Few filmmakers embody the spirit of independent filmmaking better than Josh and Benny Safdie. The two brothers spent the first decade of their career making short films in New York City with nonexistent budgets, refusing to compromise their signature style in pursuit of more commercial opportunities. They eventually found a bit of success with the 2009 feature “Daddy Longlegs,” which played Cannes and Sundance before eventually winning them an Independent Spirit Awards.
But what followed was a story that many indie filmmakers will be all too familiar with: the success didn’t translate to any other opportunities, and the Safdies were left exactly where they started. But they kept at it, making more short films and writing scripts until the opportunity to make “Good Time” with Robert Pattinson materialized in 2017. The A24 film about a man spending a chaotic night in New York after a failed robbery plays out like the most twisted version of Martin Scorsese’s “After Hours” imaginable, and sent a clear signal to the world that the Safdies were artists worth paying attention to.
“Good Time” paved the way for “Uncut Gems,” the film that launched the Safdies into the indie film stratosphere. The Adam Sandler gambling thriller became A24’s highest grossing film at the time, and pulled off the remarkable feat of turning an NBA game that had already taken place into gripping cinema. Now the sky appears to be the limit for the two brothers, and their next untitled Adam Sandler movie is one of the most anticipated projects on the indie film horizon.
The Safdie Brothers have clearly followed in the footsteps of great New York filmmakers like Scorsese and John Cassavetes, and their recent ballots for Sight & Sound’s 2022 Greatest Films of All Time Poll featured some predictably gritty New York classics. But they also voted for plenty of wild cards, proving that their unique aesthetic was influenced by their extremely well-rounded knowledge of film history.
Their ballots provide a fascinating look into the art that shaped two singular filmmakers. Keep reading to see the 20 films that Josh and Benny Sadfie singled out as their favorite movies of all time.
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“Requiem for a Heavyweight”
Image Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection Considering that the Safdies’ “Uncut Gems” is one of the most popular sports gambling movies of the century, it’s not surprising that Benny Safdie kicked off his Sight & Sound ballot with another film about a bet gone wrong. Ralph Nelson’s dark boxing drama tells the story of a boxing manager (Jackie Gleason) who finds himself in trouble after his fighter fails to take a dive at the right time. The film is also notable for featuring a young Muhammad Ali (back when he was still going by Cassius Clay) as the fighter’s big opponent.
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“A Man Escaped”
Image Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection “A Man Escaped” is another longtime favorite of Benny Safdie’s that made it onto his Sight & Sound ballot. In a 2020 interview with Rotten Tomatoes, he said that Robert Bresson’s prison masterpiece is his favorite film ever made.
“That has to be my favorite movie of all time, just because it always makes me cry at the end, because I feel like I’ve achieved something that the character achieves. And it tells you what happens in the title, and it makes it no less suspenseful the entire way. You’re literally feeling the sound of the gravel as he puts his foot down – those shots of the foot or the spoon going into the slot. All of these things, the editing of it, the character, the way he’s using these actors who you don’t really know, they just – you feel like they’re real people. It’s just so perfectly put together, and it’s something where I kind of feel like I’m going along with the escape in a way that’s just done by a master.”
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“Husbands: A Comedy About Life, Death, and Freedom”
Image Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection Benny Safdie paid tribute to independent film legend John Cassavetes by including “Husbands” on his 2022 Sight & Sound ballot. The heavily improvised film stars Peter Falk, Ben Gazzara, and Cassavetes as three middle-aged men who take a trip to London together after their friend’s early death sparks a midlife crisis in them.
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“It’s a Wonderful Life”
Image Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection The Safdie Brothers have been known to explore some rather dark subject matter in their films, but Benny Safdie found room for a couple unapologetically wholesome classics on his Sight & Sound ballot. His inclusion of Frank Capra’s “It’s a Wonderful Life” is a reminder that filmmakers’ favorite movies don’t have to align with their personal styles.
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“Alice in the Cities”
Image Credit: Everett Collection / Everett Collection Benny Safdie showed some love to slow cinema legend Wim Wenders on his Sight & Sound ballot by casting a vote for “Alice in the Cities.” Telling the story of two aimless Germans who meander through Europe, the film is a template for many of the classics that Wenders would make over the next decade. The film is the first entry in Wenders’ landmark “Road Movie Trilogy,” which concluded with his seminal “Kings of the Road” in 1976.
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“Taxi Driver”
Image Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection The Safdie Brothers have followed in Martin Scorsese’s footsteps to become some of their generation’s preeminent New York filmmakers. So Benny Safdie naturally paid tribute to Scorsese’s quintessential New York film “Taxi Driver” on his Sight & Sound ballot.
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“Bicycle Thieves”
Image Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection Another wholesome entry on both Josh and Benny Safdie’s Sight & Sound ballots was “Bicycle Thieves,” Vittorio De Sica’s Italian neorealist classic about a man taking his son to search for the stolen bicycle that he uses to earn a living. It’s widely regarded as one of the greatest portrayals of a father-son relationship in cinema history.
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“The French Connection”
Image Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection Benny Safdie has always been open about his appreciation for William Friedkin’s landmark car chase movie, so it’s hardly surprising that it earned a spot on his Sight & Sound ballot.
“It’s one of the most incredible cop movies and pulp movies there is,” he said in 2020. “The camera work, Gene Hackman, the shots from up on the rooftop looking down. That chase scene alone puts it on this list. You hear how they made that movie, and you really feel the bare hands that went into that thing, and it just reset how you make a movie like that. You know, totally changed the game on that level. Just seeing that car barrel through the streets, you feel the danger and you feel the pressure of all of these things. It’s doing pulp in a whole new way and in a visceral way. Then, on top of that, you have these people with real stakes and real things happening to them, and (director William) Friedkin, he’s a king.”
