The Greatest Living Filmmakers

NonP

NonP

Legend
That brief movie talk in the Nadal-vs.-Safin thread got me thinking about who would make my honor roll of the greatest living filmmakers, and while this is a preliminary attempt that will likely remain a never-ending work in progress I still hope you'll find it useful when deciding what to watch in the many frustrating days ahead. To make it especially worthwhile I've embedded links to my old pontifications where available/appropriate.

Here goes, in rough order of merit (or preference/reputation for the not-so-sure categories) with the total number of candidates in parentheses (duos are counted as one apiece unless each partner has a significant individual filmography of his/her/their own):

The Legends (2)
Godard, Lean-Luc
Hou Hsiao-Hsien

These two seem to me the only ones alive who can stand alongside the grandmasters of yesteryear without yielding an inch. I understand it's hard to get a hand on Hou's major works online, so I'm thrilled to report that last year's 4K restoration of Flowers of Shanghai, one of my '90s faves, has been hitting the (virtual) film festival circuit recently (including the AFI's Taiwanese Cinema Rediscovered):


Availability will vary based on your region (FYI the AFI slot ended just a couple days ago), so keep your radar sharp.

Of course that isn't to say Godard and Hou are the only living film directors who command our attention. Let's move on to our next round:

The Majors (42)
Polanski, Roman
Jia Zhangke
Scorsese, Martin
Jarmusch, Jim
Eastwood, Clint
Miyazaki, Hayao
Dardenne, Jean-Pierre and Luc
Gilliam, Terry
Spielberg, Steven
Herzog, Werner
Zhang Yimou
Cronenberg, David
Linklater, Richard
Denis, Claire
Coppola, Francis Ford
Wong Kar-wai
Lynch, David
May, Elaine
Kore-eda, Hirokazu
Wenders, Wim
Haynes, Todd
Morris, Errol
Kaurismäki, Aki
Malick, Terrence
Verhoeven, Paul
Pawlikowski, Paweł
Cuarón, Alfonso
Anderson, Wes
Chazelle, Damien
Anderson, Paul Thomas
Scott, Ridley
Brooks, Albert
Lee, Spike
Van Sant, Gus
Brooks, James L.
Lelio, Sebastián
James, Steve
Del Toro, Guillermo
Erice, Víctor*
Campion, Jane
Payne, Alexander
Straub, Jean-Marie**

*Erice has produced all of three features and nothing at all since 2007, but if you've seen The Spirit of the Beehive/El espíritu de la colmena you'll know why he belongs up here. His second feature El sur (The South) is almost as magical, and while his documentary Dream of Light/El sol del membrillo isn't the equal of its predecessors it remains a highlight of his slender yet rich filmography.

**Straub is virtually impossible to treat separately from his late wife Danièle Huillet, the other half of the redoubtable Straub-Huillet duo. Hence his inclusion only.

There are several names here like Scott and Van Sant that haven't done anything for me in eons, but I'm still including them for their earlier works which can be said to have changed our perception of the world.

And just so there aren't any serious omissions:

The TBDs (22)
Tarr, Béla
Burnett, Charles
Maddin, Guy
Davies, Terence
Costa, Pedro
Petzold, Christian
Kwan, Stanley
Tian Zhuangzhuang
Téchiné, André (see the footnote for the Barry Jenkins entry below)
Tsai Ming-liang
Wiseman, Frederick
Reichardt, Kelly
Lee Chang-dong
Panahi, Jafar
Carax, Leos
Snow, Michael
Weerasethakul, Apichatpong
Rappaport, Mark
Kurosawa, Kiyoshi
Aïnouz, Karim
Potter, Sally
Klein, William

Just the ones whose oeuvre I need to explore more but who I feel belong with the best.
 
