This is not an easy list to compile.
Feature films are a director’s
medium. He or she is the one who handles and guides the artistic
vision of a film. But there are so many moving parts and essential
jobs on a movie that it is truly a collaborative art. If any of
those elements are out of balance, even a great director can falter.
That is why failure is more common than success. And that success
may be due to other factors. For example, It’s a Wonderful Life
is a great movie, but so much of the magic there is found in the
amazing performance of Jimmy Stewart. Pulp Fiction is praised
as a great movie by many, but the directing is not very good.
So when compiling the list, it had to
only include directors who made more than one great movie. You can
make one amazing film as a fluke. Jeanot Szwarc made one of the best
films ever made, Somewhere in Time, but he was never able to
make anything nearly as sublime. But to summon your talent at will
is a sign of greatness. I’m also requiring that these different
movies cannot be the part of a same series. For example, the George
Lucas did an amazing job directing Episodes III and IV of Star
Wars, but outside of Star Wars, he has not shown us his skill as
a director (American Graffiti is an excellent movie, but the
directing is not what makes it shine. And THX 1138 is bad).
Another problem is that often directors
get better and better, and then they begin to decline. They seem to
hit a peak and then decline. Hitchcock’s last movies were often
panned as terrible, which they were. And even though this leads to a
sour experience of the director, it does not take away from their
earlier successes. So though today a director may have devolved into
a hack, their earlier great successes should still be credited to
them to remind us that they were once great directors.
So who are the best directors?
Today I will start with #24, and I will
dedicate the follow Sunday Best articles to counting down to #1. You
may also notice that many of the directors are ones from the last 30
years. This is less a comment on the older, classic directors but on
my own lack of experience seeing older films.
(incedentally, I would have started
with #25, but that would have been Ben Affleck, and I already wrote
extensively about his directing prowess in my Argo review)
Best Directors
#24- Edgar Wright
photo by Gage Skidmore |
Great Movies: Shaun of the Dead,
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
Decent Movies: Hot Fuzz
Bad Movies: none
Edgar Wright is one of the most
energetic and visually exciting directors. He knows the visual cues
for standard horror, comedy, and action fare and he turns it on its
head.
Watching Shaun of the Dead was a
revelation. He seamlessly blended real, true horror with insane
comedy. Normally when people try this, either the comedy falls flat
or the threats become trivial. Amazingly, he keeps both the laughs
and the screams completely intact. Think about that scene where
Shaun climbs the silly children's slide only to reveal a street full
of the undead.
He uses visual repetition to highlight
the developments in the story. Early, there is a single continuous
shot of Shaun walking through his mundane neighborhood. This exact
same set up is revisted after the zombie apocalypse. The scene is
scary and hilarious.
He also infuses his camera moves and
edits with such kinetic chaos that another director could easily lose
himself in it, but there is always a consistent through-line to
follow.
His next film, Hot Fuzz was a
love-letter to buddy cop movies, but it was his last film, Scott
Pilgrim vs. the World that truly set him apart. He fills his
movie with a dream-like quality that allows for true visual insanity
while holding to the movie own internal logic. Everything is
strange, but it all makes sense if you follow it.
He lets the visuals tell you what the
characters are thinking and feeling. When Scott first kisses Ramona,
we see that crazy animation of Scott, surrounded by hearts, playing
the bass. In one visual he sums up the uplifting feeling of triumph
and romance Scott feels. Or when he breaks up with Knives, he drops
out the entire background with nothing but black. This sucks you
into Knives' complete sense of devastation. If any other director
had tried that, it may have seemed like a cheesy afterthought. But
Edgar Wright effortlessly invites you to see the world through his
strange eyes.
He trusts his audience to follow along
the funky flow of his films.
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