Although a great movie is a great movie because of the collective effort in directing, acting, cinematography, casting, etc., sometimes the directing alone “makes” a movie. Some of my favorite films are my favorite films because of the exceptional directing. For example, The Last Picture Show (Peter Bogdanovich) is a “moody” film that works mostly because the mood is conveyed perfectly through a directing style that challenges and engages the viewer. You’re transported to Anarene, Texas in the lull between World War II and the Korean Conflict where the lives of everyone in this little town seems both uncertain and yet predetermined. Bogdonavich captures a time, a place, a mindset and personal stories as if you’re there at that time, in that place, experiencing the stories with the characters. The mark of a great director is his or her ability to create a film that requires no need to suspend disbelief whether the film is based in truth, complete fiction or even fantastic. The screen melts away and there are no cameras. Just you and the story, the place, the time, the characters. There are some films that are great films because the directing is great but the director isn’t always great. This list praises some of those directors who are almost always exceptional in their directing.

In no particular order, the following are some of the best of the best in film directing and some of their best films:

• Martin Scorsese: Raging Bull, Goodlfellas, The Age of Innocence, Kundun, The Aviator, The Departed
  Martin Scorsese is one of few directors who can direct almost anything. Though Scorsese’s known for his “gangster” films, he’s directed many other films that fall under very different genres. The Age of Innocence is a period film set in 19th century New York. Kundun is an epic that span’s the life of the 14th Dalai Llama from youth through adulthood. The Aviator is a biopic depicting the early years of director and aviator Howard Hughes. Of course, two very recent films, Gangs of New York and The Departed are gangster films, but as always they’re exceptional and completely different than his previous films. Scorsese is simply remarkable and perhaps the best film director out there today.
• Ang Lee: Eat, Drink, Man, Woman, The Wedding Banquet, Sense and Sensibility, The Ice Storm, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Brokeback Mountain
  Ang Lee is simply one of the most diverse and interesting modern director making films today. His ability to succesfull tackle films of different genres, coupled with his exceptional ability to create poignant, subtle and emotionally pregnant moments in films are unparalleled. The Ice Storm is a masterpiece. The film has such a quiet reserve, with a culminating movement toward a necessary reckoning that makes for a truly moving climax. The soundtrack of Chinese-like music of triangles and perhaps hollowed wooden instruments blowing are hypnotic, crisp and lends itself to the story without interupting it like so many soundtracks in so many other films. To bring such smart, understated and inspiring directing normally seen in Chinese and other Asian language films to American films is quite an accomplishment. I often wish that American cinema would use more Asian and other foreign language film styles as muse. There is simply no film of Ang Lee’s I would not watch. Yes, even Ride with the Devil, which is currently in my Netflix rental queue.
• Julie Taymor: Titus, Frida
  I didn’t much care for the story of Titus. It’s not one of my favorite Shakespeare plays. However, the truly exceptional, fantastic and yet never quite over-the-top direction Julie Taymor took in her directing of Titus starring Anthony Hopkins and Jessica Lange just blew me away. It’s definitely very theatrical (Taymor is a very successful Broadway director), but the costumes, the cinematography, just the very idea of mixing modern and ancient Roman in the very macabre but never depressing way Taymor did bridges theater and film together as seamlessly as Rob Marshall did with 2002’s Chicago. And Frida, though very much a non-theatrical film, was just as exceptional. The paintings that come to life in the film are remarkable. Taymor has such an amazing eye for costume, color, lighting, etc. All the things that can transport the viewer into the film if done right or block the viewer from feeling anything for the film if done wrong. I look forward to her next film, Across the Universe due out some time this year.
