Vigo. Jean Vigo’s influence and impact on generations of cinema lovers and future auteurs is greater than his tragically truncated filmography. Sadly, he died at the young age of 29 (Murnau died young as well just a few years later and in 1933 and 1934 I think you could make the case they’re the best two directors working at that time) with only Zero for Conduct and L’Atalante in the archives. Vigo’s impact on Truffaut, The 400 Blows specifically (one of cinema’s great debuts) is important when telling the story of 20th century cinema. What Vigo lacks in depth

Chang-dong Lee. Chang-dong Lee will soar up this list in future updates when we have some more distance from 2018’s Burning—a film I have seen twice now and not only got stronger with that second viewing but grows stronger each day removed from that viewing. But there’s certainly enough in Peppermint Candy and Secret Sunshine to warrant this spot on the list. His work his remarkably consistent (and outstanding) both thematically and visually. Like other modern masters PT Anderson and a rare few others—Chang-dong Lee doesn’t miss either. His debut was Green Fish in 1997 and every film since

Weir. Peter Weir was certainly one of the greatest filmmakers in the world from 1975-2003 (with this best two films bookending that run). The Australian auteur made 10 archiveable films – an incredible feat and number for any director—especially outside of the studio era. He only made 14 fiction features so there weren’t a lot of misses there either. The strength of Weir’s case isn’t just about depth of the filmography (I mean Fearless is really an excellent film)—there’s a pretty clearly identifiable theme of an outsider in a stranger world running throughout his body of work and I’ll

Andersson. Roy Andersson is one of the most important and accomplished filmmakers of the 21st century- certainly the best Swedish filmmaker not named Ingmar Bergman. Up there behind perhaps only Ozu when it comes to cinematic compositions (Dreyer, Greenaway, Antonioni, Imamura, Wes Anderson). This spot here at #176 is a place-holder. I just finished my Andersson study (this list is always a work in progress in need of updating) so there are no top 500 of all-time films or top 100 of the decade below but that will be remedied in future updates. I had run into Songs From

Ang Lee. Lee can deftly jump from genre to genre and can make art from any scale or budget. He began with films in Taiwan and quickly turned into one of the major studio directors of the late 1990’s and early part of the 21st century. His strengths for the purposes of this list is his resume- two very solid top 100 of the decade list films (Crouching Tiger and Brokeback) and if an adaption as successful as Sense and Sensibility is your fourth best film—you are far from being a one-hit wonder (and at #175 on this list

Borzage. Out of Frank Borzage’s ninety (90) or so feature films (like many during the silent era, many are lost) I’ve able to catch with eighty or nine. Five are worthy of the archives certainly all possess share a genre (romantic melodrama) and superior craftsmanship. His strengths are those four films that land in the top 100 of the respective decade. Now, none of them made the top 500 of all-time (a weakness for sure) but there’s a real consistency in his work even if it’s obvious he never made a Sunrise or anything like that. Best film: Seventh

Aldrich. Aldrich’s eleven (11) archiveable films is right there with Zinnemann and Leroy for the most left for a director not yet on this list. Even Aldrich’s greatest admirers would admit his work is somewhat uneven- but Kiss Me Deadly is a big film—a triumph of style and important to film noir and maybe even better directed than it is good (where something like Double Indemnity may be the opposite). Aldrich’s weakness is having just that one film that lands in the top 100 (Kiss Me Deadly, again) of its respective decade. It’s hard to explain—but even the bad

Siegel. Don Siegel was a Hollywood journeyman who made B-pictures in the late 1940’s and 1950’s, had to resort to television work in the 1960’s, then had a resurgence with Clint Eastwood in the 1970’s highlighted by Dirty Harry in 1971 (what a year he had with The Beguiled the same year!). Siegel’s work in B-pictures is impressive (prison films, sci-fi including Body Snatchers back in an era when sci-fi wasn’t held in the esteem it is in the 21st century (look at the auteurs working now in sci-fi)). Like many Hollywood artists/journeyman Siegel was championed by the Cahiers

Baumbach. Four of Baumbach’s best five films were from the 2010’s so like James Gray and others on this list before he’ll shoot up this list in the future when I update it (I’m trying to put the emphasis on the ranking on films from 2009 or before so I can let the newer works sink in a little). Still, the nine total archiveable films for a modern auteur is remarkable and a strength of Baumbach—and though they very in quality – they’re all clearly from the pen of one of the most gifted of modern voices in cinema.

Wajda. Andrzej Wajda is the great polish auteur who emerged in the wake of WWII. I’ve always paired him with another great who made one hell of a debut in 1955- Satyajit Ray. Both followed up the Italian Neorealists blending history, accuracy, and drama, both arrived with a bang of a debut, and both started with a trilogy (the Apu Trilogy for Ray and the war trilogy for Wajda which includes A Generation, Kanal, and Ashes and Diamonds).  It is the third and final leg of that trilogy, Ashes and Diamonds. that is Wajda’s strongest effort (and the images

Gray. James Gray’s best work (though his top four films are all really strong and closely clustered) has come in the 2010’s so he’ll vault up this list in the upcoming years. His resume’s strengths are the whopping four films that land in the top 100 of their respective decade (there’s nobody left with that I don’t think) and the reoccurring Francis Ford Coppola-like classicism in his works. I’ll get to it more below but Gray is largely ignored in his native United States (sort of- I mean he gets the best of the best cast in his films)

Ulmer. On a shoestring budget Ulmer produced one of the best 1930’s horror films (The Black Cat) and one of the absolute staples and best films in film noir (Detour). Both show off Ulmer’s talents for truly outstanding visuals—you can draw a pretty direct line between them. Having both a top 500 film of all-time and two films in the top 100 of their respective decade is pretty rare here at spot #168—certainly the strength of Ulmer’s case. The archiveable filmography is light though and it isn’t lost on me that The Black Cat and Detour both run under