Now we come to the next batch of directors, with at least one worthy film to recommend them:

The Pros (30)
Farhadi, Asghar
Schlöndorff, Volker
Almodóvar, Pedro
Assayas, Olivier
Sorrentino, Paolo
Meirelles, Fernando
Von Trotta, Margarethe
Cameron, James
Mungiu, Cristian
Stillman, Whit
Bigelow, Kathryn
De Palma, Brian
Baumbach, Noah
Carpenter, John
Burton, Tim
Bong Joon-ho
Donnersmarck, Florian Henckel von*
Lee, Ang
Tavernier, Bertrand
Schrader, Paul
Villeneuve, Denis
Gray, James
Hartley, Hal
Moore, Michael
Dante, Joe
Coppola, Sofia
Sciamma, Céline**
Tyrnauer, Matt
Russell, David O.
Crowe, Cameron

*Donnersmarck's inclusion is somewhat questionable given his meager output, but The Lives of Others was an impressive debut (though its nomination by a whopping 15 professionals for the BBC's recent international poll is rather mystifying), his latest Never Look Away showed glimmers of the promise of said debut, and even such an unabashedly commercial outing as The Tourist (a remake of the 2005 French flick Anthony Zimmer) provided much rollicking fun.

**I'm actually not sure where to place Sciamma as I've yet to see any of her features save her latest hit, but I'm still putting her here as it felt wrong to demote her to the netherworld.

And in a similar vein:

The Upstarts (19)
Lonergan, Kenneth
Safdie, Joshua and Benjamin
Nemes, László
Heller, Marielle
Maoz, Samuel
Rees, Dee
Jenkins, Barry*
Gerwig, Greta
Trier, Joachim
Gibney, Alex
Jacobs, Azazel
Waititi, Taika
Twomey, Nora
Mills, Mike
Schamus, James
Labaki, Nadine
Francen, Marine
Gould, Vanessa
Zhao, Chloé (with no particular ranking until I check out her latest Nomadland)

*Although my lukewarm reception to Moonlight hasn't changed and I stand by my appreciation of the ambiguous moment in Being Seventeen I'm frankly embarrassed by that early review of mine, whose political myopia I've repudiated and was driven home further to me by last year's (4K) revival of Spike's powerful Do the Right Thing, and whose cheerleadering for a relatively minor Téchiné feature was the worst form of yearly-quota-ism.

These mostly young auteurs are unafraid to take risks even within the studio system (case in point: the deliberately cryptic ending of Gerwig's recent Little Women adaptation). Long may they continue unhindered and unabated.

Now the dubious categories:

The YMMVs (41)
Hallström, Lasse (My Life as a Dog, one of my desert islanders)
Soderbergh, Steven
Ozon, François (Frantz)
Weir, Peter (Picnic at Hanging Rock)
Von Trier, Lars
Fincher, David (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)
Zemeckis, Robert (Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Contact)
Allen, Woody
Reiner, Rob (The Princess Bride)
Coen, Joel and Ethan
Iñárritu, Alejandro González
Ivory, James (of the Merchant-Ivory duo)
Mendes, Sam
Boyle, Danny
Luhrmann, Baz (The Great Gatsby)
Reitman, Jason (Tully)
Aronofsky, Darren
Mann, Michael
Stone, Oliver
Park Chan-wook
Jackson, Peter
Liman, Doug (Edge of Tomorrow)
Lanthimos, Yorgos
Nolan, Christopher
Hong Sang-soo
Howard, Ron
McTiernan, John (Last Action Hero)
Schnabel, Julian
Rodriguez, Robert
Besson, Luc (Lucy)
Lowery, David
Lucas, George
Gibson, Mel
Oppenheimer, Joshua
Kusama, Karyn
Lasseter, John
Greengrass, Paul
Tarantino, Quentin
Ramsay, Lynne
McKay, Adam
Ritchie, Guy

For one reason or another I just don't care much for their work. But there are several exceptions or even select favorites, both of which are in parentheses (ditto for the next category). And their creators have their share of admirers, hence the acronym.
 
Speaking of which:

