Cuarón. Again this list has a 10-year moratorium so I’m not factoring in Gravity or Roma and Cuaron still lands at slot #60 here. I’ll get to it below but his work in the 1990’s is incredibly underrated (he has a total of 7 films that are in their respective decades top 100) and needs to be studied and propped up where it belongs. Y Tu Mama is in my top 200f films of all-time and it’s so formally accomplished. Children of Men rates as the single best film of the 00’s—so yeah—Cuaron is an unbelievable auteur who will

Greenaway. Greenaway’s strengths are the two films in the top 156 and the dedication to his style even when it doesn’t fully succeed (Baby of Macon, Prospero’s Books). He’s certainly a style-plus director. On the flip side—beyond those top two films his work has many issues (very high highs and very low lows) and the depth isn’t there. Still, The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover is a boundlessly brilliant film (top 40 overall) and as detailed and meticulous as Greenaway is I can’t let him slip beyond #59 on this list. The images here speak volumes---

Peckinpah. Peckinpah’s strength is his top 2 films and the massive amounts of style he packed into his short career as director. He was a fierce alcoholic, not unlike another great western auteur- John Ford, but couldn’t function nearly as well and made his last archiveable film at age 49. His weakness would be the depth of filmography (particularly no third film in the top 500) but even his weaker efforts bare the unmistakable markings of his work which makes for great close study. Ride the High Country is earlier than the rest of his work, before the rating

Sirk. Sirk is another great auteur who was completely overlooked at the time (and laughed at a little) in Hollywood for his soapy melodramas mostly “made for women” (aka “women weepies”) starring rock Hudson (who is no great thespian). If you want to talk about how unimportant acting is in comparison with direction Sirk is a great place to start. For the purposes of this list all of his films in the 1950’s bare his signature and his top 3 films (all in the TSPDT top 500) are very worthy of study and admiration. He’s a mise-en-scene master who

Mizoguchi. Mizoguchi’s strength is that every film of his I’ve seen is in its year’s top 10 and I still have some work to do on his filmography. He’s the only director left this far down with 5 films in my top 500. He’s a style-plus director with clear reoccurring traits throughout his oeuvre (covered in stylistic traits below) both in content and style. His weakness for the purposes of this list is that I don’t have a masterpiece (0 films that land within the top 25 of their respective decade) but that could change because I haven’t seen

Ridley Scott. Sir Ridley is certainly still working adding films to his archives like The Martian from 2015 and All the Money in the World in 2017. Scott probably isn’t in the top 100 at all without Blade Runner. He’s the lowest ranking auteur with a top 10 all-time film (we’re talking Ozu, Ford, Dreyer, Kubrick, Scorsese, Coppola, Welles, Tarkovsky, Hitchcock). That’s incredible company.  This becomes one of the tougher parts of doing this list. How many films like say Gosford Park (to pick one) is Blade Runner worth? How many films like Moonrise Kingdom is Blade Runner worth? Perhaps more important than just merely directing a top 10

Visconti. His strengths here are the big two films: The Leopard and Rocco and His Brothers. Also, Luchino Visconti, oddly enough, touches many of the major artistic movements in the art forms young history. Ossessione is part neo-realism and part noir. La Terra Trema is almost purely neorealistic but a decade later he’s waving goodbye to neorealism and conquers the epic (right there with David Lean) with The Leopard. set design opulence in The Leopard Best film:  Rocco and His Brothers – part neorealism and part Visconti decorated elegance. It’s ambitious and you can feel the operatic weight and

Michael Mann. Fact, all eight of Mann’s archiveable films below would show up on their respective years’ top 10 if I had to update all my yearly top ten's today. That’s remarkable. Now with another look at Blackhat, Ali (neither in the archives) or his earlier work that’ll change with his perfect top 10 record (these aren’t his only 8 films of course) but still.  He also has a big “M” Masterpiece in Heat (top 100 all-time) and is an auteur with a distinct worldview and aesthetic. His films are bleak, serious, dark films (often shot at night). He’s

Bertolucci. Bertolucci is a style-plus director with a top 100 film- I don’t have many of those left at this point. The Conformist is a brilliant visual high-wire act of a masterpiece—directed with flair and gravitas. Although he’s got 9 archiveable films you can capture all you really need from Bertolucci with 4 films which certainly hurts his cause. I think it also hurts his cause that his most famous film (though not his best)- Last Tango in Paris– is way better known for Brando’s performance and the explicit content than Bertolucci’s direction (which is too bad because Bertolucci directs the hell

Fassbinder. He certainly burnt the candle at both ends- he seemed to exist only to do drugs, drink, and make movies (when they found his body he had the script for his next movie lying next to him). I’ve still got some work to do on his films but I’ve caught over 20 and have 11 of them in the archives (with a few on the border that will probably make it with another viewing). He died at age 37. During his life he directed 39 feature fiction works in 14 years (1969-1982) which is staggering. He has 5

Roeg. Though he’s not quite in his class, Roeg reminds me of Godard who had a great run and then fall off. He’s a supernova who burned brightly and died out quickly. Roeg worked as a top DP on many 1960’s British films (Far from the Madding Crowd, Petulia -- worked on Lawrence and Zhivago but wasn’t DP) and then went on a run as director/auteur from 1970-1980 that gave him 2 of the best 163 films of all-time. He struggled in the 1980’s and then eventually couldn’t get work in the 90’s. Many auteurs on this list can’t

Imamura. Imamura is relatively new for me- a "wow" random viewing of The Pornographers and then a full-blown study in 2019. His strengths are the four films in the top 500 of all-time and the absolute alliance with film art mise-en-scene. He's up there with von Sternberg and Ozu-- remarkable. Best film:     The Pornographers, The dedication to the gorgeous mise-en-scene aesthetic is evident quickly. I see some of Hitchcock, Lynch (way before Lynch of course) and Powell’s Peeping Tom with the voyeurism and angles. Freeze frame in several key sequences. Countless shots are through windows with natural obstructions in the frame—even