He's probably the best modern film director - he's always stayed true to his art, and he doesn't comprimise for anyhting
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smiley_b81 — 17 years ago(September 18, 2008 02:21 PM)
Depends on how you define 'Modern'. IMO.
Best Modern Director: Orson Welles (since I think in some ways, "Citizen Kane" invented what we think of today as the modern sound film). Runners-up: Stanley Kubrick (thee modern visionary) & Elia Kazan (cuz what we see as modern film acting would be different if he wasn't there).
Best Post-Modern Director: Jean-Luc Godard (he is to cinema what Brecht is to literature).
And since Hollywood hasn't caught up to people like Godard or Fassbinder, (and I do consider Jarmusch to be Hollywood, cuz "Broken Flowers" and the very star-studded "Coffee and Cigarettes" were both made within the system), I'd say Terrence Malick is easily the best director working in America.
"I didn't know they made bastard's as sexy as you!" -
wesleyjones-1 — 16 years ago(September 17, 2009 09:40 PM)
Hi Smiley,
Just wondering, how do YOU define Modernism and Post Modernism in film?
This isn't a loaded question that I plan to pounce on once you've answered. I'm just really interested in the various ways these terms are perceived across different mediums and disciplines. -
whowhatwherewhenwhy — 14 years ago(August 15, 2011 03:42 PM)
Jarmusch isn't even in my top 30 of living directors, never mind all time.
He is interesting, I appreciate his choices and the way he sticks to his artistic instincts, but for what it's worth it doesn't translate into entertainment or introspection for me.
To each their own. -
desperateliving — 17 years ago(September 23, 2008 04:24 AM)
Jarmusch is good, I think Wes Anderson is a hard pill to swallow.
But there are hundreds of great directors still making great work Rodrigo Garcia, Paul Cox, Michael Haneke, Wong Kar-Wai, Claire Denis, Catherine Breillat, Todd Haynes, the Dardenne brothers, Ken Loach, Vincent Gallo, Mike Leigh, Gus Van Sant, Billy Ray, Richard Linklater, Michael Winterbottom, Gregg Araki, John Cameron Mitchell, Danny Boyle, etc etc.
Then there are all the Kiarostamis, Hous, Rivettes, etc that never actually play in theaters. -
TheDarkChrisKnight — 17 years ago(January 26, 2009 10:05 PM)
Wait a minute there Maverick. What about the Holy Trinity of modern-day directors. That's right, Uwe Boll, Paul WS Anderson and Michael Bay. Simply the best. Just like Rick Astley.
Why do you have that on your head? Chris Knight: Because if I wear it anywhere else it chafes. -
Writer01603 — 16 years ago(February 01, 2010 01:42 AM)
If we're talking modern, as in current time, I wouldn't put him at the top of my list of best directors, but he'd be on the list of best directors, if we're talking Modern, as in Modernist directors, he would be at the top of my list of any Modernist movement in story telling.
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monsieurhalifax — 15 years ago(July 25, 2010 11:59 AM)
One of the best for sure.
My vote history
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=45131431 -
polysicsarebest — 15 years ago(November 18, 2010 03:33 PM)
- Jon Jost
- Takeshi Kitano
- Aki Kaurismaki
- Ryan Trecartin
- Damon Packard
something like that.
LIMITS OF CONTROL is one of the best films of the last decade though.
pretentious: characterized by assumption of dignity or importance.
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mobocracy — 14 years ago(January 28, 2012 09:42 AM)
he's always stayed true to his art
Which is kind of euphemism for "one trick pony."
Jarmusch was groundbreaking as an American indie filmmaker in the early to mid-80s, defying any kind of American expectations of what a "movie" was and attracting widespread interest in a pre-Internet era of art houses, film society screenings at the dawn of "indie" cinema in the US.
My problem with him is that he doesn't seem to have grown or changed since then and he hasn't really produced many films that are both "true to his art" and accessible to a more mainstream audience.
I think the kind of arty, inaccessible films he's famous for are good, but I also think it's a pretty narrow artistic space in which to operate and if you stay there you kind of make the same film over and over again. You begin to seem limited, not cutting edge.
Christopher Nolan, Steven Soderbergh, Darren Aronofsky, Coen Brothers, Quentin Tarantino all managed to make movies with lots of indie cred, but they all also managed to climb out of that slot and make accessible movies with more diverse themes.