The Not-So-TBDs (143)
Leigh, Mike
Chen Kaige (Farewell My Concubine)
Loach, Ken
Ferrara, Abel
Noyce, Phillip (The Quiet American, 2002)
Sokurov, Alexander
Boorman, John
Saura, Carlos
Friedkin, William
Costa-Gavras
Winterbottom, Michael
Gondry, Michel
Argento, Dario
Larraín, Pablo
Apted, Michael
Fontaine, Anne (The Innocents/Les Innocentes)
Zwigoff, Terry
Jeunet, Jean-Pierre (Amélie)
Jonze, Spike
Heckerling, Amy (Clueless, of course)
Morrison, Bill (Dawson City: Frozen Time)
Jarecki, Eugene (The King)
Armstrong, Gillian
Sissako, Abderrahmane
Abel, Dominique, and Fiona Gordon (Lost in Paris/Paris pieds nus)
Polley, Sarah (Stories We Tell)
Brizé, Stéphane (A Woman's Life/Une Vie)
Giannoli, Xavier
Vinterberg, Thomas
Frears, Stephen (Dangerous Liaisons)
Knight, Steven (Locke)
Sircar, Shoojit (Piku)
Zandvliet, Martin (Land of Mine)
Enyedi, Ildikó (On Body and Soul)
Macdonald, Kevin (can't say I like the film overall, but Forest Whitaker's Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland is one of the most terrifying villains in cinema)
Mamet, David
Shyamalan, M. Night (The Sixth Sense)
McGrath, Douglas (Emma)
Green, David Gordon (George Washington)
Heineman, Matthew (City of Ghosts)
Brooks, Mel
Serebrennikov, Kirill (Leto)
Ueda, Shinichirou (One Cut of the Dead, the most wildly entertaining movie I saw in all of 2018... and I say that as a decided non-zombie maven!)
Talbot, Joe (The Last Black Man in San Francisco)
Martel, Lucrecia
Mackenzie, David
Waters, John
Lipman, Ross (Notfilm)
Johnson, Rian (Knives Out)
Burger, Neil
Tykwer, Tom (Heaven)
Audiard, Jacques
Newell, Mike
Raimi, Sam
Satrapi, Marjane
Docter, Pete (Monsters, Inc. and Up)
Östlund, Ruben
Guerra, Ciro
Serra, Albert
Tyldum, Morten (Passengers)
McCarthy, Tom
Beresford, Bruce
Benigni, Roberto
Estevez, Emilio
DuVernay, Ava
Michell, Roger
Gillespie, Craig
Garbus, Liz
Guadagnino, Luca
Bier, Susanne
Fayyad, Feras
July, Miranda
Bujalski, Andrew
Tornatore, Giuseppe
O'Reilly, Johnny (Moscow Never Sleeps)
Jordan, Neil
Beatty, Warren
Levinson, Barry
Stuber, Thomas (In the Aisles/In den Gängen)
Kernell, Amanda (Sami Blood)
Doueiri, Ziad
Miller, Bennett
Akin, Fatih
Nichols, Jeff
Biller, Anna
Scherfig, Lone
Peele, Jordan
Ade, Maren
Dick, Kirby
Foster, Jodie
Baker, Sean
Haggis, Paul
Darabont, Frank
Chadha, Gurinder
Dayton, Jonathan, and Valerie Faris
Abrahamson, Lenny
Thomas, Daniela
Solondz, Todd
Gilroy, Dan
Wright, Joe
Madden, John
Oldroyd, William
Miller, George
Petersen, Wolfgang
Campillo, Robin
Coogler, Ryan
Dudok de Wit, Michaël
Aviad, Michael (Working Woman)
Graizer, Ofir Raul
Fukunaga, Cary Joji
Chow, Stephen
Coixet, Isabel
Oz, Frank
McDonagh, Martin
McQueen, Steve
Noé, Gaspar
Cheadle, Don
Jodorowsky, Alejandro
Spicer, Matt (Ingrid Goes West)
Frammartino, Michelangelo
Wang, Lulu
Porterfield, Matthew
Roustayi, Saeed
Rozema, Patricia
Cretton, Destin Daniel
Franco, James
Crowley, John
Girad, François
Bird, Brad
Favreau, Jon
Kaufman, Charlie
Aster, Ari
Affleck, Ben
Eggers, Robert
Nicolas-Troyan, Cedric (The Huntsman: Winter's War)
Condon, Bill
Woo, John
Sorkin, Aaron
Wachowski, Lana and Lilly
Curtis, Richard
Zvyagintsev, Andrey
Refn, Nicolas Winding
Rosefeldt, Julian (not in last place - see below)

That other acronym should speak for itself. I'm still keeping an open mind as I've yet to check out more of their stuff, especially from those with a thin (directing) resume, but I'm not holding my breath.

