A collection of Matty Healy’s favourite movies
As the frontman of the indie pop band The 1975 and one of the faces of 2014 Tumblr culture, Matty Healy is a prevalent figure in current pop culture. The musician sprung into the underground scene in the early 2010s with his bandmates Adam Hann, Ross MacDonald and George Daniel before rising to global fame as one of the most popular groups of the 2010s. Despite this, Healy keeps a low social media profile, utilising his accounts to express his love for music and films.
Following a social media hiatus in 2020, Healy said, “I just want my engagement within it to have the same purpose and intimacy that I hope many of you experience in my work.” The singer added: “I decided to come off social media – it was obviously in reaction to being thoughtless and getting cancelled initially, but that’s something that had become an almost weekly occurrence.”
However, since returning with a cleansed mindset, the singer now shares behind-the-scene footage of his creative process and images of his treasured instruments on his Instagram, emphasising his status in and passion for the music industry to his fanbase.
Last summer, the singer shared his favourite movies on his Instagram stories, inviting fans to see what Healy cites as brilliant filmmaking. His taste is rather on brand with his image, as artistic indie presentations feature as the films he rewatches the most. However, Healy offers some variety with the occasional documentary about comedic moments on the internet.
The 1975 singer opens his list with a contribution from sentimental and artistic filmmaker Gus Van Sant, known for the poignant art film My Own Private Idaho and the touching celebration of emotion Good Will Hunting. However, the Van Sant film that captured Healy’s heart is his 2003 film Elephant, starring John Robinson, Alex Frost and Eric Deulen.
Elephant narrates the story of the Columbine High School massacre tragedy, in which two 12th-grade students, Eric David Harris and Dylan Bennet Klebold, murdered 12 students and one teacher. Van Sant’s film focuses on the events that led to Harris and Klebold’s crimes, such as a fascination with Nazi imagery and lives as outcasts. Despite its controversial subject matter, Elephant won the Palm d’Or at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival due to its unconventional presentation of violence with a touch of emotion. It is a challenging but important feature.
Healy maintains the indie branding by recommending Bo Burhma’s 2018 coming-of-age drama Eight Grade, telling the story of a young girl called Kayla as she learns to navigate life as a teenage girl. Burnham’s film highlights youth’s obsession with social media, a topic Healy has explored through his music, and mental health.
Eighth Grade is a beautiful snapshot of a challenging yet exciting time in life that many audience members can relate to in the moment or from past experiences. Director Burnham expressed his intention behind the main character utilising social media to locate a sense of self: “I wanted to talk about anxiety, what it feels like to be alive right now, and what it is to be unsure and nervous. That felt more like middle school than high school to me. I think the country and the culture is going through an eighth-grade moment right now.”
Check out the complete list of movies Healy recommends below.
- Elephant (Gus Van Sant, 2003)
- Synecdoche New York (Charlie Kauffman, 2008)
- Eighth Grade (Bo Burnham, 2018)
- TFW NO GF (Alex Lee Moyer, 2020)
- Meeting people is easy (Grant Gee, 1998)
- Feels Good Man (Arthur Jones, 2020)
- We live in public (Ondi Tiomer, 2009)
- Dig! (Ondi Tiomer, 2003)
Taking a break from sentimental independent films, Healy also adds an American documentary focusing on a figure many avid internet users will recognise. Feels Good Man is a 2020 documentary focusing on Pepe Frog, a frog that became a popular internet meme first seen in a 2005 comic called Boy’s Club, created by Matt Furie. The documentary charts how the meme became adopted by the alt-right on 4chan, causing Furie to attempt to regain control of his creation.
Feels Good Man premiered at the 2020 Sundance Music Festival and won a U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Emerging Filmmaker. The film reads as a dissection of internet culture, creative expression, freedom, and politics.
Dig! is another documentary featured on Healy’s list, focusing on the collision of art and commerce according to The Dandy Warhols and The Brian Jonestown Massacre. Director Ondi Tiomer took seven years to create the film, using over 2,000 hours of footage.
Blending erraticness with tragedy, Dig! pulls no punches when satirising artists selling out to corporate giants, underwhelming art’s influence and power in the process. By narrating the frosty relationship between the bands’ founders and the complicated relationships within them, the film emphasises ego, creativity, love and a passion for expression in rock and roll, hitting an engaging style palette. You don’t have to be a massive fan of either of the bands to enjoy this film.
