Ryan Coogler

“I’ma start over here in this section, with this one. It’s the second movie I remember seeing, or the third movie I remember seeing. And my dad took me to see it. Spike Lee has made two of the best film openings that I’ve ever seen. One of them is this one. The way that so many people meet Malcolm X is through audio, through recordings of his speeches. And he juxtaposes it with footage of the assault of Rodney King... And an American flag that burns into the shape of an X.”

“This is Love Jones. It’s a perfect movie. I’m a hopeless romantic, as you can see from some of these movies I’m gonna grab. The performances from Larenz Tate and Nia Long in this movie are exceptional. The chemistry is off the charts. The intricacy of it. The film’s got an incredible dynamic range, like, of scenes of a lot of talking. There’s scenes with none. And shout out to the city of Chicago, man, which is gonna bring me to this other one.”

“It’s also set in Chicago. This is Thief by Michael Mann. If you haven’t seen this movie, holy fucking shit, this movie. A rumor about this film is this is the movie that made wetdowns a thing. A wetdown is when you got enough money to have a truck wet your streets down. And what it does is it makes the... For nighttime photography, it makes the streets reflective. And the Performance of the villain in this, and how the Performance is captured – Michael Mann just did a brilliant job.”

“And this is Following by Christopher Nolan, who’s a mentor of mine. And I do think that, in observing Chris’s movies, I think that Michael Mann is a big influence. And you can feel it quite a bit when you look at this film. This is my guy. I’ve come to know him, I’ve come to know his wife. It’s obviously the most indie you’ll ever see... Mr. Nolan, he finding his way. A lot of the Christopher Nolan trademarks are here in this movie.”

“Some time ago, the same thing was happening in the country of Japan. You have Akira Kurosawa and you have another gentleman named Yasujiro Ozu that were epic filmmakers, making films at the same time. Much has been said about this film. What I think he was the greatest at, in terms of things I’ve learned from watching his films, is the art of blocking. The other thing he’s great at is poetic fallacy. Choosing when to use wind and rain is just insane.”

“Ozu. Ozu is a filmmaker who... Didn’t give a shit about a lot of rules. Most importantly, the 180-degree line. What I’m going to talk to you about with Ozu right now, in this movie, is his capacity for the most emotional endings you’ll ever see in your life. Late Spring is a great example of this. It’s a story about a father and a daughter at its heart. Watching this movie, along with making my first film, Fruitvale Station, made me realize that I wanted to be a father.”

“This is Devil in a Blue Dress by a hometown hero, Carl Franklin. So, this movie’s a masterpiece. Massive influence on my latest picture, Sinners. But it’s a Great Migration movie. It’s about Los Angeles, but the characters are all from Houston. And it’s just beautiful, man. It’s a Walter Mosley adaptation. You know, my admiration for this film has only deepened. But it’s just an incredible piece of cinema, and an incredible film noir.”

“Love & Basketball by the great Gina Prince-Bythewood. Me and my producing partner and wife, Zinzi Coogler, we both met as athletes. We met on a track field. And yeah, this movie is about two athletes falling in love with each other, dipping in and out of each other’s lives in their pursuit of athletic greatness. I can’t look at this movie and not see us. I love the ending of this movie, the ending of this movie just puts a lump in your throat. This is the one.”