Before moving on let me give a shout-out to Julian Rosefeldt, whose one-woman (Cate Blanchett) show Manifesto - dismissed as "a museum piece" by this Landmark Theatres employee who instead recommended Loach's glib I, Daniel Blake while I was trying to decide between the two - I liked quite a bit both in its theatrical version and in its 13-channel installation at LA's Hauser & Wirth branch. More for its chutzpah and verve than for any intellectual or spiritual nourishment, though, which probably explains why I haven't heard anything about his more recent activities.

But it's indeed a scintillating show which seems to have struck a chord with a sizable audience, traveling from Melbourne to Jakarta while popping in such far-flung metropolises as Berlin, Sydney, New York, Paris, Athens, Helsinki, Buenos Aires, Shanghai, Prague, Auckland, Montreal and Jerusalem (plus DC, at the Hirshshorn until 1/5 of this year). As usual with visual art on film, when you see this work in its theatrical incarnation you're depriving yourself of the freedom of movement and the kaleidoscope of senses made available to the spectator by open space, and while we should avoid crowds and indoor spaces for the time being you really don't want to miss out on the unique experience of watching and hearing a dozen (or 13, depending on how you count) different Cate Blanchetts pulpiteering at once, as they loudly and defiantly proclaim solidarity with while winkingly poking fun at, among others, the Situationists, Futurists, Stridentists, Dadaists, Surrealists and Suprematists. Look for its new destination when we finally return to something of a new normal:

 
Finally these are some of the names I remain in the dark about, in alphabetical order only:

The Whos (140)
Ahwesh, Peggy
Almereyda, Michael
Alonso, Lisandro
Al-Mansour, Haifaa
Andersen, Thom
Anger, Kenneth
Arnold, Martin
Barney, Matthew
Benacerraf, Margot
Benning, James
Beyzai, Bahram
Bozzetto, Bruno
Breillat, Catherine
Brown, Margaret
Cassavetes, Nick
Ceylan, Nuri Bilge
Chomet, Sylvain
Chukhray, Pavel
Coulter, Allen (excluding his prolific TV work which most of you have probably seen at some point)
Curtis, Adam
De Niro, Robert (this and the Duvall, TLJ and Redford entries aren't typos)
Diaz, Lav
Dolan, Xavier
Dominik, Andrew
Driver, Sara
Duigan, John
Dumont, Bruno
Dunham, Lena
Duvall, Robert
Egoyan, Atom
Fleck, Ryan, and Anna Boden
Fons, Jorge
Franklin, Carl
Ghobadi, Bahman
Gianikian, Yervant (his wife and collaborator Angela Ricci Lucchi died in 2018)
Gianvito, John
Golestan, Ebrahim
Gothár, Péter
Greyson, John
Haneke, Michael
Hara, Kazuo
Haroun, Mahamat Saleh
He Jianjun
Hellman, Monte
Ho, Yim
Holland, Agnieszka
Huang Jianxin
Iosseliani, Otar
Jacobs, Ken
Jakubisko, Juraj
Jiang Wen
Jones, Tommy Lee
Jost, Jon
Kanevsky, Vitali
Kelly, Richard
Kimiai, Masoud
Kimiavi, Parviz
Kitano, Takeshi
Ko, Clifton
Konchalovsky, Andrei
Kopple, Barbara
Krokidas, John
Kunuk, Zacharias
Kusturica, Emir
Lau, Jeffrey
Leconte, Patrice
Lessin, Tia, and Carl Deal
Leth, Jørgen
Li Shaohong
Li Yang
Liu Jiayin
Longley, James
Lou Ye
Lu Chuan
Lungin, Pavel
Majidi, Majid
Makhmalbaf, Mohsen, and Marzieh Meshkini (husband and wife, not always collaborators)
Makhmalbaf, Samira (Mohsen's daughter, yes)
Mamin, Yuri
Mann, Ron
Martone, Mario
McBride, Jim
McDonald, Bruce
McKellar, Don
Meadows, Shane
Mehrjui, Dariush
Mészáros, Márta
Mettler, Peter
Mikhalkov, Nikita
Moncrieff, Karen
Moodysson, Lukas
Moretti, Nanni
Moss, Robb
Moullet, Luc
Naderi, Amir
Novaro, Maria
Orlowski, Jeff
Pálfi, György
Pitts, Rafi
Podeswa, Jeremy
Pollard, Sam
Portabella, Pere
Redford, Robert
Rogozhkin, Aleksandr
Salles, Walter
Sallitt, Dan
Sayles, John
Schepisi, Fred
Schmitz, Oliver (I've seen his contribution to the Paris, je t'aime anthology, but that's hardly enough for a career overview)
Seidl, Ulrich
Shahbazi, Parviz
Shakhnazarov, Karen
Skolimowski, Jerzy
Solberg, Helena
Suleiman, Elia
Suwa, Nobuhiro
Swanberg, Joe
Szabó, István
Taghvai, Nasser
Taviani, Paolo (his brother and collaborator Vittorio died in 2018)
Thompson, Peter
Towne, Robert
Tsui Hark
Verhoeven, Michael
Wagner, Andrew
Wang Bing
Wang, Patrick
Wang Xiaoshuai
Wertmüller, Lina
Wilkerson, Travis
Wincer, Simon
Wu Ziniu
Xie Fei
Ying Liang
Zaim, Derviş
Zeitlin, Benh
Zhang Meng
Zhang Yuan
Zhou Xiaowen

