What Director to Rank Next?
Thursday, April 4, 2024 at 10:00AM 
I don't know about you, but I had a lot of fun ranking Hayao Miyazaki's feature filmography. So much so that I feel inspired to do the same with some other beloved auteur. The only issue is deciding which director to rank next. In those write-ups, a commenter suggested David Lynch, so he's on the list of candidates, but there are many more possibilities, storied careers full of fascinating films. Why not put it to a readers' vote and let you choose who you wish to read about? That's exactly what we're doing, and you have ten possibilities to choose from, all of which have works I love and a filmography small enough to be manageable…
WES ANDERSON
Last year's Asteroid City may have left some cinephiles cold, but it only consolidated my affection for Anderson's cinema of sincerity through heightened artifice. I wonder if, in revisiting his filmography, I can grow to love the early works I've never warmed up to – Bottle Rocket and Rushmore.
BONG JOON-HO
Mickey 17 was meant to be here already, but the world must wait until 2025 to watch director Bong's Parasite follow-up. In the meantime, ranking his present filmography could be something of a balm for a frustrated soul. It's never a bad time to celebrate the first filmmaker to get a non-English-language project to a Best Picture Oscar win.
JOHN CASSAVETES
I have conflicting feelings about Cassavetes, which would be a pleasure to explore in a complete ranking of his oeuvre. Few filmmakers can compare to him when it comes to directing a cast toward their best work, but his effect on the American independent scene is formally dubious at best and dispiriting at worst. Oh, but how fun it'd be to consider all those outstanding Gena Rowlands performances.
SOFIA COPPOLA
Last year's Priscilla made it to my 2023 top ten, yet it feels like we haven't celebrated the film's director at TFE for quite a while. She deserves a proper tribute, it's what I'm saying. Also, between The Virgin Suicides and Marie Antoinette, few contemporary directors have such a special place in my heart as Sofia Coppola does.
TODD HAYNES
Well, Haynes is comparable -maybe even superior- to Coppola in my heart, if only because watching Velvet Goldmine for the first time was a legitimately life-changing experience. It rewired my brain chemistry, as the kids say. Similarly to a Cassavetes ranking, this project would imply an odyssey through a great actress at the height of her powers – Julianne Moore instead of Rowlands.
DAVID LYNCH
Of all these possibilities, Lynch would entail the most work for me, not necessarily because he has a lot of features to his name. It's more that I have never seen Twin Peaks, and a full-series watch seems necessary to understand Fire Walk With Me in 2024. Then again, that could be an amazing opportunity to correct a blind spot and maybe even go through his shorts collection I have on DVD.
MICHAEL MANN
I know Ferrari wasn't universally beloved – especially by the TFE readership if the comments are anything to go by – but it rekindled my interest in Michael Mann as an auteur. Even if I don't do a Mann ranking, you'll probably still read more about him in the coming months since "How Have I Never Seen…Heat?" sounds like a worthwhile project. Talk about my film-watching blind spots.
PARK CHAN-WOOK
This year, this Korean provocateur brings us a new miniseries, The Sympathizer, starring our most recent Best Supporting Actor champion. Riding that media wave, it could be fun to revisit the director's unique output, from the rough-around-the-edges first features to such pristine masterpieces as The Handmaiden and Decision to Leave. If nothing else, I'll see a lot of striking wallpaper, and that's always nice.
KELLY REICHARDT
I've already seen every Kelly Reichardt feature, but it'd be a pleasure to revisit them all, from the oft-forgotten River of Grass to Showing Up's surprising mix of sotto voce hilarity and wounded bird pathos. It would also be an opportunity to write about Lily Gladstone's Certain Women performance after her recent Oscar run. This is where it all began.
WONG KAR-WAI
Hong Kong's most ferocious celluloid stylist is back with a new TV project, Blossoms of Shanghai. I could perhaps explore the small screen side of Wong's career, but only after ranking his beautiful features. The only issue would be picking which version to revisit - the Criterion restorations in all their greenery or one of the older versions, full of bright gold and neon red.
So, dear reader, whom do you choose? You can vote once a day, and I'll consider the poll closed around the middle of April.
Please, campaign for your favorite in the comments and suggest other directors for a next vote.
Reader Comments (13)
I vote for Mann because Penelope Cruz reminded me of how GREAT all supporting actress are in Mann's films. I love all of them:
Diane Venora, Madeleine Stowe, Gong Li, Penelope Cruz, Ashley Judd, Tang Wei and above all:
TUESDAY WELD / MARION COTILLARD
You could review his filmography through the women in his films.
cal roth -- I tend to consider Mann a filmmaker fixated on masculinity, but you're right that he has a talent for directing actresses to remarkable work. Weld, Allen, May, Pinkett Smith, Gong, Cotillard, Davis, Tang, Cruz...
For future consideration, I nominate Vincente Minnelli.
Notoriety as Judy’s ex and Liza’s dad has distracted from the long closeted director’s impressive career. Martin Scorsese lists Minnelli’s Some Came Running among his favorite films, citing the carnival sequence as one of the finest uses of CinemaScope.
Coppola!
Todd Haynes really needs to win me back after his last few movies. Based on May December I'm honestly not sure he will. 🥴
Would love to see Mike Nichols or Jonathan Demme.
I'm voting for Todd Haynes, but I second Vincente Minnelli as a write-in candidate. (Or Stanley Donen. Or John Schlesinger.)
I voted for Wes Anderson, partly because he's one of my favorite filmmakers, but also because, like Miyazaki, he just won an Oscar (and in his case, his first Oscar), so it feels like a good time to do a retrospective on him... though I think all of these are excellent choices...
I think i'd like to see something on Cassavetes mainly because I often fail to connect with his films and his actors,it would be interesting if anyone could illuminate me on what I'm not getting..
Wow... John Cassavetes is someone I hope to delve into real soon as is Chan-wook Park but I need to see everything they've done.
Michael Mann is currently someone I'm working on for my Auteurs essay series but the one I have to do right now is J.C. Chandor but that is coming after Kraven the Hunter comes out.
I have a list of all of the filmmakers I have profiled but also a few that are slated to be subjects in the Auteurs series.
The reason I chose Kelly Reichardt is because she is a truly unique and original filmmaker who took on a neo-realist style and added a sense of minimalism into that approach as she is the most recent person I profiled as that took 4 years to do mainly because I started it back in May/June 2019 but then my dad died around that time. Then the pandemic came which stifled me as it was hard to get back to into it. Thank the film gods for Priscilla that got me to revisit and update my first Auteurs essay on Sofia Coppola that got me back into Reichardt and complete it.
I voted Wes Anderson, but Wong Kar-Wai and David Lynch would be cool too.
I’m doing a write-in vote for Lars von Trier. Oh, and Francois Ozon would be cool too!
For folks saying Vincente Minnelli, while I love the idea of doing a deep dive into his filmography, it'd have to be in a different format than this one. Or else, it'd become gigantic beyond proportion. After all, the man directed 36 feature films!
Any Asian. I know the others by heart.
Lynch would be cool. I'd also suggest Hirokazu Kore-Eda, who (with the odd exception) seems incapable of making a bad film. Or how about a documentary filmmaker like Errol Morris?