Ari finds FIRE WILL COME to be "one of the most perfect examples of naturalism." While the film is not a documentary, the lighting, camera movements and performances had Ari reconsidering what feels real and what doesn't in a movie.
After meeting director Kleber Mendonça Filho, Ari was blown away by the aural journey of the director's NEIGHBORING SOUNDS. "I love when a film is so local that it becomes universal," she says about the Recife, Brazil-based drama.
From the delicate hand of the photography to the intensity of color and the child's performance, "there are so many levels of perfection in this film," Ari says of Wim Wenders's iconic PARIS, TEXAS.
Ari has a "real soft spot for films that have really strong rules and restrictions," such as the limited locations and repeated frames in Alain Guiraudie's ominous, erotic STRANGER BY THE LAKE.
Every time she watches Lucrecia Martel's THE HEADLESS WOMAN, Ari receives something new from it. The experience of discovering alongside the protagonist over the course of the film is very engaging: "You feel very much with her."
While in film school in Melbourne, Ari saw Michael Haneke's postapocalyptic TIME OF THE WOLF and was deeply impressed by its night photography. The final shot has since become her all-time favorite last shot in any film.
Ari takes us through her process for THE WONDER (2022), from the painterly details-the shine and topography of a wall, long-lens shots in vast panoramas, the precise diffusion of light through a window-that set her work apart.