FYI my Excel spreadsheet tells me I will probably have seen over 4000 features by the end of next year or so (again that's excluding anything shorter than 40 minutes), and the fact that this cinephile couldn't even recognize some of these names speaks volumes as to just how much world/underground cinema remains neglected by supposedly cosmopolitan, diversity-conscious journalists and academics in the West. And I should add that all of these filmmakers have produced at least one highly regarded work, so don't let my ignorance stop you.

All of that adds up to 439 names in total. I've sat on these lists for more than a week now to give them due consideration and to avoid any glaring omissions, but I'm sure I've made mistakes so feel free to point them out. Again this will be a perpetual work in progress and there will be more revisions, additions and even subtractions (hopefully not from death, of course) as our knowledge base expands and our tastes become more refined.

Merry Christmas and happy viewing!
 
van_Loederen said:
Kubrick missing? :eek:
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Living directors only. Kubrick would probably make my all-time top 20-30.

Sentinel said:
Did Satyajit Ray get a mention? I see some other Indian names.

Oh, okay, living. Sorry.
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Other than Shoojit Sircar I actually don't remember including another Indian director. So much out of Bollywood is worthless crap (sorry) I just didn't know where to look for the jewels. Of course suggestions are welcome.

FedFosterWallace said:
OP, did you care for the film, Rainman? :)
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Bugsy is the only Barry Levinson movie that did anything for me (among those I've seen, yes), and I can't say I fondly recall that one, either.

Red Rick said:
Anyone but D&D
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So who actually traumatized you more, D&D or Roddick?
 
NonP said:
Living directors only. Kubrick would probably make my all-time top 20-30.



Other than Shoojit Sircar I actually don't remember including another Indian director. So much out of Bollywood is worthless crap (sorry) I just didn't know where to look for the jewels. Of course suggestions are welcome.



Bugsy is the only Barry Levinson movie that did anything for me (among those I've seen, yes), and I can't say I fondly recall that one, either.



So who actually traumatized you more, D&D or Roddick?
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Definitely Roddick. GoT had already been going down a while, I had read the leaked script so I was fully prepared to hatewatch it once and never look back, plus I also blame GRRM quite a bit @Stannis Baratheon
 
NonP said:
That brief movie talk in the Nadal-vs.-Safin thread got me thinking about who would make my honor roll of the greatest living filmmakers, and while this is a preliminary attempt that will likely remain a never-ending work in progress I still hope you'll find it useful when deciding what to watch in the many frustrating days ahead. To make it especially worthwhile I've embedded links to my old pontifications where available/appropriate.

Here goes, in rough order of merit (or preference/reputation for the not-so-sure categories) with the total number of candidates in parentheses (duos are counted as one apiece unless each partner has a significant individual filmography of his/her/their own):

The Legends (2)
Godard, Lean-Luc
Hou Hsiao-Hsien

These two seem to me the only ones alive who can stand alongside the grandmasters of yesteryear without yielding an inch. I understand it's hard to get a hand on Hou's major works online, so I'm thrilled to report that last year's 4K restoration of Flowers of Shanghai, one of my '90s faves, has been hitting the (virtual) film festival circuit recently (including the AFI's Taiwanese Cinema Rediscovered):


Availability will vary based on your region (FYI the AFI slot ended just a couple days ago), so keep your radar sharp.

