The Five Most Important Movies for Neil LaBute

Neil LaBute directed In the Company of Men in 1997. Your Friends & Neighbors followed in 1998, Nurse Betty in 2000. And other movies, as well as stage productions. All of them dealing with tough, controversial topics; the same can be said about his most recent Lakeview Terrace: a police officer stopping at nothing to force out the interracial couple who just moved next door. Here is LaBute's pick of five most important movies (Newsweek):

1. La Dolce Vita (every frame is a feast for the senses: profoundly sad and achingly gorgeous)
2. Reds (a truly great American film, made by this country's best actor/ director/producer, Warren Beatty: beautiful and brave)
3. Scener ur ett äktenskap (Scenes from a Marriage) (Ingmar Bergman's film is an arrow to the heart; Liv Ullmann gives the best female performance; ever)
4. The Magnificent Ambersons (the greatest film never made; Orson Welles himself claimed it was only a shadow of what might have been; you'll weep with joy)
5. Le Genou de Claire (said LaBute, it started my love affair with all things Eric Rohmer; it is an absolute feast of simplicity and control)
   

(Filmofilia)