Simplistic, yes! Boil down the qualities of the world’s best directors and pick ONE. A hard task, especially for me. I am a connoisseur of film and relish the rich diversity of the medium, but certain geniuses tower over the art form.
I bow to the patience and enlightenment of Andrei Tarkovsky.
Grovel before the mastery and humanity of Ingmar Bergman.
Sit in awe of the nuances of Akira Kuroswawa.
Identify deeply with the angst of Martin Scorsese.
Laugh out loud and as quickly silenced by the tender touch of Fellini.
And I am continuously floored by the poetry of Werner Herzog.
I have narrowed it down to
Tarkovsky, Kurosawa, Bergman and Herzog. Almost impossible to choose between them. I’ll think about it for a while. What do you think?
Yet to be reconciled with the reality of the dark for a moment, I go on wandering from dream to dream.
I hope you are joking, rastahomie - at any rate, I laughed!
Jean-Luc Godard’s French, so he’s out of the running straightaways, even though I enjoy two of his films.
Welles completely lacks subtlety.
Hitchcock is hit and miss with me: Vertigo, Rope & N by NW are tense, rich films, but The Birds, Torn Curtain and Strangers on a Train, while entertaining, are too problematic and artificial.
1000 curses upon de Mille for starting a chain of events which culminated with The Titanic!
Kubric, along with Scorcese, are the most talented American directors. 2001:A Space Odyssey is monumental and breathtaking. I am still having a hard time forgiving him for Full Metal Jacket, Spartacus, and Eyes Wide Shut though.
I still have yet to see any of Sayles’ films.
Charles Laughton directed two films, but did not receive screen credits for one of them
Yet to be reconciled with the reality of the dark for a moment, I go on wandering from dream to dream.
I personally feel that Kurosawa is currently the best living director. Hitchcock was a fantastic director for many of the same reasons as Kurosawa, that is quality work spread over a prodigious career. Also, I don’t think that the contributions of Eisenstien or Wells should be over looked.
“He love people, all of them, washed and unwashed; he loves his wretched pack of sponging relatives. He shoots people, arrests people, but he doesn’t like it.”
Kurosawa died in 1998. As far as considering an entire career, I would put him at the top of my list. His films were consistently excellent, and even his latest films, made in his old age, such as Ran and Yume (Dreams) were amongst his best.
Orson Welles has a masterpiece in “Citizen Kane”, but his notable films are too few to rate him as the alltime best director in my view.
Godard would be disqualified in my eyes because too many of his films seem to be “exercises” and not accessible (or comprehensible) to the general public.
Kurosawa is The Master, it is true. I also enjoy Shohei Imammura (The Profound Desire of the Gods is spellbinding!) a great deal, but no Asian director (and few western ones) can touch The Master.
His **Chaos (Ran)**was spectacular (except for the superfluous clown and that annoying blind guy - sure it’s in Lear, but completely extraneous to Chaos’ plot) and the use of panning shots and color were flawless.
Dreams (Yume) had several great vignettes (and Scorcese as van Gogh was superb), but the more militaristic were poor. I think his Rhapsody in August was the better recent film.
Bergman is in the same league of prodigious, prolific, talented Masters. I’m glad to see one of his protegees, Liv Ullman, directing now, but her Sofia had much to be desired.
Adam, you mentioned Eisenstien, who I happen to think was little more than a Propaganda Machine. His Alexander Nevsky really should be featured on MST. The scene when the soldiers fall through the ice is one of the most unintentionally hilarious scenes in any movie. Tarkovsky is by far his superior!
There’s no doubt that Russ Meyer is a genius.
Hunsecker, you wrote:
Substitute ‘their cameras’ with the word ‘themselves’ and you’ve perfectly described Welles. There is justice though, I suppose he got what he deserved in the end.
Yet to be reconciled with the reality of the dark for a moment, I go on wandering from dream to dream.
I’d throw in Sergio Leone and David Lean, masters of the 3+ hour epics. Having just seen “Lawrence of Arabia” in full, restored 70mm splendor I’m once again agog at Lean’s mastery without sacrificing subtlety. Leone gets my vote for A) introducing the world to Clint Eastwood and B) casting Hank Fonda as one of the most evil SOBs to ever cross the screen in “Once Upon a Time in the West.” Leone’s movies are the closest thing that film will ever get to opera.
John Cassavetes for virtually inventing the idea of independent cinema.
John Ford, because he deserves every word of praise uttered about him.
Chris Marker, who directed the short that “Twelve Monkeys” is based off of is a personal favorite, as is Terry Gilliam.
I think Ridley Scott is underrated.
But those are personal favorites, Great implies some sort of objective standard.
Kirosawa is wonderful, but very non-western.
Bergman is fantastic - I once took a Bergman class during a Minnesota winter.
Capra for the “Hollywood System”
Wells for his inventiveness (overblown, yes, but still)
The early Russians (Eisenstein, Turgenev) for their contributions to the form.
