Pablo Larrain

“Well, this movie, Y tu mamá también, by Alfonso Cuarón, it’s a movie... That helped me discover these wonderful actors. One of them is Gael García Bernal, who I worked in three movies, is a wonderful actor and a great friend. And I really, really love this movie. When I saw it for the first time in 2001, it changed my head. It made me think and dream big. Because the movie made in Spanish that is so universal. And I keep it in my heart. I’m very happy to take it home in a Blu-ray.”

“The one and only Fassbinder. Berlin Alexanderplatz. Fassbinder is someone that had no... No affiliation. He did not respond to anything or to anyone. He only wanted to make the movie that he wanted. This movie is from 1980. It’s just like a master class on a city, on a relationship with a square. And the characters, and the way that the movie is shot, really... Just blew my mind. There’s nothing like this. And this edition is just wonderful and beautiful. Look at this.”

“You know, something that... That strikes me as a filmmaker is the chance of use of time. I think cinema might be the only and the most beautiful time machine that humans have ever created. And this movie is a very good proof of it. This is Boyhood from Richard Linklater. This movie is very important to me. It lives in my heart, and I admire everyone that did this film. It really, really hit me. And when I grow up, I would like to make a movie as good as this one.”

“Oh, here it is. Yeah, looking for great movies in our language, in Spanish, this movie by... It’s Señor Pedro Almodóvar. Todo Sobre Mi Madre, All About My Mother. Beautiful, beautiful film. And I think your Mother, anyone’s Mother, but your own Mother can always be a source of material for yourself. I have worked around the ideas and my experience with my own Mother in many movies, my Mother’s very important in my cinema, so I completely share Pedro’s necessity to make a movie that’s called All About My Mother.”

“This movie, Certified Copy, by Abbas Kiarostami. It’s a very particular and small story, but shows all of his power and all of his poetry. I had the chance to meet Mr. Kiarostami when he was doing this film, and it was very moving to see how he was expressing about this idea of certain things that can be copied and other things that should never be copied because they can be copied. If you have not seen this movie, have a look.”

“The master, Pier Paolo Pasolini. This is a beautiful collection of nine movies. The last one of this collection is Medea. I just made a movie about Maria Callas called Maria, and Maria Callas actually plays Medea in this movie. And I’m just, like, very curious for you to discover it, because Maria Callas really acting, she never made a movie before or after, and it changed her relationship with cinema. Pasolini was a wonderful writer, a filmmaker, and a poet. Teorema, which is also here, is one of my favorite movies. And it’s such a poetic, poetic film that ends with the most poetic ending ever, ever in filmmaking.”

“Krzysztof Kieślowski. The trilogy of the Three Colors. He did Blue, White, and Red. And specifically Blue, I think the use of music in this film has really changed me and educated me as a filmmaker. Music is very important in my world, in the movies that I do. And I think there’s something here, hearing in this film that I truly, truly value. If you have the chance to see it, look.”