In the mid-aughts, three filmmakers burst into the indie scene with horror films that felt uniquely original: Robert Eggers, Ari Aster and Jordan Peele.
These three writer-directors found themselves empowered by genre filmmaking. Whether you like all three, or hate them, If the film industry wants to survive, it ought to consider recognizing these artists in every way that it can.
Eggers, Aster and Peele have now directed three films each, they have also built up these hardened fan bases that will go and watch whatever film they do next. Sadly, we’ve been seeing some cracks in the dam, fans have their limits, Aster‘s lacklustre box-office performance with “Beau is Afraid” is proof of that.
FilmUpdates has asked its readership to pick between these three directors. Just to briefly assess, here is how their filmography currently stands:
Robert Eggers (Witch, Lighthouse, Northman)
Ari Aster (Hereditary, Midsommar, Beau is Afraid)
Jordan Peele (Get Out, Us, Nope)
Which filmmaker has the brightest future? My money is on Peele. He’s the most talented one and has an extra added sense of humor to his films that cannot be matched by the others. His sense of framing a scene, moving his camera, is second to none. I’m a big fan of his.
I find the very talented Aster peaked with “Hereditary,” but he’s recently been unchained by studio machinations and his vision hasn’t been as coherent or precise as it ought to be. He needs to calm down a bit and refocus. Then again, I may be in the minority here with this opinion.
As for Eggers, a brilliant technical filmmaker, “The Northman,” for all its silly flaws, proved that he can make movies that are big in scope but retain the intimacy of the story. Just like his other two counterparts, he has the ambition and talent to last as a filmmaker.
The screenplay is credited to Joel and Ethan Coen! Eleanor Catton wrote the original draft, alongside Conor McPherson. So yes, Ethan has a writing credit here, which makes this a de facto Coen reunion.