• Sofia Coppola: The Virgin Suicides, Lost in Translation, Marie Antoinette
  Sofia Coppola is a remarkable director with a definite skill for a definite mood or sense in a film. She creates films that leave more questions than answers, leaves you feeling a bit uncertain about what you just watched yet still very satisfying on a level you can’t quite figure out. This can be unsettling for the dim-witted, or just plain lazy. But, for me, it’s great. The Virgin Suicides is a very hypnotic, strange and engaging film as is Lost In Translation and Marie Antoinette. Unlike most great directors, her films leave you feeling like an outsider on a level. Not in a way that makes you feel abandoned, frustrated or sad, but like a fly on the window in the middle of a sunny day. Too many reflections of various objects obscures your vision of what’s really happening on the inside. Some may experience this as annoying or at the very least frustrating, but I find it very intriguing, very much worth the challenging journey.
• Bryan Singer: The Usual Suspects, X-Men, X2, Superman Returns
  Synger definitely has a style. A style of filmmmaking I’ve always admired and looked forward to experiencing. Smart, subtle, and good. Singer has the knack for making good films in a genre that’s too often full of one-liners, gratuity (in everything) and bad acting. The Usual Suspects was perhaps the first movie I saw in the genre of “action” that didn’t have any sex, excessive violence and hard to stomach one-liners which proves none of those are necessary for a smart, fun and all around good action film. X-Men, X2 and Superman Returns were no exception. I look forward to seeing Singer’s The Mayor Of Castro Street out in 2008 (the life story of gay rights crusader Harvey Milk and his rising popularity in San Francisco).
• Gus Van Sant: Drugstore Cowboy, My Own Private Idaho, Psycho, Gerry, Elephant, Last Days
  My Own Private Idaho was one of the first truly interesting and memorable independent films I watched. Something about it was both strange and engaging. Then I saw Drugstore Cowboy which I absolutely loved. Then I saw To Die For, which is simply brilliant. I liked Good Will Huntin, however it’s one of those films that would have sucked if the director wasn’t great. It certainly wasn’t one of his usual left of center films and the writers certainly did not deserve Oscars or even praise. But I digress. Gerry is a hypnotic, ruminating film with beautiful cinematography, scenes and very little dialogue. One could call it experimental, like the less engaging but still very well done Last Days. Elephant was as ruminating and interesting as Gerry. Van Sant has the remarkable ability to create scenes that linger in a ruminating way if you’ve got an attention span longer than that of a gnat’s, which not many do. He’s a road move director. A director that takes in the surroundings and directs them as much as he does his actors. His next film titled Paranoid Park about a teenager who accidentally kills a security guard should be interesting.
• Steven Soderbergh: Sex, Lies and Videotape, Out of Sight, Erin Brokovich, Traffic, Ocean’s Eleven (and Twelve), Solaris
  Soderbergh is another director who has an exceptional talent for creating scenes that linger on the mind in a thoughtful and engaging way. I loved Sex, Lies and Videotape. It was such a smart film considering the wasteland of films produced around the late 80s early 90s. Out of Sight was so smart, dramatic, funny, romantic and engaging. I was surprised to see a heist film that didn’t suffer from cheesy one-liners, corny camera tricks and an unbelievable and stupid love story. The chemistry between Clooney and Lopez was perfect. Traffic had brilliant directing. Just brilliant. Epic without melodrama. Grit without heavy-handedness. Very distinct cinematography without overexposed or overwhelming lighting. Solaris was so beautiful. Just simply beautiful. The Ocean’s trilogy is not my cup of tea. The first was fun and good, but the 2nd was a mess as will be the 3rd installment, in my prediction. The Good German, in theaters now, looks like a smart and beautifully directed film. But I’m mostly looking forward to seeing Guerilla and The Argentine, both due out in 2008. Guerilla and The Argentine chronicle the last few years of the Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara.

Here are some directors with shorter filmographies to watch in the coming years:

• Lynne Ramsay: Morvern Callar
  Truly exceptional directing by Lynne Ramsay in Morvern Callar. The film is smart, subtle, engaging and hypnotic. You don’t know where the main character is headed but you’re totally in for the journey. See my review at scenema. I really cannot wait to see Ramsay’s next film.
