Enthralled by the film's striking imagery and layered story about the aftermath of a sexual assault, Kitty recalls discovering Vivian Qu's "little gem" ANGELS WEAR WHITE.
"So perverse and so wild," says Kitty (admiringly) of Michael Haneke's riveting psychosexual drama, which gives its female protagonist permission to "be strange."
While Kitty was writing THE ASSISTANT, a friend suggested she watch Craig Zobel's COMPLIANCE, a film that mines similar thematic terrain. "It's absolutely fascinating," says Kitty. "It's an amazing feat that he pulled it off in that way."
Kitty Green's art-teacher mother first recommended Jessica Hausner's beautifully composed films. "She knows how to use a frame really well," says Kitty of Hausner's work. "They're like paintings, every single one of them."
"It was very exciting to see a woman in charge of a scene like that and to see the way she'd handled it," says Kitty on Eklöf's unrelenting directorial debut, including the filmmaker's choices about how to approach a assault sequence.
Swapping out the conventional talking-heads format for something more formally daring, Clio Barnard's THE ARBOR innovates the documentary genre in ways Kitty finds original and inspiring. "It's been a big influence on my work," she says.
Kitty breaks down the HR scene from her film THE ASSISTANT, explaining how the exchange between a low-level female employee and male company rep was influenced by current events and deep research, as well as by Haneke's THE PIANO TEACHER.
