Favourite Film-Makers

[jekylljuice]

Alright, I've had a little look around the Other Entertainment section, and I've noticed that we've threads about our favourite movies, our favourite movie franchises, movie theme music, movies which have made us cry, but, unless I'm very much mistaken, nothing thus far in honour of those magical people who actually brought them into being in the first place. Well, I couldn't find any such threads, but if one already exists and I simply missed it, then I apologise, and hope that one of the mods will merge them together.

Anyhow, the title is fairly self-explanatory. Tell us who your favourite film-makers are (and I am envisioning the term rather broadly - it can refer to directors, producers, screen-writers, cinematographers, even entire production companies, if you wish). Obviously, in the interests of generating some discussion, it might be a good idea to give some explanation as to why you like them so much, which of their output you particularly favour, etc, etc.

Here are mine:

Ethan and Joel Coen - Legendary. I won't go into the full details as to how much I love these guys, and how much fascination and enjoyment I have invested into so many of their individual projects since first I first discovered them (hard to believe now that there was ever a time in which I lived in ignorance of them), since we don't have a century to spare. So instead I'll say this - I don't think there's anyone in possession of a better knack for taking established genres, dusting them off and then tweaking them in such a way that they become fresh and uncoventional, whilst at the same time still paying homage to the films and genres that inspired them. They're probably best known for doing this with film noir - the results of which include Fargo, Blood Simple, the Big Lebowski and, more recently, No Country for Old Men - but my favourite has always been their screwball comedy homage, The Hudsucker Proxy, which was literally love at first sight for me, and it's remained my all-time favourite movie to this day. And, not in the least bit hindered by the presence of some recurring themes and cast members, I think that their output has been very rich and varied - it can be funny, colourful, macbre and disturbing, plus they've even dabbled in a bit of devilish surrealty in the form of the magnificent Barton Fink. Yep, here's to you both, Ethan and Joel, you hurricane of fraternal brilliance, you.

Nanni Moretti - An Italian film-maker I've brought up a couple of times within the "Last Movie You Watched" thread. I discovered him early last year and he and his entire catalogue (or at least whatever I could find upon these shores) quickly went on to become massive favourites of mine. On the whole, I find his films to be very quirky, wry and spirited, and to celebrate a general enthusiasm for living, but there's often also an undercurrent of poignancy and sadness, which, for a change, he allowed to take the front seat in his utterly heart-rending The Son's Room, which deals with a family's efforts to cope with the sudden death of one its younger members. In addition to being a very talented director, producer and screen-writer, he's also immensely likeable and entrancing as an actor - I particularly loved him in Caro Diario (Dear Diary), which is my favourite of all of his films that I've seen.

Jim Jarmusch - This man's sense of miniature detail and understatement is simply awe-inspiring. His scripts are also very delicately written and entertaining. I think that my favourites would have to be Night on Earth, Dead Man and Ghost Dog; Way of the Samurai.

David Lynch - Beautiful, strange, surreal, unnerving, terrifying and at times downright grotesque, Mr. Lynch is indeed a film-maker of many, many talents. Though most famous for his darker, more twisted and disturbing projects, along the lines of Eraserhead and Mulholland Drive, he was able to demonstrate with the much gentler, but no less amazing, The Straight Story that there's more than one side to his creativity, whilst The Elephant Man is one of the most emotionally resonant pictures that I think you're ever likely to find. I'd have to say though that the all-out bizare Rabbits, which I only just saw last week, is in a very strong position right now to become my favourite of all of his output.

Derek Jarman - I'm including him in my list, since although I've only actually seen two of his films, The Garden and Blue (the latter being his last ever movie before his AIDS-related death in 1994), both of them made quite an impression upon me, and I'm very eager to see what else he was able to leave to the world throughout his sadly rather short lifetime. The Garden is easily one of the most aesthetically interesting and beautiful films that I've ever seen. The visuals in Blue, by contrast, consist entirely of a blue screen (a representation of the blindness which Jarman was having to face toward the end of his life), accompanied by a very haunting and verbally very beautiful monologue upon his current life and deteriorating health and eyesight. I wouldn't quite say that either film was a consistently easy experience to sit through, but they were both very rivetting, unique, powerful, and at times downight disturbing, and both ended up delivering quite a hefty emotional blow.

Well, that's all I can think of right now. Obviously there are many other film-makers whose output I've really enjoyed, but I think I've covered all of my major favourites. So, over to you.