i have to correct you before this thing goes to far. there’s no such thing as an “auteur” director, in the way you’re using the term. as a superlative adjective. an auteur is a noun. its a thing. not a type of director.
McG
Thank you but, all grammar aside, I think we all know what I was getting at no?
What or whom does McG stand for Mr. Skeleton?
Paul Thomas Anderson seems to be slipping into the same stream recently left vacant by Maestro Altman.
Wes (the other) Anderson seems to want to be in there, too. THE ROYAL TENNENBAUMS pretty much secures it.
Spike Lee, Gus Van Sant and Sean Penn are all still putting out pretty good output. Woody is still working.
And I’m always keeping my eye on Todd Field. He may only have two films to his name, but they have been brilliant, probing pieces. Bravo to him.
One who I really thought was going to be in the pantheon but, alas, has somehow gone somewhere else — Lawrence Kasdan. Pity, because he had some good films for a while.
Kiarostami
Angelopolous
Khrzanovsky
Sokurov
Zhang Yimou
Edward Yang
Wong Kar-Wai
All belong on any list of current directors/auteurs – although I found the only film I have seen by Khrzanovsky – 4 a little too dark for me, but she certainly displays talent. The rest are all fairly well-known. I have been exploring their work this last year (Zhang I have seen many films before), to broaden horizons.
McG, the director.
This is a fascinating (if not impossible) task. A friend recently sent me a list of “contemporary working directors” which is rather exhaustive (for narrative filmmakers at least). His list was inspired by Andrew Sarris’ “The American Cinema”. Of course, the scope of the new list was extended to include the whole wide world. Benton, the directors you name is a great start, and my suggestions are by no means an ending or “final word” on the subject. I have narrowed down my friend’s choices to those who have some sort of critical clout (I have tried to inject as little of my own biases). Of course, I am not familiar with many of these directors myself, nor do I neccessarily like the ones I am familiar with. Here goes:
-Michael Haneke
-Jia Zhang-ke
-Wong Kar-wai
-Abbas Kiarostami
-Aoyama Shinji
-Patrice Chereau
-Dardenne brothers
-Terrence Malick
-Jafar Panahi
-Alexander Sokurov
-Andre Techine
-Gus van Sant
-Apichatpong Weersethakul
-Olivier Assayas
-Catherine Breillat
-Laurent Cantet
-Terence Davies
-Claire Denis
-Arnaud Desplechin
-Bruno Dumont
-Victor Erice
-Todd Haynes
-Jim Jarmusch
-Aki Kaurismaki
-Harmony Korine
-Kurosawa Kiyoshi
-Lisandro Alonso
-Samira Makhmalbaf
-Takeshi Miike
-Takeshi Kitano
-Gaspar Noe
-Darezhan Omirbaev
-Lynne Ramsay
-Pen-ek Ratanaruang
-Ulrich Seidl
-Todd Solondz
-Elia Suleiman
-Fatih Akin
-Tom Tykwer
-Taviani brothers
-Nanni Moretti
-Hong Sang-soo
-Nuri Bilge Ceylan
-Amos Gitai
-Denys Arcand
-Billie August
-Hector Babenco
-Cristophe Honore
-Mike Leigh
-Guy Maddin
-Julian Schnabel
-Lars von Trier
-Lav Diaz
-Brillante Mendoza
-Hirokazu Kore-eda
-Carlos Reygadas
-Susanne Bier
-Cristi Puiu
-Shane Meadows
-Lucrecia Martel
-Raul Ruiz
-Jane Campion
-Francois Ozon
I am unsure about what you mean exactly by “modern”. There are plenty of “old” directors who are still working and producing fine films. Such people include:
-Chabrol
-Rohmer
-Rivette
-Godard
-Herzog
-Resnais
-de Oliveira (!!)
