My current (Nov 2018) Steve McQueen study made me wonder if his Hunger is the strongest debut of the 21st century. There were many great debuts in 1999 (Being John Malkovich, Virgin Suicides, American Beauty) and many of our great filmmakers today made a film or two before their breakout (Chazelle, Nolan)– Ari Aster’s Hereditary is right there in the discussion
am i missing any? i think the three in bold below (victoria, hunger, and amores perros) may be the strongest
adding Kogonada’s Columbus (2017) to the list and after one viewing I think it’s the single greatest debut of the 21st century
ari aster- hereditary (2018)
kogonada- columbus (2017)
greta gerwig- lady bird (2017)
jordan peele- get out (2017)
sebastian schipper – victoria (2015)
dan gilroy – nightcrawler (2014)
sean durkin – martha marcy may marlene (2011)
richard ayoade- submarine (2010)
xavier dolan- i killed my mother (2009)
cary fukunaga – sin nombre (2009)
charlie kaufman- synecdoche, new york (2008)
steve mcqueen- hunger (2008)
tony gilroy – michael clayton (2007)
jeff nichols – shotgun stories (2007)
dayton and faris – little miss sunshine (2006)
florian henckel von donnersmarck- the lives of others (2006)
joachim trier- reprise (2006)
bennett miller – capote (2005)
joe wright – pride & prejudice (2005)
richard kelly- donnie darko (2001)
kenneth lonergan- you can count on me (2000)
jonathan glazer – sexy beast (2000)
alejandro inarritu – amores perros (2000)
You left out a bunch of very good foreign language film debuts, starting with The Return
@cinewest– thanks for the comment. I’ve seen Zvyagintsev’s “The Return” once. I’m due to rewatch it. I have it as a Highly-Recommend which is a solid grade but it didn’t crack my top 10 of 2003 and the top 100 of the decade and that’s sort of my starting point here.
where is mcqueen on directors list
@ m — He’s coming shortly. So the main guide for my best director’s list is the top 500 films of all-time (which McQueen has one- Hunger). The top 500 has a 10 year moratorium for all new films so it doesn’t include anything from 2009-now so Hunger is the only film eligible from McQueen. So McQueen’s placement will change when I update the list in a few years when I can include his tremendous work in the 2010’s.