Knowing what we know now, film directors and writers continue in what seems like a downward spiral of creativity and performace. As of today, few directors do I truly herald as some of the great artists of our time. Directors such as Stanley Kubrick (Eyes Wide Shut) and Ingmar Bergman (Wild Strawberries) I feel stand at the pedestal of entertainment and meaning. When people speak highly of directors such as Martin Scorsese (Taxi Driver) and Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather), in no way am I speaking as if they are not able in their fields but they seem to care more about the general excitement of today’s youth than the true meaning of an art style. As far as a mainstream cinema goes, directors such as these two and many others including Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight), Clint Eastwood (Mystic River), Quentin Tarantino (Django Unchained) and J.J. Abrams (Super 8) all make films with a feeling of exacerbated scenery. Too much is thrown in to “wow” the viewers through action, violence, mediocre/decent story and actors with an image but little context, art style in the imagery/language and nothing meaningful to the film world as a whole. Of the few surviving great directors in history, many have fallen under this mainstream success and are ignored by the general populus. It makes me feel sick that I can start a conversation with someone in my film class about one several directors and just get the response “I don’t know who that is or what they’ve done.” Some of these directors include:
– Terrence Malick – Director of films such as The Tree of Life and Days in Heaven.
– Charlie Kaufman – Director of films such as Synecdoche, New York and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
– Lars Von Trier – Director of films such as Antichrist and Melancholia
– Hayao Miyazaki – Although he is a writer/director for an animation company known as Studio Ghibli (works with Disney), his animated films such as Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke are some of the best films I’ve ever seen
– Wes Anderson – Director of films such as Moonrise Kingdom and Fantastic Mr. Fox.
These are just 5 of the directors who I think are heavily influential to our time. But many people diregard their many accomplishments and only pay attention to the mainstream directors who have little contextual meaning in their films. Even directors like Steven Spielberg (Saving Private Ryan) has only wowed me on several occasionions like with films such as Schindler’s List and A.I. Artificial Intelligence but overall seems to be missing something in a lot of his films or are just a historical retelling of a story which is relevant putting history into a more enjoyable medium than a class in school or a historical reading, it overall is not used as an art style or as a meaningful story that gives you new insight on life of other inspiration.
So what can be done to turn this industry back into its former glory? I feel the directors I have listed above need more recognition in the cinema world since their films will be remembered years from now in film classes while other box office hits will fall off the watch lists.
Critical Films 