A Day in the Country – 1936 Renoir
It’s a truncated film made from a feature project that was turned into a short film because of Renoir’s inability to finish It has just gorgeous photography (Visconti was the dp)—many critics have marked that
Cluny Brown – 1946 Lubitsch
Sadly, not one of his best films, this was Lubitsch last before his death It still has the trademark “Lubitsch touch”- which is mainly sophisticated dialogue and narrative (I think someone orders a martini in
The 22nd Best Director of All-Time: Quentin Tarantino
Tarantino. Man, this is tough! Tarantino is not only my highest ranking director on the list to debut his first film post-1990, he’s actually the first on the list to debut post-1980 (Lynch’s eraserhead debuted in 1977).
The Parallax View – 1974 Pakula
It’s the middle film in the paranoia trilogy Paklua did from 1971-1976--- all 3 films (klute, all the president’s men) are superb Rightly so- this films comes up often when critics talk about the best
Comes a Horseman – 1978 Pakula
It seems like an odd choice to make a Western (albeit a 20th century-set western) after the paranoia trilogy of klute, parallax view, and all the president’s men. Pakula seems freed of the dark city
The 23rd Best Director of All-Time: Woody Allen
Woody Allen. I’m a great admirer of the work of Woody Allen. I hesitate saying “fan” because I feel like that implies some sort of personal affinity or preference and I don’t think that’s an
The Lost City of Z – 2016 Gray
I was surprised at how much of a muted slow-burn film it was considering the premise sounds similar to apocalypse now and knowing how heavy an influence Francis Ford Coppola is to Gray—it’s an understated
Orlando – 1992 Potter
Swinton gives a masterful, even luminous performance here- it may be her best work Love the 400 blows- like stare and shot at the end of the film The film is very meta and reflexive
The Horse Soldiers – 1959 Ford
Certainly a lesser archive entry from Ford This is a really nice title sequence shot at magic hour with the sun in the background with music playing and a long string of riders single file
We Own the Night – 2007 Gray
Another shockingly underrated film from Gray- I hate to admit it but the French (who adore Gray) are certainly correct in anointing him as a major auteur even when the MC critics (59 score) misevaluate
The 24th Best Director of All-Time: Sergei Eisenstein
Eisenstein. I’d probably have Eisenstein over murnau if I thought Potemkin was closer to sunrise. As you’ll see below I don’t have a ton of Eisenstein films in the archives but they all have really good grades, certainly “style-plus”
The 25th Best Director of All-Time: The Coen Brothers
The Coen Brothers. If you look at my masterpiece and must-see count it would look like the coen brothers should be a top 10-15 director(s). They might be in time. The biggest obstacle is that