The Other Place: April 2025

My Favourite Directors

Because everyone wants to sort things. What’s the ultra-alpha and who are the betas?!

Who am I? An asshole who’s watching over two thousand movies and read a couple of books. I've also played a lot of video games: check out My Favourite Game Developers here.

I talk about directors because for me that’s what matters. I don’t care about actors. There are some actors I recognize as great, but for the most part I think they’re somewhat interchangeable. Directors are not.

This is a time capsule rather than a permanent document. I hope people with good taste will argue with me and point out movies and directors that I have not included that I should! I have arbitrarily set a limit of fifteen directors, and up to five movies from each. Once I reach those limits, I will rotate out movies and directors that usurp their peers.

Akira Kurosawa:

Kurosawa has an excellent sense of space. Unlike current Hollywood movies, he allows things to breathe: opposite of ADHD film. Influenced Sergio Leone, George Lucas, Quentin Tarantino and many others: transporting Kurosawa’s samurai characters into other genres, and more direct remakes such as Living the 2022 British version of Ikiru.

Best films:

Seven Samurai: The story of a village of poor farmers that are constantly being robbed by vagabonds in the area. They hire samurai for their protection. Great distinctive characters played by some subtly skilled actors.

High and Low: A kidnapping mystery with lots of twists, turns and hard decisions. A real world test of moral principles.

Ikiru: A bureaucrat feels he has wasted his life pushing papers, but not really accomplishing anything. A young woman inspires him to live again, and get some great done! A feel good story.

The Hidden Fortress: A pair of greedy peasants seeks assistance from a couple roving warriors. Very much the genesis for C3PO and R2D2 in the later Star Wars films. Beautiful imagery and landscape cinematography.

Carl Theodor Dreyer:

Dreyer’s work is heavily Christian in theme, sometimes critical sometimes promoting of this religious tradition. Mostly black and white, some even silent films, he does a great job of capturing human emotion believably.

Best films:

The Passion of Joan of Arc: Silent films have always left my flat in the past. The tight shots on the face, really connect you with the protagonist's suffering in a powerful way.

Day of Wrath: An old woman is accused of being a witch, and eventually is caught and burned at the stake. She curses those involved. A young woman marries an aging preacher who cannot fulfill her. The woman falls for the preachers son, who can.

Ordet: A story of breaking away from one's father to strike out and make his own life. As well of one of class status and duty in a Christian town.

Stanley Kubrick:

Strange but with a coherent narrative, not just arthouse. Always interesting, often science fiction to a greater or lesser degree and a little psychedelic. Humour even in the serious.

Best films:

2001 A Space Odyssey: Man vs machine: who will win. Offers some themes that will be continued references in the age of artificial intelligence. Based on a short story by Arthur C. Clarke.

The Shining: Jack Nicolson plays such a convincing crazy person in this and other films, you wonder at his own internal psychology. Great rising tension over time and symbolism. It really brings Stephen King's novel alive.

Eye’s Wide Shut: Even though I dislike Nicole Kidman, and abhor Tom Cruise, somehow this film works for me. As I said actors don't really sway me one way or the other, they're just kind of there mostly. Those who are interested in the references to Freemasonry and the Bohemian Grove will find this psychologdelic film rather intriguing. Lots of naked ladies, if you're into that sort of thing.

A Clockwork Orange: As I find eye balls, internal organs and veins cause me nausea, this was challenging to get through. A film about joyful ultraviolence... that has dire consequences. Animal experimentation on savage humans. You be the judge of the level of justification!

Dr. Strangelove: Produced in the middle of the Cold War, this was an amusingly terrifying take on nuclear war. Loads (excuse me) of penis jokes.

Alejandro Jorodowsky:

Unlike Kubrick, this definitely goes over the line into “arthouse” film. Trippy, violent, and lots of… milk? If you catch my drift… This gentleman is a weirdo cult leader. I enjoy the art but don't like the artist.

