Paul Schrader wrote the screenplay for such movies as Scorsese's Taxi
Driver and The Last Temptation of Christ, among others. He also was
the director for his own Exorcist, and for other films (American
Gigolo, Cat People, Mishima, etc).

A book written by Schrader (Transcendental Style in Film: Ozu,
Bresson, Dreyer) had a profound impact on my views about movie
architecture. It is a fine cross-cultural analysis, following the
three dimensions (everyday, disruption, stasis) in the films of these
masters, each one from a very different universe (Buddhist, Catholic,
Protestant). It came that I read the book just after I had discovered
the world of Ozu. I tried then to think other movies in the same
dimensions (Away from Her, In the Mood for Love, 2046, Unglassed
Windows Cast a Terrible Reflection, The Way to Shadow Garden). Again,
totally different universes: of Sarah Polley, Wong Kar-Wai, Brakhage.

In the most recent issue of Newsweek, Paul Schrader tells us which are
his four most important movies and gives us his reasons:

1. The Rules of the Game. It's everything a film should be: witty,
innovative, entertaining, full of ideas and social relevance.
2. Tokyo Story. Director Yasujiro Ozu lifts melodrama into
transcendence—there's never been anyone like him.
3. Persona. Ingmar Bergman's masterpiece about his life and the
women who had the misfortune of loving him.
4. The Godfather. The Big Manicotti for American cinema. Everything
good about U.S. storytelling is epitomized here.

Thanks,

Pierre