This is an essay that will appear in the June issue of the Images Cinema newsletter. Since I haven't been posting many reviews lately, I am offering this as filler. Complete program notes for this summer film series at the Clark will be posted soon. So here's a preview:
Who are the top ten directors in their prime today? Which directors under the age of 50 have already amassed a substantial body of work and are likely to make the most interesting films of the next decade or two? The question is subject to debate, of course, but I had to come up with my own answer when asked by the Clark Art Institute to help celebrate its 50th anniversary by presenting a film series of the best directors born since the museum’s opening in 1955. These free screenings will run in the Clark auditorium Fridays at 4:00, beginning July 1st.
I present this personal list and the “10 Under 50” film series as an invitation to debate. Nearly everyone will find a favorite left out. Where’s Peter Jackson, Quentin Tarantino, Tim Burton, Steven Soderbergh, Spike Jonze, Todd Haynes? Wes or Paul Thomas Anderson? How about more women and more foreign directors? Why Gurinder Chadha over Mira Nair?
And what about the brothers -- Hughes, Wachowski, Farrelly, Weitz, etc.? Well, I did sneak one pair into my list, the Coen bothers, one of whom made the cutoff date, but they had to go when schedule constraints reduced my initial dozen to ten. My other regretful deletion was Spike Lee, who’s already made the transition from enfant terrible to grand old man of movies.
One thing to note about this list is how many of these directors recur on the Images Cinema playlist, both the films that I am showing in retrospective and their newer releases. Also note that this bill of fare is brasher and bolder that what the Clark usually offers, with lots of sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll, not to mention politics, war, and genocide. Good thing Massachusetts is a Blue State.
What follows are brief career capsules for the chosen directors, with the “10 Under 50” title in bold, and the date it will be shown, in order of their birth dates, from oldest to youngest:
Cameron Crowe nailed it first time with the teen romance classic Say Anything, hit the big time with Jerry Maguire, and had his best time yet with the autobiographical Almost Famous (7/1), about a teenage reporter for Rolling Stone on the road with a band in the rockin’ Seventies.
David O. Russell never stops pushing boundaries, from the incest comedy Spanking the Monkey and family farce Flirting With Disaster, through the bold and funny take on the first Iraq war, Three Kings (7/8), to last year’s existential slapstick, I (Heart) Huckabees.
Atom Egoyan is profoundly marked by both his Armenian heritage and his Canadian upbringing. Family Viewing announced his themes and perspective; his repertory built to the climax of Exotica; he crossed borders with The Sweet Hereafter; and then recapitulated his themes in Ararat (7/15), a semi-documentary exhumation of the 1915 Turkish massacre of the Armenians.
Alexander Payne bid to become the Bard of Omaha with his first three films: Citizen Ruth, Election (7/22), and About Schmidt, all wicked but surprisingly evenhanded satires on Heartland values. He broke out, in more ways than one, with last year’s taste of California dreamin’ -- Sideways.
Richard Linklater is identified with Austin TX, from Slackers and Dazed and Confused to the animated dream Waking Life (7/29). He reached mainstream success with The School of Rock, but his peak so far is the Before Sunrise/Before Sunset pair of romantic comedies. Linklater is my #1 guy, like no other since Truffaut.
Alfonso Cuaron alternates decidedly adult Mexican films like Y Tu Mama Tambien with adaptations of English literary classics for young and old, from The Little Princess to Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Great Expectations (8/5) is a bit of both.
Michael Winterbottom has boundless energy and protean interests. He’s made two adaptations of Thomas Hardy novels, Jude and The Claim. Visited warzones in Bosnia and Afghanistan for Welcome to Sarajevo (8/12) and In This World. Anatomized the Manchester rave scene in 24 Hour Party People and a suburban London sisterhood in Wonderland. Next up is the scandalous 9 Songs.
Lukas Moodysson began light with the teen lesbian comedy Show Me Love and the frank and funny dissection of sexual politics in Together (8/19), set in a 1970s Stockholm commune. He then turned darker, exploring the sociology and psychology of the sex industry in Lilya 4-Ever and A Hole in the Heart.
Sofia Coppola left no doubt after Lost in Translation that the success of her first film, The Virgin Suicides (8/26) was not dependent on her father Francis or then-husband Spike Jonze. Her adaptation of the Jeffrey Eugenides novel clearly demonstrates she is a filmmaker with a vision of her own.
Gurinder Chadha comes by her genial multiculturalism naturally. She explored her Indian in Britain roots in Bhaji on the Beach and Bend It Like Beckham. She goes to L.A. for another cross-ethnic feast in What’s Cooking? (9/2) and goes from Bollywood to Hollywood in her latest, Bride and Prejudice.
Much more about these directors, and the “10 Under 50” film series in detail will be posted on Cinema Salon in coming weeks. You can join the debate over these Top 10 choices, by simply clicking on the "Comment" buttons on this site, or by emailing me at ssatullo@clarkart.edu
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