A slow news day.
In my 09.30.21 piece titled Is Paul Thomas Anderson Still The Current 'Master' of Cinema? I pondered who were the best directors working within the American studio system. I came up with the following 10 names:
Paul Thomas Anderson
Alfonso Cuarón
Joel and Ethan Coen
Martin Scorsese
David Lynch
Quentin Tarantino
David Fincher
Wes Anderson
Steve McQueen
Christopher Nolan
This was an article that generated a lot of Facebook and Twitter shares, but also plenty of requests to expand the list to more than ten. And so, after much deliberation, here are numbers 11-20:
Kelly Reichardt
James Gray
Guillermo del Toro
Yorgos Lanthimos
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
Darren Aronofsky
Noah Baumbach
Richard Linklater
The Safdie Brothers
Damien Chazelle
I would have loved Jeff Nichols to be included here.
Todd Haynes as well. I’m pinching myself for not including the director of “Carol,” “Far From Heaven” and “Safe.” Inconsistency may have played a role in denying him a spot in the top 20.
Terrence Malick has been in a bit of a rut since “Tree of Life,” if this list were made in 2011 then he’d have easily cracked the top 10.
Spike Jonze is an incredible filmmaker, but he hasn’t made a movie since 2013’s “Her.” What gives? He has no projects coming up either, has he retired?
Steven Spielberg has slowed down a bit since the Aughts ended. From 1998-2008 he was in a career-peak streak with “Saving Private Ryan,” “A.I” “Minority Report,” “Catch Me If You Can,” “Munich,” “War of the Worlds.” Alas, his output recently, although with some bright spots, has been a bit of a letdown.
Let the debate begin.