Roman Polanski considered Kurosawa to be among the three filmmakers he favored most, along with Fellini and Orson Welles, and picked "Seven Samurai", "Throne of Blood" and "The Hidden Fortress" for praise. Bernardo Bertolucci considered Kurosawa's influence to be seminal: "Kurosawa's movies and "La Dolce Vita" of Fellini are the things that pushed me, sucked me into being a film director." Andrei Tarkovsky cited Kurosawa as one of his favorites and named "Seven Samurai" as one of his ten favorite films. Sidney Lumet called Kurosawa the "Beethoven of movie directors". Werner Herzog reflected on filmmakers with whom he feels kinship and the movies that he admires: Griffith - especially his "Birth of a Nation" and "Broken Blossoms" - Murnau, Buñuel, Kurosawa and Eisenstein’s "Ivan the Terrible", ... all come to mind. ... I like Dreyer’s "The Passion of Joan of Arc", Pudovkin’s "Storm Over Asia" and Dovzhenko’s "Earth", ... Mizoguchi’s "Ugetsu Monogatari", Satyajit Ray's "The Music Room" ... I have always wondered how Kurosawa made something as good as "Rashomon"; the equilibrium and flow are perfect, and he uses space in such a well-balanced way. It is one of the best films ever made.