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| 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.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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.)
