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In Reply to: RE: What name would you put as the greatest film director on your one name list? posted by patrickU on August 31, 2007 at 06:04:24
The director of the film that is almost inevitably at the top of all those 'top one hundred films' lists must deserve mention as a possibility for 'greatest director'. It's difficult to recall shot set-ups and camera angles from any movie since to equal what Welles gave us in 'Citizen Kane'.
Living? I'm tempted to say Coen Brothers. The body of their work shows a willingness to branch out into unfamiliar (read: possibly unprofitable) genres, usually with excellent results. Their comedies are laugh-out-loud funny, without treating the audience like 3rd-grade hicks. They use metaphor and allegory even in their comedies (which can sometimes be over-the-top, but always gives their films a broader context). They've had films that didn't get the credit they deserve ('Hudsucker Proxy') and one total dog ('Lady Killers'), but there is no directing/writing team, ever since I was totally blown away by 'Blood Simple', whose latest movie I look more forward to than the Coens.
BTW, great question/post. Extremely tough to answer.
Follow Ups:
evidence of his claim.
Coens have fallen far since "Fargo," I hate to say. I still have hope but they may have shot their artistic best shots.
Funny no one thinks of Pasolini or Fassbinder. No director is their superior, certainly.
Both great movies, but even if he'd only, done 'Kane', he'd be in the upper echelon."....have fallen far since "Fargo,"
There's a lot of truth to that, but of the three movies they've done since
'Fargo''O Brother Where Art Thou', only one is a true dud ('Ladykillers'). 'Intolerable Cruelty' was a bit of fluff, but relatively enjoyable fluff. As for 'The Man Who Wasn't There', I guess I see more value in the film than some. For me, it was a wonderful study in 'noir', and true noir at that-shadowy, grim, a seemingly good man caught up in his desires until his morality is stretched to the breaking point (and with an ending proper to true noir). Along with a good story and wonderful cinematography, the Coens got a superb and measured performance out of Billy Bob.As for the future-there's a lot of good buzz coming out of Cannes about 'No Country for Old Men'. Check out this trailer and tell me it doesn't take you back to 'Blood Simple'!
"....Pasolini or Fassbinder...."
Which is why this question is impossible to really answer, but still fun to talk about.
The man who was not There!
although they may not be chi chi enough for this crowd - lol
"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro." -HST
Are you making a " big " complex of inferiority?
You should not...
but then again, it might have just been the keyboard keys....Yeah, I knew it would be a, ahem, 'controversial' pick, which is why I devoted a bit more ink to my reasoning. When you look at their library, you see the obvious great stuff ('Miller's Crossing', 'Barton Fink'), but even the movies that seem like fluff have so much more care and thought behind them than most directors would give. In 'Raising Arizona', for instance, the use of the Biker from Hell as a metaphor for the Blackness in All Men's Hearts is more than most mainstream directors could pull off (even though it's fairly obvious from the beginning, and shoved in your face at the end), but a more subtle gesture is the 'unfinished furniture store' owner, who in virtually any other movie would be a cartoonish buffoon, but whom the Coens bestow with a personal strength, thoughtful intelligence, and higher morality than any other character, while still maintaining a down-home, shit-kickin' persona.
Anyway, thanks for the positive nod in the midst of a tough crowd.
vaya con dios
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