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101 DIRECTORS' ESSENTIAL FILMS

By: Kenji


Chikamatsu Monogatari/The Crucified Lovers

Done without preparation, so don’t read much into the order

Partly personal, partly “objective” taking into account importance and general opinion (so there are a small number of films i’m not keen on). But sorry fans of Jackson, Tarantino, Coens, Cameron, Nolan, Fincher, Eastwood, P.T.Anderson, Ridley Scott…well, they don’t need promoting. I don’t think the Oscars are a good guide to quality, so directors are not always represented by Oscar winning films

so many bubbling under: Mambety, Von Trier, Chahine, Tati, Vertov, Dovzhenko, Wiseman, Barnet, Kalatozov, Pasolini, Hong Sang-Soo, Kitano, Masumura, Yoshida, Ichikawa, Yamanaka, Suzuki, Sun Yu, Chen Kaige, Menzel, Vlacil, Tran Anh-Hung, Chabrol, Kazan, Campion, Sen, Dutt, M. Makhmalbaf, Svankmajer, Cronenberg, Cassavetes, Maddin, Brakhage, Cocteau, Wajda, Deren, Franju, Kaurismaki, Costa, Argento, Guney, Norstein, Stroheim, Losey, Im Kwon-taek, P.Sturges, Melies, Guy-Blaché, Jarmusch, Quay brothers, Diaz, Pialat, Garrel, Pintilie, Jarman, Bartas, Nikolaidis, Martel, Wang Bing, Robert Kramer, Ogawa, Chytilova, Sanjines, Mekas… of course the Directors Cups have showcased a lot now, Nikolaidis and Ruiz the surprise finalists in the first, Monteiro now the winner of the 2nd, beating Mizoguchi in the final.

There should be more by women, from Latin America, and quite a few countries are hard done by. In any event, there is also the list 365 Directors. I’m amazed this list, strung together higgledy-piggledy with no planning and little in the way of pictures or write-up, is so popular (i prefer the 365 list!)

 

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Stephen Jay Walsh

4Feb12

Brilliant list. Brilliant directors. Brilliant films. Although, I watched Le Silence De La Mer for the first time the other day on blu-ray and was deeply affected by it. Would consider adding that film to the list of essential Jean-Pierre Melville films. I too would question Pasolini not making a list of 101(!) essential directors though.

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    Kenji

    4Feb12

    Le Silence de la Mer is fine, it's often the case that i could add another film for a director, it's hard to know where to cut off, or the list would be too long.. Pasolini may well deserve a place, i guess my own taste has tipped against him, whereas i've chosen some "wild card" neglected but favourite directors..

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LifeofFiction

12Dec11

Wow, this is quite the list. Thank you for this, it will be a great reference. Have you seen all these films?

  • Picture of Kenji

    Kenji

    12Dec11

    Glad you like it. there are about a dozen i've not seen- by Muratova, Sokurov, Monteiro, Rivette, Ruiz, Sjostrom, Iosseliani- but look forward to..

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    LifeofFiction

    12Dec11

    Wow, impressive, I'd be surprised if I've seen half these films. I feel like such an apprentice here haha. My "films to watch" list has grown exponentially since I joined Mubi.

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răpciune

27Sep11

okay, so if i see all this i can call myself a beginning cinephile. very challenging, monsieur :D

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    Kenji

    28Sep11

    If you see all those you're well on your way, and/or alternatively follow the 365 Directors list, with 1 film each.

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Commie Bee

19Sep11

it seems a little strange to me there's not any Pasolini film on your list ( even The Gospel ... ) , whereas there's five Bertolucci film on it ...

  • Picture of Kenji

    Kenji

    19Sep11

    I set a limit at 101, and then picked several films by each. Pasolini just missed out- mentioned in the "bubbling under" list. There's another list of 365 Directors, with just 1 film each- Gospel according to St Matthew chosen for Pasolini

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