The Auteurs

2004-08-31T19:40:00.000-07:00

n.b. auteur theory makes sense to me kinda', but I don't think it should stop at directors - i.e. the singular velocity of a film isn't necessarily forged by its director - ergo the strange lists under Mamet, Herzog, Keaton, &c.

in alphabetical, then preferential, order:

Woody Allen
1. Manhattan (1979)
2. Annie Hall (1977)
3. Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
4. Sleeper (1973)
5. Zelig (1983)
6. Sweet and Lowdown (1999)

Robert Altman

1. Nashville (1975)
2. Short Cuts (1993)
3. The Long Goodbye (1973)
4. M*A*S*H (1970)
5. McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)
6. Secret Honor (1984)
7. 3 Women (1977)
8. Tanner '88 (1988)
9. Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson (1976)
10. Gosford Park (2001)
11. The Company (2003)

Paul Thomas Anderson

1. There Will Be Blood (2007)
2. Punch-Drunk Love (2002)
3. Magnolia (1999)
4. Boogie Nights (1997)

Wes Anderson

1. Rushmore (1998)
2. The Darjeeling Limited (2007)
3. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)
4. The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
5. Bottle Rocket (1996)
6. Hotel Chevalier (2007)

Michelangelo Antonioni

1. L'Avventura (1960)
2. L'Eclisse (1962)
3. The Passenger (1975)
4. La Notte (1961)
5. The Red Desert (1964)

Ingmar Bergman

1. The Silence (1963)
2. The Seventh Seal (1957)
3. Winter Light (1962)
4. Smiles of a Summer Night (1955)
5. Through a Glass Darkly (1961)
6. Fanny and Alexander (1982)
7. Persona (1966)
8. Wild Strawberries (1957)
9. Scenes From A Marriage (1974)
10. Summer with Monika (1953)
11. Cries & Whispers (1972)

Peter Bogdanovich

1. The Last Picture Show (1971)
2. Paper Moon (1973)

Frank Borzage

1. History Is Made at Night (1937)
2. Desire (1936)
3. Three Comrades (1938)
4. Moonrise (1948)
5. The River (1929)

Robert Bresson

1. Pickpocket (1959)
2. A Man Escaped (1956)
3. Au hasard Balthazar (1966)
4. Diary of a Country Priest (1950)
5. Mouchette (1967)
6. Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne (1945)

Luis Bunuel

1. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972)
2. Un Chien Andalou (1928)
3. That Obscure Object of Desire (1977)
4. Los Olvidados (1950)
5. Belle de jour (1967)

John Cassavetes

1. A Woman Under the Influence (1974)
2. Faces (1968)
3. The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976)
4. Shadows (1959)
5. Opening Night (1977)

Charlie Chaplin

1. Modern Times (1936)
2. City Lights (1931)
3. The Gold Rush (1925)
4. The Kid (1921)
5. The Pilgrim (1923)
6. Sunnyside (1919)
7. A Day's Pleasure (1919)
8. The Great Dictator (1940)
9. Pay Day (1922)

Henri-Georges Clouzot

1. Le Corbeau (1943)
2. Quai des Orfevres (1947)
3. Wages of Fear (1952)

Coen Brothers

1. The Man Who Wasn’t There (2001)
2. O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
3. Fargo (1996)
4. The Big Lebowski (1998)
5. No Country for Old Men (2007)
6. Miller’s Crossing (1990)
7. Barton Fink (1991)
6. Raising Arizona (1987)
7. Intolerable Cruelty (2003)
10. The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)
11. Blood Simple (1984)

Francis Ford Coppola

1. The Godfather Pt. II (1974)
2. The Godfather (1972)
3. Apocalypse Now (1979)
4. The Conversation (1974)
5. One from the Heart (1982)
6. Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988)
7. The Godfather Pt. III (1990)
8. The Rainmaker (1997)

David Cronenberg

1. A History of Violence (2005)
2. Videodrome (1983)
3. Naked Lunch (1991)
4. Eastern Promises (2007)

Jules Dassin

1. Night and the City (1950)
2. Thieves' Highway (1949)
3. Brute Force (1947)
4. Rififi (1955)

Vittorio De Sica

1. The Bicycle Thief (1947)
2. Umberto D. (1952)
3. The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (1970)

Sergei Eisentstein

1. Battleship Potemkin (1925)
2. Alexander Nevsky (1938)

Rainer Werner Fassbinder

1. The Marriage of Maria Braun (1978)
2. Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974)
3. Veronika Voss (1982)
4. Lola (1981)
5. The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972)
6. A Little Chaos (1966)
7. The City Tramp (1965)