Best films:

The Holy Mountain: Jesus goes on a drug tripping bender. Lots of religious and anti-religious symbolism, as well as drugs, tits and birth and rebirth. Non-narrative. You elect the meaning.

Santa Sangre: The life of a man who grew up as part of a travelling Circus family, and the traumas he experienced. Grotesque themes: incest, infidelity, enslavement, violence (sexual and otherwise), persecution and coercing.

The Coen Brothers:

Hilarious and creative. There straight comedies are unusually funny. Their dramatic films still provide awesome laugh out loud moments.

Best films:

Raising Arizona: Nicolas Cage plays a charming simpleton, who just wants to raise a family and love the Lord from his twisted perspective. Baby stealing was never funnier.

A Serious Man: Come-drama, Dramady? I'll workshop this... The story of a teacher in the 70s just trying to get a stable job and raise his family. What could go wrong? His wife wants a divorce and moves in her new lover, bribes and threats...

Bad Santa: Billy Bob Thorton plays an alcoholic safe-robbing shit-talking department store Santa Claus. Kind of a darker version of early Sandler films such as Happy Gilmore and Billy Madison. Disclaimer: I'm not sure it really holds up, maybe it was just something about it at the time I watched it...

The Big Lebowski: Bizarre slice of life / comedy / mystery. Really it's own pioneering genre. A lazy asshole stumbles into money and trouble. An oddly good time.

Studio Ghibli:

Though directed by several different people, they have a similar aesthetic so I lumped them together. Beautiful watercolour art, and moving stories… or shall I say “story”… if you’ve seen one you’ve kind of seen them all as far as narrative and theme. You need only see one on the list, pick at random really! So pretty. The protagonist is always a young girl, is this in intentional contrast to the many children's stories oriented towards boys?

Best films:

Spirited Away: The Hayao Miyazaki directed film centers around a child and her parents who come upon a deserted amusement park. The little girl and her parents are transported to a supernatural realm from which she must save her parents.

My Neighbor Totoro: A man moves to the countryside with his two daughters and wife to help his wife recovery from illness. The girls discover a world of magical creatures in the countryside. The connection to the beauty of the natural world.

Howl’s Moving Castle: A young lady works at her father's hat shop. She meets a charming wizard who lives in a giant mobile mechanical castle on legs. A jealous witch casts an enchantment on the young lady that ages her. The wizard must use his magic to save the young lady and break the spell.

Castle In The Sky: A magical adventure. A young girl is kidnapped by sky pirates. She finds she has magical crystal powers and uses them to thwart treasure from being stolen by the pirates.

Kiki’s Delivery Service: Kiki is a witch in training. She starts a delivery service using her powers. She is challenged by doubt, that makes it hard for her to wield her magic, how will she overcome this?

Kevin Smith:

Slice of life comedy that reminds me of shitty jobs, high school and growing up in Inner City Winnipeg. He captures an aspect of life that wasn’t really spoken to before even though the stakes are not as high as typical action, drama or mystery movies. Jokes that you would make with your friends in your living room on film.

Best films:

Clerks: As someone who has worked in grocery stores large and small for many years, this rings true to me. The dull passage of time, the strange characters that come out of the woodwork. Hilarious in a very relatable way.

Clerks II: An extension on the first, as with most sequels not quite as good as the first. Still full of plenty slice-of-life guffaws.

Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back: Jay and Silent Bob (played by Kevin Smith, himself) take center stage. Their comic book alter egos are being tapped for a major motion picture, and they want their share of the royalties!

Mallrats

Jersey Girl

Martin Scorsese:

Cool guy. Classic cool. He made some great crime films capturing the mafioso and underbelly culture well. Scorsese injects some humour that doesn’t detract from the drama.

Best films:

Goodfellas: "I'm funny how, I mean funny like a clown, I amuse you?" Full of mafioso attitude and brash humour, this crime drama really draws you into the culture. Follows the rise of Henry Hill in the American Italian crime families of 60's New York.