Of course that isn't to say Godard and Hou are the only living film directors who command our attention. Let's move on to our next round:

The Majors (42)
Polanski, Roman
Jia Zhangke
Scorsese, Martin
Jarmusch, Jim
Eastwood, Clint
Miyazaki, Hayao
Dardenne, Jean-Pierre and Luc
Gilliam, Terry
Spielberg, Steven
Herzog, Werner
Zhang Yimou
Cronenberg, David
Linklater, Richard
Denis, Claire
Coppola, Francis Ford
Wong Kar-wai
Lynch, David
May, Elaine
Kore-eda, Hirokazu
Wenders, Wim
Haynes, Todd
Morris, Errol
Kaurismäki, Aki
Malick, Terrence
Verhoeven, Paul
Pawlikowski, Paweł
Cuarón, Alfonso
Anderson, Wes
Chazelle, Damien
Anderson, Paul Thomas
Scott, Ridley
Brooks, Albert
Lee, Spike
Van Sant, Gus
Brooks, James L.
Lelio, Sebastián
James, Steve
Del Toro, Guillermo
Erice, Víctor*
Campion, Jane
Payne, Alexander
Straub, Jean-Marie**

*Erice has produced all of three features and nothing at all since 2007, but if you've seen The Spirit of the Beehive/El espíritu de la colmena you'll know why he belongs up here. His second feature El sur (The South) is almost as magical, and while his documentary Dream of Light/El sol del membrillo isn't the equal of its predecessors it remains a highlight of his slender yet rich filmography.

**Straub is virtually impossible to treat separately from his late wife Danièle Huillet, the other half of the redoubtable Straub-Huillet duo. Hence his inclusion only.

There are several names here like Scott and Van Sant that haven't done anything for me in eons, but I'm still including them for their earlier works which can be said to have changed our perception of the world.

And just so there aren't any serious omissions:

The TBDs (22)
Tarr, Béla
Burnett, Charles
Maddin, Guy
Davies, Terence
Costa, Pedro
Petzold, Christian
Kwan, Stanley
Tian Zhuangzhuang
Téchiné, André (see the footnote for the Barry Jenkins entry below)
Tsai Ming-liang
Wiseman, Frederick
Reichardt, Kelly
Lee Chang-dong
Panahi, Jafar
Carax, Leos
Snow, Michael
Weerasethakul, Apichatpong
Rappaport, Mark
Kurosawa, Kiyoshi
Aïnouz, Karim
Potter, Sally
Klein, William

Just the ones whose oeuvre I need to explore more but who I feel belong with the best.
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Very comprehensive, with many directors I have yet to explore! Are there some obscure, overlooked films you particularly recommend?

One thing I really appreciated about the "Women Make Film" series on TCM was being presented with films that are often overlooked and difficult to find. There were a few Soviet and Mao-era Chinese films that I have never seen, or even heard of, that were either excellent films or worth watching as windows into their time and place.

For example, "Adoption" by Márta Mészáros was new to me and very good. I hought Naomi Kawase's "Sweet Bean" was a beautiful film dealing with time and spirit that made me think of Ozu. "Fools in the Mountains," while not great by any means, but apparently a holiday "classic" in Norway, was worth watching because I wondered why Norwegians love it so much and if it was an inspiration for "Fawlty Towers." I had seen the director Edith Carlmar's Ung Flukt ("The Wayward Girl"), a film notable for the debut of a young and beautiful Liv Ullmann.
 
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The Legends:

*Sergio Leone?
Don Siegel
Clint Eastwood


Directors:

Chad Stahelski
Brian G. Hutton
Franklin Schaffner

*Had a much bigger list but it suppose to be “living”!
 
Sentinel said:
Did Satyajit Ray get a mention? I see some other Indian names.

Oh, okay, living. Sorry.
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Adoor Gopalakrishnan should definitely be in the list - for the others, Bollywood is not all of Indian cinema. A lot of gems can be found in regional cinema as well. Adoor is one such.

@NonP Very comprehensive work. I have yet to check out so many directors. Among the upcoming ones, Xavier Dolan certainly stands out. I have watched a couple of his works and they are quite solid.

