Katya Zamolodchikova

“So let’s start off with something very artsy-fartsy and kind of hard to watch. We’ve got The Mirror or Zerkalo by Tarkovsky. This is great. There are, like, tableaus and vignettes in this movie that are so gorgeous. There’s this scene where she’s washing her hair and then the whole crumbling apartment just– You gotta watch it. It’s really beautiful. Tarkovsky really knows what the fuck he’s doing.”

“I’m gay! So here’s the thing about being gay, sometimes it gets sad. And I watched All of Us Strangers probably not at the best time. I think the dopamine level in my brain was, like, subzero. And I did one of those things where you cry so much it gets gross-slash-“Should I go to the ER?” I’m on the Paul Mescal bandwagon. And Andrew Scott is devastating. It’s a really beautiful, poignant kind of ghost story. Doesn’t really make a lot of sense. Doesn’t matter.”

“Belle de jour’s a fabulous movie. I love one of Luis Buñuel’s other movies: Le Charme discret de la bourgeoisie or The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie. But this is great. So, Catherine Deneuve, so hot, she plays a bored housewife who becomes a hooker. So many little things from this movie stick out, like there’s a guy at the brothel who tries to pay with, like, coupons or something. And I’ll never forget, the madam is like, “Non, ça ne marche pas ici. De l’argent!” And I always just say tha...”

“Pina. The thing about Pina Bausch is that her dance theater troupe was kind of like... Kind of like a cult, but in a good way. It’s a group of people that were so intensely committed to a singular vision from her, who was revolutionary. She’s really, really, really changed the whole game in terms of dance and dance theater. I got to see two of her pieces in Brooklyn Academy of Music before she passed away, so I’m really glad about that.”

“Now, anybody who loves film knows that if there’s a really, really difficult problem that you have to solve or an obstacle that you have to get through, cross-dressing is the number one most effective way to do that. I’ve found that in my life to be true and so has Dustin Hoffman in this classic, Tootsie. Dustin Hoffman plays a struggling actor who can’t get a gig, so he tries to get a gig on a soap opera playing this woman. He goes in drag and of course he gets it.”

“Happiness, Todd Solondz. This is probably the most fucked-up movie you’ll ever see in your life. I’m so happy that Criterion has it because I couldn’t find it anywhere. It’s not just a black comedy. This is like a rotten black comedy. It’s people at their worst, at their dazzlingly worst. And it’s just like an accumulation of human shit piling up on top… It’s just so fabulous.”

“Polyester, John Waters. Oh my God, look at that. Look at that cover. Romance. Francine Fishpaw. Tab Hunter. (Gay.) And then… It’s got a whole bunch of stuff. I think this was the one where the daughter gets in trouble for dancing at school. The mom says, “You don’t dance at school, do you?” She’s like, “For a quarter I will!” And it’s just so funny. It’s just so great. Fucking A. So Polyester. The classic.”

“And I’m going to boost this one because, like I said before, I do happen to be extremely gay. Viciously so here in New York. Querelle. Or “Querally.” What a pleasure.”