Best of the 2010s: Directors
Every month I've been focusing on a particular genre of film and count down the 10 Best of the Decade from that genre. This will, ultimately, lead to a 100 Best list. In addition to this, our podcast, The Movie Lovers, has had a corresponding segment monthly during the Film Faves portion of the show wherein we count down our favorite films.
We've gone through quite the list of genres over the past several months. So, this month, as we approach the end of the year, we turn our attention to the talents of the decade. So, the decade is nearly over. Let's look at the actresses that helped define the decade.
What factors are taken into consideration when crafting a Best-of list? Well, the first requirement in order to qualify for this list is a director has to have released no less than three films this decade. I feel like three is the minimum for a director to have had maximum impact in a decade. Unfortunately, that means people like Patty Jenkins (Wonder Woman), Jordan Peele (Get Out, Us) and Kathryn Bigelow (Zero Dark Thirty, Detroit) do not qualify. Did the director make their debut or break-out during the decade or even shortly before it? How prolific or varied were they during the decade? And what sort of win/loss record does their filmography have critically? Rotten Tomatoes plays a large role in answering that question. Box office may play a factor in terms of their success this decade, but it is not of great consideration. All of these other things play a role in weighing a list of over two dozen directors and boil them down to just 10. And if you take a look at the Honorable Mentions you'll see we had no shortage of great talent to break out this decade.
Let's get to it...
10. David Lowery
Best Movie: A Ghost Story
So, there was a lot of rearranging involved with this list. This spot ended up being one of the most difficult positions to fill, because it meant leaving off half a dozen other amazing directors from the decade. I landed on David Lowery, because he seems like a voice that needs to be championed who isn't maybe as well known as some of the others who didn't make it on the list. His films may also be better-known outside of the critical community. He started off with the crime love story Ain't Them Bodies Saints in 2013, starring Rooney Mara and Casey Affleck, which earned more critical attention on the festival circuit than anything else. But it was a nice calling card that somehow landed him a chance to direct one of Disney's few interesting remakes this decade, Pete's Dragon. It's a bit of a leap to go from a small budget crime film to a big budget CGI/live action family movie. But Lowery proved himself more than capable, improving on the rickety original. Lowery wasn't interested in pursuing a career dealing in big budgets, though. He just wanted to tell interesting stories and get great performances. So, he finished the decade with A Ghost Story and what is likely Robert Redford's final film, Old Man & the Gun, a throwback to whimsical cops and robbers films of the '60s and '70s.
A Ghost Story may be his masterpiece, a somber film about a man who dies, turns into a ghost, and watches time pass by within the house he and his wife bought. It's a beautiful and striking film that is deliberately paced, introspective, and absolutely unforgettable. Casey Affleck gave his best performance, ironically, while being completely covered in a sheet. It's simply remarkable. And so, too, is Lowery's talent. He's been a quiet presence throughout the decade, but he's surely just getting started as he has a fantasy film coming next year and will work with Disney again on another remake of Peter Pan.
9. Ryan Coogler
Best Movies: Creed, Black Panther
Was there a more successful African American behind the camera than Ryan Coogler this decade? Jordan Peele came close and certainly hit a chord with his films Get Out and Us, which made a combined $510.5 million worldwide. And Steve McQueen, a Brit actually, whose three films managed to gross worldwide $281.4 million combined, thanks largely to 12 Years a Slave. As did Ava DuVernay, particularly with her film Selma and her Disney film A Wrinkle in Time, which bombed, but still made her combined worldwide gross $199.5 million. If Coogler hadn't worked within the MCU he would be behind Peele with $405 million worldwide combining his indie debut and two Creed films. But because he made one of the best MCU films, which resonated with audiences around the world, Coogler's combined box office is $1.75 billion, making him the most successful African American of the decade. But box office alone doesn't qualify someone to be on this list - or to even be voted by Instagram followers as the best director of the decade. Sure, Coogler is the most financially successful black director to be doing what his peers are also doing. But his movies strike a chord, are often crowd-pleasing, and helped make Michael B. Jordan a star. I'm not sure there was a better or more successful director/star collaboration this decade. In fact, the two will re-team in a classroom drama in the near future. And, with a Black Panther sequel on its way, Coogler is sure to continue the success he found this decade.
Best Movie: Inception
One of the best directors of the last decade is still one of the finest of today. Nolan kicked off the new decade with one of the greatest sci-fi films of this era: Inception. The mind-bending, visually-stunning heist film became an instant classic and burned itself into the pop culture consciousness forever. The rest of his work this decade was less impactful, but fine efforts. The first of these was his trilogy finale, The Dark Knight Rises, a solid entry that fails at the last minute to stick the landing. His space epic Interstellar was a stunning and moving tale that crossed generations. And his British war film, Dunkirk, was ambitious and effective, if slightly a bit incoherent. Even when Nolan stumbles he makes some of the decade's finest and most memorable films. And that's why he is still one of the most relevant directors of the decade.
