I consider these twenty can still bring some good discussions. Many of them are quite prolific and already have excellent threads here, but if the purpose of this project is going deeper, it’d be great to discover and even dissect some of their lesser known (at least in the forum) works.
Marta Rodríguez
Jorge Sanjinés
Alf Sjöberg
Fernando Solanas
Yasujirô Ozu
Sohrab Shahid Saless
Straub/Huillet
Mark Rappaport
Leonardo Favio
Teuvo Tulio
Raúl Ruiz
Ritwik Ghatak
Kenji Mizoguchi
Hiroshi Shimizu
Djibril Diop Mambéty
Ermanno Olmi
Joris Ivens
Jean Rouch
João César Monteiro
Luis García Berlanga
Léonce Perret
Louis Feuillade
Germaine Dulac
Marcel L’Herbier
Jean Epstein
Fei Mu
Tian Zhuangzhuang
Stanley Kwan
Frank Tashlin
Luc Moullet
Lizzy Borden
Kira Muratova
Charles Burnett
Abel Ferrara
Abbas Kiarostami
Lynne Ramsey
Edward Yang
Monte Hellman
Pedro Costa
Straub/Huillet
Andrei Tarkovsky
Jafar Panahi
Wang Bing
Karel Kachyna
Victor Sjöström
Sharunas Bartas
Theodoros Angelopoulos
Frederick Wiseman
Dariush Mehrjui
Im Kwon-taek
Derek Jarman
Tsai Ming-liang
Glauber Rocha
Raúl Ruiz
Miklós Jancsó
Terry Gilliam
Chantal Akerman
Bae Yong-Kyun
Béla Tarr
Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Jerry—If you’re thinking about getting into Hutton, check out the podcast that Riss, Cecil and I did on a few of his films. We were all newbs and we all had strongly positive reactions to his work.
@ OXYMORON
Discovery is what it’s all about at the end of the day, no doubt.
Hear hear.
And Abel Ferrara Matt Parks? I do not get that guy. Bad Lieutenant seemed to me to be trying so desperately hard to be “gritty” and “unpleasant” that it ultimately succeeds… at being just that, unpleasant. Believable? Ehhhh…. not sure. I understand that Harvey Keitel is “bad”… they certainly oversold that much. Something soulless and empty about that film, King of New York also.
What Abel Ferrara films are actually good?
@ OXY
Also, another angle that is interesting is, say I’m looking to check out some new filmmakers. Say I’m browsing through a thread such as this one. I see a list of 20 filmmakers, none of which I have ever heard of in my life. Does such a list mean anything to me at a casual glance? Obviously not. However, if I see a list that has you know some stuff… Kubrick, sure, boring answer but… I love Kubrick… Bergman sure I love Bergman… Kurosawa ect ect.. . then I notice a name or two that maybe I don’t know, suddenly I’m intrigued. Now maybe in this example I am being small minded for requiring these “stepping stones” as it were but I do think there is something to be said for this effect at least on a subconscious or psychological level.
Otakar Vávra
Akio Jissoji
František Vláčil
Victor Sjöström
Benjamin Christensen
Joris Ivens
Buster Keaton
Béla Tarr
Yoshishige Yoshida
Glauber Rocha
Anthony Mann
Miklós Jancsó
Jean-Daniel Pollet
Kira Muratova
Abel Gance
Astrid Henning-Jensen
Ritwik Ghatak
Reymundo Gleyzer
Johan Jacobsen
Bent Christensen
EDIT – I missed the “running wild” part. Updated to better suit the spirit of what Kuxa is looking for (I think).
LONG LIVE VICTOR SJOSTROM!
And Yoshida was a near miss for my list.
