When you see things upside down, the ego can be extraordinarily funny; it's absurd. But it's tragic at the same time.
— Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
The expected vertical line of Ikiru's narrative breaks when Kurosawa does a flash-forward in the middle of the film.
Movies become art after editing. Instead of just reproducing reality, they juxtapose images of it. That implies expression; that's art.
I'm less interested in reality. I'm more interested in perception, the truth of the universe that we see.
I define myself from a vision, from a point of view of life.
On a transcendental level, a film is not going to be better or worse because there's a prize behind it. The work will be what it is, with or without a prize.
Time is what allows stories to spread into people's consciousness.
I have learned that I am a one-woman man.
While 'Babel' is a foreign-language film in some countries, in others, it is a local film.
I started off writing TV adverts. I saw those as rehearsals for a feature film.
I have fantastic ideas.
I don't like the ironic tone that our pop culture, in the world, has taken. Everything is 'ironic.' Everything is 'cool.'
Cinema is an infinite medium, so we should take advantage of it, I think.
'Amores Perros' is three stories that interconnect in one moment, which is the car accident.
When we are looking for validation, that will never satisfy us. When we are looking for affection, for love, a little bit of that will be enough to be complete.
I'm an intense person.
We want to conquer the world and have 1,000 likes, 1 million likes, but at the same time, we are depressed. We are lonely, but we have 10,000 followers. We are all bipolar.
Irony became the head that bit its tail and then there is no way out.
I think Kurosawa was one of the first storytelling geniuses who began to change the narrative structure of films.
I have ADD. I can't pay attention to one thing too long.
Writing is not an unknown territory for me.
If art doesn't move people, then art has failed.
I've learned to lose with a smile on my face. That's what the Oscar teaches you.
I really didn't want to become branded as 'that multistructural guy.'
When you do a film in a foreign language, you know there's a cost in it, that you know, unfortunately, the audiences of foreign language films have not been cultivated. There's a market, but the market has been reduced, unfortunately, and you know that when you're making a foreign language film, you're making a choice.
Films like 'Babel' can transcend the one point-of-view formula that has reigned for so long.
In families you can find the source of every human drama. It is interesting because the cell of a society, the cell of a country, the cell of humanity - everything lies in the family.
The cavemen, when they saw the antelopes, they had to scratch them on to the caves because they needed to express the immediacy of what they were being affected by - and I love that. That is why I do what I do. I need to express myself.
I really try, at least consciously, not to be cynical or ironic.
My responsibility is to make a film and find my dramatic language; I don't have any political or social responsibility.
When I was about to turn 50, I went into a kind of personal revision and observed my own priorities and what led those priorities in my life. And many things that, in a way, were profound.
I have never met a superhero, but why are we so obsessed with superheroes?
It's very healthy to be aware of your ego.
I think intelligence basically can be in a way defined by the possibility of having two opposite ideas living together and at the same time functioning. That's why I think a smart script has two things living in the same place, and they're absolutely contradictory.
'Ikiru' is existential but with a lot of tenderness.
The way I put together images is a reactive art.
I love the three-act theory. It works and works beautifully. But you don't necessarily have to structure a story that way: Cortazar and Borges wrote in different structural styles.
For me, the most important thing that I have to accomplish is to be a good father. That's the most difficult challenge of my life. That's the most important thing for me, more than films.
People talk about the pain of defeat, but I think defeat has a lot of value. I think the wound of victory can be even more damaging than defeat. Very few people really know how to win.
The creative process is mysterious; a conversation, a ride in the car, or a melody can trigger something.
I'm always surprised when some director says, 'When I saw this film, that changed my life.' I don't have that.
Two words guided the making of 'Babel' for me: 'dignity' and 'compassion.' These things are normally forgotten in the making of a lot of films. Normally there is not dignity because the poor and dispossessed in a place like Morocco are portrayed as mere victims, or the Japanese are portrayed as cartoon figures with no humanity.
I think musically.
'Biutiful' is a tough film. It doesn't make concessions to the vulgarity of light entertainment. It's not the kind of film that you see every day in the Cineplex. But as an artist, it's the thing that I needed to do.
I am not a depressive person at all.
I never deny a true experience in one shot.
'21 Grams' is only one story told by three different points of view, but they are really physically connected - literally, with the heart.
In a world where irony reigns, where you have to separate, protect and laugh at anything that is honest or has an emotional charge, I bet for catharsis. I like to invest emotionally in things. And catharsis, when it touches the emotional vein, can open the doors of even those who protect themselves.
Who cares about my opinions?
I always have considered Michael Keaton to be a phenomenal actor because he navigates drama and comedy.
