Movies are an important part of American culture. We watch them with our families, we watch them alone. We watch them to kill time, we watch them for entertainment. Sometimes we watch movies to feel something, or even to learn something. Some movies even change their viewers in unexpected ways. These movies stay with us long after we watch them. This list is comprised of movies that have changed me, and that may just change you too.

1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

Deeply moving and cinematically beautiful, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a film that makes you feel a lot of emotions all at once. Kate Winslet and Jim Carrey seem like unlikely co-stars, but they work together in unexpected but incredible ways. They play Clementine and Joel, two people that break up painfully, then just want to forget. It is a film of love, loss, humanity, and mortality. It will make you feel so sad, yet so human.

"I could die right now, Clem. I'm just... happy. I've never felt that before. I'm just exactly where I want to be."

2. Her (2013)

Her, starring Joaquin Phoenix, is initially a strange film about an unusual kind of love. As the story progresses, it becomes a look into the nature of relationships and the way people love each other, and how those same people eventually fall out of love. Cinematically, Her is one of the most beautiful films I've ever seen.

"It's like I'm reading a book... and it's a book I deeply love. But I'm reading it slowly now. So the words are really far apart and the spaces between the words are almost infinite. I can still feel you... and the words of our story... but it's in this endless space between the words that I'm finding myself now. It's a place that's not of the physical world. It's where everything else is that I didn't even know existed. I love you so much. But this is where I am now. And this is who I am now. And I need you to let me go. As much as I want to, I can't live your book anymore."

3. Breakfast At Tiffany's (1961)

Audrey Hepburn's performance in Breakfast At Tiffany's is iconic. Everyone has seen that image of her wearing a black gown, pearls, and a high bun. Beyond that image is a film about identity, loneliness, and, of course, love. Hepburn plays Holly Golightly, a woman caught up in running away from herself

"You know what's wrong with you, Miss Whoever-you-are? You're chicken, you've got no guts. You're afraid to stick out your chin and say, 'Okay, life's a fact, people do fall in love, people do belong to each other, because that's the only chance anybody's got for real happiness.' You call yourself a free spirit, a 'wild thing,' and you're terrified somebody's gonna stick you in a cage. Well baby, you're already in that cage. You built it yourself. And it's not bounded in the west by Tulip, Texas, or in the east by Somali-land. It's wherever you go. Because no matter where you run, you just end up running into yourself."

4. Pleasantville (1998)

Pleasantville is a lesser-known film starring Reese Witherspoon and and Tobey Maguire. Life in Pleasantville is '50s-esque. It is idealistic, perfect, and everything is in black and white. It is also oppressive and uniform. Pleasantville reminds us that our differences and freedoms are important and necessary, and that things can get scary when everyone is expected to be perfect.

"Must be awfully lucky to see colors like that. I'll bet they don't know how lucky they are."

5. Dead Poets Society (1989)

Dead Poets Society is Robin Williams at his best. He plays an inspirational teacher, Mr. Keating, who teaches his students that there is more to life than structure and tradition. He teaches them to challenge structures and rules, dare to dream, and to seize the day, every day.

"To quote from Whitman, 'O me! O life!... of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless... of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life?' Answer: That you are here — that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. That the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?"

6. (500) Days of Summer (2009)

(500) Days of Summer isn't a love story. It is a story of two people (Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel) who seem destined to be together, but are not. It drives home the harsh reality that, no matter how much we love a person, sometimes they do not love us back.

“People change. Feelings change. It doesn’t mean that the love once shared wasn’t true and real. It simply just means that sometimes when people grow, they grow apart.”

7. Donnie Darko (2001)

Donnie Darko, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, is a creepy yet eye-opening cult-classic. It deals with the universal human desire for love and companionship, and our inevitable mortality. It can be a confusing film, as it dabbles in science fiction. It has many different interpretations, but has many meanings that hold true no matter how you analyze the film. People are lonely, and it can be scary to be alone in a vast world. But, inevitably, we all end up alone. Death is inevitable, and it is lonely.

"I hope that, when the world comes to an end, I can breathe a sigh of relief, because there will be so much to look forward to."

8. American Beauty (1999)

American Beauty features a hilarious, sarcastic, and tragic performance by Kevin Spacey. It is disgusting at times, but those times are important. It is sad and funny all at once, because it is so out of the norm of what is deemed acceptable in American society. However, it is a stunning film that tells us to start living now, while we still can, and to love the life you live, because it could come to an end at any moment.

"...there's so much beauty in the world. Sometimes I feel like I'm seeing it all at once, and it's too much, my heart fills up like a balloon that's about to burst... And then I remember to relax, and stop trying to hold on to it, and then it flows through me like rain and I can't feel anything but gratitude for every single moment of my stupid little life... You have no idea what I'm talking about, I'm sure. But don't worry... you will someday."

9. Silver Linings Playbook (2012)

Silver Linings Playbook was the first romantic comedy I fully enjoyed. It is more than a romantic comedy. It shows a love that is so pure, raw, and true. It prompted me to think critically about relationships, and actually left me longing deeply for someone to love. It stars Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence as two equally messed up people who find that their wounds may just heal as long as they have each other.

"The only way you can beat my crazy was by doing something crazy yourself. Thank you. I love you. I knew it the minute I met you. I'm sorry it took so long for me to catch up. I just got stuck."

10. The Breakfast Club (1985)

The Breakfast Club is a film largely about the harsh reality of high school stereotypes, and the identities those stereotypes often impose on people. Each student in Saturday detention represents a stereotype, and, throughout the film, they break free of them.

"You ought to spend a little more time trying to make something of yourself and a little less time trying to impress people."