Chat GPT Analyzes My Cinematic Tastes and Does a Very Good Job

His Girl Friday (1940) Hawks

Like many people I’m wary of ChatGPT and other forms of AI. But I do find it helpful in research and I’ve also had some interesting “conversations” with it. Yesterday I fed it my top 100 films and asked what these films taken together say about my tastes in film.*

It replied: “You’ve put together a serious cinephile list—and it’s unusually coherent. A lot of  ‘Top 100’ lists wander stylistically, but yours reveals several very clear preferences about storytelling, tone, and cinematic tradition.”

I took that as a compliment. But of course there was more: “You Strongly Prefer Director-Driven Cinema. This may be the single most obvious pattern.Many directors appear multiple times:

Ingmar Bergman – 6 films

Woody Allen – 5 films

Federico Fellini – 4 films

Alfred Hitchcock – 5 films

Scorsese – 4 films

Kubrick – 3 films

Coen Brothers – 3 films

Ford – 3 films

Tarantino – 3 films

Rossellini – 2

Chaplin – 2

De Sica – 2

Kaurismäki – 3

This tells me something important: You don’t think of movies as isolated works—you think in terms of a director’s worldview. That’s how critics and serious film lovers tend to watch films. You are basically practicing auteur cinema appreciation.”

Still spot on. What else? 

“You Value Moral and Existential Seriousness. Your list leans heavily toward films wrestling with: moral responsibility, guilt, faith, existential loneliness and historical trauma.

Examples:

Winter Light

The Seventh Seal

Persona

Through a Glass Darkly

Come and See

Au Revoir Les Enfants

Battle of Algiers

Taxi Driver

Raging Bull

A Woman Under the Influence

You clearly like films where characters face spiritual or ethical crises, not just plot problems. This aligns perfectly with your admiration for Bergman, Scorsese, and Dostoevskian themes.”

You’re nailing it. Tell me more.

“A surprising amount of your list has a bittersweet or mournful tone. Examples:

The Last Picture Show

Inside Llewyn Davis

Manhattan

Drive My Car

The Ice Storm

Picnic at Hanging Rock

Barry Lyndon

Umberto D

Bicycle Thieves

Local Hero

Even your comedies are melancholy comedies. This is extremely characteristic of people who love:

Bergman

Allen

Kaurismäki

Antonioni

You like films where life feels fragile, fleeting, and slightly sad.”

Couldn’t agree more. But do go on….

“You Love Classic Hollywood Craft. Despite loving art cinema, you deeply appreciate the golden age. Major presence of:

Hawks

Ford

Wilder

Capra

Hitchcock

Sturges

Cukor

Curtiz

And films like:

His Girl Friday

Casablanca

The Lady Eve

Holiday

The Big Sleep

This tells me something key: You’re not an elitist art-house viewer. You appreciate great storytelling regardless of era or prestige.”

Okay, let’s have the rest of it:

“You Favor Character Studies Over Plot Machines Notice what is largely absent:

superhero films

spectacle franchises

puzzle-box movies

action blockbusters

Instead you love films where the entire movie is about a person. Examples:

Raging Bull

Taxi Driver

Barry Lyndon

A Woman Under the Influence

Inside Llewyn Davis

Drive My Car

Umberto D

Persona

Your taste says:

Character psychology is more important than narrative mechanics.

You Love European Cinema A massive portion of your list is European. Especially:

Sweden

Bergman

Troell

Italy

Fellini

Rossellini

De Sica

France

Malle

Denis

Kassovitz

Finland

Kaurismäki

Poland

Polanski

Russia

Tarkovsky

Germany

Murnau

You gravitate toward philosophical cinema rather than purely narrative cinema.

You Appreciate Humor With Intelligence Your comedy choices are very telling:

Duck Soup

Sullivan’s Travels

The Lady Eve

My Man Godfrey

His Girl Friday

The Big Lebowski

Rushmore

These are fast, literate comedies. You prefer:

wit

irony

social observation

over broad humor.

You Are Comfortable With Slow Cinema Your list includes films that many viewers struggle with:

Stalker

L’Eclisse

Beau Travail

Drive My Car

Barry Lyndon

This means you value:

mood

visual language

pacing

You don’t need constant plot movement.

You Like Films About Artists or Storytellers Another subtle pattern. Examples:

8½

Inside Llewyn Davis

Manhattan

Sunset Boulevard

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

These are films about creative people trying to understand their lives.

Not surprising given you’re a novelist.

You Like Moral Ambiguity Many of your favorite films center on ethically compromised characters:

Goodfellas

Chinatown

Taxi Driver

Match Point

No Country for Old Men

Barry Lyndon

You seem drawn to stories where: The line between right and wrong becomes blurry.

That’s very consistent with the themes you’ve discussed in your own writing.

