Who are your favourite directors?

[tented]

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...

Have you seen Dead Ringers? Weird, but fascinating. Incredible acting by Jeremy Irons.

Cronenberg made a relatively obscure film a few years ago called A Dangerous Method, which was enjoyable. It's about Freud and Jung's relationship, and includes the strangest performance you could possibly imagine by Keira Knightley.

 

[Kieran]

^ 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.

That's the thing, admire, rather than like. There are great actors and directors who fall into that category. I don't warm to too much quirkiness, eccentricity, or violence. This is why I think Tim Burton is the most overrated boring windbag, all these stagey mannerisms, Johnny Deppisms. He's "dark" and "strange" for people who don't know what these words mean...

 

[TsarMatt]

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...

Have you seen Dead Ringers? Weird, but fascinating. Incredible acting by Jeremy Irons.

Cronenberg made a relatively obscure film a few years ago called A Dangerous Method, which was enjoyable. It's about Freud and Jung's relationship, and includes the strangest performance you could possibly imagine by Keira Knightley.

Oh, good call on ADM. I've been meaning to see that one ever since its release. It looks great, despite the lukewarm reception. Always had an interest in Jung and Freud.

^ 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.

That's the thing, admire, rather than like. There are great actors and directors who fall into that category. I don't warm to too much quirkiness, eccentricity, or violence. This is why I think Tim Burton is the most overrated boring windbag, all these stagey mannerisms, Johnny Deppisms. He's "dark" and "strange" for people who don't know what these words mean...

Man, couldn't agree with you more on Burton. People who label his work as "complex", "dark", and "surreal" sort of annoys me. I mean, it's their opinion after all, yes, but I find none of his films to be such things. They are mostly style over substance, and pretty uninspired overall. His best film is Ed Wood, IMO, and that's because it doesn't feel like a Burton film in the least.

 

[tented]

That's the thing, admire, rather than like. There are great actors and directors who fall into that category. I don't warm to too much quirkiness, eccentricity, or violence. This is why I think Tim Burton is the most overrated boring windbag, all these stagey mannerisms, Johnny Deppisms. He's "dark" and "strange" for people who don't know what these words mean...

Yes, yes, yes. I'm so sick of them. It's the same one-dimensional crap again and again.

 

[TsarMatt]

That's the thing, admire, rather than like. There are great actors and directors who fall into that category. I don't warm to too much quirkiness, eccentricity, or violence. This is why I think Tim Burton is the most overrated boring windbag, all these stagey mannerisms, Johnny Deppisms. He's "dark" and "strange" for people who don't know what these words mean...

Yes, yes, yes. I'm so sick of them. It's the same one-dimensional crap again and again.

Yep. I hate it when teenagers think that Burton is a "unique" artist who makes some of the most unconventional and artistic films in all of cinema. I mean, you're entitled to your opinion and all, but you haven't seen much if you stand by that assertion!

I had so many arguments at high school with Burton fanatics. I developed quite the reputation of being a Burton-hater which didn't exactly help my popularity. :snigger

 

[Kieran]

I enjoyed Dead Ringers, T, but I still have to watch ADM. I think it's in Netflix so I think I'll give it a spin over the next few days...

 

[Kieran]

We haven't mentioned too much here about great French film directors. I grew up loving French cinema, I used to devour whole seasons of French movies in the Irish Film Centre, and on telly on Channel 4 and BBC 2, mainly because I thought the young Depardieu was a hungry film-making Demi-god. I still think he was/is a great actor, but what about the likes of Maurice Pialat and Claude Berri, less well known than the more famous giants like Truffaut and Godard.

At a certain point I got it in my head that French film makers had vanished up their own Federers, making misogynistic self indulgent neurotic mind sapping stories, but that isn't true at all: they were just being French... :snigger


(Sorry J-B!)!

 

[TsarMatt]

My favourite French director is Louis Malle. Murmur of the Heart, My Dinner with Andre (despite being an American production), and Au Revior Les Enfants are three of my all-time favourite films.

I have a problem with Godard. There seems to be one reoccurring issue with his films - they are too often plagued with almost overtly philosophical rants. His films seem to struggle finding a balance between telling a story and embedding his own pensive thoughts within them. But that's just me.

Alain Resnais, who recently died (RIP), was a great film director, as was Rene Clement and Truffaut. Generally, though, when it comes to European cinema, I'm not too big on the French New Wave. I much preferred West German cinema at the time and the masterworks from the Italian neorealist movement. So yeah, French films never really 'did' it for me, although there's no denying the influence the New Wave had on American cinema, particularly the New Hollywood era.

Pialat and Berri are two I've had my eye on for some time now. Must get into their work soon. Thanks for the reminder! Jean-Pierre Melville is cool too.

 

[Kieran]

My favourite French director is Louis Malle. Murmur of the Heart, My Dinner with Andre (despite being an American production), and Au Revior Les Enfants are three of my all-time favourite films.

I have a problem with Godard. There seems to be one reoccurring issue with his films - they are too often plagued with almost overtly philosophical rants. His films seem to struggle finding a balance between telling a story and embedding his own pensive thoughts within them. But that's just me.

Alain Resnais, who recently died (RIP), was a great film director, as was Rene Clement and Truffaut. Generally, though, when it comes to European cinema, I'm not too big on the French New Wave. I much preferred West German cinema at the time and the masterworks from the Italian neorealist movement. So yeah, French films never really 'did' it for me, although there's no denying the influence the New Wave had on American cinema, particularly the New Hollywood era.

Pialat and Berri are two I've had my eye on for some time now. Must get into their work soon. Thanks for the reminder! Jean-Pierre Melville is cool too.

Well, that's the thing with Godard: he inserts himself into the films, by bringing his philosophies in. A lot of directors do this, so maybe the problem is more with his philosophies? Or is it the fact that he's so explicit about it, to the detriment of the film?

I haven't watched so many French films as I did when I was young, and maybe I watched all them for the same reason I read Rimbaud poetry, Keruoac novels and absorbed myself in eastern mystical writings: I thought there was a knowledge there. Or, more accurately, I thought it would make me look more knowledgeable. :snigger

I remember Under Satan's Sun, by Pialat. It made a big impression on me at the time, but I haven't watched it for a long time. And of course, Berri directed Jean de Florette and Manon des Sources, and Germinal.

I'm not overly familiar with German films, so would be happy to receive some recommendations!

 

[TsarMatt]

Yeah, I just think the philosophical 'rantings' in Godard films are a bit too excessive, almost to the point of being distracting and disrupting the flow of the film.

In regards to German cinema, the first filmmaker I'd recommend is Wim Wenders, particularly his Road Movie trilogy and Wings of Desire. And then there's the radical Rainer Werner Fassbinder who is such a polarising figure. I'd also recommend pretty every German film by Werner Herzog who I'm sure you've heard of. There's plenty of others, too, but they are the figureheads IMO.

 

[Kieran]

I have heard of Herzog, he made plenty of films with that certifiable mad man, Klaus Kinski. I haven't seen any of them yet, though. And wasn't Lieutenant Colombo in a Wender movie? Just checked on iMDB, yes, he was in Wings of Desire, which is a film I enjoyed. I've seen Paris, Texas by Wenders too, but looking through the list, he has a lot of movies for me to discover.

Thanks!