The World's Top Forty Directors

A panel of UK critics working for The Guardian has just compiled a list of who they believe the top forty [working] directors in the world are. A few of them are perhaps a little iffy, as are some of the rankings [Scorsese, Wes Anderson] but generally, it's an interesting enough READ [wow, a link].

So read the list, consider it, ponder it...and those of you who're mad enough can maybe try and write your own. I know I will [be trying].

Enjoy!


THE WORLD'S FORTY BEST DIRECTORS
list compiled by Peter Bradshaw, Xan Brooks, Molly Haskell, Derek Malcolm, Andrew Pulver, B Ruby Rich and Steve Rose.

01. David Lynch
02. Martin Scorsese
03. Joel and Ethan Coen
04. Steven Soderbergh
05. Terrence Malick
06. Abbas Kiarostami
07. Errol Morris
08. Hayao Miyazaki
09. David Cronenberg
10. Terence Davies
11. Lukas Moodysson
12. Lynne Ramsay
13. Bela Tarr
14. Wong Kar-wai
15. Pedro Almodóvar
16. Todd Haynes
17. Quentin Tarantino
18. Tsai Ming-Liang
19. Aki Kaurismaki
20. Michael Winterbottom
21. Paul Thomas Anderson
22. Michael Haneke
23. Walter Salles
24. Alexander Payne
25. Spike Jonze
26. Aleksandr Sokurov
27. Ang Lee
28. Michael Moore
29. Wes Anderson
30. Takeshi Kitano
31. Richard Linklater
32. Gaspar Noé
33. Pavel Pawlikowski
34. David O. Russell
35. Larry and Andy Wachowski
36. Samira Makhmalbaf
37. Lars von Trier
38. Takashi Miike
39. David Fincher
40. Gus Van Sant

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Looks like a decent list to me after having a quick look at it. I have no problem with Scorsese being at second place and Lynch, yeah, I buy that. However, I was a bit surprised to see Steven Soderbergh so high on the list while Paul Thomas Anderson is only on 21st place. The other way around would be more correct if you ask me. Finally, I can't help to gloat a bit about the fact that Lukas Moodysson is on spot 11, thus winning the Scandinavian Championships considering von Trier ending up way down at 37.

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They had temporarily escaped the factories, the warehouses, the slaughterhouses, the car washes - they'd be back in captivity the next day but now they were out - they were wild with freedom. They weren't thinking about the slavery of poverty. Or the slavery of welfare and food stamps. The rest of us would be all right until the poor learned how to make atom bombs in their basements.

Without even gettig into where the included fall on the list, the big names that jump out at me as missing are Terry Gilliam, Robert Altman, Clint Eastwood, Kenneth Branagh, Barry Levinson and Roman Polanski. There are ten names I would kick off their list without hesitation (the Warchowski Brothers?!?). And while their output in recent years hasn't been nearly as impressive, the total body of work and still limitless potential of Milos Forman, Wim Wenders, Werner Herzog, Ridley Scott and the biggest sleeping giant of them all, Francis Ford Coppola, should probably get a least a couple of thier names added into the mix. That Malick was included, and so high on the list, at the exclusion of all these filmmakers seems silly to me. Malick is great, I love all three of his films....all three of them. One of the younger filmmakers I feel they missed is Tom Tykwer, and I'd even take Tim Burton over a whole bunch of those names.

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grrrrr... I have to go to work.. I'll deal with this thread later...

THE WORLD'S TWENTY BEST DIRECTORS
list compiled by Reece Gratton

01. Joel and Ethan Coen
02. Spike Lee
03. Francis Ford Coppola
04. Clint Eastwood
05. Terry Gilliam
06. David Fincher
07. Quentin Tarantino
08. Ridley Scott
09. Martin Scorsese
10. Richard Linklater
11. Tim Burton
12. David Lynch
13. Guy Ritchie
14. Robert Rodriguez
15. Cameron Crowe
16. Roman Polanski
17. James Cameron
18. Kevin Smith
19. Brian De Palma
20. Steven Spielberg


God that took about 2 hours

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OK, That list is confusing me. I agree David Lynch should be far up that list but I doubt he is the best director ever. I mean Tarantino is too far down the list and where the **** is Stanley Kubrick?

Here's my top 5:

1. Quentin Tarantino
2. Stanley Kubrick
3. David Lynch
4. Robert Rodriguez
5. George Lucas

That's a good point, where is Kubrick?

Nice to see Scorsese so high up there though.

