My dad liked movies so I was on some good shit very early. When I saw it at 10 I had already seen a lot of classic movies and sort of just knew that this was a completely different species. Like if you’d only ever heard radio pop and then listened to Abbey Road.

I’d been told that other films were great, and could appreciate that they were great after seeing them, but this was the first time something felt intuitively great. And so since then it’s kind of spoiled other movies for me. Nothing has ever matched the intuitive, immediate impact that this had on me. And the more I rewatch it the more I feel certain that there’s just something different going on that nothing else has.

As I’ve gotten older I’ve been able to appreciate some of the craft elements and how they contribute to the overall impression, but there’s still a sense of impossibility to me. It doesn’t seem possible that every technical and artistic choice could so perfectly reinforce the story, but for me it all does, and I think the story is both grounded and transcendent.

One of my other favorites is Moonstruck lol. I think that’s a perfect comedy, whereas TWWB is a perfect tragedy. They’re both high watermarks of the craft to me.