Best directing debut

Switchblade Romance was a VERY good horror. I put it up there with Wolf Creek. However, we're talking debuts, and I believe that wasn't Alexandre Aja's debut.

I thought Wolf Creek was a decent horror/thriller that avoided cliches whilst still being able to be a throwback to the take-no-prisoner stalk and slashers of the 1970s.

Also, have to mention Peter Hedges' Pieces Of April which I thought was a damn good film. It's sort of in the same vein as Lost In Translation, but I found it to be superior filmmaking because of the restricted but effective direction.

So far so great choices everyone. Keep it up

So what, exactly did someone find objectionable about my first post in this thread? Are we now neg repping anyone who likes movies we don't?

It appears so, for some people

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Gummo - Harmony Korine
Kids - Larry Clark
American History X - Tony Kaye
The Last House on the Left - Wes Craven
Night of the Living Dead - George A. Romero

I'll agree with Kaye's American History X and Donnersmarck's Lives of Others.

I'll also throw in, Aronofsky's Pi. Hell, even Smith's Clerks for what he did with what.

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Yeh, knew it wasn't Aja's debut but it's a far more effective horror (despite it's plot problems) than Wolf Creek which was somewhat underwhelming and full of poor writing. I did enjoy it for the reasons you stated though, and it's even prompted me to want to watch it again.

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Yeah, watch it again, mate. You might find you'll have a different perspective of it. It took me about 2 tries to really appreciate the art of the film and how it's almost masterful build up is developed.

Oh, and by the way guys...I have added another 5 star film to my list! Yes, that means that there are now THREE 5 star films in the world. Joing Welles and Nolan is none other than...The Wachowski Bros! Yes, that's right, The Matrix is a ***** film. Took me 7 years to decide whether or not it deserved the extra half star (I had previously given it ****1/2 before).

Anyways, good responses.

Oh, and I will add Peter Hedges Pieces Of April to the list. I surprisingly great film that's funnier than any Will Ferrell movie, and more moving than any Sophia Coppola drama piece.

Didn't really like the art, from what i remember there were too many 'ambient' shots, more like a nature doc than gritty Texas Chain Saw throwback, not that i've got anything against them, worked great in Easy Rider.

How about Clint Eastwood's "Play Misty For Me"?
Perhaps not the "Best" but I have a hard time saying what the absolute best would be and besides some one else mentioned Redford already. LOL

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These are the first ones to come to mind, including some great ones already mentioned:

ORSON WELLES: Citizen Kane
TERRENCE MALICK: Badlands
SOFIA COPPOLA: The Virgin Suicides
JOHN HUSTON: The Maltese Falcon
DARREN ARONOFSKY: Pi
SIDNEY LUMET: 12 Angry Men
QUENTIN TARANTINO: Reservoir Dogs

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Satyajit Ray's Pather Panchali is an incredible film for a first-time director with a cast and crew with hardly any experience making movies at all.

Andrei Tarkovsky's Ivan's Childhood was his first feature film and it too is outstanding. Other great debut films that come to mind are Sidney Lumet's 12 Angry Men, Sam Mendes' American Beauty, John Singleton's Boyz n the Hood, Francois Truffaut's The 400 Blows, Lindsay Anderson's This Sporting Life, Orson Welles' Citizen Kane and Roman Polanski's Knife in the Water and a few of those are (in my opinion) the director's best films so it goes to show that people with no previous experience of directing a feature film can make films of real quality.

The Last Picture Show was Bogdanovich's second feature film. His first was Targets (1968) for Roger Corman. He's one of the many directors, writers and actors that went through Corman's A.I.P. learn-as-you-go virtual film school. And Targets is actually pretty good too, for a Corman quickie...but still not the kind of debut that warrants mention with the all-time greats.

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Oh...now that you mention it I've actually heard of the film and knew that Bogdanovich directed it, I just seemed to have it in my head that The Last Picture Show was his first film.

I suppose quite a few directors made their debut film for Corman (Francis Coppola, Monte Hellman, Jonathan Demme etc.)

Judging from Holden Pike, Johnners and other peoples comments I guess it's almost safe to say that Orson Welles' Citizen Kane is the best cinematic debut ever. Obviously there have been some outstanding ones, but it's EXTREMELY rare that they are five star films. It's not even one of my favourite films but I can't deny the five star quality of the direction, casting, performance, narrative etc. It's very before its time and deserves the praise it gets.

Bloody hell, some people have mentioned films I haven't even heard of..

Um, trying to think of more...Oh, I recently saw Shane Meadows' Twenty Four Seven and I definitely think this deserves an honourable mention in this thread.

Saw Knife in the Water recently, which was a fine debut from Mr. Roman Polanski...already mentioned once in the thread, but, thought I would throw it out there, too...

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Chris Marker's La Jetee is a brilliant, haunting masterpiece (and consists almost entirely of still photographs accompanied by narration and music)

I don't know if it counts as his debut as it's a short film (about 30 minutes) and he made documentary shorts before this, but it's his first fiction film.

If anyone's interested in seeing this, the full thing is on Google Video here