1. Djibril Diop Mambety
2. John Cassavetes
3. Glauber Rocha
4. Dang Nhat Minh
5. Kim Ki-young
6. Jang Sun-woo
7. Shuji Terayama
8. Andrei Tarkovsky
9. Yuri Ilyenko
10. Sergei Parajanov
11. Hong Sang-soo
12. Sohrab Shahid-Saless
13. Philippe Grandrieux
14. Bela Tarr
15. Ritwik Ghatak
16. Alexis Damianos
17. Ion Popescu-Gopo
18. Bruno Dumont
19. Frans Zwartjes
20. Lav Diaz
Robert Bresson
John Carpenter
Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Jean-Luc Godard
Werner Herzog
Alfred Hitchcock
Hou Hsiao-hsien
Jia Zhangke
Buster Keaton
Charles Laughton
Terrence Malick
Michael Mann
Hayao Miyazaki
Yasujiro Ozu
Nicholas Ray
Jean Renoir
Martin Scorsese
Andrei Tarkovsky
Paul Verhoeven
Jean Vigo
I carry the shameful mark of the canon, I know. I am working to rectify that.
1. Ingmar Bergman
2. Andrei Tarkovsky
3. Jean-Luc Godard
4. Luis Buñuel
5. Rainer Werner Fassbinder
6. Michelangelo Antonioni
7. Hal Hartley
8. Robert Bresson
9. Krzysztof Kieslowski
10. Bela Tarr
11. Akira Kurosawa
12. Guy Maddin
13. John Cassavetes
14. Carlos Reygadas
15. Michael Haneke
16. Nuri Bilge Ceylan
17. Wong Kar-Wai
18. David Lynch
19. Stanley Kubrick
20. Lars Von Trier
@ Axelumog
While I do like Bad Lieutenant, I still feel it’s the weakest Ferrara that I’ve see. New Rose Hotel and The Addiction, on the other hand, are both masterpieces, and Body Snatchers is also quite excellent. Some friends of mine more versed in Ferrara point to Dangerous Game as his best film. I myself have yet to see it unfortunately. Seriously, Ferrara rules, and the sooner you figure that one out the sooner you’ll be able lead a happy and fulfilling life.
In no particular order…
1. Bela Tarr
2. Wim Wenders
3. Jacques Rivette
4. David Lynch
5. Philippe Garrel
6. Hollis Frampton
7. Peter Tscherkassky
8. Claire Denis
9. Robert Bresson
10. Michelangelo Antonioni
11. Bertrand Bonello
12. Lumiere Brothers
13. Quentin Tarantino
14. Alfred Hitchcock
15. Aleksandr Sokurov
16. Ilya Khrjhanovsky
17. Tsai Ming-Liang
18. Victor Erice
19. Michael Haneke
20. Jean Epstein
Satyajit Ray
Robert Bresson
Andrei Tarkovsky
Kenji Mizoguchi
Ingmar Bergman
Chris Marker
Michelangelo Antonioni
Ritwik Ghatak
Mikio Naruse
Manoel de Oliveira
Sergei Paradjanov
Ermanno Olmi
Mrinal Sen
Kazuo Hara
Robert Kramer
Sohrab Shahid Saless
Víctor Erice
Jean Renoir
Abbas Kiarostami
Hou Hsiao-Hsien
“And Abel Ferrara Matt Parks?”
I used to be obsessed with Ferrara in the 90’s, but i feel that he isn’t as good after discovering better film makers, so it does surprise me when he is included in best of lists from people that ought to know better ;-)
Ferrara has been spinning his wheels for the better part of the last decade. I agree with Zachary that New Rose Hotel is quite a good film, but it’s not better than Bad Lieutenant, and even that film has lost some of its charm over the years as standards of realism keep changing.
Dangerous Game is an interesting film but it’s ultimately Ferrara trying to engage in something that is beyond his intellectual and artistic capabilities. It does have its moments though.
Trust your younger self, Joks. Or read Brad Stevens’ and Nicole Brenez’s books.
^^Read them, wasn’t convinced(for the most part), at least not for his later films anyway. Secondly, Brad Stevens is an obvious fanboy, and that was something that even Rosenbaum picked up when he reviewed his book a few years ago. He thinks every film Ferrara has made is a masterpiece. I just can’t take him seriously, even if he does have some insight into his films, particularly New Rose Hotel.