-Loach
-Olmi
-Wajda
-Akerman
-Garrel
-Greenaway
-Roeg
-Angelopolous
-Benning
-Marker
-Varda
-Wiseman
so many films, and so little time…
McG ?! And I thought including Miike in my list was as “low” as anyone could go with this list. But obviously I am gravely mistaken. (note: Sadly, I can say that I know what I’m talking about; Charlie’s Angels must be the antithesis of what cinema, at least one that matters, should be).
Awesome list SL HUE! Thank you to everyone else…it seems I now have some work to do.
Simon, right now I can see two missing: Jose Luis Guerin and Raya Martin. Will think of some more to add…
McG, seconded.
May I add
Joao Cesar Monteiro (even though he died 5 years ago)
Pedro Costa
Nanouk Leopold
Semih Kaplanoglu
Andrei Zvyagintsev
Philippe Grandrieux
Serge Bozon
Raymond Depardon
Alain Cavalier
Artour Aristakisian
Eugène Green
Lech Majewski
Janós Szász
Naomi Kawase
Sharunas Bartas
I am amazed at the lists provided to us – maybe the future of cinema is not so bleak. Thank you all for providing us such an engaging list of filmmakers we can now look out for when looking for something new.
David Cronenberg
Roman Polanski
Atom Egoyan
Patricia Rozema
Mike Leigh
Abel Ferrara
It makes sense that almost every director nowadays has the ability to be an auteur. But I’m always confused when the writer/director doesn’t edit their own films. There’s only been, to my knowledge, kiarostami, robert rodriguez, gus van sant, and uhhhh Kevin Smith, I guess really recently. I was surprised to see that Derek Jarman didn’t get editing credit for Last of England. Maybe one of the million named up there do, though.
SARAJEVO,
Good looking on Lech Majewski, that man is way to much of a genius to be as obscure as he is. Luckily they are finally putting out his movies on DVD!
I encourage everyone who likes Tarkovsky or surrealistic art to see “Glass Lips”, which is a masterpiece (Without dialogue too)
Would anyone be able to tell me what Hal Hartly is currently working on, if there’s anything? I love all his feature length films but my favorite work by him will I think always be the short film ‘Ambition’.
The director and screenwriter, Alex Quiroga, will present his latest work. The film with which we impacto “happened in Spain” “Il hopes broken,” the feature film about 11M, and we are indoors in a mysterious story filled with intrigue and suspense. “sought vol1 store,” but now get a gender integration between reality and fiction as a police thriller
an intensity in his 4th feature film ANYMAS
Aoaijea wrote:
“It makes sense that almost every director nowadays has the ability to be an auteur. But I’m always confused when the writer/director doesn’t edit their own films. There’s only been, to my knowledge, kiarostami, robert rodriguez, gus van sant, and uhhhh Kevin Smith, I guess really recently.”
The Coen Bros. also edit their own films.
I’m not sure if the inclusion of McG was supposed to be sarcastic, but (while I don’t like his films myself) I support the idea that there still might be auteurs out there working on disreputable commercial product (just like a lot of the original “underground” directors).
SL Hue, that list rocked my socks.
@Jon Hastings
I sure hope the inclusion of McG was supposed to be sarcastic. Or was “Charlie’s Angels” a cinematic masterpiece that I just didn’t get? :)
(Then again, he directed the new Terminator movie and has 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea lined up…somebody in Hollywood obviously likes him)
Modern auteur may mean something that’s really defying the old school of auteur cinema.
In this regard, may I add – Brillante Mendoza, Lav Diaz, John Torres, Raya Martin, György Pálfi, Ulrich Seidl and Gaspar Noe. Last but not least, Lars Von Trier.
Why isn’t Pedró Almódovar on these lists?!
g00ch
Would anyone be willing to create or point out a list of modern arthouse “Auteur” Directors along the lines of Bela Tarr, Ming-liang Tsai, Hsiao-hsien Hou, Roy Andersson, ect…
Anyone that would compare to Tarkovsky, Bresson, or Bergman (In quality of filmmaking, not stylistically) would be very nice.
:)