Josh Safdie names his 10 favourite movies of all time
While American cinema has seen many remarkable filmmaking duos over the years, the most in-demand directorial pair at the moment have to be the Safdie brothers. Although Josh Safdie and Benny Safdie had already attracted significant attention with Good Time in 2017, their 2019 masterpiece – Uncut Gems – completely changed the game and made them a household name. Utilising the unique strengths of Adam Sandler, the film is now regarded as one of the finest cinematic achievements of the last decade.
According to the latest reports, Sandler is set to collaborate with the Safdies once again on a brand new project about card collecting. Although most of the details about the project are unclear at the moment, the film has been picked up by Netflix, and the production process has been scheduled to begin in the second quarter of this year. After the unprecedented success of Uncut Gems, fans can hardly contain their excitement about this one.
In addition to announcing the new film, last year also saw the publication of the BFI Sight and Sound poll, where Josh Safdie sent his picks for the ten greatest cinematic masterpieces of all time. Ranging from classics by directors like Martin Scorsese to deep cuts by John Cassavetes, Josh’s selection is an eclectic list which perfectly encapsulates his singular approach to filmmaking and his passion for film history.
Josh cited Vittorio De Sica’s seminal work Bicycle Thieves, a film he has talked about on multiple occasions. He once told Criterion: “Actually didn’t know this film was called Thieves till I bought the Criterion disc. It will always be The Bicycle Thief to me. This is the holy grail, the ultimate filmmaking bible. It maximises its use of father/son dynamics and trying, real locations, all while its pure emotional current is completely understated yet very felt. This is one of those before and after films.”
During the same conversation, he also revealed the influence of John Cassavetes: “Cassavetes is a god and a hero. My introduction to his work as a director was A Woman Under the Influence, which I bought a single version of for our mother, who is petrified of the DVD and will never watch it. Bookie, Opening Night, Faces, Shadows, and the later-added Love Streams are film school for a hundred bucks. We watch the master turn actors into people and vice versa and hold the feeling above anything else.”
Check out the list below.
Josh Safdie’s favourite movies:
- Goodfellas (Martin Scorsese, 1990)
- Remorques (Jean Grémillon, 1939)
- Saturday Night Fever (John Badham, 1977)
- Close-up (Abbas Kiarostami, 1990)
- Kramer vs. Kramer (Robert Benton, 1979)
- Bicycle Thieves (Vittorio De Sica, 1948)
- Broadway Danny Rose (Woody Allen, 1984)
- AMATOR (Krzysztof Kieslowski, 1979)
- Night and the City (Jules Dassin, 1950)
- Gloria (John Cassavetes, 1980)
Although Josh’s list is already full of masterpieces, one of the standout selections is Abbas Kiarostami’s 1990 opus Close-up. Previously, Josh compared Close-up to Francesco Rosi’s The Moment of Truth and claimed that both these works “reinvent what movies can do”. According to the director, Close-up is a life-changing cinematic experience that should be considered indispensable.
Interestingly, Josh also noted that Rosi’s cinematic flourishes are superior to Kiarostami’s visual style: “The triumph of both films rests in their cinematic qualities; of course, Rosi surpasses Close-up here in portraying the moments of truth in Techniscope. Close-up is an utter masterpiece, and I didn’t feel the need to even bother writing about it. Like God.”