It’s amazing the excuses critics(re: fanboys) make for a paper thin film like Rxmas, which has so many things wrong with it. ‘pay attention to the form’, Adrian Martin would say, as if somehow that means anything. The use of form is not all that impressive. As a formalist, Ferrara isn’t even in the top 30 of director’s working today. Not even close.
He had a good run in the 90’s though, but even some of those films have dated.
Still love The Funeral.
Small change:
OUT: Woody Allen
IN: Nicolás Guillén Landrián
You posting a list, Joks? Or are you just going to bitch about other people’s?
^^no, i’m just going to bitch :-)
i’m finished btw.
Goodnight ;-)
btw, Eternal Husband was excellent. so at least we can agree on that ;-)
Ferrara’s theology changed when he and St, John had their falling out, but even if you’re unwilling/unable to pick back up with him in the 2000’s (which is made relatively difficult by the lack of most of them on R1 DVD, anyway), he made eight exceptional films in ten years during the ’90s, and eight exceptional films is more than can be claimed by many of the directors listed so far, so . . .
“Still love The Funeral.”
And that’s the one that Axel should see.
^^The Blackout was exceptional? really? Ok, well i guess we are just going to have to agree to disagree on that one.
Mary was decent, but i think suffered from his reactionary impulses. I wish he just stuck to his original concept.
Ferrara’s 00 films are difficult to find for a reason. It’s not like he is Lav Diaz or anything.
You seen 4:44 yet? I have that lying around somewhere.
Interesting reading. Gallagher on Abel Ferrara
^^i’ve read it. I looked at plenty of articles when i was researching Ferrara for cinema studies back in my university days.
Stephens’ analysis of New Rose Hotel was on point than that one.
“if you’re unwilling/unable to pick back up with him”
heh
Chris Marker
Buster Keaton
Michelangelo Antonioni
Nicolas Roeg
Luis Bunuel
Andrei Tarkovsky
Masaki Kobayashi
Coen Bros.
Darren Aronofsky
Krystof Kieslowski
Aki Kaurasmaki
Alain Resnais
Takashi Miike
John Lasseter
Richard Fleischer
Edgar Wright
Man Ray
Craig Baldwin
Satoshi Kon
Kinji Fukasaku
—PolarisDiB
Hey Matt Parks:
I am in the middle of Brenez’s book right now, and having some mixed feelings about it. Thanks for the Tag Gallagher link, it’s an interesting contrast…
Michaelangelo Antonioni
Andrei Tarkovsky
Martin Scorsese
David Cronenberg
Michael Mann
Michael Haneke
Lars Von Trier
Todd Haynes
Richard Linklater
Maurice Pialat
David Lynch
Stanley Kubrick
Sam Peckinpah
Coen Brothers
Jean-Pierre Melville
Jacques Rivette
Sion Sono
Andrzej Zulawski
Bruno Dumont
David Fincher
“You seen 4:44 yet? I have that lying around somewhere.”
Yeah, it’s good.
“I am in the middle of Brenez’s book right now, and having some mixed feelings about it. "
Have you read much of her writing aside from that book? I can’t really read French will enough to read her without translation. I’m not sure I’m completely onboard with everything she has to say about Ferrara either, but her approach to his work is interesting, an at least provides some “food for thought.”
“It’s not like he is Lav Diaz or anything.”Actually it’s a lot like that (though he’s probably more like Garelle).
Oxymoron
I’m not sure if posters are putting their personal favorite 20 filmmakers or “running wild”, Axelumog. But I agree with you that: but I would predict that most anyone’s honest list would have at least a few “out there” selections
Here’s to the “out there” – as I think it more of a chance to make some discoveries for all of us than just talking about the best films of Bergman, Kubrick, Tarkovsky, and the like. Perhaps others look at this differently – I don ’t know.