TOTAL Film Magazine's Top 100 Directors (1/2)

Ooooh, Lists, I love lists. Even though i haven't had a list of my own - making lists is hard, there's always one or two things peeking in the corner, maliciously grinning, 'You haven't included me, bozo!' and forcing me to rewrite the list -, it should be noticed that i had a certain penchant to comment on other's lists. Now, here's another lists which i deemed worthy to at least take a peek. It should be noted that even though the original list consists of 100 names, i only mentioned the top-11, since of course, it is rather futile to lists them all here in one post.

11. Akira Kurosawa
The samurai master
Rashômon alerted the world to the riches of Japanese cinema – and to the tigerish energy of Toshiro Mifune. But it was Seven Samurai, with its bravura action sequences and melancholy, that sealed Akira Kurosawa’s reputation. Yojimbo added a gleeful dose of black comedy, while Ikiru, set in modern-day Tokyo, revealed Kurosawa’s gentler, elegiac side. His love of Shakespeare inspired Throne Of Blood as well as the majestic late Lear adaptation, Ran.
Picture perfect Seven Samurai. Poetry in motion.

When i first decide to dive nose-first to a world of cinemas as more than just a pleasurable killing time experiences, Akira Kurosawa was my first choice to do some exploration. Thus, I had seen many of his works, probably more than any other old classic directors. I've seen all the films listed in the above paragraph, for instance. My favorite Kurosawa however, not Seven Samurai, even though the film's rain scene was simply breathtaking even with rather old-fashioned sword-battling coreography (but, old-fashioned as it is, it still felt more real than most modern sword-battling coreography). My favorite samurai tale from Mr.Kurosawa was the no-name bodyguard tales, Yojimbo and Sanjuro. Both features Toshiro Mifune, and both was simple, quick, and explosive in the end. A fun flick to watch. Alas, my most favorite Kurosawa was not even a Samurai flick. Ikiru (pictured) ever stands as one of my favorite films of all-time, probably because i took root on drama as my genre preference in film, but i still remembered Takashi Shimura gaunt and longing faces as he realized that he's got no longer than three months to live. Classic.

10. David Fincher
The perfectionist
“Some people make movies so they can have a big house,” says Fincher. “Some people do it so they can date Swedish models... If I wasn’t making movies I would be drunk and homeless.” The MTV auteur who segued from Rolling Stones’ and George Michael vids to the fascinating failure of Alien3, Fincher’s do-or-die vision eventually delivered the seminal Se7en, mirrored this year by Zodiac’s more muted but no less intelligent take on fractured masculinity, obsession and loneliness (and, oh yeah, a serial killer). Hardly prolific, but Fincher’s smarts, wit and eye are unsurpassed in his generation; even his popcorn pictures (The Game, Panic Room) are a different league. Always pushing the technical envelope, he matches his meticulousness with mordant humour and a growing sense of humanity. Expect third Pitt hook-up, The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, to stun you. Kubrick has an heir.
Picture perfect Fight Club. A beautiful and unique snowflake.

He's probably the reason i was a fan of Brad Pitt. Yep, Brad Pitt. When it comes to celebrity, i often distinguished myself from the crowd by NOT becoming a fan of a popular known actors (or artists). Well, it's just... habit. But Mr.Pitt was there. His taste in clothing in the Ocean's trilogy series has been one that i would like to copy from. The film Se7en that sealed the fact. I had seen Se7en for the first time in 1995 - 1996 when i was about to graduate from Junior High School. It quickly become my favorite film of many years to come. Ahh, the good old days. I remember, i had stunned with the film, from opening to finish, and from the way Kevin Spacey cocked his head sideways, and muttered a slow, true but frightening words, "Oh, he doesn't know". Scary. I was shaking to boots when i saw how the words shaken Brad Pitt's calmness. But, to be at #10-spot, surpassing Mr.Kurosawa? i don't think so. Come to think of it, his decent movies are Zodiac, Se7en, and Fight Club, in that order, where Fight Club being and still my favorite Brad Pitt's film. Further, there's an intriguing point in that article that he was going to be Kubrick's heir. Now, that was strectching a bit more. But, check this out. According to imdb, in 2009, he's going to made Rendezvous with Rama, which based on Arthur C. Clarke's sci-fi story that sets on space. And Kubrick, 41 years earlier had made 2001: A Space Odyssey, also a sci-fi story sets in space, also based on Arthur C. Clarke's story. Interesting.

9. Peter Jackson
The ring master
A bashful, only child growing up in Pukerua Bay, New Zealand, Peter Jackson latched onto the 8mm camera he was given at the age of eight, forging a small talent that became big.