One Particularly Interesting Thing Your list balances three traditions beautifully:

1. Classic Hollywood craft
(Hawks, Ford, Wilder)

2. European philosophical cinema
(Bergman, Antonioni, Tarkovsky)

3. American New Hollywood
(Scorsese, Coppola, Ashby)

That combination is the core canon of serious film culture.

If I Had to Summarize Your Taste in One Sentence

You favor director-driven films that explore moral, psychological, and existential questions through strong characters, often with a tone of melancholy and intelligence.”

The discussion went on from there but I’ll add one more observation from my artificially intelligent friend: 

“One more thing I noticed that’s fascinating about your list:

Your #1 film — His Girl Friday — is tonally the opposite of almost everything else in your top ten. Yet it actually reveals something deep about your taste.

If you want, I can explain why that choice makes perfect sense psychologically with the rest of your list. It’s actually quite revealing.

Your choice of #1 — His Girl Friday initially looks like an outlier. Most of your top films are serious, contemplative, or tragic. Hawks’s film is the opposite: fast, funny, cynical, and light on the surface.

But when you look more carefully, it actually fits your taste perfectly.

Here’s why.

1. You Like Intelligence Above Everything

The defining trait of His Girl Friday is intelligence.

The dialogue moves faster than almost any film ever made. Characters succeed through:

wit

verbal dexterity

quick thinking

That same trait appears throughout your list:

Chinatown

The Big Lebowski

Annie Hall

Rushmore

Your films often feature sharp, observant protagonists navigating complicated worlds.

2. Cynicism Mixed With Humanity

His Girl Friday is deeply cynical about institutions:

politics

journalism

the justice system

That worldview runs all through your list:

Chinatown

Taxi Driver

No Country for Old Men

The Battle of Algiers

You clearly like films that say:

The world is flawed, but human beings still struggle within it.

3. Dialogue as Music

You respond strongly to language-driven cinema.

Many of your favorites are talk-heavy films:

My Dinner with Andre style filmmaking (even though it’s not on your list)

The Last Picture Show

Manhattan

Drive My Car

His Girl Friday is essentially pure dialogue cinema.

4. Moral Ambiguity

Walter Burns (Cary Grant) is charming—but ethically slippery.

That morally complicated protagonist appears constantly in your list:

Barry Lyndon

Match Point

Goodfellas

You seem fascinated by people who are brilliant but morally questionable.

5. It’s the Pure Joy Film on Your List

Almost all great cinephile lists contain one film chosen for sheer delight.

For you, that appears to be His Girl Friday.

Even viewers who love:

Bergman

Tarkovsky

Antonioni

often keep a few films around that simply make them happy every time.”

Thank you very much for your insights ChatGPT. You’ve affirmed a lot of what I thought of myself as a film lover and also given me insights into why I revere certain films, certain types of films and particular directors. Good chat!

*(Please note my comments in italics are for this blog post and were not included in the actual chat.)

How You Can Tell if You're a Cinephile

If you're a cinephile I don't need to tell you the name of this film

You don’t give a damn about the Oscars. You may be aware of them, you know a little about previous Oscar winners and Oscar snubs but you don’t put any stock in who’s nominated or who wins. You certainly don’t watch the broadcast. You realize they don’t really signify what is the best picture or who’s the best actress or director or any thing else. It’s an award show and people actually campaign to win the damn statuettes. You know that some of the great films and actors and directors that never won an award and you know some of the lame movies that did win. You also don’t care about any of the other award shows.

You watch films from throughout the history of the cinema.

You have an appreciation for films from the silent era, the Golden Age of Hollywood, and every other time period. You probably have a particular appreciation for one period but you don’t turn your nose up on any.

You appreciate films from other countries as much as you do American films, if not more.

Again, you may have a particular appreciation for, as an example, Italian or Japanese, or Swedish cinema, but you are open to films from any corner of the globe and number pictures from various parts of the world among your favorites. In fact, it’s quite possible you prefer foreign language films.

You’re more interested in who the director is than who the lead actor or actors are.

You know that who the director a film is tells you a lot more than who stars in it. For example a much higher percentage of Stanley Kubrick’s films were excellent than Paul Newman’s. You know that a director controls most aspects of the making of a movie whereas the actor has — no pun intended — just one role in it. You likely ascribe to the auteur theory.

If given a choice you’d rather watch a movie in a theater than on your TV.

You accept the fact that there are certain inconveniences associated with going to a movie theater but think them well worth it given the advantages of both the big screen and the communal experiences of cinema-going. (I here add that I once overheard a cinema-goer say that she only watched movies in theaters. I found this utterly ridiculous, imagine limiting yourself in such a way. Imagine not being able to watch a movie at home. Imagine wanting to watch The Maltese Falcon or Persona or Pulp Fiction but you can’t because they’re not playing in a nearby theater.)

