QUENTIN posted a BLOG item almost 2 years ago

The 50 Greatest Working Directors

Entertainment Weekly recently released a list of their top 50 working directors that is as funny as it is sad, featuring the likes of Nancy Meyers and J.J. Abrams: http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20311937_20345805,00.html?xid=rss-feed-todayslatest-50+top+working+directors+%28pt.+1%29

After thoroughly mocking their choices, I got to thinking and figured the best form of criticism is to do better yourself, so I compiled a list of my own top 50 working directors.

In order to qualify, a director has to have made at least three films I consider great and either have made a film in the last 5 years or be currently working on one.

My list:

50.) Stephen Frears
49.) Jan Troell
48.) Peter Weir
47.) Guy Maddin
46.) Albert and David Maysles
45.) Paul Schrader
44.) David Fincher
43.) Agnes Varda
42.) Jacques Rivette
41.) David Mamet
40.) Wes Anderson
39.) Zhang Yimou
38.) Bernardo Bertolucci
37.) Lars Von Trier
36.) Hayao Miyazaki
35.) Richard Linklater
34.) Clint Eastwood
33.) Milos Forman
32.) Ken Loach
31.) John Sayles
30.) Michael Moore
29.) Patrice Leconte
28.) Alain Resnais
27.) Mike Nichols
26.) David Lynch
25.) Steven Spielberg
24.) Woody Allen
23.) David Gordon Green
22.) Ramin Bahrani
21.) Quentin Tarantino
20.) Michael Apted
19.) Gus Van Sant
18.) Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne
17.) Roman Polanski
16.) Oliver Stone
15.) Mike Leigh
14.) Steven Soderbergh
13.) Joel and Ethan Coen
12.) Wim Wenders
11.) Manoel de Oliveira
10.) Errol Morris
9.) P.T. Anderson
8.) Spike Lee
7.) Sidney Lumet
6.) Francis Ford Coppola
5.) Werner Herzog
4.) Terrence Malick
3.) Jean-Luc Godard
2.) Frederick Wiseman
1.) Martin Scorsese

Just outside: Ang Lee, Pedro Almodovar, Michael Mann, Nagisa Oshima, Cameron Crowe, David Cronenberg, Kenneth Branagh, Peter Greenaway, Barbara Kopple, Jonathan Demme

On the rise (could be here in 5-10 years, have made incredible films but not 3 qualifiers yet): Arnaud Desplechin, Todd Field, Tom Tykwer, Lynne Ramsay, Lukas Moodysson, Craig Brewer, Jason Reitman, Park Chan-Wook, Fernando Meirelles, Alejandro Gonzalez Inaritu, Alexsandr Sokurov, Spike Jonze, Wong Kar-Wai, Michel Gondry, Todd Haynes, Edward Yang, Sam Mendes, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Christopher Nolan, Rian Johnson, Sofia Coppola, Paul Greengrass, Alfonso Cuaron, Kelly Reichardt, Jeff Nichols, Lance Hammer, Stephen Gaghan, Marc Forster, Andrew Dominick, Tarsem, Darren Aronofsky

Curiously absent (have made great films but for one reason or another didn't place): Claude Chabrol, Brian De Palma, Neil Jordan, Jan Svankmajer, Andrzej Wajda, D.A. Pennebaker, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Neil LaBute, Todd Solondz, Mira Nair, Terry Gilliam, Atom Egoyan, Richard Attenborough, Robert Zemeckis, Robert Benton, Mel Brooks, Peter Bogdanovich, Ridley Scott, John Dahl, Lawrence Kasdan, Barry Levinson, Paul Mazursky, Nicolas Roeg, Barbet Schroeder, Istvan Szabo, Jim Sheridan, Frank Darabont, James Ivory, Alex Cox, Steve James, Godfrey Reggio, William Friedkin, Hector Babenco, Peter Yates

I haven't seen enough of: Bela Tarr, Abbas Kiarostami, Aki Kaurismaki, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Zhang Ke Jia, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Johnnie To, Theo Angelopoulos, Chris Marker, Emir Kusturica, Claire Denis, Faith Akin, Patrice Chéreau, Hong Sangsoo, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Tsai Ming-liang

I haven't liked enough of: George Lucas, Michael Haneke, Takeshi Kitano, Curtis Hanson, Takashi Miike, Jim Jarmusch, Tim Burton, James Cameron, Danny Boyle, Guillermo Del Toro, Peter Jackson, Catherine Breillat, John Carpenter, Mel Gibson, Matthieu Kassovitz, Mike Figgis, John Woo, John Singleton, Ron Howard, Jane Campion, Luc Besson, Alex Proyas, Sam Raimi, Rob Reiner, Robert Rodriguez, George Romero, M. Night Shyamalan, Bryan Singer, Edward Zwick, Terry Zwigoff

Will never in a million years make my fucking list: Nancy Meyers, J.J. Abrams

Back to QUENTIN's BLOGS