⋆ Alice Mercer's Closet Picks:
The filmmaker talks about her primary inspirations for Can't Buy Me Love, shares her love for a good film soundtrack, and reminisces her time at film school.
[This interview was filmed on October 20, 2025.]
Pick One: The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)
❝I watched this film for the first time for a class—I believe it was my second or third year in college—and it just...changed me. I experienced a range of emotions throughout this film—joy, sadness, admiration. The idea of a movie being entirely in song was something that never crossed my mind, but it was absolutely genius and captivating! This definitely served as an inspiration when I was doing Can't Buy Me Love, particularly because of Jacques Demy's use of bright and lively colors.❞
Pick Two: Eraserhead (1975)
❝Eraserhead was the first David Lynch movie I ever watched. It came out in 1975, but I only had the chance to watch it when i was eighteen—in 1989. Twin Peaks had just came out and all of my friends were just raving about it. I watched this at a sleepover this because we all wanted to see what to expect out of the show. Admittedly, I hated it when I first saw it. I found it to be deeply unsettling and just...strange. Funnily enough, I still gave Twin Peaks a chance and fell in love with it—it still remains my favorite television show of all time. After the first season I decided to rewatch [Eraserhead] with an open mind. It's when I finally realized that Eraserhead was true poetry—you don't have to understand it, but you can appreciate the art—and that goes for a lot of David Lynch movies.❞
Pick Three: A Hard Day's Night (1964)
I didn't expect to see this [laughs]. Well, A Hard Day's Night is easily my favorite Beatles film, and Can't Buy Me Love takes place the same year—when they first come to the United States. This movie struck me when I first saw it as a little girl, especially for the beautiful music and its blunt humor. All four of them are such lively and spirited characters—it's just a fantastic film that remains an entertaining watch to this day. I had just revisited this movie with my family, and I think it's time for me to own a physical copy!
Pick Four: The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
My favorite of Anderson! Other than the obvious amazing things about his movies, one thing I admire about Wes Anderson films are the soundtracks. They're all perfectly curated and fitting—I aspire to develop one half as good as his. It's hard to choose a favorite needle drop from this movie, but one I'd definitely note is Elliott Smith's Needle in the Hay: it truly reflects the melancholic mood of the film—but to be honest I'll like any Elliott Smith needle drop. I might be biased, but his music in Good Will Hunting was just phenomenal and heavy-hitting.
Pick Five: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)
I can't really leave here without talking about my roots. When making Lenore and The Picture of Dorian Gray, I took a lot of inspiration from German Expressionism films—one of the most prominent being, well, this. I found a tape of this movie in a shop in Boston. To be honest, I had no idea what to expect, but I found it incredibly fascinating. Each dramatic angle, each hand-painted set, each eerie performance captivated me in ways I didn't think movies could at the time. It really holds up, which is why it's so fundamental to gothic cinema, and remained a major influence in my filmmaking.
Pick Six: La Chimera (2023)
Finally picking something from this decade! [laughs] La Chimera by Alice Rohrwacher is a movie that I find difficult to explain, because no words can truly describe the absolute wonder and adoration I felt watching this. Each shot was packed with this intention—this sensitivity—that still remains genuine and gorgeous at the same time. Watching the film evokes that sense of nostalgia—the kind that comes where and when you least expect it. La Chimera still remains—if not, one of—my favorite films of the decade!
