Welcome to the Weekly Movie Thread, your place on the Avocado to discuss films with your fellow commenters. Want to make a recommendation? Looking for recommendations? Want to share your opinions of movies, both new and classic? 

Animator Hayao Miyazaki has cited Lev Atamanov’s 1957 animated film The Snow Queen as one of his greatest influences. Per Animation Obsessive:

“Had I not seen The Snow Queen during a film screening hosted by the company labor union,” Miyazaki later wrote, “I honestly doubt that I would have continued working as an animator.”

He became obsessed. After a friend recorded the film’s audio on tape at one screening, Miyazaki said that he “borrowed it and listened to it over and over again at work.” Eventually, he wore it out. When the Ghibli Museum re-released The Snow Queen in 2007, its poster carried a blurb from Miyazaki — “my destiny and my favorite film.”

You can see how it influenced him. The composition, the pacing, and the dreamlike atmosphere seem to have spoken to the young Miyazaki.. an animator who himself would be cited as an influence a whole generation of animators all over the world.

Bonus prompt: Have you watched a film because a creator you admire cited it as an inspiration?