Top 5

Re: NEW Group, Top 5 current directors.

Re: NEW Group, Top 5 current directors.

Re: NEW Group, Top 5 current directors.

I had Malick on my list of adds too,  but agree completely on the inclusion of the rest of yours. 

For me,  Scorsese really has done nothing since After Hours, King of Comedy, and Raging Bull...the films following these have about all the appeal that Gone with the Wind has for me, cute little mythology there, but with no substance..

but this was good; 'not enough substance to hold up their reliance on style'; I agree with the following reservations:

Of the 4 other Directors mentioned, I haven't seen anything by Wes Anderson yet, and have just seen Old Boy, Sympathy for Mr. Vengence, and Joint Security Area by Park and enjoyed the first 2 very much and the third from the extremely unique demilitarized zone perspective, but a great movie, no, but Old Boy and Sympathy aren't either are they? I just liked the view/expression of the culture?

I would like to see Jarmusch hold up, his Dead Man and even, Ghost Dog have meaning for me that goes beyond style.

Tarantino, I am not so sanguine about and think that Pulp Fiction was perhaps 'it' for him, and frankly, I don't know if I would want to watch that one again; I don't know if it would stand repeated viewings  like so many other great films do. I am probably all mixed up here, but I thought he said that the characters in his films were people that he felt a person would want to 'hang' via watching them on the screen...that is a very interesting concept, but I am not sure of anyone of his characters that I would want to do that with, except Kietel's character in Pulp, but even then...

Soderbergh with all his refilming, at least in Traffic and Solaris, already very great works, I would boot him off just for that alone, but I find Schizopolis a rather amazing work, perhaps then, it will just be a 'one off' work, with the remainder accounting for little, but I want him to do something great.

Re: NEW Group, Top 5 current directors.

1. Joel and Ethan Coen

2. Jim Jarmusch

3. Hal Hartley

4. Tsai Ming-Liang

5. Terry Gilliam

Gilliam was actually hard to say because I haven't seen several of his movies.  Anyone seen Tideland yet?

Werner Herzog is another one I thought of as well, but there are so many of his movies I haven't seen either.

I also thought about Terry Zwigoff, but still haven't seen Art School Confidential yet either.

And I almost wanted to say Aki Kaurismäki just based on The Man Without a Past.  I haven't seen a single one of his other movies because they all seem to difficult to be able to find, but if most of them rival this film, he'd definitely be up there.

paul:

Terrence Mallick
Wong Kar Wai
Tsai Ming Ling
Todd Solondz
Errol Morris

I think Scorsese has run his course. It's fascinating Coppola or Ang Lee didn't make this list and there's some angst around Soderbergh. It makes me wonder if their whole "I'll make one for them and one for me" approach to the Business kills longevity.

Tarantino, Park Chan Wook, Wes Anderson, and Jim Jarmusch—and I go on the record here and now—I don't think they'll stand the test of time. Not enough substance to hold up their reliance on style.

Paul, this is a really cool list!  I'm surprised someone else listed Tsai Ming-Liang.

Badlands is one of my aboslute most favorite films.  And Days of Heaven is extremely good.  I just saw The Thin Red Line for the second time recently and didn't find it as good as I had remembered it.  Mallick is such a mysterious figure.  Have you seen The New World?  A friend of mine said it was the most like a film representation of a poem than any other movie he'd seen.

We've talked about Solondz elsewhere, and I hope to see more of his films.

Morris is amazing.  I saw Fog of War at a really cool movie theater in St. Louis with Adam (SkyPilot).  I've rented more of his movies since, some better than others.  He seems to do best when focusing on one person.  Have you seen his series First Person?  It sounds just like this kind of thing.

As for Wong Kar Wai, the only film of his I've seen is Chungking Express.  I actually saw that one with Adam (SkyPilot) and Kevin (Porcupine) at Adam's house.  He rented it because it was released by Tarantino's Rolling Thunder distribution.  He thought it was some kind of Chop Socky movie.  It seemed to be largely a ripoff of Godard's Breathless, a movie I already don't really like.  I think I heard the song California Dreamin' enough for a lifetime.  What's your appeal to this guy?  Maybe I need to see another one of his films.

I don't see why it matter whether or not we think these directors will stand the test of time.  If they are good and affecting enough to us right now, that's good enough to put on our top 5 of current directors.  I'm sure there are plenty of forgotten directors that I would have highly enjoyed if I had lived and been interested in cinema in an earlier era.  Maybe I would find them irrelevent today.  There may also be older directors that I like now that I wouldn't have liked back then.

Re: NEW Group, Top 5 current directors.

Re: NEW Group, Top 5 current directors.

Maybe someday Wes Anderson will be on my list.  I sheepishly admit that I haven't seen any of his films but all of them are on my "want to see" list.  I also go in spurts with my film watching and am currently in a slow streak.  Everything I've ever heard about his flicks though have been good.  Maybe I should make a night of it.

I do agree with Paul, though, with reference to good ole' QT.  His films are hit and miss just because he often lacks the marriage of style and substance, with the notable exceptions of the Kill Bill movies.  I think those are more textured than they are given credit for.

Re: NEW Group, Top 5 current directors.

Re: NEW Group, Top 5 current directors.

Re: NEW Group, Top 5 current directors.

Re: NEW Group, Top 5 current directors.