The Top Directors Working Today

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The Top Directors Working Today: Jean-Pierre Jeunet

Man I love the worlds created by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. His camera floats, darts and zooms in on anything it pleases, finding merriment and magic from unlikely sources. Most every Great director has a stamp of authorship, and it only takes a few minutes to realize you're swimming in Jeunet's pool.

Looking through his filmography, I realize that I only really liked 2 of his films. (DELICATESSEN and AMELIE) I find that his storytelling could benefit with more focus, a tighter grip. But I wouldn't think of missing anything he makes... and I'm talking Big Screen, baby. His name on a film doesn't guarantee Greatness, but I have no doubt that he's a Great filmmaker.

[NOTE: It's worth mentioning that 2 of his films were co-directed with Marc Caro, but I think the films that followed continued to speak volumes about his skill.]

According to the poll I posted on Filmspotting...

25% think he's Great director but wouldn't put him in the Top 10.
20% think he's very good, not quite Great.
40% think he's worth mentioning
10% think he's good, but don't think he'll ever be Great.
5% see nothing special about his directing.

I'll never forget the first time I saw anything by Jeunet. It was the trailer for Delicatessen, which was the scene where everyone is doing everything to the same rhythm. The audience applauded after it, the first time I had seen that happen for a movie that wasn't an anticipated blockbuster.
-arcnyc

I think A Very Long Engagement was really good, probably one of the better forgotten films of this decade.
-sdedalus

I think his more recent efforts lack the edge that Marc Caro brought to his earlier films. It's a dynamic I miss and one I think would have made helped make Alien Resurrection a better film. I'm not a huge fan of his light-hearted, cuddly style.
-Tequila

The Top Directors Working Today: Spike Jonze

This is a name I expect to get a lot of flack for. With just 2 features and a video resume to die for, Jonze is out to reinvent the cinematic wheel, and I believe he’ll do it some day. Just not yet. Like Todd Field, he has talent beyond compare, but still needs more maturity. His ambition is his own worst enemy, and I think both of his features collapsed while trying to do too much.

According to the poll on Filmspotting...

22% think that with only 3 features, she's already proven her Greatness.
12% think with only 2 features and a load of videos, he's already proven his Greatness.
55% think he definitely has potential for Greatness
21% think he's worth mentioning, but not as one of the Greats.
12% can take or leave his direction.

I have more respect for him after reading Charlie Kaufman's original screenplays. The fact that he got those movies out of those scripts shows an incredible directorial ability.
-m_r turnage

He's like the Alfred Hitchcock of music videos: just about any one of the videos he did in the 90s would be something that any video director would hope to have made one day and the fact that he made all of them is enough to qualify him with only 2 features. You can get a complete sense of his visual style, sense of humor, singular creativity and storytelling abilities from his videos.

I voted that he's proved his greatness because of everything he's done up to now but he has more potential to lose that greatness. Especially if he does a lesser job with non-Kaufman scripts. Also, if he's not good at picking the right balance of "weird but not too weird" projects, he could end up being the hipster Tim Burton.
-arcnyc

The Top Directors Working Today: Kim Ji-woon

It's no secret that some of the most exciting cinema right now is coming from South Korea. Chan Wook-park (OLDBOY) is probably its most famous export, but Kim Ji-woon is building a career any director would envy. His storytelling ability is crisp, engrossing and often breathtaking, while his camera technique is as fluid as it is stylish.

Some of you may know of his complicated horror jigsaw puzzle, A TALE OF TWO SISTERS which was little seen but very well reviewed. He followed that with A BITTERSWEET LIFE. Michael Mann often struggles to make a crime film this emotionally dense. Kim Ji-woon makes it look easy. The film is a soft center wrapped in a crunchy, bad-ass shell.

Now Ji-woon is set to release a Western (you heard me...a Korean Western). Steeped in the style of Sergio Leone, it's even titled THE GOOD, THE BAD & THE WEIRD. It played to rave reviews at Cannes. Here's the trailer.


A Horror Film, followed by a Gangster Pic, followed by a Western. Kim Ji-woon is like a Korean Tarantino, but with much more serious ambitions. In fact, if you've seen his films, you'd be more likely to compare him to the cerebral thrills of Christopher Nolan.

In short...he's simply a Great Director. If you haven't discovered him yet, there's a cinematic gold mine in store.

I didn't post a poll because I know he's largely unknown. Copies of A BITTERSWEET LIFE are not easy to find, but I swear to you this guy's the real deal and I couldn't leave him off just because he's not well known. Fans of Bella Tarr and Tsai Ming-liang should understand.



He has a strong sense of style, but he tends to overdo it, and both these movies are variations on pretty tired formulas. I see potential (there are great moments in both), but I'm not yet entirely convinced.
-duder