Jackson’s early work – camp splatter movies Bad Taste and Braindead, influenced by George A Romero – segued into the rapturous, teen-lesbian murder tale Heavenly Creatures and the mature, visionary storytelling of The Lord Of The Rings. “It was a giant undertaking,” says Jackson of his three-film, five-year odyssey, “but I consider it a personal film – my film of a lifetime.”

Maybe so, but now that he’s finally laid to rest his obsession with King Kong, a liberated Jackson can funnel his extraordinary filmmaking talents into more intriguing artistic-multiplex synergies – including, he says, a return to his gorehound roots.

First up, Alice Sebold’s ghost-child drama Lovely Bones, the perfect vehicle for his rhapsodic blend of visceral emotion and transporting fantasy.
Picture perfect The Lord Of The Rings trilogy. Eleven hours of pure cinematic majesty.

Ah, who doesn't know The Lord of the Rings? Stop reading if you don't, go back to your mother's womb, or whatever cave you're in for this past five-six years. No comment from me on the subject, but, as the article point out, i believe that Peter Jackson had some unique traits in making horror film, i truly enjoyed The Frighteners. Especially during the scene where the Grim Reaper swinging his deadly scythe between passing cars. I really wanted to see he's back on his horror root. And again, number 9 spot? He's good, but NOT that good. My comment by the way.

8. Stanley Kubrick
The recluse
Even in death – it’s still hard to believe he’s gone – Kubrick remains a semi-mythic figure, hidden behind a thicket beard, monolithic intellect and the front gates of his Xanadu-like mansion. Bizarrely, he’s greater than any one of his 13 truly unique films. After WWI trench-tragedy Paths Of Glory, Kubrick became less interested in humans than humanity itself, driving actors to hundreds of identical takes in his obsessive search for perfection. Even Dr Strangelove (an original, brilliant, terrifying nuclear comedy that equates military might with big, swinging dicks) and Lolita (sex and power again) reach us through a God-like POV that belongs to him and none of his characters. He fish-eyed Big Questions through some of the most unforgettable spectacles in cinema: 2001’s celestial enigma; The Shining and A Clockwork Orange’s mesmerising horrorshows; Full Metal Jacket’s clinical destruction; Eyes Wide Shut’s end-of-century sign-off. Daring, demanding and unique.
Picture perfect 2001: A Space Odyssey. To infinity and beyond.

Along with Mr.Kurosawa, he was one of the director i picked during my transformation days (from entertainment to edutainment) and so, i was pretty knowledgable regarding his works. And 2001: A Space Odyssey remains one of my most painful experience in watching films, i watched the film thrice, and thrice i fell asleep during the Ray of Lights scene. But, other than that, despite of what Stephen King had said, The Shining remains one of the most frightening films i've ever seen. The tricycle scene, the tennis-ball scene, they had no weird, made-to-surprise sound effects, but nonetheless, it's just plain scary. But, my favourite of Kubrick, was Barry Lyndon. A three hour more of a tale contemplating the life of a noble. Now that i tried to remember the film, it short of remind me to Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette. But with huge distinction that i liked Barry Lyndon, and i despised Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette.

7. Ingmar Bergman
The confessor
“At times, the demons can be helpful. But you have to beware. Sometimes they will help you along to hell.”

Ingmar Bergman knew what he was talking about. Survivor of a cracked faith and four broken marriages (a fifth ended when his wife died of stomach cancer), the Swedish auteur made a career out of “the ability to attach my demons to my chariot” (The Seventh Seal, Shame, Scenes From A Marriage, Autumn Sonata, Fanny And Alexander).

And if his chariot’s wheels occasionally threatened to come off, that only helped Bergman work through his crises of creative confidence in movies like Persona and Hour Of The Wolf, positing the artist as charlatan.

Honing his uncluttered style over 60 years and 50-odd films, he shoots his tortured protagonists in looming, luminous close-up, his camera performing keyhole surgery to extract tumorous lies. It is, as critic David Thomson puts it, a “cinema of the inner life”, revelatory in every sense.
Picture perfect Persona. Bergman’s silent scream.

Sadly, i need more of him. His only flick that i've seen so far is The Seventh Seal. His depiction of Death is, for lack of better words, personal. And the final scene where Death led the characters jolly-walking on a hill, shots from a far, really really subtly frightening. There's no doubt about it that he, who just recently passed away, is one of the greatest director.

Fiuw, that's a post too many for today actually, so i'm going to conclude this posts with the rest of the list next Monday, enjoy your weekends, i think i'm going to see The Brave One, i've always had a soft-spot for Jodie Foster that even her worst i deemed enjoyable, and the revenge flick has been garnered positive reviews around, and Disturbia which finally, after a few agonizing months (it has been released far earlier in the US) of waiting, i could finally laid eyes on what they said among the better thriller released. Again, have a nice weekend.