James Gray
James Gray is one of the greatest American directors working today. All of his films, which he also writes, are equally remarkable and impeccably crafted — his work impressively and constantly continuing, challenging, and furthering a tradition of classic American cinema like few other contemporary movies. His first feature Little Odessa (1994), shot when Gray was only 25, won the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival. Each of the filmmaker’s following films premiered in the main competition of the Cannes Festival: The Yards (2000), We Own the Night (2007), Two Lovers (2008), and The Immigrant (2013). James Gray’s latest feature, The Lost City of Z, is a magnificent, spellbinding odyssey about a British explorer’s search for a mysterious city in the Amazon during the 1920s. The film — which is in select theaters now in the US, France, and the UK — stars Charlie Hunnam, Sienna Miller, Robert Pattinson, and Tom Holland.
James Gray shares with us five films he loves.
01
Fort Apache, John Ford, 1948
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John Ford. John Wayne. And amazingly modern in its approach.
02
Gold Diggers of 1935, Busby Berkeley, 1935
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Contains perhaps the most remarkable and imaginative musical number of all time: "Lullaby of Broadway". Busby Berkeley, a true visionary.
03
Stranger When We Meet, Richard Quine, 1960
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Melancholy and affecting and strange and brooding and heartfelt.
04
The Scarlet Empress, Josef von Sternberg, 1934
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An astonishing visual spectacle. Unmatched.
05
Wake in Fright, Ted Kotcheff, 1971
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Unique, truly frightening. A troubling film that lingers in the mind.
01 Fort Apache, John Ford, 1948
Watch the film
01
John Ford. John Wayne. And amazingly modern in its approach.
02 Gold Diggers of 1935, Busby Berkeley, 1935
Watch the film
02
Contains perhaps the most remarkable and imaginative musical number of all time: "Lullaby of Broadway". Busby Berkeley, a true visionary.
03 Stranger When We Meet, Richard Quine, 1960
Watch the film
03
Melancholy and affecting and strange and brooding and heartfelt.
04 The Scarlet Empress, Josef von Sternberg, 1934
Watch the film
04
An astonishing visual spectacle. Unmatched.
05 Wake in Fright, Ted Kotcheff, 1971
Watch the film
05
Unique, truly frightening. A troubling film that lingers in the mind.