Who are your favourite directors?

[TsarMatt]

I don't believe I've come across a thread about our favourite directors. I tried searching for one, too, but came up empty. Who are some of your favourite filmmakers? For me:

Ozu
Kurosawa
Mizoguchi
Lynch
Chaplin
Kubrick
Keaton
Scorsese
Gilliam
Van Sant
Tarkovsky
Malle
Bergman
Paul Thomas Anderson
Malick
Coppola (pre-80s)
Weir (the best Australian filmmaker of all time IMO)
Kiarostami
Tati

They'd have to be my favourites. Out of all of them, I'd probably say either Ozu or Lynch would be my all-time favourite. I highly recommend both their works, but particularly the former whose work isn't so well-known in the West. Late Spring and Tokyo Story are just masterworks. In terms of my favourite living director who isn't obviously Lynch, I'd go with Malick. Even though his last few films have been slightly disappointing, one can not overlook the greatness that was The Thin Red Line or Badlands or Days of Heaven. I'll add some more thoughts later -- gotta run now.

Your favourite directors?

 

[Kieran]

You definitely know your films. I tried watching a few Tarkovski films but found them to be in a different language, and I don't just mean "Russian." They seemed heavy and deep but I couldn't find a way into them. I have Andrei Rublev on disc and keep threatening to give it another go, but the film that queered the pitch for me was Nostalgia. I know it's a great film but I couldn't make head nor tails of it.

These are in no particular order, and I'm sure there are a lot more, but these will start me off!
Clint Eastwood
John Ford
John Huston
Martin Scorsese
Spike Jonze
David Lynch
Orson Welles
Quentin Tarantino
Woody Allen
Alfred Hitchcock
Ingmar Bergman
Federico Fellini
Roman Polanski (highly reluctantly, given that he should be in jail)

 

[TsarMatt]

^ Yeah, Tarkovsky is a difficult one to grasp. I, personally, don't bother trying 'to work his films out', so to speak. His work is generally very inaccessible, but I am more impressed with the mood he creates than anything else. As Kubrick once said -- "A film is - or should be - more like music than like fiction. It should be a progression of moods and feelings. The theme, what's behind the emotion, the meaning, all that comes later." I think this pretty much sums up Tark's work. Also, his visuals are absolutely staggering. I still think Stalker is, perhaps, the most beautiful film in the history of cinema.

I really like Clint Eastwood. The Bridges of Madison County and Hereafter are two of my favourite films, for sure. Gran Torino and Unforgiven are great too. Fellini and Allen are two filmmakers who I appreciate more than I admire, but they've both made a handful of very good films. Polanski is fantastic, but I know what you mean when it comes to his personal life. Jonze is one of the more promising filmmakers working today -- loved Adaptation and thought Her was great. Oh, and I love Hitchcock too. Great list man!

 

[Kieran]

Oh! Another pariah but I thought he made at least two meisterworks: Mel Gibson. What a pity he's such a tool, because he was to follow Apocalypto with a Viking film, which I think would have been awesome. When I first saw Apocalypto, I thought, this guy is the only director actually making new films. The rest of them are trotting out reheats. Not true, of course, but the visceral experience of his movies was so huge it was art...

 

[TsarMatt]

Yeah, I like/liked Gibson, too. Apocalypto is a great film, and despite all the flaws present in The Passion of the Christ (ranging from too exploitive to downright lacking in the storytelling department), it is an audacious slice of filmmaking with an amazing performance by Jim Caviezel.

I doubt he'll ever direct a motion picture again. If so, it'd have to be financed privately because his image is forever tarnished in the American industry.

 

[shawnbm]

Love John Ford and Clint Eastwood films, as well as many by Stanley Kubrick and Martin Scorsese. I liked early Pedro Almodovar and Francis Ford Coppola from the 1970s. Then there is Alfred Hitchcock, whose films are so big in my life. As for the Italians, my favorite has to be Giuseppe Tornatore, since Cinema Paradiso is probably the one film I might watch on my deathbed. I don't think he made many more pictures, but he is like J.D. Salinger and Harper Lee with Catcher in the Rye and To Kill A Mockingbird, respectively--sometimes one work of art, if moving and good enough, is sufficient to put you in the heavens of writing or directing.

 

[tented]

Great thread! We've ignored directors too long.

In more or less random order:

Bergman -- Persona is my all-time favorite film, but he made dozens of great ones. Wild Strawberries, Fanny & Alexander, Scenes from a Marriage, Cries and Whispers, and Autumn Sonata are personal favorites.

Fellini -- 8 1/2 is my second favorite, but he also made many great ones. Favorites: Juliet of the Spirits, La Dolce Vita, Nights of Cabiria, and I Vitelloni.