7. Rian Johnson
Best Movie: Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Rian Johnson is a sly and brilliant filmmaker. He came on to the scene in the second half of the last decade with a critically-acclaimed noir teen detective movie (Brick) and followed that up with a lighter con man movie (The Brothers Bloom). Both showed a tremendous ability to play with the conventions of different genres and demonstrated a unique wit. This decade he came back with a hitman time travel movie (Looper), an audacious entry into the Skywalker saga of Star Wars (The Last Jedi), and a whodunit (Knives Out). Creative, intelligent, and always one step ahead of the audience, Johnson has cemented himself as a great talent and lover of movies. It takes an unabashed joy of movies to be able to gleefully play within various conventions to the extent he does. How ironic then that his love of Star Wars and desire to take it in unexpected and deeper territory inspired so much hate from a vocal minority of fans online. It is unfortunate, for J. J. Abrams gave fans everything they loved and more to restore confidence, Johnson wanted Star Wars to be more and explored ideas previously not considered, challenging what we knew about that world and its characters. As a result, he gave us the richest entry since the original - and perhaps the best. Rian Johnson is one of film's biggest fans working behind the camera today. As long as he's allowed to play with various genres and conventions we'll continue to get original and creative efforts within those genres.
Best Movie: La La Land
Damien Chazelle is an ambitious director whose films explore the cost of ambition.
Whiplash was a startling breakout with a scorched-earth performance by JK Simmons. While that film is mostly notable for that award-winning performance, it's also a fascinating examination of what it takes to be truly great at something - and what sort of sacrifices must be made to achieve greatness. His next film, a musical, not only was ambitious in itself, but focused on two people who have their own dreams and ambitions and struggle to maintain a relationship together while making those dreams a reality. That film nearly won an Oscar for Best Picture. His latest, First Man, used a real life hero, Neil Armstrong, to examine the human race's ambitions, one of the men who would help humanity achieve its potential, and the personal sacrifices he would make along the way. It's a fascinating thematic through-line and a fascinating set of films. It's unclear Chazelle has more to say about this theme, but if he decides to explore other themes, he's likely to have some interesting ideas on how to do so.
5. James Wan
Best Movie: The Conjuring
There are few directors who have been as financially successful this decade as James Wan. As one horror franchise came to an end (Saw) he created not one, but two more horror franchises this decade. In 2010, he released Insidious, a chilling and creative spin on the haunted house formula where things aren't what they seem. In 2013, he went back to the haunted house concept, this time spinning a yarn based on real life ghost hunters whose work had already inspired The Amityville Horror. Both films were huge hits, especially The Conjuring, which spawned an entire universe of films - not just sequels - grossing over $540 million domestic. Wan is a craftsman at doing a lot with very little.
The Conjuring alone, a masterpiece of horror, has no human deaths, no nudity, no harsh language, yet it is so terrifying the MPAA felt compelled to give it an R rating. That is remarkable and due to what Wan is able to do with great sound design and simple tricks like swinging doors, camera movements, and excellent lighting. Wan went on to dabble in other established franchises, Fast and the Furious (Furious 7) and the DCEU (Aquaman).
Aquaman is probably the best representation of how Wan is at his best when he is working with less, as that film was bombastic and his worst. As he enters the next decade he will go back to his Insidious franchise and create a new sci-fi horror reminding us all of his extraordinary talent.
Best Movie: The Lobster
There is a very small list of directors this decade as distinct and unusual as Yorgos Lanthimos. He just might be the most unique voice of the decade. His films challenge. Never going easy on their audience. Never sticking with conventional or formulaic narratives. Always odd. Often unsettling. Typically inaccessible for the average moviegoer. Yet Yorgos rarely stumbles. He has made five films this decade: Dogtooth, Alps, The Lobster, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, and The Favourite. It's likely most people are familiar with his most recent film and less so his work the closer it gets to the beginning of the decade. But Dogtooth, a film about a family completely sheltered and confined by their father, grabbed critics' and cinephiles' attentions. He crossed over from Swedish to English with his dystopian love story The Lobster, about a world where the long-term single must check in to a resort and couple with someone or else be literally turned into an animal. It starred Colin Farrell and featured a career-best performance that should remove any doubt about his range and talent. Everyone wants to work with Yorgos now: Nicole Kidman, Alicia Silverstone, Emma Stone, Nicholas Hoult, Rachel Weisz (who also starred in The Lobster and returned with The Favourite)... the list will surely go on in years to come. He may not be for everyone - most great filmmakers are not - and his films may not be the kind one cozies up to often. But there is no denying he is one of the great voices in cinema to rise from this decade.
