Dolan. Wunderkind, genius, prodigy—you name it. Dolan’s 2009 debut I Killed My Mother is a startlingly strong debut for a director of any age—but at age 20—it is almost unthinkable. He’s prolific as well and
Sorrentino. Italian auteur Paolo Sorrentino makes beautiful, opulent tales of morality, power, greed and corruption. 2008’s Il Divo isn’t Sorrentino’s debut, but it made him a recognized name on the international festival circuit. His films
David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia is both the smartest epic (not a description you’d give to many in the genre actually) and the most epic of epics. Lean’s ability to capture the breathtaking locations with
Hogg. London born Joanna Hogg’s debut film was at the age of 47 in 2007. Hogg made four films total (as of 2020) and all four landing in the archives including one top 100 of
Ben and Josh Safdie. At the time of writing have not had a chance to catch their debut- 2009’s Daddy Longlegs or second effort Heaven Knows What in 2014 but with Good Time (2017) and
Roy Hill. George Roy Hill was at the helm for both Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid and The Sting- brilliant films (especially Butch Cassidy) starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford. They were box office
Verhoeven. What a wild ride Paul Verhoeven’s career has been. He’s been called a sleaze and a provocateur – but there’s an undeniable consistency in the work regardless of budget, genre, decade or, even—the quality
It’s hard not to see Hereditary (out in 2018- a year before) in the formal construct of the horror film with a reoccurring dollhouse motif- but still- this is a unique enough effort- and undoubtedly
Another outstanding Kurosawa effort where you could write 1000 words on the cultural impact and cinematic influence. Certainly without Yojimbo- we wouldn’t have Fistful of Dollars which was the breakthrough film for both Sergio Leone
Jenkins. It was Barry Jenkins’ second film, 2016’s Moonlight that signaled the arrival of a tremendous new talent in the world of cinema. 2018’s If Beale Street Could Talk confirmed that talent (and Jenkins’ visual
It feels strange archiving a Chuck Norris film Andrew Davis is no auteur- but he’s a solid director putting together a string of excellent films starting with this in 1985, The Package in 1989 with
Anthony Minghella parlayed the artistic and financial success of 1996 The English Patient into this large-canvas, picturesque revenge thriller A meditation of infatuation and envy To me this is sacred text- Patricia Highsmith’s work. Ripley