Coppola -- I agree with your take on The Conversation (in another thread). Such a superb, but relatively unknown work which has been overshadowed by the two Godfathers. Apocalypse Now is also genius.

Hitchcock -- Where to begin? The 39 Steps, The Lady Vanishes, Saboteur, Dial M for Murder, Rear Window, Vertigo, Psycho, and North by Northwest.

Kurosawa -- Rashomon, Seven Samurai, The Hidden Fortress, High and Low, Dreams, and Ran.

Almodovar -- He gets better with every film: an extremely rare trait in any artist. Dark Habits, Law of Desire, Women on the Verge, All About My Mother, Talk to Her, Bad Education, Volver, Broken Embraces.

Welles -- Citizen Kane, Touch of Evil, The Lady from Shanghai, The Magnificent Ambersons.

Tati -- M. Hulot's Holiday, Mon Oncle, Trafic, and Play Time.

Kubrick -- 2001, Dr. Strangelove, Paths of Glory, The Killing.

Altman -- Nashville, MASH, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, The Player, Short Cuts, Gosford Park.

Polanski -- Knife in the Water, Fearless Vampire Killers, Rosemary's Baby, Chinatown, Tess, The Pianist. [Side note: I often think the less I know about an artist, the better. If I were to reject out of hand every director, actor, actress, novelist, poet, playwright, painter, sculptor, composer, and musician who has ever expressed an anti-gay sentiment at some point, I would be virtually bereft of art.]

Lean -- The epics are great, but so are some of his early ones, like Great Expectations, Oliver Twist, and Brief Encounter. Personal favorite: Summertime.

Malick -- Along with Almodovar, probably the other truly great living director. Days of Heaven is beautiful, The Thin Red Line is second only to Apocalypse Now for greatest war movie, but my absolute favorite is The New World. It got lost in the holiday blitz when it was released, and then the studio made him re-cut it, which further confused its release, etc. If you haven't seen it, though, please do. A desert island film.

Kieslowski -- The Decalogue, The Double Life of Veronique, and Three Colors: Blue, White, and Red are all masterpieces. Some of the earlier ones are also worth seeing: Camera Buff, Blind Chance, No End, and the two feature-length films which sprung from the Decalogue (A Short Film About Killing, and A Short Film About Love). So tragic that he died so (relatively) young, especially since he was another rare artist who was getting better and better.

For fun, I like Lubitsch. The Shop Around the Corner, Trouble in Paradise, To Be or Not to Be, Ninotchka, and personal favorite: The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg. That one's hard to find, since it has never been released on DVD. Probably because it's silent (1927).

Another good one for comedy was Howard Hawks: His Girl Friday and Bringing Up Baby are classics.

Haneke -- Code Unknown, Cache, The Piano Teacher. I haven't yet seen The White Ribbon or Amour, but I will.

Whoa -- just realized how long this is getting! I'll stop for now, even though I'm sure I've neglected to mention tons more.

 

[TsarMatt]

^ Awesome list! I can tell you're a real film fanatic.

My favourite Bergman film is actually The Silence which is definitely one of his lesser-known works. But yeah, Fanny and Alexander, Wild Strawberries, and Scenes from a Marriage are masterful, too. I've never really dug Persona, though - I'd say it's probably his most avant-garde and stylistic film, but it was a bit too... 'convoluted' for my liking. Then again, it's been a while since I've seen it.

Have you seen Dersu Uzala when it comes to Kurosawa? I actually think that's his best work, and simply a gorgeous-looking film. Almodovar is one of those filmmakers who I have yet to delve into. Shocking, I know! I've been meaning to start his films for years now. I should soon -- I heard nothing but arrant acclaim for him and his work.

Great to see another Tati fan! Play Time has to be one of the most ambitious comedy films of the 20th century. How much I'd give to see it in 70mm *drools*. He was a true visionary and seldom can I think of many films from that time period that had the same amount of intellectual depth as his work had.

I, too, like Altman but not as much as some others do. In regards to Malick, I've never liked The New World. It is probably one of the most well-photographed films of all time, but it felt pretty jumbled. I never liked Malick's brand of editing here -- too many cuts. The Tree of Life was a vast improvement. To the Wonder was good, too, but suffered some of the same issues as TNW. But yeah, TRL, Badlands and Days of Heaven are just brilliant.

Ugh, I forgot about Kieslowski! A Short Film About Love is one of my twenty favourite films of all time. Good call, there.

 

[tented]

I haven't seen Bergman's The Silence, but I'll check it out. I'm always willing to watch something by him. Although it may be a long time before I watch Scenes from a Marriage again. I don't remember ever feeling so uncomfortable while watching a film. Liv Ullmann is such an incredible actress. She pulled me in so deep I was embarrassed for her character.

I'm not familiar with the Kurosawa you mention. I'll have to see if it's available on DVD or Blu-Ray.

