The Criterion Collection

I’d like viewers to come away from my films unsure whether they’ve understood them.

– Jean-Pierre Melville

I see horror as part of legitimate film. I don’t see it as an independent genre that has nothing to do with the rest of cinema.

– Guillermo del Toro

Cruelty is a basic element in comedy
. . . The audience recognizes it as a farce on life, and they laugh at it in order not to die from it, in order not to weep.

– Charlie Chaplin

I don’t see scary films. I certainly wouldn’t go see my films.

– Brian De Palma

There’s always a tension in me between my urge to destroy and my will to live . . . Every morning I wake up with a new wrath, a new suspiciousness, a new desire to live.

– Ingmar Bergman

My hatred of Japanese cinema includes absolutely all of it.

– Nagisa Oshima

We have a desperate need as human beings to understand reality, and we go to desperate ends to avoid that reality. The curious thing is that when you do look at reality and face it, it is no longer fearsome.

– Allan King

There’s no choice left in America anymore. Anything that’s authentic and genuine, anything that grew out of any sense of tradition, is wiped out. We’re left with this bland monoculture that’s swept over the whole country.

– Terry Zwigoff

Man is a genius when he is dreaming.

– Akira Kurosawa

Our wisdom comes from our experience, and our experience comes from our foolishness.

– Sacha Guitry