In writer and director John Patton Ford’s working class crime thriller Emily the Criminal, Aubrey Plaza plays a student saddled with student debt and locked out of the job market due to a minor criminal record. She gets involved in a credit card scam that pulls her into the criminal underworld of Los Angeles, a place she thrives even as the danger gets higher and higher.

From the film’s premiere at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, it’s cemented itself as a certified banger in the LA movie canon, landing a spot on our Festiville team’s Best of Sundance.

We asked Ford to let us know his own selections for LA Movies That Bang, and here’s what he came up with. Be sure to read the notes to get his explanations on why each brings the fire.🔥