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“High School”
Image Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection Benny Safdie’s Sight & Sound ballot largely consisted of scripted films, but he found room for one classic documentary too. He singled out Frederick Wiseman’s “High School,” the landmark 1968 documentary about students at a Philadelphia high school studying against a backdrop of social unrest. While the 75-minute film is considerably shorter than most of Wiseman’s other behemoths, it otherwise sticks to Wiseman’s instantly recognizable naturalistic style.
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“Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot”
Image Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection Many of Benny Safdie’s Sight & Sound picks reflected the darker filmmaking sensibilities for which he has become famous, but he still singled out this downright whimsical comedy from Jacques Tati. Known for its intricate shot compositions and innovative sound design, the film is widely regarded as one of the most unique comedies of all time
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“City Lights”
Image Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection In a 2020 interview, Benny Safdie spoke openly about his admiration for silent films and admitted that he has a hard time choosing between the works of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. But he said that the beloved Chaplinc comedy “City Lights” holds a particularly special place in his heart.
“There’s something about ‘City Lights’ that just… It has all of the perfect acting and physical comedy,” he said. “But then there’s this pathos to that main character that is just so deep, and you feel it, and it has so many jokes. It’s one of his movies that has a lot of good jokes in it, you know, from the boxing to the cigar. Here you have this guy that’s this hobo driving a Rolls Royce, pushing another hobo out of the way to get the cigar. And it’s just, it’s one of those funny things.”
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“Goodfellas”
Image Credit: ©Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection Josh Safdie kicked his Sight & Sound ballot off with what many consider to be Martin Scorsese’s crowning achievement as a filmmaker. “Goodfellas” is adored by virtually everyone who has seen it, earning praise for its sprawling story, dry sense of humor, and flawless camerawork from Scorsese. The film received enough votes to be named the 32nd best film of all time on the 2022 Sight & Sound poll.
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“Gloria”
Image Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection Josh also paid tribute to John Cassavetes on his Sight & Sound ballot, selecting the 1980 crime thriller “Gloria” as his favorite entry in the director’s filmography. “Gloria” is one of the more commercial films that the independent film pioneer directed, but the relatively lighthearted story about a gangster’s girlfriend going on the lam has remained a favorite of Cassavetes fans for years.
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“Amator”
Image Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection Krzysztof Kieślowski received plenty of love from Sight & Sound voters in 2022, though most of his fans voted for his landmark “Three Colours” trilogy. But Josh Safdie took his ballot in his different direction, instead choosing to vote for “Amator,” Kieślowski’s 1979 drama about a factory worker whose interest in filmmaking consumes his entire life. The film explores the way an obsession with an art form can be as harmful as it is life affirming, so it’s not surprising that it resonated with the famously intense filmmaker.
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“Night and the City”
Image Credit: ©20thCentFox/Courtesy Everett Collection You can almost see the seeds of “Uncut Gems” being sewn in “Night and the City.” Jules Dassin’s noir classic follows a sleazy hustler who tries to get rich quickly by running a variety of grifts at the same time, constantly dialing up the pressure on himself by promising different things to different people in his seedy world. Unsurprisingly, Josh Safdie listed it as one of his favorite movies on his 2022 Sight & Sound ballot.
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“Close-Up”
Image Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection Josh Safdie’s Sight & Sound ballot was filled with films that examine the paradoxical ways that obsession with cinema can enrich and derail human lives. After voting for “Amotor,” he also cast a vote for the 1990 pseudo-documentary “Close-Up.” Abbas Kiarostami’s earth shattering film blends fact and fiction to tell the story of a man who is so moved by the suffering portrayed in a director’s realist films that he decides to illegally impersonate the man. “Close-Up” is simultaneously an examination and fulfillment of the man’s fantasy about becoming the subject of a movie about his own suffering — a form-expanding twist that has profoundly altered countless people’s understandings of the nature of cinema.
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“Kramer vs. Kramer”
Image Credit: ©Columbia Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection Watch any random five minutes of any Safdie Brothers movie and it will instantly become apparent that their aesthetic was shaped by New York cinema of the 1970s. So it makes complete sense that Josh Safdie selected another one of the decade’s great New York films, Robert Benton’s divorce saga “Kramer vs. Kramer,” as one of his all-time favorites on his 2022 Sight & Sound ballot.
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“Saturday Night Fever”
Image Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection Josh Safdie kept the New York-centric theme of his Sight & Sound ballot going when he voted for “Saturday Night Fever” as one of his favorite movies of all time. While the John Badham film is best known for its Bee Gees soundtrack and John Travolta’s star-making dance moves, the working class New York social drama at the center of it makes it a natural fit for the Safdies’ aesthetic.
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“Broadway Danny Rose”
Image Credit: ©Orion Pictures Corp/Courtesy Everett Collection Josh Safdie made a spot for Woody Allen on his Sight & Sound ballot, which doubled as a primer on the greatest New York filmmakers of the 20th century. He listed “Broadway Danny Rose,” Allen’s black-and-white comedy about the misadventures of a theatrical agent, as his favorite work by the prolific director.
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“Remorques”
Image Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection The oldest film on Josh Safdie’s Sight & Sound ballot was “Remorques,” Jean Grémillon’s 1939 drama about a tugboat captain who has an affair with a married woman against the backdrop of a seaside town. Grémillon was known for expanding the industry’s understanding of what dramatic filmmaking could be by breaking away from realism at strategic moments in pursuit of larger human truths.
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