I first saw this at 14 on a school bus, peering over a classmate’s shoulder as they watched it on a portable DVD player. For a kid from suburban New Jersey raised almost exclusively on American popular entertainment, it blew my mind.

The film’s tonal range is wild: theatrical, poetic, violent, gentle, disturbing, colorful, soapy, serene… it’s totally unique. It’s not my favorite Almodovar now but it’s the movie that led me to the foreign film section at my local library.

I saw this in my teens during a period of depression – the film’s hazy, ambient melancholy resonated with me. It felt like jet lag.

Lance Acord’s cinematography looks the way shoegaze sounds: nostalgic, dreamy, a little messy. I sought to learn everything that I could about his work as a DP.

An amazing display of restraint. Anamaria Marinca’s performance burns quietly in unbearably long takes. Terrifying events unfold within coldly detached wide frames. Mungiu’s minimalist style changed the way I imagined filmmaking during a formative time.

I love this character study in overcoming loneliness through dance.

I wish I had thought of this editing approach! Simple and brilliant, perfectly underscoring the protagonist’s mental unraveling.

This classic and ‘Virile’ are the most beautiful depictions of male camaraderie that I’ve seen in short-form. Incredible performances all around plus deeply evocative cinematography from Benoit Soler.

LeBron James gives an inspired performance and Wall flexes an impressively eclectic mix of set pieces to reference the moments that led to “The Decision”. For context, in 2010 LeBron controversially left his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers for the Miami Heat. This spot aired during LeBron’s return to Ohio to face his former team.

I went down a YouTube rabbit hole of Nike/Jordan commercials after this, endlessly rewatching bangers by Rupert Sanders or the jubilant Joga Bonito campaign beginning to imagine a path for myself in the world of commercial filmmaking.

Timeless and everlasting.

Apple’s iPhone 5C campaign is a vision of 2013: accelerating globalization, earnest excitement about the growing power of tech, joyful celebration of our shared humanity in mass media… this was the year that Pharrell’s ‘Happy’ came out. Everynone’s style perfectly spoke to the times.

They were one of my main inspirations during my years working as a PA with aspirations to direct. Their work showed me how a career in this business could become possible.