I am also not ok with one time wonders. What's your take on this? You seem to have named a few with their recognizable (only one?) film.
 
NonP said:
All of that adds up to 439 names in total. I've sat on these lists for more than a week now to give them due consideration and to avoid any glaring omissions, but I'm sure I've made mistakes so feel free to point them out.
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Dedans Penthouse said:
NonP, looking at your abridged list inversely, is there any directors you may've missed?
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My mom made a short film of me taking a poo when I was 2 that we are all fond of, yet I don't see mom on the list?
 
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Mike Bulgakov said:
Very comprehensive, with many directors I have yet to explore! Are there some obscure, overlooked films you particularly recommend?
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Depends on what you mean by "obscure." Do you see anyone above the YMMVs that you don't know much about?

One thing I really appreciated about the "Women Make Film" series on TCM was being presented with films that are often overlooked and difficult to find. There were a few Soviet and Mao-era Chinese films that I have never seen, or even heard of, that were either excellent films or worth watching as windows into their time and place.

For example, "Adoption" by Márta Mészáros was new to me and very good. I hought Naomi Kawase's "Sweet Bean" was a beautiful film dealing with time and spirit that made me think of Ozu. "Fools in the Mountains," while not great by any means, but apparently a holiday "classic" in Norway, was worth watching because I wondered why Norwegians love it so much and if it was an inspiration for "Fawlty Towers." I had seen the director Edith Carlmar's Ung Flukt ("The Wayward Girl"), a film notable for the debut of a young and beautiful Liv Ullmann.
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Can't say I share your enthusiasm re: Mark Cousins' latest vanity project. I admit I'd been down on the guy ever since I read he's one of Dogme's biggest boosters, but all the glowing words about Women Make Film and its presentation on TCM made me finally give it a shot. Well, turns out he's even more frothy and self-absorbed than I suspected. I don't hold a candle to him when it comes to dictating how our taste buds should operate, and while his knowledge of obscure cinema is indeed formidable it clearly doesn't come from any deep immersion in the works at hand. Ross Lipman's Notfilm, for one, does more with his exploration of a single collaboration between Beckett and Keaton (Film) than Cousins does with who knows how many films in his entire 14-hour doc.

You're right that Cousin did introduce us to quite a handful of titles unknown or often overlooked (including Jacqueline Audry's Olivia, as you might recall), and he deserves credit for it. But as a documentary it's just not terribly interesting. Suffice it to say I doubt I'll ever finish the series.

Harry_Wild said:
The Legends:

*Sergio Leone?
Don Siegel
Clint Eastwood


Directors:

Chad Stahelski
Brian G. Hutton
Franklin Schaffner

*Had a much bigger list but it suppose to be “living”!
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If you understood that these are lists of living directors why are 3 of your 5 picks dead guys?

Azure said:
Adoor Gopalakrishnan should definitely be in the list - for the others, Bollywood is not all of Indian cinema. A lot of gems can be found in regional cinema as well. Adoor is one such.
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Damn that's a big miss on my part. And you're right, I shouldn't have suggested Bollywood = Indian cinema. Not one of my finest moments.

@NonP Very comprehensive work. I have yet to check out so many directors. Among the upcoming ones, Xavier Dolan certainly stands out. I have watched a couple of his works and they are quite solid.
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I remembered you speaking fondly of his work, hence his inclusion. Will check out some of his works before deciding where to place him.

I am also not ok with one time wonders. What's your take on this? You seem to have named a few with their recognizable (only one?) film.
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If they're up-and-comers, then yeah it's a good idea to be a bit wary. IIRC James Schamus (Indignation) and Marine Francen (Le Semeur/The Sower - you might recall that one) are the only 1ers I made an exception for, 'cause both of their feature debuts were so promising I expect them to keep it up. Should they somehow get swallowed by money or glamor... the deletion ax shall be awaiting them!

Sentinel said:
I thought Manoj Night was Indian ???
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Hmm I'd say Indian American. I was thinking more about directors who have done most of their work in India.