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That top 40 list isn't a "best ever" list. I even get the impression that it is more about who is the most influential today, at this moment, rather than the best of those who are still alive and active. Francis Ford Coppola hasn't made a masterpiece in almost 30 years, so it's completely understandable why he isn't on the list. I agree that putting Malick on there is a bit surprising, but at least he made The Thin Red Line five years ago. Out of those that Holden mentioned I agree the most about Robert Altman. I can not understand how this master, especially after Gosford Park in 2001, was not included on the list. Others that you can discuss back and forth about whether or not they should be on the list or not are Ken Loach, Woody Allen, Todd Solondz, Larry Clark, Jim Jarmusch and of course Steven Spielberg, who is probably the most powerful director in the world right now. That must render at least some influence on the movie industry, mainstream as well as independent. Personally, I think Spike Lee should defintately be on there too.

And excuse me, but last time I checked Stanley Kubrick was still dead.

Did I write that??

[EDIT]

Oh, and before Holden sends me to the corner... Francis Ford Coppola has indeed made a masterpiece within the last thirty years: Apocalypse Now (1979). I don't know what I was thinking... I'm sorry, Holden.

Well my list is done on the overall career and talent of directors that have made a film in the last 5 years.

it is very diffreant to my All time list,

Oh, yeah, and another two great directors that should be on the list: John Sayles and Jim Jarmusch. Don't know how I missed them in my original post.

OK, so I think I worked up a list of my own here. Work in progress, but I did try to weight it a bit toward what their more recent work is like, but without discounting their total filmography. Anywho...

1. Martin Scorsese
2. Robert Altman
3. Joel & Ethan Coen
4. Terry Gilliam
5. Roman Polanski
6. Clint Eastwood
7. Pedro Almodovar
8. Steven Soderbergh
9. Wes Anderson
10. John Sayles
11. Erol Morris
12. Wim Wenders
13. Jim Jarmusch
14. David Lynch
15. Kenneth Branagh
16. David Fincher
17. Lars von Trier
18. Spike Jonze
19. Werner Herzog
20. David Mamet
21. Wong Kar Wai
22. Tom Tykwer
23. Peter Weir
24. Barry Levinson
25. Gus Van Sant
26. Sidney Lumet
27. Christopher Nolan
28. Francois Ozon
29. Tim Burton
30. Milos Forman
31. Quentin Tarantino
32. Michael Mann
33. Terence Malick
34. Ridley Scott
35. Spike Lee
36. Curtis Hanson
37. Darren Aronofsky
38. Sydney Pollack
39. Jean-Pierre Jeunet
40. Francis Ford Coppola

Top 40 in the world, and Spielberg is excluded, even though he has made more money from his movies than anybody else in history. Is it a bit of snobbery on your part?

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Hey man! I mentioned Spielberg in my post!

[EDIT]

After having read through Holden's list, I can't believe I forgot about Michael Mann. Jeunet is another name that I am surprised that the critics didn't include. Good thinking, Holden. Barry Levinson.... hmmm.. nah, I don't agree. He is a good craftsman but doesn't leave a unique mark on his productions. And Clint Eastwood higher than David Lynch?? And why am investigating Holden's list so thoroughly? Guess that's the price you pay for being a MoFo oracle. Myself I'm too lazy to come up with a list of my own....

No, Slay, not snobbery. The overall quality of Stevie Spielberg's filmography just doesn't put him on my list. Put him on yours, more power to you.

And what in the ***** does how much money his, or anybody's, movies make have to do with quality? Michael Bay and Joel Schumacher's films have generated more cash than Jarmusch, Sayles, Altman and The Coen Brothers combined ever will. So frippin' what?

But the difference between Spielberg and other mainstream Hollywood directors is that he has had an enormous impact on the industry and those working in the industry. And not only that, he is responsible for what is considered to be the first blockbuster ever: Jaws (1975). With the Indiana Jones trilogy he brought the classic Hollywood matiné into the 80's and gave it new life and a new shape. He has also created a world of his own, a "Spielberg universe", within his films in the adventure genre. With films like Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan he has also showed in an impressive manner how he is able to make more "serious" productions and turn them into success both critically and commercially (even if not necessarily universally). I am not a Spielberg fan because of many reasons, but to deny the fact that he is probably the most powerful director we have today and denying him a spot on that list is at least debatable. And when it comes to "boyish" adventure films like those about Indiana Jones, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and Jurrasic Park, he is still the undefeated champion. The things this man has accomplish and the number of people he has reached, critics as well as moviegoers, are impressive to say the least. And this is said by me, who think the man is sentimentalism impersonated.

Nice list, Holden.
I like. Disagree with the exclusion of Paul Thomas Anderson, of course. But that topic has been done to death. We're over it.

Meanwhile, Shroomy of MILK PLUS has contacted one of the panel members about the list, and this is what he had to say about the reply:

You meant "personified", no?

And shoot, Holden, your lists never stop impressing me, I really need to see more good movies by over half the people on your list as well as about a dozen more who I dont see on any of the lists so far before I can put together one of my own.

I do find it curious that you ranked Soderberg over Sayles though.

I don't know. Did I?

My sources say yes.