A 70mm of Play Time would be fantastic. Plus, it's one of those films you can watch a dozen times, and still see new things. I got the Criterion release on Blu-Ray, but haven't watched it yet. Now that it's on my mind, I'll have to play it soon.

 

[britbox]

You definitely know your films. I tried watching a few Tarkovski films but found them to be in a different language, and I don't just mean "Russian." They seemed heavy and deep but I couldn't find a way into them. I have Andrei Rublev on disc and keep threatening to give it another go, but the film that queered the pitch for me was Nostalgia. I know it's a great film but I couldn't make head nor tails of it.

These are in no particular order, and I'm sure there are a lot more, but these will start me off!
Clint Eastwood
John Ford
John Huston
Martin Scorsese
Spike Jonze
David Lynch
Orson Welles
Quentin Tarantino
Woody Allen
Alfred Hitchcock
Ingmar Bergman
Federico Fellini
Roman Polanski (highly reluctantly, given that he should be in jail)

A lot of my faves on this list also. Would also add Danny Boyle, who I think is a great director but slips under the radar a bit.

 

[tented]

A lot of my faves on this list also. Would also add Danny Boyle, who I think is a great director but slips under the radar a bit.

Boyle is interesting. Like Ridley Scott, he isn't genre-specific. You never know what either of them will do next. Could be a mystery, a drama, sci-fi, or historical epic.

Trainspotting is still my favorite by Boyle. Great film, great soundtrack.

 

[Kieran]

I liked Trance, by Danny Boyle, it was a good film, but it transcended even film when Rosario Dawson strode toward the camera, well.. :heart:

 

[Kieran]

One guy who I liked the idea of, more than his films, was John Cassavetes. I adored him as an actor and his idea as director, to get past what looks cinematically real and show life itself in all its pauses and natural gestures sometimes gave us films that were heavy and self indulgent. Actors improvised like crazy. Husbands was a film that just rambled nowhere, far as I could see. But I enjoyed The Killing of a Chinese Bookie...

 

[tented]

I liked Trance, by Danny Boyle, it was a good film, but it transcended even film when Rosario Dawson strode toward the camera, well.. :heart:

I saw this on cable a week or two ago, so I know exactly which scene you mean.

I was disappointed with the film overall. Without getting into spoilers, it became too farfetched by the last 20-30 minutes. Great cast, great director, but didn't quite work. Or were you too busy ogling Rosario even to consider the storyline?

 

[Kieran]

I liked Trance, by Danny Boyle, it was a good film, but it transcended even film when Rosario Dawson strode toward the camera, well.. :heart:

I saw this on cable a week or two ago, so I know exactly which scene you mean.

I was disappointed with the film overall. Without getting into spoilers, it became too farfetched by the last 20-30 minutes. Great cast, great director, but didn't quite work. Or were you too busy ogling Rosario even to consider the storyline?

I didn't see the last twenty minutes, my glasses were steamed up. :snigger

It reminded me a little of Spike Lee's Inside Man, an attempt to make a generic flick, but yeah, I don't think it was that great. I like Trainspotting by Boyle, but other than this, I'd keep him off the pantheon of great directors...

 

[TsarMatt]

Ugh, I can't believe I forgot Fritz Lang! The genius behind M, Metropolis, Dr. Mabuse and so much more. He was truly ahead of his time. Metropolis is perhaps the most epic sci-fi film of all time behind 2001: A Space Odyssey and M is just flawlessly crafted.

The man was a genius. His American films were good, too, but not nearly to the same degree. German cinema in the 20s was just paramount. Then Hitler had to ruin it.

 

[Murat Baslamisli]

Pretty much all my favorites have been mentioned here. Even though he is not one of my favorite directors, what Frank Darabont achieved in Shawshank Redemption, bringing that book to life in such an amazing way, I give him lots of props for that movie.

 

[TsarMatt]

^ I'm with you on Darabont. One of the few filmmakers who can truly capture the atmosphere of King's books. The Green Mile and The Mist are great too.

 

[Kieran]

David Cronenberg is another director who bucks the mainstream and attempts to go elsewhere with his films. His new film, Maps to the Stars, got a great review in this morning's Telegraph.

I don't know if he's a "great" director, because I haven't seen enough of his films to say he's made enough great films, but he's a fearless one...

 

[TsarMatt]

^ I admire Cronenberg more than I like him. His body horror work in the 80s really didn't do much for me, but I love A History of Violence and, to a lesser extent, Eastern Promises. Also, Spider is an awfully overlooked film, and one of the most accurate depictions of mental illness on the Silver Screen.

But yeah, despite some of the critical and commercial success his films have been awarded, he hasn't sold his soul into the macabre world of Hollywood. He still makes personal, often challenging films. Gotta' respect that.