Directors: Auteurs - My Favorite Directors
Submitted by dgeiser13 on Tue, 02/20/2001 - 09:21
Tags:
- Woody Allen / Annie Hall (1977)
- Pedro Almodóvar / Todo Sobre Mi Madre (1999) (aka All About My Mother)
- Robert Altman / Gosford Park (2001)
- Alejandro Amenábar / Abre Los Ojos (1997) (aka Open Your Eyes)
- Paul Thomas Anderson / Boogie Nights (1997)
- Wes Anderson / Rushmore (1998)
- Darren Aronofsky / Requiem for a Dream (2000)
- Luc Besson / Léon (1994) (aka The Professional)
- Danny Boyle / Trainspotting (1996)
- Henry Bromell / Panic (2000)
- Joel Coen / Raising Arizona (1987)
- Sofia Coppola / The Virgin Suicides (1999)
- David Cronenberg / The Fly (1986)
- Cameron Crowe / Almost Famous (2000)
- Alfonso Cuarón / Y Tu Mamá También (2001) (aka And Your Mother Too)
- Michael Curtiz / Casablanca (1942)
- Jonathan Demme / The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
- Stanley Donen / Charade (1963)
- David Fincher / Fight Club (1999)
- Stephen Frears / High Fidelity (2000)
- Terry Gilliam / Brazil (1985)
- Michel Gondry / Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
- Keith Gordon / A Midnight Clear (1991)
- Curtis Hanson / Wonder Boys (2000)
- Alfred Hitchcock / North by Northwest (1959)
- Alejandro González Iñárritu / Amores Perros (2000) (aka Love's A Bitch)
- Peter Jackson / The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
- Jean-Pierre Jeunet / Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain (2001) (aka Amelie)
- Alejandro Jodorowsky / Santa Sangre (1989)
- Spike Jonze / Being John Malkovich (1999)
- Richard Kelly / Donnie Darko (2001)
- Stanley Kubrick / Paths of Glory (1957)
- Akira Kurosawa / Shichinin No Samurai (1954) (aka The Seven Samurai)
- John Lasseter / Toy Story 2
- Charles Laughton / The Night of the Hunter (1955)
- Ang Lee / Wo Hu Cang Long (2000) (aka Crouching Tiger / Hidden Dragon)
- Doug Liman / Swingers (1996)
- Baz Luhrmann / Moulin Rouge! (2001)
- David Lynch / Blue Velvet (1986)
- Rob Marshall / Chicago (2002)
- Sam Mendes / American Beauty (1999)
- John Cameron Mitchell / Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001)
- Christopher Nolan / Memento (2000)
- Alexander Payne / Election (1999)
- Roman Polanski / Rosemary's Baby (1968)
- Alex Proyas / Dark City (1998)
- Sam Raimi / Evil Dead II (1987)
- Robert Rodriguez / Sin City (2005)
- David O. Russell / Three Kings (1999)
- Ken Russell / The Lair of the White Worm (1988)
- M. Night Shyamalan / Signs (2002)
- Bryan Singer / The Usual Suspects (1995)
- Steven Soderbergh / Out of Sight (1998)
- Steven Spielberg / Jaws (1975)
- Ben Stiller / The Cable Guy (1996)
- Preston Sturges / Sullivan's Travels (1942)
- Quentin Tarantino / Pulp Fiction (1994)
- Tom Tykwer / Lola Rennt (1998) (aka Run Lola Run)
- The Wachowski Brothers (Andy & Larry) / The Matrix (1999)
- Orson Welles / Citizen Kane (1941)
- Billy Wilder / Some Like It Hot (1959)
- Robert Zemeckis / Contact (1997)
- Zhang Yimou / Hero (2002)
Author Comments:
With My Favorite Film Of Theirs.
For these directors I go out of my way to see their new stuff (if they are still producing) and I am slowly working through their old stuff as in the case of some "classic" directors and/or those with large bodies of work.
Right now I am re-working the list. After I have formed a complete list of favorites I plan on dividing them into separate tiers. At that time the following will apply: In many cases the director either hasn't made enough films, e.g. Spike Jonze and Sam Mendes, or I haven't seen enough films, e.g. Michael Curtiz, to place them in the next tier.
Is there some reason there are no female directors on any of the tiers? Just curious.
I can't speak for dgeiser1, but I was intrigued by your question. I realized I was hard-pressed to name any female directors - forget about declaring them favorites. After approximately 20 seconds of thought I dredged up Penny Marshall and Gale Ann Hurd. I was disgusted with myself (for the quantity rather than the quality). I know there were a bunch of independant female directors, but I was thinking more mainstream. So I started wondering . . . Is it me, or the industry? I did a quick search. According to this Oscar trivia page, only two female directors have ever even been nominated for best director. Since I consider The Oscars to be a bastion of mainstream cinema, this says to me that women are tremendously underemployed as mainstream Hollywood directors.
Of course, this conclusion stems from exactly 7 minutes of research, so it might be worthless.
So I just asked my wife, "off the top of your head, can you name any female directors?" After thinking for about 10 seconds she said, "Jane Campion is the only one I can think of." Remarkable.
And hey, speaking of the Oscars, how come Actor/Actress (and supporting) are the only separate-but-equal awards? Why no "Best Female Director" award? Conversely, why no cross-gender "Best Actor" award?
There is Lina Wertmuler ( I think thats how you spell it) who did Swept Away.
Sorry..Its Wertmuller.
Well, first let me say that I wasn't intentionally excluding female directors. Secondly, this list is woefully incomplete and I can easily think of a few which should be on here.
Jim does bring up some good points. I looked at my Top 15 lists the last 3 years. There were very few female-directed films that struck me that deeply. The ones that made the cut...
2001: Sharon Maguire (Bridget Jones' Diary) and Vicky Jenson (Co-Director of Shrek)
2000: None
1999: Sofia Coppola (The Virgin Suicides)
Here's a nice list of female directors although it's a little bit outdated. Of these I know I've seen films by Alison Anders, Gillian Armstrong, Kathryn Bigelow, Jane Campion, Martha Coolidge, Tamra Davis, Nora Ephron, Jodie Foster, Amy Heckerling, Penny Marshall, Jocelyn Moorhouse, Mira Nair and Nancy Savoca. Others not listed include Diane Keaton, Kasi Lemmons, Mimi Leder and Betty Thomas.
Except for those who are dead, obviously, my list is mainly composed of directors from whom I desperately await their next release. None of those female directors affect me in that same manner. They are mostly passable directors although a handful of their films have affected me quite strongly: The Virgin Suicides (Sofia Coppola), Grace Of My Heart (Allison Anders), Near Dark (Kathryn Bigelow), The Piano (Jane Campion), Home For The Hoildays (Jodie Foster), Awakenings (Penny Marshall), Proof (Jocelyn Moorhouse), Dogfight (Nancy Savoca) to name a few.
But that's just a drop in the bucket compared to the sheer number of movies I see in any given year.
You've listed many of my own favorite films...what did you think of Y Tú Mama También and Donnie Darko?
Two of the greatest female directors ever, of course, are Maya Deren and Leni Riefenstahl. Riefenstahl just turned 100 years old August 22.
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
That must be because she was such a great athlete.
That certainly couldn't have hurt, although it didn't make her immortal; she died after my posting, on September 8, 2003.
Still, I'll be lucky if I see half of her years.
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Getting back to this thread, there is a new article on Salon addressing this very issue.
Hm, no love for Scorsese?
I'm not a big Martin Scorcese fan.