When I was in 7th grade my parents had Clerks on VHS hidden in their closet. Eventually I got my hands on this grotesque contraband. For someone raised on the Lion King and Independence Day, clerks was mind blowing. Sure, I was in it for the ejaculate humor, but it totally changed my perception of what made a good movie. Overnight black and white became, if not cool, than at least acceptable. Punctuation, and an absence of punctuation, started to matter to me. I can’t say I ever really thought that hard about the director’s role, not even Spielberg’s, until I realized Silent Bob was Kevin Smith.
Perhaps it’s overrated as cinema or “art”. It had a tangible and positive impact on my life. A director could ask for more from a movie, but might be pushing his/her luck in so doing.