Winona Ryder names her five favourite movies
Decades after she first emerged on cinema screens, Winona Ryder still possesses a reputation for starring in roles with a slightly unusual edge. She rose to prominence as Lydia Deetz in Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice, a role she has now reprised 36 years later in the sequel.
Her popularity never wavered between those years; the actor has featured in many acclaimed movies and television shows, from Heathers and The Age of Innocence to Black Swan and Stranger Things. Appearing in a mixture of highly acclaimed critical hits as well as blockbuster successes, Ryder has mastered the art of crafting an impressive and fruitful filmography.
Ryder is a big movie lover, and that shouldn’t come as a surprise, but which titles are her favourites? Speaking to Letterboxd, she revealed the five movies she loves the most, offering a collection of relatively niche favourites, starting with John Sayles’ Matewan, released in 1987, when Ryder’s career was just starting out.
The movie features James Earl Jones, Chris Cooper, and Mary McDonnell, and follows a fictionalised depiction of the coal mining strike which resulted in the Battle of Matewan. “It’s really brilliant. That had a really profound effect on me,” Ryder revealed. The independent movie didn’t fare well at the box office, but it was praised by critics and remains fairly underrated.
Ryder then selected Au Revoir Les Enfants, an emotional drama by Louis Malle, which he based on his real experience as a child. Set in 1943, the film depicts the cruelty of the Nazi regime, with three young Jewish boys finding shelter in a French boarding school due to the compassion of the headmaster. The film’s protagonist, a young French boy who befriends these new students, witnesses true tragedy unfold. It’s a devastating movie, and Ryder recalled “going back to the theatre every night when that came out,” claiming that she “loved that film so much.”
On a lighter note, the actor picked the road comedy Lost in America, starring Albert Brooks, who also co-wrote and directed the movie. “It’s hard to pick an Albert Brooks movie because all of them are so good,” she stressed before settling on Lost in America. “But they’re all brilliant,” Ryder added. Praised for its humour, the movie follows Brooks and Julie Hagerty as a married couple who make the bold decision to pack up their lives and explore America.
Her next pick was another Brooks movie, one that came a few years before Modern Romance. The film featured the actor/director alongside Kathryn Harrold, James L Brooks, Bob Einstein, and Bruno Kirby. The movie follows a couple who are constantly on the rocks due to their opposing approaches to relationships.
Finally, Ryder selected After Life, a Japanese film from 1998 about the importance of memory and nostalgia. Directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda, he blended documentary and fiction to understand how people’s concept of memory differs from person to person, inserting clips of interviews he carried out with a variety of individuals. “That had a huge impact on me,” Ryder stated.