• Hans Canosa: Conversations With Other Women
  Conversations With Other Women was not only the best film I saw in 2006, but one of the best films I’ve seen in the last 10 years, and now one of my all time favorite films. The writing was one thing (phenomenally written by Gabrielle Zevin), and the directing was another animal. The split screens throughout the film, if done by a lesser film director, could have been annoying and perhaps a disaster. But Canosa did a trully remarkable job capturing the duality of a love story by using that directing technique so well. I am so looking forward to seeing his next film After Dark, a vampire love story (co-written with Zevin) about a vampire who falls in love with a human.
• Marc Forster: Monster’s Ball, Finding Neverland, Stranger than Fiction
  I absolutely loved Monster’s Ball and Stranger Than Fiction. Both films are definitely directors films. Any other director might have made Monster’s Ball an uninteresting, melodramatic mess. Any other director might have made Stranger than Fiction a silly, riddiculous mess. Monster’s Ball is simply a beautiful, sweet and raw film that many can relate too on a very simple human level. Stranger than Fiction is just a great, smart and engaging dramedy that would surprise and delight anyone. Forster’s a talent to be reckoned with. Look out for his film adaptation of Khaled Hosseini’s Kite Runner out later this year.
• David O Russell: Spanking the Monkey, Flirting With Disaster, Three Kings, I Heart Huckabees
  Russell’s last two films were quite good. He definitely has talent as an intendepent director who makes interesting films about heavier topics without being heavy handed, boring or over the top. I look forward to seeing Russell’s next film out in 2008 titled The H-Man Cometh about a sarcastic radio call-in show host who starts taking on the qualities of his neurotic patrons. The film will stars Vince Vaughn (as the host), Elizabeth Banks and Luis Guzman.
• Peyton Reed: Bring It On, Down With Love, The Break-Up
  I was delightfully surprised by The Break-Up recently. It was quite a good film. And I was not surprised to learn that Reed directed it since he did a fabulous job filming Down With Love, an homage to the Doris Day and Rock Hudson 1960s films. I simply love that film! It was a bit surprising to discover Reed had also directed Bring It On, a comedy in the vein of Clueless about competitive cheerleading. But, it was as well thought out and well done as Clueless. It should be interesting to see Reed’s next project. Whatever it might be.
• Alejandro Amenabar: Open Your Eyes, The Others
  Open Your Eyes is the 1997 film based on 2001 film Vanilla Sky. As usual, the original is much better. Amenabar’s The Others is a great, great film. So subtle, so ruminating, just damned good even if you know the surprise ending. The Others is how ghost stories should be told when “translated” to film. I look forward to Amenabar’s next films.
• Anh Hung Tran: The Scent of Green Papaya, Vertical Ray of the Sun
  Tran has this amazing ability to make art and film one. Scent of Green Papaya blew me away. Then I watched Vertical Ray of the Sun, and it blew me away too. Something about the cinematography, the soundtrack, the wistful motion of the camera. I see a great future for Tran. I just hope all his next films are released in the states so I can see them.
• Julio Medem: Lovers of the Arctic Circle, Sex and Lucia
  Both of these films exceptionally directed by Medem are on the top of my list of favorite romance dramas. Watching a Medem film, like watching a Anh Hung Tran film, is like eating the food of Spain (or Vietnam in the case of a Tran film). The films are sexy, deep and moving. The stories are meaty and allusive. I look forward to seeing Chaotic Ana due out sometime this year. “Caotica Ana is the story-journey of Ana during four years of her life, from 18 to 22. A countdown, 10, 9, 8, 7… until 0, like in hypnosis, through which Ana proves that she does not live alone, that her existence seems like a continuation of other lives of young women who died in a tragic way, all at the age of 22, and who live in the abyss of her unconscious memory.” from imdb.com.