Great films by directors under 25 are hard to come by. In fact, it was nearly impossible to find ten titles. But after some heavy research, I managed to concoct this list (originally written for IndieWire way back when).
Jeanne Dielman (Chantal Akerman)
Mommy (Xavier Dolan)
Citizen Kane (Orson Welles)
Duel (Steven Spielberg)
Hard Eight (Paul Thomas Anderson)
Evil Dead (Sam Raimi)
El Mariachi (Robert Rodriguez)
Boyz n the Hood (John Singleton)
Clerks (Kevin Smith)
George Washington (David Gordon Green)
I reshuffled, subtracted, and added some films. I’m fairly confident about the ten that have been chosen. In fact, it’s made me realize what an impossible task it is to be a filmmaker and hit one out of the ballpark at such a young age. No wonder then that on this list are some of the most important filmmakers of the last 100 years of cinema (Welles, Spielberg, PTA).
Of course, towering above all is Welles’ masterpiece. The fact that he was just 25 years old when “Citizen Kane” premiered at the Palace theater in 1941 is staggering and almost unheard of for a film this revolutionary and iconic.
Side notes; Stanley Kubrick directed “The Killing” when he was 28, and, no, I don’t consider Harmony Korine’s “Gummo” to be a great movie.
Have I missed any important films/filmmakers?