Criteria: Artistic vision, technical skill, body of work, positive historical influence, moral fiber, originality/innovation and sense of humor (which I think is very telling to the other areas)
So who would be the greatest ever? Or at least in the running? Lets start with the most agreed upon Masters
Kubrick, Kurosawa, Orson Welles, Fellini, Jean Renoir, Hitchcock and... David Lynch?
Who is close to that list?
Coppola, Scorsese, Spielberg, Ridley Scott, Tarkovsky
Popular but controversial choices?
Roger Corman, Sergio Leone, Tarantino, De Palma, Godard, Jodorowsky, John Waters, Jerry Lewis, Jess Franco, Jean Rollin, Dario Argento, Mario Bava, Krzysztof Kieślowski, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Woody Allen, Roman Polanski, Paul Verhoeven, Robert Zemeckis, Tod Solondz
Honorable mentions?
David Fincher, Steve McQueen, Soderbergh, Alfred J Packula, Robert Altman, Seijun Suzuki, Clint Eastwood, George Lucas, Zack Snyder, Mel Brooks, Blake Edwards, Terry Gilliam, Tim Burton, Robert Altman
Pioneers?
John Ford, Howard Hawkes, DW Griffith, Buster Keaton, Chaplin, Leni Riefenstahl, Fritz Lang, Cecil B DeMille, Maya Deren, Kenneth Anger, Yasujiro Ozu, Nicholas Ray, Sam Fuller, King Vidor, Billy Wilder, David Lean, Douglas Sirk
Lot to choose from.
I have to try and eliminate my bias to not oversell anyone's strengths or undersell their weaknesses. But I am a fan of any game-changing great filmmaker.
Out of the pioneers, let's pick the least dated and politically offensive, the most futuristic and still classical. A lot of them were rough around the edges by today's standards and are more trailblazers than actually entertaining or rewarding. Oh this group, I would take Vidor, Ray, Lang, Chaplin, Deren and Hawkes but I think the clear winner is Billy Wilder. He mastered comedy and drama equally and his films are insanely fresh and modern because he wasn't trapped in the conventions of his period or any one culture.
Oh the honorable mentions - which may sound insulting, but I only mean they don't fit in the other groups - I would choose George Lucas. Put his delightfully amateur screenwriting aside and here is a man with incredible vision. Lucas' handling of THX-1138, American Graffiti, A New Hope and the criminally underrated and unmistakably game-changing Star Wars prequels shows a futuristic craftsman with a wild heart of a movie lover who broke ground and touched people over a very long and misunderstood career.
The cult directors almost all have glaring inconsistencies and incredible redeeming qualities. Quite a lot of these directors produced multiple masterworks, but I think Paul Verhoeven stayed at an incredible high level throughout his career (yes, I think Showgirls is a perfect film). A true risk taker, entertainer and artist who is always the right level of offensive and never too derivative or indulgent or crude.
Now that we've cleared up the discussion for the lower half, lets get to the 2nd Tier masters. All prolifically great, historically important and totally unique. I think most film fans would give it to Scorsese because of his longevity and popularity, but I choose Francis Ford Coppola. He has incredible range and has worked in so many levels of the industry (from the indies to the top of Hollywood to the indies again) while always creating some personal and tremendously ambitious for his usually constraining circumstances.
And who is the best of "the best"? My vote goes to David Lynch. I think there are more serious critics that would agree with me than you would expect. My argument is that Lynch, while not as successful, recognized, praised or genre-friendly, has the most ability as a director to create a true experience with filmmaking. Lynch's career is certainly the most experimental and arguably the most consistent out of a class of highly consistent high profile directors who only flirted with actual Hollywood moviemaking. But he exemplifies the most extreme and cheerful and personal of this auteur philosophy. And has proven that he could direct just like any of his competitors, but he only chooses to for comic or shock effect. Shockingly, he can do so with the most meager budget and underwritten script. He has tried to avoid the grandiosity, the sentimentality and the pretentiousness that plagues so many filmmakers, but does any other director play with those elements so masterfully? He dissects and manipulates audience expectation and emotion with such cold and clear headed skill that it seems effortless or even randomly executed. This has earned him a gimmick as a madman. But I believe his method is just beyond the capacity of most individuals.
- David Lynch
- Francis Ford Coppola
- Paul Verhoeven
- George Lucas
- Billy Wilder
No comments:
Post a Comment