2013 Oscar Best Director

The five filmmakers vying for the Oscar for Best Director are...


Michael Haneke, AMOUR
Ang Lee, LIFE OF PI
David O. Russell, SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK
Steven Spielberg, LINCOLN
Benh Zeitlin, BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD

.
.

Attachments

         

__________________
"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra

Really surprised not to see Affleck, Bigelow or Hooper on here, I was sure at least 3 of those 3 would be on there. For that reason I'm going for a Lincoln/Spielberg award double, so Spielberg for Best Director.

__________________

I hope not. I'm pulling for Haneke.

__________________
"A laugh can be a very powerful thing. Why, sometimes in life, it's the only weapon we have."

Suspect's Reviews

Why is Silver Linings Playbook so popular in the academy?

Terrible list for real.

I vote PTA

__________________
"Puns are the highest form of literature." -Alfred Hitchcock

No Bigelow or Affleck or Trantino for direction. wow that's the shocker of the day.

Spielberg.

__________________
#31 on SC's Top 100 Mofos list!!

So Kathryn Bigelow, Tom Hooper and Ben Affleck all get nominated for the Directors Guild of America award but not one of them gets an Oscar nod. That's unusual, right?

__________________
TOP 100 | "Don't let the bastards grind you down!"

David O. Russell because I wanna see the movie and because he directed I Heart Huckabees and he endured abuse from Lily Tomlin.

unless Russell wins this (though I havent seen SLP), I hope that the trend and the streak of best picture/director winning combos ends

David Russell for me.

Speilberg has done better films than Lincoln, and I honestly feel he doesn't deserve it, and neither does the movie.

Silver Linings Playbook, Life of Pi, Argo, and Django Unchained were far better films than Lincoln.

Ang Li might get this. Such a crap list though.

What the noms "should have" been

Spielberg
Tarantino
Russell
Bigelow
Hooper

and if one of those was a no, then Affleck. Hell even PTA.

Lil, Zeitlin, and Haneke all shouldn't be on the list. It's very debatable that Spielberg's Lincoln is actually one of Spielberg's bottom 5 director performances, IMO.

If anyone doesn't deserve to be on the list, it's Russell. His by the numbers direction underlines everything we hear with a close up, just so we don't miss anything, as if a romantic comedy that tries to mix up the formula by making mental illness cute is tough to follow otherwise. Look, he even includes the 360 degree spin shot while they kiss at the end, how innovative!

Lee and Haneke should be the two top contenders. Both of them consistently use their direction to create thematic resonance with the plot. "Life of Pi" is a deeply flawed film that's saved by Lee's direction. Look at his dissolves, the separation between planes, and his creation of heaven and hell on the sea. It's good stuff.

Haneke, on the other hand, is one of the greatest directors of this time. The second scene alone deserves the Oscar for direction. Haneke uses his cold, claustrophobic direction to paint the most grim and realistic portrait of death in cinema. It's essentially the most powerful horror film I've ever seen.

__________________
Mubi

Spielberg and Russell are going through the motions, you can't not see that. Lincoln is a carbon copy of "Directing Historically Inaccurate Period Pieces for Dummies" and, again, what do people see in Silver Linings Playbook? And Bigelow? Why? She wants her movie so much to be depicting reality it's enough of a red flag.

You have some explainin' to do. Why not Lee, Zeitlin, or Haneke? I may not always like Ang but he's seriously talented, and Haneke goes without saying. What could possibly say about them that discredits them from being on this poll, LET ALONE compared to the jokes that are usually there?

Spielberg going through the motions is still pretty good though, no? It seems worse because we know what he's capable of.

A lot of folks leveling shots at Lincoln already. How many of you have seen it? Pretty damn good I'd wager. I really liked it. We are so lucky to have actors like Daniel-Day Lewis.

__________________
We are both the source of the problem and the solution, yet we do not see ourselves in this light...

But we shouldn't be giving awards for him going through the motions, especially when we have a director like Haneke going around making innovative and great directorial choices.

I haven't seen Amour, but I can't believe Benh Zeitlin is on this list over Hooper, Affleck, Bigelow, or even Tarantino. The Academy really botched this category massively.
Of this list though I'd pick Russell, although I wouldn't argue if it was Spielberg or Lee. Russell does an incredible job of walking the tightrope between serious film about mental illness and light-hearted comedy about love. A lesser director could easily have botched SLP, and I think Russell did a perfect job of taking the audience back and forth from somber heaviness to heart-warming laughter. Perhaps there wasn't anything outstanding from a technical perspective, but still a great job regardless.