We’re still ruminating on the question of great directors and the distinct (and distinguished) attribute of voice, following our recent discussion here that put forth a preliminary working-list-in-progress of twenty-nine directors canonized on this score. Any such list is arbitrary (that is, to some extent influenced by taste), fluid (cue Andre and Wally on this essential point), and incomplete (film history is too vast – we only just saw our first Wadja, Ashes and Diamonds – forgive us, we’re draftees).
Discussions like these should keep in mind we’re not even talking about the Hall of Fame here, but a certain wing of the Hall of Fame; we mention this because in talking about who is out, assessments can sound presumptuous and inappropriately jaundiced. So, to be clear: we would go to bat for every one of the figures below who did not make our previous list as a great director. This is of course abundantly true of some favorites mentioned last time, who made all-time-great films but were not quite voice-y enough: John Huston, Louis Malle, and Bertrand Tavernier. In this general category we would also add another MCC favorite, Sidney Lumet, and Steven Soderbergh (who not only makes great movies, but would appear to share our cinematic affinities).
Not enough voice can keep you out—but voice alone does not do the trick. Consider Claude Sautet. We’re Sautet completists, (still trying to track down Bonjour Sourire! and a version of A Few Days with Me with English subtitles). But despite the fact that we have never not enjoyed one of his films, too few are what we would label “towering achievements” to quite nudge him into the Hall of Fame. (I feel the need to repeat that we fully understand that he made wonderful films, whilst we’re sitting around talking about them.)
And there’s still one more box to check, after voice and towering achievements: a Rich, Full Body of Work. How many movies does it take to make a RFBoW? Who knows? Notably, Bresson, Kubrick, Melville, and Welles each made thirteen features, which was certainly more than enough to get them voted in unanimously on the first ballot. Ten seems like a nice round number, and I can imagine being talked down to eight, in the right circumstances. But breadth matters. Thus, regarding, for example, two directors with a distinct voice, who made some of the singular, indelible masterpieces of the seventies – Bob Rafelson (The King of Marvin Gardens) and Elaine May (Mikey and Nicky) – well, to paraphrase Dr. Evil in The Spy Who Shagged Me: Not Oeuvre Enough.
We remain eager to hear your thoughts on the matter—so far we’ve received no complaints (which seems quite fishy) and only one bona-fide nominee, Aki Kaurismäki (much appreciated, from our European correspondent). Kaurismäki seems like a worthy candidate, but we haven’t seen enough of his films yet to dust off a seat for him in our pantheon.
Here then, a list of twenty-nine additional directors (a number chosen entirely to genuflect before the god of symmetry) who we considered for our original list but did not include. Each is associated with a representative statement, which is often but not in every case our personal favorite, given the premium on voice in this particular discussion—but represents the moral equivalent of the team logo they would be sporting on their Hall of Fame plaque.
The ones we agonozed over most:
Otto Preminger (Anatomy of a Murder)
John Huston (The Asphalt Jungle)
Louis Malle (The Fire Within)
Bertrand Tavernier (The Clockmaker)
Sidney Lumet (Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead)
Then, alphabetically:
Chantal Akerman (News from Home)
Paul Thomas Anderson (Boogie Nights)
Jacques Becker (Touchez Pas au Grisbi)
Bernardo Bertolucci (Last Tango in Paris)
Charlie Chaplin (City Lights)
Joel and Ethan Coen (Miller’s Crossing)
Francis Ford Coppola (The Conversation)
Jacques Demy (Bay of Angels)
Claire Denis (Bastards)
Rainer Werner Fasssbinder (Veronika Voss)
Federico Fellini (8½)
John Ford (The Grapes of Wrath)
Sam Fuller (Pickup on South Street)
Aki Kaurismäki (La vie de bohème)
Spike Lee (Do the Right Thing)
Mikio Naruse (Sound of the Mountain)
Maurice Pialat (Police)
Roman Polanski (Knife in the Water)
Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger (A Matter of Life and Death)
Nicholas Ray (In a Lonely Place)
Claude Sautet (A Heart in Winter)
Volker Schlöndorff (Circle of Deceit)
Steven Soderbergh (Sex, Lies, and Videotape)
Wim Wenders (Alice in the Cities)