Federico Fellini

1. 8 1/2 (1963)
2. I Vitelloni (1953)
3. La Strada (1954)
4. Nights of Cabiria (1957)
5. Amarcord (1974)
6. The White Sheik (1952)

David Fincher

1. Se7en (1995)
2. Fight Club (1999)
3. The Game (1997)
4. Panic Room (2002)

John Ford

1. The Searchers (1956)
2. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
3. My Darling Clementine (1946)
4. Stagecoach (1939)

Samuel Fuller

1. Shock Corridor (1963)
2. Pickup on South Street (1953)
3. The Naked Kiss (1964)

Terry Gilliam

1. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
2. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)
3. Brazil (1985)
4. 12 Monkeys (1995)
5. Time Bandits (1981)

Jean-Luc Godard

1. Band of Outsiders (1964)
2. Breathless (1959)
3. A Woman is a Woman (1961)
4. Alphaville (1965)

Michael Haneke

1. Code Unknown (2000)
2. Cache (Hidden) (2005)
3. The Piano Teacher (2001)

Werner Herzog

1. Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe (1980)*
2. Aguirre: The Wrath of God (1972)
3. Fitzcarraldo (1982)
4. Grizzly Man (2005)
5. Burden of Dreams (1982)*

*Not directed by Herzog, I know, but he is clearly the velocity of these films. Burden of Dreams, while pretty great, is sullied by Les Blank's socializing and navel gazing, but Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe is a brilliant film in spite of both its slight subject matter and runtime and Blank's overly jocular demeanor and socially heavy hand. Herzog shines through with one of the great manifestos - kin with Deleuze and Bergson - on the image; Herzog here is pure affect - he's not a man, he's a force.

Alfred Hitchcock

1. Rear Window (1954)
2. Vertigo (1958)
3. Dial M for Murder (1954)
4. Psycho (1960)
5. North by Northwest (1959)
6. Strangers on a Train (1951)
7. Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
8. The 39 Steps (1935)
9. Notorious (1946)
10. The Trouble with Harry (1955)
11. The Birds (1963)
12. To Catch a Thief (1955)

John Huston

1. Fat City (1972)
2. The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
3. Key Largo (1948)
4. The Maltese Falcon (1941)

Jim Jarmusch

1. Down by Law (1986)
2. Dead Man (1995)
3. Broken Flowers (2005)
4. Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999)
5. Coffee and Cigarettes (2003)

Buster Keaton

1. The General (1927)
2. Sherlock Jr. (1924)
3. The Playhouse (1921)
4. Cops (1922)
5. Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928)

Krzysztof Kieslowski

1. Dekalog (1988)
2. Three Colors: Red (1994)
3. Three Colors: Blue (1993)
4. Three Colors: White (1994)
5. Refrain (1972)
6. Before the Rally (1971)
7. The Scar (1976)
8. First Love (1974)
9. Bricklayer (1973)
10.Factory (1970)
11.Workers 1971: Nothing About Us Without Us (1971)
12. X-Ray (1974)

Stanley Kubrick

1. Paths of Glory (1957)
2. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
3. Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
4. The Shining (1980)
5. Full Metal Jacket (1987)
6. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
7. The Killing (1956)
8. Lolita (1962)

Akira Kurosawa

1. Ikiru (1952)
2. Ran (1985)
3. Throne of Blood (1957)
4. Stray Dog (1949)
5. The Seven Samurai (1954)
6. The Hidden Fortress (1958)
7. Rashomon (1950)
8. Dreams (1990)

David Lean

1. Brief Encounter (1945)
2. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
3. Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

Spike Lee

1. 25th Hour (2002)
2. Do the Right Thing (1989)
3. He Got Game (1998)
4. The Original Kings of Comedy (2000)
5. Mo’ Better Blues (1990)
6. Summer of Sam (1999)
7. Girl 6 (1996)
8. Get on the Bus (1996)

Mike Leigh

1. Naked (1993)
2. Secrets & Lies (1996)
3. Life is Sweet (1991)

Ernst Lubitsch

1. The Shop Around the Corner (1940)
2. Trouble in Paradise (1932)
3. One Hour with You (1932)
4. Monte Carlo (1930)
5. The Merry Widow (1934)