Best Movies: What We Do in the Shadows, Thor: Ragnarok
Like most of the directors here Taika is a unique talent and one that has grown as a director over the course of the decade. His first notable hit was 2014's What We Do in the Shadows, which took the concept of reality shows like The Real World and applied it to vampires using distinct vampire archetypes (Nosferatu, Dracula, The Lost Boys, etc.). It was a critical darling that grew huge word of mouth to the tune of $6.2 million with a budget of $1.6 million. His next film, The Hunt for the Wilderpeople, about a widow and his foster son evading insanely determined child protective services, showed us that Taika could use his sense of humor to tell a story with a greater emotional arc - and include a bit of action. People were catching on and the film made $23 million worldwide. Those projects gave him the opportunity to take the leap into one of the decade's biggest franchises, the MCU, with Thor: Ragnarok. That film exceeded expectations, reinvigorated one of the core characters of the Avengers, and went on to make $854 million. It is now a fan favorite of the series and arguably one of the best overall. Taika could've probably left indie films behind and stayed in the land of huge budgets and creative freedom. Instead he decided to balance his MCU work (he will direct Thor: Love and Thunder in 2021) with smaller films and ended the decade as such with Jojo Rabbit, a whimsical tale that takes place in Nazi Germany with Hitler as an imaginary friend to a 10 year-old. While perhaps not better than his other films this decade it still nonetheless proved Taika is a talent unafraid of taking risks and telling unusual stories - and finding the humor within any situation. That - and his successful track record, both creatively and commercially - makes him one of the most interesting directors to break out this decade.
2. Paul Feig
Best Movies: Bridesmaids, Spy
Paul Feig is one of the most decade-defining filmmakers, yet also one of the most underrated. He is cinema's greatest male ally to women. He was proving women can dominate a cast list and the box office before the #TimesUp movement took off. And his films are some of the best comedies of the decade and helped push Melissa McCarthy into stardom. Case in point, he directed four of her five highest-grossing films. In fact, all of his films except last year's A Simple Favor grossed over $100 million. And Ghostbusters is considered his only bomb due to a budget of $144 million. But even that's a film worthy of some admiration.
Ghostbusters was a statement that an ensemble of women should be able to lead a franchise film just like men. The reaction was heated and absurd. Men flocked to IMDb to rate the film 1 out of 10 stars well before its release (of the 192k voters 105.8k were men; 21k of them gave it a 1-star rating. To be fair, most men 45.4% were more sensible, rating the film 5-7 stars). This further proved the need for such a film to be released. The results were unfortunately mixed. But women were thrilled with 61% of them rating the film 7-10 stars on IMDb. In any case, ridiculous fanboy controversy aside, Paul Feig has given us some of the decade's most memorable comedies, helped give us the decade's greatest comedic actress, and, incidentally, given women what they want which is hilarious movies that represent them and are relatable.
Best Movies: Sicario, Arrival, Blade Runner 2049
Denis Villeneuve is the most unique and best new voice in cinema to come from the decade. He started the decade with a French Canadian story about twins who discover the truth about their mother and her time in the Middle East. Incendies was a very interesting and powerful film. But Denis only got better from there. In 2013 he released two films starring Jake Gyllenhaal: Prisoners and Enemy. In the former, Gyllenhaal starred as the police officer investigating the case of two missing girls while keeping at bay the father (Hugh Jackman) of one of those girls. It was a dark and brooding way to introduce himself to American audiences, featuring an all-star cast that also included Paul Dano, Maria Bello, and Viola Davis, among others. The latter film was an odd art house film wherein Gyllenhaal played two roles, a college professor stuck in the routines of his daily life and a bit-part actor who looks exactly like him. The two eventually become aware of each other and obsessed in different ways. This is a character study with an unusual premise that ends with a giant spider; not your run-of-the-mill four quadrant film. And still, Denis got better. He dug deep beneath the surface of the American drug war (Sicario), told a first contact tale driven by linguistics and the need for completely clear communication to understand one another (Arrival), and took on a sequel to one of the greatest sci-fi films ever made (Blade Runner 2049). What all of these films have in common are two things: 1) an intelligence and nuance greater than most films the decade had to offer and 2) unforgettable and striking visuals often with the aid of cinematographer Roger Deakins. And now he's putting those characteristics to use to adapt the sci-fi novel Dune. There were many great directors this decade, but none operating on the level of Denis Villeneuve. He just might be this generation's Kubrick. Whatever he does in the next decade, he already has one hell of a decade's worth of work to be revered.
Honorable Mentions:
Those are the best directors of the decade. Who do you think is the best? Comment below.
Don't forget to check out the rest of the Best of the 2010s series, including last month's horror list and last week's Actresses list. Next time in the Best of the 2010s series it'll be time for the 10 Best Films of the Decade. Look for that in late December!
And be sure to check out The Movie Lovers Episode 68 where we countdown our favorite talents of the decade!