Dedans Penthouse said:
NonP, looking at your abridged list inversely, is there any directors you may've missed?
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Quite a few, actually:

Arnold, Andrea
Bhardwaj, Vishal
Benegal, Shyam
Cousins, Mark
Farrelly, Peter (and Bobby)
Gopalakrishnan, Adoor
Holofcener, Nicole
Jenkins, Patty
Kapur, Shekar
Kashyap, Anurag
Kragh-Jacobsen, Søren
Nair, Mira
Ratnam, Mani
Romand, Françoise
Rothman, Stephanie
Silver, Joan Micklin

And I'm sure there are more to come. Will give them their due in my next batch of updates.

r2473 said:
My mom made a short film of me taking a poo when I was 2 that we are all fond of, yet I don't see mom on the list?
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giphy.gif
 
NonP said:
Can't say I share your enthusiasm re: Mark Cousins' latest vanity project. I admit I'd been down on the guy ever since I read he's one of Dogme's biggest boosters, but all the glowing words about Women Make Film and its presentation on TCM made me finally give it a shot. Well, turns out he's even more frothy and self-absorbed than I suspected. I don't hold a candle to him when it comes to dictating how our taste buds should operate, and while his knowledge of obscure cinema is indeed formidable it clearly doesn't come from any deep immersion in the works at hand. Ross Lipman's Notfilm, for one, does more with his exploration of a single collaboration between Beckett and Keaton (Film) than Cousins does with who knows how many films in his entire 14-hour doc.

You're right that Cousin did introduce us to quite a handful of titles unknown or often overlooked (including Jacqueline Audry's Olivia, as you might recall), and he deserves credit for it. But as a documentary it's just not terribly interesting. Suffice it to say I doubt I'll ever finish the series.
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I was referring to the half dozen or so films that would play after an episode of the Cousins series. As you mentioned, the series had the positive aspect of playing clips from overlooked films and directors, but the flat-voiced, hypnotically monotonous narration that merely described what was on screen drove me nuts. The playing of clip after clip at a predictable pacing, slowly marching foreword with no time for insight or reflection before the next clip, was numbing when it should have been inspiring. I have sat through many film classes, and this would have required a pre-class quadruple espresso. I learned nothing from the narration.
 
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Azure said:
@NonP - why is Haneke in your "who's"? Not seen much of his work?
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I actually haven't seen a single work of his. A big lacuna I need to fill obviously, but his embarrassing rant against #MeToo hasn't exactly made me eager to start.

Mike Bulgakov said:
I was referring to the half dozen or so films that would play after an episode of Cousins series. As you mentioned, the series had the positive aspect of playing clips from overlooked films and directors, but the flat-voiced, hypnotically monotonous narration that merely described what was on screen drove me nuts. The playing of clip after clip at a predictable pacing, slowly marching foreword with no time for insight or reflection before the next clip, was numbing when it should have been inspiring. I have sat through many film classes, and this would have required a pre-class quadruple espresso. I learned nothing from the narration.
Click to expand...

Figured you had some background in film. (Believe that makes three of you so far, with Moose and @onehandbh). Yeah to call this a "documentary" is rather misleading as one would expect some level of documentation that sheds light on the subject(s). Cousins' latest project is more like, well, the lists I've put together here, and I daresay less helpful 'cause you can at least follow those links for what I have to say about the directors/films in question.

It's been tough for me just trying to keep up with the old classics on TCM but I'll be checking out more of the WMM titles eventually. Fat chance of that happening soon, though, with Xmas and New Year's coming up... and all the 2020 awards contenders I've missed so far! (Apart from Spike's Da 5 Bloods I'm not sure I've seen any of the recent ones since March when life came to a screeching halt due to you-know-what.)
 
Im(moral) Winner said:
Where is Takashi Miike
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Hmm, I went back and forth before deciding to include the crazy MF (who seems to churn out 2-5 features every year), but guess I forgot about it. Will add him in my next update (probably sometime before New Year's).

onehandbh said:
Where is Rajkumar Hirani ?

3 Idiots is one of my favorite movies.
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Looks like that one was a big success in Asia. Hirani's output frankly strikes me as a bit too commercial, but the guy's won the Filmfare Awards so he can't be that bad. Will add him as well.
 
I think Denys Arcand is worth mentioning. Les invasions barbares was good, though I haven't seen his other films. Le déclin de l'empire Américain is supposedly a classic.

If Miyazaki makes the list, I feel like Satoshi Kon should be at least considered
 
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