Sidney Lumet

1. Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
2. Network (1976)
3. Equus (1977)
4. Long Day's Journey Into Night (1962)
5. Running on Empty (1988)

David Lynch

1. Mulholland Dr. (2001)
2. INLAND EMPIRE (2006)
3. Blue Velvet (1985)
4. Wild at Heart (1990)
5. Quinoa (2007)
6. Eraserhead (1977)

Guy Maddin

1. Heart of the World (2000)
2. Cowards Bend the Knee (2003)
3. The Saddest Music in the World (2003)
4. Odilon Redon or The Eye Like a Strange Balloon Mounts Toward Infinity (1995)
5. Zookeeper Workbook (from lost film: Love Chaunt of the Chimney) (????)
6. Sombra Dolorosa (2004)
7. It's a Wonderful Life (2001)
8. Sissy Boy Slap Party (1995)
9. A Trip to the Orphanage (2004)

Terrence Malick

1. Badlands (1973)
2. The Thin Red Line (1998)
3. Days of Heaven (1978)
4. The New World (2005)

Louis Malle

1. Elevator to the Gallows (1958)
2. Au revoir, les enfants (1987)

David Mamet

1. Glengarry Glen Ross (1992; d. James Foley)
2. House of Games (1987)
3. Spartan (2004)
4. America Buffalo (1996; d. Michael Corrente)
5. Ronin (1998; d. John Frankenheimer)

Michael Mann

1. Miami Vice (2006)
2. Heat (1995)
3. Collateral (2004)
4. The Insider (1999)
5. The Last of the Mohicans (1992)

The Marx Brothers

1. Duck Soup (1933)
2. A Night at the Opera (1935)
3. Monkey Business (1931)
4. Horse Feathers (1932)

Jean-Pierre Melville

1. Le Cercle Rouge (1970)
2. Le Samourai (1967)
3. Bob le Flambeur (1955)
4. Army of Shadows [L'Armee des ombres] (1969)
5. Un Flic (1972)

Kenji Mizoguchi

1. Ugetsu monogatari (1953)
2. The Life of Oharu [Saikaku ichidai onna] (1952)
3. Street of Shame [Akasen chitai] (1956)
4. Sansho the Bailiff [Sanho dayu] (1954)
5. Osaka Elegy [Naniwa ereji] (1936)
6. The Water Magician [Taki no shiraito] (1933)

Errol Morris

1. The Thin Blue Line (1988)
2. Gates of Heaven (1978)
3. The Fog of War (2003)

Mikio Naruse

1. Repast (1951)
2. When a Woman Ascends the Stairs (1960)
3. Anzukko (1958)
4. Late Chrysanthemums (1954)
5. Mother (1952)
6. Sound of the Mountain (1954)
7. Older Brother, Younger Sister (1953)
8. Summer Clouds (1958)
9. Approach of Autumn (1960)
10. Lightning (1952)
11. Ginza Cosmetics (1951)
12. Daughters, Wives, and a Mother (1960)
13. Hideko the Bus Conductress (1941)

Christopher Nolan

1. The Prestige (2006)
2. Memento (2000)
3. The Dark Knight (2008)
4. Following (1998)
5. Batman Begins (2005)

Ermanno Olmi

1. Il Posto (1961)
2. I Fidanzanti (1962)
3. La Cotta (1967)

Max Ophüls

1. The Earrings of Madame de... (1953)
2. Laughing Heirs (1933)
3. Caught (1949)
4. Lola Montés (1955)
5. The Reckless Moment (1949)
6. La Signora di tutti (1934)
7. The Tender Enemy (1936)
8. The Exile (1947)

Yasujiro Ozu

1. Early Summer (1951)
2. Late Spring (1949)
3. An Autumn Afternoon (1962)
4. Tokyo Story (1953)
5. Floating Weeds (1959)
6. A Story of Floating Weeds (1934)

Sam Peckinpah

1. Straw Dogs (1971)
2. Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974)
3. The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970)
4. The Wild Bunch (1969)
5. The Getaway (1972)
6. Ride the High Country (1962)
7. Major Dundee (1965)

Pixar Animation

1. Ratatouille (2007)
2. The Incredibles (2004)
3. Toy Story (1995)
4. Monsters, Inc. (2001)
5. A Bug's Life (1998)
6. Finding Nemo (2003)

