Mot film fans (heck most people within earshot of the media) are aware than in the last few days, we’ve lost two iconic directors, Bergman and Antonioni. These two were giants of cinema, among the most influential directors of the 20th century. (We also lost in late July, Laszlo Kovacs, a director of photography who might be best known for his terrific collaborations with Peter Bogdanavich (Paper Moon, Whats Up Doc), for Shampoo, and for 60’s classics like Five Easy Pieces and Easy Rider.)
This loss of talent got me thinking about who is left. Which directors left are the best working. We have the obvious giants, but if you had to pick, lets say ten directors not named Coppola, Scorcese or Spielberg (assuming they’d pretty much make every list, they are our modern versions of Chaplin, Keaton, Ford, Hitchcock, Hawks, Kubrick, Capra, Stevens, Wyler, Welles, etc.), who would you pick. We’ll limit it to film directors working primarily in the English language, cause otherwise, fughedaboutit.
List ‘em. Top ten. Go.
14 comments:
well, Clint Eastwood must be included - Milos Forman, Stephen Frears, maybe Minghella, Tim Burton, Woody Allen?, Ang Lee
How's that for starters?
Happy? Thats only seven. How about ten. And Anthony Minghella. I hated the English Patient (kidding of course, but its a funny Seinfeld).
This is tougher than I thought it would be:
Roman Polanski
Bernardo Bertolucci
Clint Eastwood
Mike Nichols
Milos Forman
Quentin Tarantino
Ridley Scott
The Coen Brothers
Michael Mann
Peter Jackson
Honorable Mention for Past Glories:
Woody Allen
Sidney Lumet
Brian DePalma
William Friedkin
Peter Bogdanovich
Sydney Pollack
Mark Rydell
Norman Jewison
Alan Parker
James Cameron
John
1. Thats cheating. But OK. I can live with cheating as long as it is interesting.
2. Peter Jackson. Hmmm. I love the LOTR. Love them. But basically, its one long story. So between that, Heavenly Creatures, King Kong, Dead Alive and The Frighteners? I am not sure that this body of work really gets to my top ten. He may make it there. But he wouldnt be there yet. ( I dont know enough about Bad Taste and The Feebles to let them count).
Ridley Scott. Well, I guess Blade Runner, alone gets you mentioned. And Alien, and Black Hawk, Matchstick Men, and Gladiator (and even GI Jane, which I recently watched and which is pretty darn good). I guess I can live with him. He's a bit one note (except Matchstick Men and A Good Year (which I never got through)), but there is the auteurist vision at work. He's had his share of clunkers, but many have.
Polanski. Bertolucci, Forman, Nichols, Coen Bros. Check Check Check Check Check. Michael Mann, for me, absolutely. Clint has clunkers too, but yeah, Unforgiven, Josey Wales, HPD, Pale Rider, my personal fave White Hunter Black Heart, and then recently Iwo Jima, Million Dollar Baby and Mystic River (to me, the last two both a tiny tiny bit below earlier work). And Quentin. He's a bit light too, maybe, just because he hasnt made that many films. But since they all range from Good to Great, yeah, I can live with that too.
Of course, questions regarding Ridley Scott and Peter Jackson, well, then, who instead. Easy enough to point the finger, but who else?
I noticed no Arthur Penn on your list. Wouldnt be my top ten, but might sneak in the extended honorable mention list. No Tim Burton. Ron Howard? Robert Zemeckis, perhaps the most underrated director of our time? Ollie Stone? Sydney Pollack had some great films, particularly in the seventies and eighties. Richard Donner might have spent too much time on sequels and star vehicle. Probably. Peter Weir seems worthy. Frears. Demme. Levinson? Leigh? I love some of Alan Parkers movies, but is he better than these guys? And Mr. John Boorman. Oh, and Michael Apted.
Chris Nolan
James Cameron – Up’s the ante on every movie he makes!
Wes Craven
Clint Eastwood
Roman Polanski
Michael Haneke
Tim Burton
Quentin Tarantino
Ridley Scott
Michael Bay – Always enjoyable no brain pop corn blockbusters
Forgot David Cronenberg!
well, i thought it was a discussion - not everyone's own top 10 -- but that said...my top 10:
Clint, Forman, Burton, Coen Brothers, Nichols, Mann, Minghella, Ang Lee, Polanski, Woody Allen
Happy - you know how I know you're gay. Because you like Ang Lee and Coldplay. Hehe. (Speaking of which, I dont think Judd Apatow is there yet).
what does the o stand for in grump o selznick?
Bobby, i am guessing you like comic book and horror movies. Wait, I already know you love them. Michael Bay might be pushing it a bit - but of course, to each their own. No Brett Ratner, huh? And I like Nolan a lot, and thought about him (and Bryan Singer) but I dont think they have the body of work yet. Wes Craven. No comment. He's made up some great concepts, certainly. And Tim Burton, well, hes great. Might crack my top ten.
Oh, and Anon. What does the O. stand for? Nothing. (North by Northwest).
Intersting blog. I guess the top 10 is subject to interpretation. Some of my choices are more ambigious than more.
Terrance Malick
Joel Coen
David Lynch
Erol Morris
Paul Anderson
Quentin Tarrintino
Steven Soderbergh
Woody Allen
Ridley Scott
Ron Howard
but personally, grumpy, I find the foreign directors more interesting.
In no particular order .......
Zhang Yimou
Guillermo del Toro
Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Takashi Miike
Luc Besson
Susanne Bier
Roman Polanski
Ang Lee
Bong Joon-ho
Roberto Benigni
Malick is a good choice. I thought about Howard, as I wrote him in below. Anderson has done some good stuff, but not enough for me - same deal for Alexander Payne, whose filmmography is more impressive at this point, to me, than Anderson. Without saying so, I wasnt doing doco - but if i were, Errol Morris would make any list. David Lynch has made some films I love, but he'd fall a bit short, commercial tastes that I have.
Since we're not doing foreign (that a whole other blog entry i can do), not gonna address them, except that Polanski and Lee make english language films and thus are included or includible.
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