The Director Thread

[bob]

Christopher Nolan can do no wrong in my eyes. He revived Batman as a film series after the awfulness of Batman and Robin. Arguably his two Batman films are the best involving Batman.

And Inception blew my mind. Easily the best picture of 2010 in my book. It's the first non-action movie that has stuck with me for quite a while.

[Mofo Rising]

For my first entry, I'll pick David Cronenberg.

Sample filmography:  VIDEODROME (1983), THE FLY (1986), CRASH (1996), A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE (2005)

As for his directorial style, I like his 'organic' approach.  He doesn't "over produce" his shots and goes with his gut as he's making a film.  He approaches film making from the opposite end of the spectrum as those who storyboard EVERYTHING and plan every detail of the entire production (which is okay when it works in the end product).  On the commentary for A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE, I think it was Maria Bello that mentioned Cronenberg often would not "know" how he wanted to compose a scene until the day of shooting that scene, and often then not even before actual shooting.  He's more of a "okay, here's where we are and here's what I think I want" kind of director.

I find his films very effective.  He's not afraid to be 'gritty' or to push his actors to the edge of their comfort zones.  Maybe open to criticism as appealing more the the art house or festival market than the box office, Cronenberg is a solid director that I can fully anticipate really enjoying his films whenever I watch one I have not seen.

And just for the record, I don't agree with his politics.  I just like his movies.   

I'm a huge Cronenberg fan; I've seen almost all of his movies. What I admire about Cronenberg most is the clear sense of intelligence in his films. For all his focus on grotesquerie, it never seems that any of his films were made for a goof (well, maybe Fast Company).

Cronenberg presents the extremities of the human condition, and just how dark personal neuroses can truly get. The little loved Crash stands as one of my favorite examples of perversion on film. By the last reel, the sense of lives spinning out of control was truly disturbing, and that's without even mentioning Dead Ringers.

Naked Lunch was mentioned. I don't think anybody would want to see the full unpleasantness of William S. Burroughs put to film, but Cronenberg managed to make a film I find fascinating by turning Burroughs own life into a pastiche of insanity.

He pared down the physical goo he is obsessed with in his last few films by focusing on the hidden psychological stress of his characters. Good films, but I also liked his earlier fascination with "the new flesh."

[The Burgomaster]

One of my favorite Cronenberg films is still SHIVERS (aka THEY CAME FROM WITHIN).  He took a very overused concept (a group of isolated people falling victim to a seemingly unstoppable, steadily-spreading nightmare) and made it suspenseful and interesting. 

[crackers]

I'm still yet to see Shivers, but it is high up on my list.

My personal favorite directors are:
John Waters
Russ Meyer
John Carpenter
H.G Lewis
David Lynch

All of which I feel bring something special and weird and wonderful to the screen.

[Mofo Rising]

Okay, I'm going to be the hack who talks about David Lynch.

I love David Lynch movies. The weird head-space David Lynch operates in is to me fascinating.

A lot of this is because almost every single Lynch film is set up as a puzzle. The surrealism in his films is usually clue fodder for what the film is really about. I love puzzles, so trying to extract the "true" explanation out of his movies is an exercise I really enjoy.

His last few films have been almost nothing but his own personal Lynch-verse. Not very accessible and seemingly lazy. But I think that's where he started, and he never left. He got very lucky with Blue Velvet and Twin Peaks, where his own obsessions managed to captivate large audiences. He's not a guy with a huge bag of tricks, though. A David Lynch film is a David Lynch film.

That being said, I think Fire Walk With Me is a phenomenal film. I truly love that movie.

I had a dream one time where I was watching a David Lynch movie, which took place on a beach for some reason. It seemed like a normal movie, but unless you were very well-versed in religious knowledge you would not know how heretical the movie really was.

Other than my boring dreams, I think David Lynch can still make a good movie that isn't self-obsessed. The Straight Story is one of my favorite films. The least Lynchian of all his films is probably his best.

[Flick James]

Okay, I'm going to be the hack who talks about David Lynch.

I love David Lynch movies. The weird head-space David Lynch operates in is to me fascinating.

A lot of this is because almost every single Lynch film is set up as a puzzle. The surrealism in his films is usually clue fodder for what the film is really about. I love puzzles, so trying to extract the "true" explanation out of his movies is an exercise I really enjoy.

His last few films have been almost nothing but his own personal Lynch-verse. Not very accessible and seemingly lazy. But I think that's where he started, and he never left. He got very lucky with Blue Velvet and Twin Peaks, where his own obsessions managed to captivate large audiences. He's not a guy with a huge bag of tricks, though. A David Lynch film is a David Lynch film.

That being said, I think Fire Walk With Me is a phenomenal film. I truly love that movie.

I had a dream one time where I was watching a David Lynch movie, which took place on a beach for some reason. It seemed like a normal movie, but unless you were very well-versed in religious knowledge you would not know how heretical the movie really was.

Other than my boring dreams, I think David Lynch can still make a good movie that isn't self-obsessed. The Straight Story is one of my favorite films. The least Lynchian of all his films is probably his best.

I love David Lynch. You probably will find a reply from Rev. Powell to that regard, because I know he loves DL as well.

The only film of his I haven't seen is Inland Empire, but that one seems to be a bit too bizarre even for me. I understand he actually wrote no script ahead of time and the cast had no idea what they were going to do every day they showed up, even DL didn't know many days, so I feel like there won't be a puzzle to solve like in Mulhollad Drive, which is one of my favorite FL films.

I saw Eraserhead well before I even knew who Lynch was or even was into film in general. Blue Velvet turned me on to Lynch as a director. I would love to be a fly on the wall during the production to see what he does with actors, because they so often deliver performances with him that are bizarre as well. It's almost as if these actors produce performances for him that they don't do for any other director, not always with success, but often very disturbing, and I would love to see what he does with actors to do this.

Anyway, I love DL, you'll find no argument here. He and Cronenberg are both highly unique directors that I love.

[crackers]

I could not agree more about how he can get certain things out of actors that other directors can't. Kyle MacLachlan is a prime example of that. He is so much better in Twin Peaks etc than say his work in Desperate Housewives or Sex in the City.