, but, well, he made a Fosse-esque extravaganza of it. And I’m really indebted to these two films for everything I’ve thought of since. So I love these two movies.”

“I’ll definitely do Pasolini, Trilogy of Life.”

“What’s this? It’s a Rossellini/Bergman box set. I see. That’s sexy to have. Okay, Stromboli.”

“Oh, this is a fight I’ve had with Josh Safdie. Eric Rohmer. Also a fight I’ve had with Aza Jacobs. When I say fight, I just mean that they talk about it and I sort of ignore those texts. So I’m gonna give it a chance, because I bet you they’re right and I’m wrong. That’s what they call aging.”