Sean Baker names his five favourite movies of all time
Despite having never made a ‘bad’ movie and regularly achieving critical acclaim for his works, for whatever reason, the American indie filmmaker Sean Baker has never received the credit he deserves. Rising to the popular fold in 2015 with the release of the innovative iPhone-made Tangerine, Baker has gone on to collaborate with such stars as Willem Dafoe, Suzanna Son and Simon Rex.
Preferring to work with largely unknown actors to maintain the authenticity of his movies, Baker’s filmography is short but very sweet, crafting some of the most seminal American indie flicks of the 21st century. While 2017’s Florida Project received some attention in the shape of one singular Academy Award nomination, his 2021 follow-up, Red Rocket, somehow managed to avoid international interest despite being thoroughly impressive.
Still, Baker rightfully has a band of loyal fans, and in 2012, he gave them an insight into his filmmaking personality when he revealed to Rotten Tomatoes his five favourite movies of all time.
First on his list is the celebrated cult favourite Bad Lieutenant by director Abel Ferrera. “I love NYC films and this truly captured the city’s vibe of the early ’90s. I could watch Harvey Keitel screaming, crying and smoking crack all day,” he says of the movie, which tells the story of a corrupt New York City police detective and drug addict who is investigating the rape of a young nun.
Next comes a favourite from the idiosyncratic Danish director Lars von Trier, with Baker picking his 1998 film The Idiots instead of his more modern feature film triumphs. A highly controversial film that follows a group of people bringing out their inner idiot, Baker says of the movie: “I feel this is the quintessential Dogma film… combines scathing social commentary, laugh-out-loud, daring comedy and ultimately an extremely emotional and cathartic ending. This is von Trier’s masterpiece”.
Sticking with European cinema, Baker moves eastwards to the UK, picking out Mike Leigh’s Palme d’Or nominee Naked as his third choice. “I love all of Mike Leigh’s films, but this is the one that had a big impact on me,” Baker says of the drama that follows a homeless soul trying to sort out his life in London, “it beautifully combines comedy and drama. It was also a stylistic departure for Leigh, who still held on to the British social-realism vibe but delivered it in a very cinematic and calculated way”.
Staying outside of the remits of America for his fourth pick, Baker chooses Chang-dong Lee’s Oasis, a romance flick about an irresponsible ex-convict who begins a romantic relationship with a girl with cerebral palsy. Speaking about the movie, he calls it, “An extremely daring film that made me cry about a ‘forbidden’ love affair,” adding, “I consider Chang-dong Lee to be one of the most important living directors”.
The final film on his list takes things all the way back to America, picking out Robert Zemeckis’ Used Cars from 1980. Starring Kurt Russell, the underrated ‘80s flick tells the story of a car lot which is being kept from failure by the hands of smart salesmen, with Baker commenting: “One of the most underrated and under-appreciated films of all time and my favorite comedy. Kurt Russell is genius in this film and I wish he would return to comedies because his delivery and timing are to die for”.
Sean Baker’s favourite movies:
- Bad Lieutenant (Abel Ferrera, 1992)
- The Idiots (Lars von Trier, 1998)
- Naked (Mike Leigh, 1993)
- Oasis (Chang-dong Lee, 2002)
- Used Cars (Robert Zemeckis, 1980)
