The Fifty Best Living Directors
1. Martin Scorsese | Raging Bull 2. Jean-Luc Godard | Breathless
3. Steven Spielberg | Schindler's List
4. Joel & Ethan Coen | Fargo (probably right, but I'd pick Blood Simple)
5. Steven Soderbergh | Traffic
6. Paul Thomas Anderson | Magnolia
7. Woody Allen | Annie Hall (bizarrely, I'd pick Take The Money and Run)
8. Quentin Tarantino | Pulp Fiction
9. David Lynch | Mulholland Dr.
10. Wong Kar-Wai | In The Mood For Love
11. Wes Anderson | Rushmore (Fantastic Mr. Fox)
12. Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne | L'Enfant (The Son)
13. Werner Herzog | Grizzly Man (Aguirre, The Wrath Of God)
14. Francis Ford Coppola | The Godfather
15. Lars von Trier | Breaking The Waves (Dogville)
16. Hou Hsiao-Hsien | Hao nan hao nu [Good Men, Good Women]
17. David Fincher | Fight Club
18. Abbas Kiarostami | Taste Of Cherry (Close-Up)
19. Clint Eastwood | Mystic River (Unforgiven)
20. Hayao Miyazaki | Princess Mononoke
21. Apichatpong Weerasethakul | Syndromes and a Century
22. Agnes Varda | Vagabond
23. David Cronenberg | A History of Violence
24. Tim Burton | Edward Scissorhands
25. Wim Wenders | Wings Of Desire
26. Jim Jarmusch | Ghost Dog (good call!!)
27. Terry Gilliam | Brazil
28. Claire Denis | Chocolat
29. Christopher Nolan | The Dark Knight (Memento)
30. Danny Boyle | Slumdog Millionaire (Trainspotting)
31. Chris Marker | Sans Soleil
32. Michael Haneke | Cache (White Ribbon)
33. Alain Resnais | Hiroshima Mon Amour
34. Gus Van Sant | Good Will Hunting
35. Ridley Scott | Blade Runner (probably, but my peculiar fave: Matchstick Men)
36. Richard Linklater | Before Sunset (near miss: Before Sunrise)
37. Pedro Almodovar | Talk To Her
38. Spike Lee | Do The Right Thing
39. Jacques Rivette | La belle Noiseuse
40. Guillermo Del Toro | Pan's Labyrinth
41. James Cameron | Avatar
42. Jane Campion | The Piano
43. Terrence Malick | Days Of Heaven
44. Cameron Crowe | Almost Famous (Say Anything)
45. Sofia Coppola | Lost In Translation
46. John Sayles | Lone Star (near miss: should be Men With Guns)
47. Jim Sheridan | My Left Foot
48. Errol Morris | The Fog Of War (Thin Blue Line)
49. Charles Burnett | Killer Of Sheep
50. Mel Brooks | Blazing Saddles
And these are the most significant imissions pointed out by readers, along with my pick of their Crowning Achievement . . .
Todd Haynes | Far From Heaven
Roman Polanski | Chinatown
Peter Jackson | The Lord Of The Rings
Alexander Payne | About Schmidt
And I'd add . . .
John Lassetter | Up
(boldface = my top picks, brackets = my preferred films)
And here's what I have yet to see, from most to least urgent...
ReplyDeleteAvatar, but only to catch it in Imax before it's gone. Some reluctance: the only reason anyone recommends it is for its look, but those blue people hold no appeal.
Breaking The Waves | how can I not have seen this, with Dogville my #3 favourite?
In The Mood For Love | one of my friend Peter's faves, very high on critic lists for this last decade
Syndromes and a Century | same
Sans Soleil | like Syndromes, mostly visual: I think it would appeal. And I've never seen a Marker.
Breathless | have never seen a French New Wave film. I'm appalled at my own self.
Cache | White Ribbon masterful, Time Of The Wolf memorable
Killer of Sheep | it's all the rage, and new to A&F100
A Taste of Cherry | a Peter fave, and A&F100?
Hiroshima Mon Amour | long overdue
Princess Mononoke | love Totoro and Spirited Away
Fog Of War | love Thin Blue Line
Blazing Saddles | why not
Chocolat | more eager to see Beau Travail
La Belle Noiseuse | four hours of a naked Emmanuelle Béart, naked? complicated decision
Vagabond | hadn't heard of this. would have thought Cléo de 5 à 7. Gleaners underimpressed.
Good Men, Good Women | haven't heard of this, but want to see the director's work
Talk To Her | Almodovar has yet to work for me
I can't believe there's a director on here that I've never even heard of. Apichatpong Weerasethakul? What's the deal?
ReplyDeleteAlso, I see you saw Close-up. What'd ya think? Pretty neat, hey?
Taste of Cherry is a very interesting little picture with a real good premise that just clicks. Also, Hiroshima Mon Amour is awesome. I think I missed it in my top 100, can't remember. But Check it out.
ReplyDeleteYeah, Syndromes is highly touted. Don't know about his other films. | Saw Close-Up some years back, really love it, makes me keen to see Taste Of Cherry. And thanks for the Hiroshima plug: I'll move it up in my queue!
ReplyDeleteNo Sydney Lumet, Denys Arcand or Roman Polanski? This list just lost a lot of class...
ReplyDelete