A-List: Best Working Directors
By Josh Spiegel
April 1, 2010
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Recently, Entertainment Weekly released, on its Web site, a list of the 25 greatest active directors and, though I couldn't really criticize a lot of the names chosen for the list, the placement troubled me. Here is a list where Darren Aronofsky and Paul Thomas Anderson are battling it out with Zack Snyder and Tim Burton; the bad news is that the former two gentlemen both placed behind the latter two. I won't argue with those who love 300, Watchmen, or Alice in Wonderland, but let's be honest: There Will Be Blood, Magnolia, The Wrestler, and Requiem for a Dream are...shall we say, a little more ambitious, exciting, and stunning to be placed behind the man who helped unleash Gerard Butler on America. Thanks, Zack Snyder; yes, I blame you for The Bounty Hunter.
In short, I'd like to provide a few names of my own; I'm not saying that these names will be different. I've already mentioned one of the directors who will show up in the A-List, and it's hard to argue. Of course, this list is not ranked, so if it makes you happy, each of the names on this list is a winner. Two names that won't show up are those of James Cameron and Kathryn Bigelow. The former because he's done so little work in the past 15 years that's so invested in being spectacle more than anything else that I can't fully get behind him; the latter because, though Bigelow's work in The Hurt Locker was indeed Oscar-worthy, she's also responsible for Point Break and K-19: The Widowmaker. It's about a body of work. And so, check out this week's A-List; feel free to spew vitriol against me afterwards.
Martin Scorsese
It's honestly hard to argue by saying that rank or otherwise, Martin Scorsese is the best working director today. There are plenty of people (I would include myself among them) who aren't as thrilled that his sole Best Director Oscar came for his 2006 film The Departed. The film was fine, sure, but it was more than obvious that the Academy, by having Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, and Francis Ford Coppola bestow the award, knew that they were just making up for ignoring such classics as Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, and GoodFellas. That said, he's managed, unlike those three men, to remain fresh and important, as much so as directors half his age. While Coppola tends to his wine, Lucas works on projects that may yet ruin someone else's childhood, and Spielberg talks a big game without producing anything, Scorsese is still a vital and important director.
So, yes, if you're wondering, I did love Shutter Island. Scorsese's latest has managed to do very well at the box office, doing a bit better than I might have expected, what with some people recoiling from the presumed twist ending. I say presumed because, well, the movie's not about the twist. Frankly, there isn't really meant to be a twist. When you watch Shutter Island (and you should, as Scorsese's style and panache have aged like fine wines), think of it as a character study, a you-are-there look at one man's weak grasp at his sanity. The cinematography, the production design, the music; all here is as fresh as some of Scorsese's work from the 1970s and 1980s. Some people may not have been hot on The Departed, but there's nothing but love in Shutter Island; it's a dark film from a remarkably talented man whose work proves that it's possible to love film and make film at the same time.
Christopher Nolan
Anyone who reads the A-List knows how much I love Christopher Nolan's work. Unlike Scorsese, he's not made a bad movie; however, he's had a lot less time to do any bad filmmaking, and it's hard to imagine a future film of his that isn't at least well-made and exciting to watch. Nolan started out with a small film called Following, but his first big step into the world of Hollywood was with his 2000 film Memento, which is arguably one of the great films about an unreliable narrator (a quality shared with - spoiler alert - Shutter Island), and one of the best mainstream debuts. Nolan followed up with Insomnia, but his reboot of the Batman franchise is what's made him one of the most popular and important filmmakers to watch. Of course, it helps that the second new Batman film is The Dark Knight, one of the biggest and best blockbusters.
His latest comes out in July, is called Inception, and if I could talk about it every day, I probably would (You're warned.). The cast is impressive, and what little has been revealed about the plot is also intriguing; without giving too much of what is known away, it involves people stealing dreams. The trailer also features a city block somehow flipping into itself while being invisibly dragged towards the sky, so it's likely going to screw with our heads. I'm there already. Nolan's also tied to the newest reboot of the Superman franchise, though only as a producer, and is apparently officially working on the script to the third new Batman film. I can't promise that I'd immediately line up for a new Superman movie, but a follow-up to The Dark Knight? If Nolan can do half of what he did before, who would avoid this man's legendary, grand work?