You read about and discuss movies and you see films as a form of art.

You read reviews, you read essays you read interviews that help inform your appreciation and understanding of particular films, performances, directors, genres etc. You think critically about movies and discuss them with others. Your love of film is based on an understanding that movies are an art form equal to music, dance, paintings and anything else.

You’re not a fan of the Marvel Universe or other hyper action, fantasy comic book films.

You agree with Martin Scorsese who said of such films: “they seem to me to be closer to theme parks than they are to movies as I’ve known and loved them throughout my life, and that in the end, I don’t think they’re cinema.”

You probably don't study movie trivia, but you know it from osmosis.

You have learned enough about movies that you've -- quite without trying -- accumulated a lot of factoids. There are an incredible number of movies for which you know the director, stars and release year. 

In addition to actors and directors you know and appreciate cinematographers, screenwriters, editors, set designers and other crew.

You know that the best actors and directors rely on so many other people in making a great film. You least know the names of noted cinematographers such as Sven Nykvist, Gregg Toland and Gordon Willis.

Lastly, if you’re a “good” cinephile you don’t feel superior to other movie-goers, you just feel privileged.

To understand and appreciate this art form is a rare and lucky thing. Congratulations.

My Birthday Wish is That We Get Off Our Asses and Fight For Justice

Mario Savio, he wouldn't have give up, even now

Time for another birthday. They come every year at the same. Clockwork. I’ve always liked my birthday. It’s a different day. A break from the ordinary. I get a lot of well wishes. Texts, emails, cards, phone calls. Gifts are given. Don’t mind that at all. There’s a nice dinner, this year at a restaurant that I really like. Desert is served and I get a song. What’s not to like?

It’s also a day for reflection. What has happened the last year? Was it a good year? Great year? Best ever? All years have ups and downs. The question is what was there more of and how high were the highs and how low the lows?

The day after the birthday it’s all over and you move on. March 1 (or in leap years, February 29) is always so damn ordinary. The birthday is put up in the cupboard for another year, it was just one day of 365. You might get belated birthday wishes from someone but that always has a hollow ring to it. Day late, dollar short.

For this birthday I’d like to get philosophical. I have some thoughts (no, really) and they come out in the form of advice. Here goes.

Given the state of the country this would be a natural time for people to throw in the towel, say “screw it” and become total hedonists. The U.S. is being dragged backwards. The current president is a mental incompetent who cares infinitely more for himself than the constitution, the welfare of the citizenry or political norms. 

I taught at an urban public middle school for two decades. We never admitted it to each other but by the first week of the school year — in some cases the first day — teachers recognized those students who we were very unlikely to reach over the course of ten months. Long before they reached us the future of these young people  — certainly as students — was clear. They were not going to succeed in the classroom and in many cases were going to be disruptive forces making our jobs more difficult and negatively impacting the education of classmates. 

What did we do? We tried. Middle school teachers in particular and public school teachers in general do not give up on students. It’s the job. You do what you can. Cajole, innovate, prod, push, plead, persist. You feel good for doing it because it’s what's right. And here’s the thing: sometimes you get through. Sometimes you nudge that F student into a D student who begins to understand and starts to see the value of making an effort. Success stories among the lost causes are rare but by god are they satisfying.

So this is what we have to do as a society. We have to keep pushing. Giving up is not an option. There are important battles to be fought on multiple fronts. 

Stop ICE. Protect voting rights. Fight global warming. Defend LGBTQ rights, reproductive rights, racial justice and DEI. Advocate for the poor. Oppose Trump on any and all abuses he tries to inflict on the people. Get the unexpurgated Epstein Files out. Work to elect progressive Democrats in this year’s elections. March, protest, take to the streets. Yell. Don’t let the bastards win. Here’s an important thing to remember: they are not the majority. WE ARE. Trumpy is deeply unpopular. 

We’re in dire straights but the situation isn’t hopeless. I close with this great line from the Sidney Lumet film The Verdict (1982). 

“You know, so much of the time we're just lost. We say, "Please, God, tell us what is right; tell us what is true." And there is no justice: the rich win, the poor are powerless. We become tired of hearing people lie. And after a time, we become dead... a little dead. We think of ourselves as victims... and we become victims. We become... we become weak. We doubt ourselves, we doubt our beliefs. We doubt our institutions. And we doubt the law. But today you are the law. You ARE the law. Not some book... not the lawyers... not the, a marble statue... or the trappings of the court. See those are just symbols of our desire to be just. They are... they are, in fact, a prayer: a fervent and a frightened prayer. In my religion, they say, "Act as if ye had faith... and faith will be given to you." IF... if we are to have faith in justice, we need only to believe in ourselves. And ACT with justice. See, I believe there is justice in our hearts.”