Roman Polanski

1. Chinatown (1974)
2. Macbeth (1971)
3. The Pianist (2002)
4. The Fearless Vampire Killers, or: Pardon Me, but Your Teeth Are in My Neck (1967)
5. Rosemary's Baby (1968)
6. The Ninth Gate (1999)

Carol Reed

1. The Third Man (1949)
2. The Fallen Idol (1948)

Jean Renoir

1. Grand Illusion (1937)
2. Rules of the Game (1939)
3. The River (1951)

Martin Scorsese

1. Taxi Driver (1976)
2. Goodfellas (1990)
3. The King of Comedy (1983)
4. The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)
5. The Departed (2006)
6. Raging Bull (1980)
7. Boxcar Bertha (1972)
8. Bringing Out the Dead (1999)
9. Gangs of New York (2002)
10. Casino (1995)

Ousmane Sembene

1. Black Girl (1966)
2. Mandabi [The Money Order] (1968)
3. The Wagoner (1966)

Douglas Sirk

1. All That Heaven Allows (1955)
2. There's Always Tomorrow (1956)
3. All I Desire (1953)

Steven Soderbergh

1. Ocean's Thirteen (2007)
2. Solaris (2002)
3. The Limey (1999)
4. Traffic (2000)
5. Ocean’s Eleven (2001)
6. Schizopolis (1996)
7. Out of Sight (1998)
8. Bubble (2006)
9. Erin Brockovich (2000)
10. Sex, Lies and Videotape (1989)

Oliver Stone

1. Natural Born Killers (1994)
2. Platoon (1986)
3. U-Turn (1997)
4. Any Given Sunday (1999)
5. The Doors (1991)

Preston Sturges

1. The Lady Eve (1941)
2. Sullivan’s Travels (1942)

Quentin Tarantino

1. Pulp Fiction (1994)
2. Death Proof (2007)
3. Kill Bill (2003/2004)
4. Reservoir Dogs (1992)
5. Jackie Brown (1997)
6. Four Rooms (1995)

Andrei Tarkovsky

1. Andrei Rublev (1966)
2. Solaris (1972)
3. The Mirror (1975)
4. Ivan's Childhood (1962)
5. Stalker (1979)

Bela Tarr

1. Satantango (1994)
2. Werckmeister Harmonies
3. Damnation

Jacques Tati

1. Playtime (1967)
2. Mon Oncle (1958)
3. M. Hulot's Holiday (1953)
4. L'ecole des facteurs (1947)

Francois Truffaut

1. The 400 Blows (1959)
2. Bed and Board (1970)
3. Stolen Kisses (1968)
4. Jules and Jim (1961)
5. Love on the Run (1979)
6. Antoine and Collette (1962)
7. Day for Night (1973)
8. Small Change (1976)
9. Les Mistons (1957)

Tsai Ming-liang

1. The Wayward Cloud (2005)
2. The Skywalk is Gone (2002)
3. Goodbye, Dragon Inn (2004)

Gus Van Sant

1. Good Will Hunting (1997)
2. Elephant (2003)
3. Gerry (2002)
4. Finding Forrester (2000)
5. My Own Private Idaho (1992)
6. Psycho (1998)

Lars von Trier

1. Dogville (2003)
2. Dancer in the Dark (2000)
3. Breaking the Waves (1996)
4. The Five Obstructions (2003)
5. The Element of Crime (1984)

Orson Welles

1. F for Fake (1974)
2. Citizen Kane (1941)
3. Touch of Evil (1958)
4. The Stranger (1946)

Billy Wilder

1. Ace in the Hole (1951)
2. The Apartment (1960)
3. Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
4. Some Like It Hot (1959)
5. Sunset Boulevard (1950)
6. Double Indemnity (1944)

Wong Kar-Wai

1. In the Mood for Love (2001)
2. Happy Together (1997)
3. Chungking Express (1994)
4. Fallen Angels (1995)

John Woo

1. The Killer (1989)
2. A Better Tomorrow II (1988)
3. Hard Boiled (1992)
4. Last Hurrah for Chivalry (1979)
5. Hand of Death (1975)
6. A Better Tomorrow (1986)
7. A Bullet in the Head (1990)
8. Face/Off (1997)
9. Heroes Shed No Tears (1985)
10. Broken Arrow (1996)
11. Mission: Impossible 2 (2000)

The Auteur's Best

The Auteurs