Paul Thomas Anderson
Avid readers of the A-List know that I consider the 2007 epic drama There Will Be Blood to be the best film of the first decade of the 21st century. So it's no surprise that I would include the film's writer and director, Paul Thomas Anderson, on this list. Anderson's previous films are also fascinating to watch. With the exception of his debut film, which is called Hard Eight or Sydney (depending on which version you watch or who you ask), all of his films are among the most ambitious and challenging American films of the past 20 years. Even Punch-Drunk Love, the smallest of his major films, is a weirdly romantic comedy starring Adam Sandler and Emily Watson, and features a subplot involving frozen-dinner prizes. One thing that you can say about Anderson's work is that, no matter what he does, it will be worth watching and different from his other work.
Even his first two major films, Boogie Nights and Magnolia, manage to be similar and completely different. Both are inspired by Robert Altman, both are set in the San Fernando Valley, both feature huge casts, both are long, and both are very R-rated. But one is about porn and the other is about fate, coincidences, and destiny. Okay, in all fairness, I'm being reductive. Both films are about much, much more than that, and both do share the common thread of painful familial relationships, usually between fathers and sons. Punch-Drunk Love does feature a protagonist with truly awful sisters, but no father figure. There Will Be Blood, of course, is awash in father-son relationships, and even brother-brother relationships. More than anyone else in his age range, what impresses most about Paul Thomas Anderson is that his films will be analyzed and picked apart years from now.
Joel and Ethan Coen
Those same avid readers who recognize my previous love for There Will Be Blood probably also remember that, last month, I spent a little bit of space here on my soapbox bashing A Serious Man, one of the ten Best Picture Oscar nominees, directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. And yet, as I've mentioned elsewhere on the list, even a bad film from the Coen brothers is well-made, striking in its visuals, and worth watching. I'm not happy with what I saw, but I am glad I saw it. They're on the list not only for that distinction, but because the majority of their films are instantly considered classics. From Blood Simple to Raising Arizona to Barton Fink to Fargo to O Brother, Where Art Thou...well, the list goes on. The point is that the Coens have managed to grow in their films, from themes to performances to something as seemingly unnoticeable as production design.
The Coens have a new film coming out this Christmas, and is sure to be worth checking out, even if it leads these two men down a dangerous path they've been down before: the path of the remake. In 2004, they released The Ladykillers, their Tom Hanks-led version of the 1955 British comedy. Though I'm no hater of the film, it's...well, it's not good. So, that's the caution I have when considering that their latest film is a remake of True Grit, the John Wayne Western that garnered him a Best Actor Oscar. In place of Wayne, the Coens have reunited with the Dude himself, Jeff Bridges, recent Best Actor winner. Suffice to say, the Coens doing another Western and doing it with Jeff Bridges is enough for this writer to line up, but I'll not forget The Ladykillers when I sit down to see it. All else aside, though, if it's a film by the Coens, it's worth watching, as is anything they do.
David Fincher
Here's another visual master who doesn't get the proper amount of love from mainstream audiences. On the one hand, sure, most people flocked to Fincher's latest film, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which brought him back with Brad Pitt, the star who was the lead in Se7en and Fight Club. On the other hand, it was Forrest Gump starring Brad Pitt. The movie was impressive to look at, and about as cold a film as Fincher had ever made. Though his films don't exactly scream "personal touch", movies like Fight Club and Se7en are far more true to his spirit than Benjamin Button, which can't really ever find a balance between Fincher's coldly cynical take on the world with the Forrest Gump view of things. But, as with the other men on this list, there is nothing he makes that I wouldn't watch, whether I love it or not.
And, as with the Coens, I and everyone else will have a chance to check out his latest film this year. As mentioned in a previous A-List, Fincher's newest film is The Social Network, an Aaron Sorkin-penned film about the creation of Facebook. Who knows if it will attract the same amount of people to the theaters as do use Facebook, but Fincher working with Sorkin is exciting, all by itself. Add to that the rumors (which are closer to confirmed, according to The Playlist) that Fincher may direct the American version of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, the wildly successful best-selling novel, and it looks like Fincher's visual prowess isn't likely to be diminished, even if the films he's making vary in topic and tone. Also, anyone who's read Girl knows that Fincher won't flinch from showing the gruesome aspects of the show, which is probably for the best.