Filmmaking / Directing : What movie stayed with you after it ended? by Mitchell Parod

I’ll go with something I watched recently: Dirty Harry

It hit me differently than I expected. Not just the story, but the feel of it—the cinematography, the pacing, the characters. It all felt very deliberate and grounded.

When it ended, I had this sense that I’d been missing something in a lot of modern movies. Like everything there was simple on the surface, but there was more going on underneath that wasn’t being spelled out.

I think that’s what stuck with me. It trusted the audience more, and because of that, it lingered a bit after.

One movie that hit me differently was the 2002 movie "Moonlight Mile". I loved the writing and the honesty around the topic of grief. I first watched it in 2004. As the story was about grief, I guess I was reminded of the death of my dog a couple years prior and that's what drew me to the film, but it was also the realness and honesty in the script. It was like the movie taught people that it was okay to grieve in different ways. Sometimes you need to cry and sometimes it's okay to smile or laugh if you remember something about the person or pet you've lost. I definitely put it on my list of my fave one hundred movies of all time.

Casablanca. No matter how many times I watch it, I always walk away thinking the characters and relationships are so well-written and are so three-dimensional that you could reach out and touch them.

Mitchell Parod Great question some films really do leave that emotional residue.

For me, it was Past Lives by Celine Song. It stayed with me because of how quiet and emotionally honest it is nothing dramatic on the surface, but it hits deeply in terms of timing, choices, and missed connections.

I think that lingering feeling comes from how relatable it is… like it reflects something personal you can’t quite put into words.

So many to chose from, Weapons comes to mind for a recent release! Great question Mitchell Parod

Adolescence of Utena will permanently live rent-free in my head; it takes the premise of the show Revolutionary Girl Utena and ramps the symbolism and surrealism all the way up, inviting you to drown in it. I like how just like the series, it doesn’t hold your hand, it’s indeed sink or swim, an experience. There’s always something to discover and as such it’s designed to be rewatched. I love Ikuhara so much lol

HAMNET! Took three months to get over. It was a masterpiece. I will stay with me the rest of my life.