Taxi Driver: Driving all these assholes around in his taxi, he is fed up! He decides to take the law into his own hands and deal with the scum lurking on these streets. Classic Robert Deniro.

The Color of Money

Mean Streets

Sergio Leone:

The Western filmmaker made a lot of classics, even if he drew liberally from Kurosawa’s samurai films. He pioneered modern action movie style with pithy tough guys, often played by Clint Eastwood.

Best films:

A Fistful of Dollars: This Western is about a gunslinger (Clint Eastwood) trying to pit rival families against each other and profit from helping both. Inspired (closely) by Kurosawa's samurai film Yojimbo.

The Good, The Bad and the Ugly: Set in the American Civil War, two vagabonds work together to plunder some of the fortune that is available during the conflict. The tenuous alliance creates conflicts of it's own. There isn't honour among these thieves.

Once Upon a Time in the West

High Plains Drifter

For a Few Dollars More

Roman Polanski:

The psychological horror master. He shows, doesn’t tell. Well, he doesn’t always even show. Great at building tension over time. He avoids most of the gore that I film distasteful in later horror films. He shoots such buildings at such angles he can really screw with your perception, similar to Kubrick in this regard.

Best films:

The Tenant: Turning the screws. Gradually, gradually, gradually. An excellent psychological thriller that will ring true to anyone who has ever rented an apartment. Noise complaints, crazy neighbours, onerous landlords: all slowly driving the protagonist to claustrophobic insanity.

Rosemary’s Baby: A young woman in a slightly challenging relationship gets pregnant, much to her delight. However, she uncovers a book leading her to think those who are looking out for her baby's interests may have other intentions... A mother will do anything to protect her baby.

Chinatown

Alfred Hitchcock:

Another horror film master, perhaps a touch gorier than Polanski. He mixes mystery in with horror quite effectively.

Best films:

Vertigo

North By Northwest

Psycho: Growing up I heard this movie referenced a few times in Eminem's lyrics "I'm about as normal as Norman Bates." What can I say without revealing too much? A psychological thriller about the disturbing relationship between an isolated young man and his overbearing mother.

Strangers On A Train

Rear Window: A high functioning man is injured. Bored out of his mind he sits and watches the people in the neighbouring apartment building. What trouble is afoot with these people? Is he Sherlock Holmes or is his mind filling in the gaps for him?

Wim Wenders:

Normally “slice of life” stuff is not my bag. Wenders portrays characters in such a way that I am willing to forgive lack of clear narrative. A little arthousey but always leaves you with the warm and fuzzies.

Best films:

Alice in the Cities: A young writer meets a woman with a child. The mother abandons the child to the writer. Can they find the child's grandmother? In spite of the dark plot this is more about the charming relationship formed between the writer and the strange child.

Perfect Days: A slice of life people about living a simple fulfilling life. A man cleans public toilets so a living but finds fulfillment in old novels, classic rock, sandwiches and observing the natural world.

Wings of Desire: Angels watch over the goings-on of humans caring for them. One angel decides they want a regular human life, and fall in love with a human woman. The protagonist's longing for human existence is touchingly portrayed.

Mike Judge:

The comedic genius behind Beavis and Butthead and King of the Hill. He captures the mundane everyday in such a quirky way. Occasionally a hair cartoonish but mostly reminds you of your rednecky family members and what makes them charmingly amusing.

Best films:

Beavis and Butthead Do America: Heh heh, heh heh. You said "doody!" The characters in general chronicle the 90s burnout teenager culture. Silly, and shows the inklings of the Southern Americana King of the Hill series.

Idiocracy: In the near future most people are cartoonishly stupid. So, I man from the present can rule the world. A subtle nod to the way people are drawn to leaders who entertain them over those who actually know what they're doing.

Office Space: The comedy referenced a million times over when things go wrong at a regular office workplace. Lots of gifs of smashing printers. Like in Dilbert in that the way to get ahead is to act like you really don't care, and over time dumber managers replace the previous managers.

Kenji Mizoguchi:

Best films:

Ugetsu