Meredith Dias (meredithdias)

I love the cast of this movie, but I swear, my first comment when watching was, "Oh, Richard Dreyfuss. How the mighty have fallen."

This movie and book have quickly become one of my favorite love stories in all of fiction.

My favorite movie of all time. A dystopic look at 20th-century Japan in the form of eight dream sequences. Explores the complex relationship between man and nature, including our best attempts to destroy it. The centenarian in the final dream sums it up: "The most important things for human beings are clean air and clean water."

While Kurosawa's "Yume" is my favorite movie, Mizoguchi's "Sansho the Bailiff" is the best film I have ever seen. Set during Japan's Heian dynasty, "Sansho the Bailiff" encapsulates the bond between mothers and their children, and our uncanny abililty to become what we despise most in the wrong environment. Sold into slavery, Zushio and Anju plot to escape Sansho, their brutal oppressor. While it is grief that propels the plot, it is hope that sustains the characters--even under the most hopeless of circumstances. Much like the unforgettable zither theme in "The Third Man," the mother's mourning song will remain with you long after the movie has ended.