The most important factor I consider before watching a movie is its director. Over the years their are many directors who have made me fall in love, with the art of film making. If I mention all those directors the list will go on forever, so I decided to limit my listing to modern day directors for this post. I will make a separate list of my all time favorite directors in some other post. Another thing I would mention is that as time proceeds my list may change based on movies I have watched.
I have considered directors from all over the world who made significant amount of quality films after the year 1990.
Honorable Mentions
Wes Anderson (The Grand Budapest Hotel, Moonrise Kingdom, Fantastic Mr. Fox)
Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away, My neighbor Totoro)
Denis Villeneuve (Blade Runner 2049, Prisoners, Sicario, )
Peter Jackson (Lord of The Rings ,The Hobbit)
Asghar Farhadi (A Separation, The Salesman)
Richard Linklalter( Boyhood, Before Trilogy)
James Cameron (Titanic, Avatar)
10 : Yorgos Lanthimos (Dogtooth, The favorite, The Lobster)
I think if we talk about surrealistic cinema no one can defeat this legendary Greek filmmaker, I fell in love with his work after watching ‘Dogtooth’, from there I went on to love ‘The Lobster’, ‘Alps’ and ‘The Favorite’. Now unlike most directors Yorgos takes challenges to introduce new elements in cinema, almost like avant-garde. Yorgos will be remembered in history who elevated the standard of cinema.
9 : Damien Chazelle (Whiplash , La La Land, First Man)
What can I say about a filmmaker whose first major movie was the masterpiece ‘Whiplash’, when I watched whiplash I thought the director really understands art (not specifically art of film-making but art in general), Damien was able to draw attention of viewers towards the passion of following what you love with whiplash, and I thought that’s it no one could surpass that until he did it again with ‘La La Land’. Last man was another of his movie which deserves special mention although it was not like his first to films I enjoyed it.
8: Christopher Nolan (Inception, The Dark Knight Trilogy, Interstellar,Dunkirk)
Over the years Nolan has became one of the major pop culture favorite and for all the right reasons no one in history of cinema (apart from Kubrick) has been able to take the Sci-fi Genre to the heights as this man. His collaborations with musician ‘Hans Zimmer’ resulted in some of the most epic melodies ever. Apart from Sci-fi his other works such as Dunkirk, Memento, and The Prestige are one of the best films of modern cinema.
7 : David Fincher (Fight Club, Se7en, Gone Girl, Zodiac, The Social Network)
You know a director is brilliant, when his early directorial venture includes Se7en, and Fight Club. Fincher is one of those director who follow the same formula but applies them in different ways thereby creating one good film over other. His fascination with Serial Killers resulted in some of the excellent movies such as Zodiac and Se7en. When Fincher directs TV shows they again are great such as ‘House of Cards’ and ‘Mindhunter’.
6 : Wong Kar-wai (In The Mood For Love, Chungking Express, 2046)
Apart from rocking a great pair of shades this director from Hong Kong, makes great movies too. Wong Kar-wai makes movies with breathtaking visuals, be it ‘Happy Together’, ‘Chungking Express’ or my personal favorite ‘In The Mood For Love’ all his movies have most unique ccinematography. The way characters move in frames, the elegant use of slow motion and unique color combination always makes me hypnotized.
5 : Bong Joon-ho (Parasite, Snowpiercer, Memories Of Murder, Okja)
The first movie of Bong Joon-ho I watched was ‘Snowpiercer’ and I was astonished the way he designed the thriller such that it kept me on the edge of my seat, after that I saw his other movies ,and each impressed me ,but when I saw Parasite last year, the director became one of my favorites. Bong’s movies are filled with social and class differences also his films cannot be categorized in one genre it is generally combination of different genres.
4: Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood, The Master, Phantom Thread)
Paul Thomas Anderson has one of the most innovative take on the craft of film making he uses different pacing technique, he uses various blocking methods the camerawork and cinematography are in complete control of him. Apart from all that one other thing I find interesting about PTA is that he always collaborates with the best of actors Daniel Day Lewis, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix.
3: Quentin Tarantino(Pulp Fiction, Inglorious Bastards, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood)
The violence, blood and vengeance are always great things to watch in a film, luckily we have a director who dedicated his work to those. Quentin Tarantino’s brand of film making over the years has became cult classic, his use of pop music even in bloody situations is amusing and the underlying comedy is perhaps the best part I like about his work.
2: Steven Spielberg (Schindler’s List,Jurassic Park,Saving Private Ryan)
Epic themes, heart-wrenching dramas, thrillers, or sci-fi be it any genre he has made great movies in all of them. Steven Spielberg is a director who goes on great extents to make his films. I have problem with racist elements in some of his films (Raiders of the lost Ark for example) but in general I like his work even his earlier works have been great ‘e.t’ for one. Spielberg was one of the first directors whose movies I watched in a language other than my native.
1: Martin Scorsese (Goodfellas, Casino, Silence, The Irishman,The Aviator, The Departed)
What can I write about the man that has not already been written. Martin Scorsese is everything cinema represents, he has been the best entertainer in my life and is continuing to be so. Almost everything about Scorsese’s direction is perfect, from the world building inspired by his own childhood to great use of music, from the crime dramas to the eternal solace, from his devoid from spirituality to his deep thoughts about it, all of them can be felt in his movies. I mean his not so good movie can be ‘Shutter Island’ which is one of the best thriller I have watched in my entire life.
Martin Scorsese has done his movies about various conditions of human psyche, the vulnerability in ‘The Departed’, the helplessness in ‘Taxi Driver’, the hopefulness in ‘The Aviator’ or the loneliness in ‘The Irishman’ all of those feelings are directed by this legendary film-maker.
Scorsese’s collaborations with Bobby de Niro and Leonardo di Caprio are perhaps two of the greatest collaborations in cinema history.
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