A Drove of Directors: Various Film Directors

The master list below might might make it easier for some to find ones in the poll. Please mention any of your favourite films by any of these directors. And please vote and post even if you know few of them. It's not a contest. Note: the poll is not quite so orderly.

Woody Allen
Pedro Almodóvar
Robert Altman
Lindsay Anderson
Paul Thomas Anderson
Wes Anderson
Theo Angelopoulos
Michelangelo Antonioni
Denys Arcand
Hal Ashby
Ingmar Bergman
Bong Joon-ho
John Boorman
Robert Bresson
Luis Buñuel
Chen Kaige
Jean Cocteau
Joel & Ethan Coen
Francis Ford Coppola
David Cronenberg
Atom Egoyan
Sergei M. Eisenstein
Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Federico Fellini
David Fincher
Terry Gilliam
Jonathan Glazer
Jean-Luc Godard
Michel Gondry
Peter Greenaway
Michael Haneke
Robin Hardy
Todd Haynes
Werner Herzog
Agnieszka Holland
Hirokazu Kore-eda
Alfred Hitchcock
Agnieszka Holland
Hou Hsiao-hsien
Shohei Imamura
Juzo Itami
Jim Jarmusch
Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Terry Jones
Spike Jonze
Alejandro Jodorowsky
Aki Kaurismaki
Krzysztof Kieślowski
Abbas Kiarostami
Takeshi Kitano
Stanley Kubrick
Akira Kurosawa
Fritz Lang
Yorgos Lanthimos
Ray Lawrence (for Bliss, didn't fit him in)
Ang Lee
Mike Leigh
Jens Lien
Sergio Leone
Ken Loach
Bigas Luna
David Lynch
Terrence Malick
George Miller
Hayao Miyazaki
Gaspar Noé
Yasujirō Ozu
Peter Weir
Park Chan-wook
Wolfgang Petersen
He Ping
Satyajit Ray
Jean Renoir
Alan Resnais
Jacques Rivette
Nicolas Roeg
Éric Rohmer
Walter Salles
John Schlesinger
Martin Scorsese
Vittorio De Sica
Volker Schlöndorff
Ridley Scott
Tony Scott
Todd Solondz (at end of poll as I missed him)
Oliver Stone
Quentin Tarantino
Andrei Tarkovsky
Béla Tarr
Lars von Trier
François Truffaut
Tsui Hark
Tom Tykwer
Denis Villeneuve
Luchino Visconti {added}
[s]Wachowski Bros (Lilly Wachowski) -should be James McTeigue for V for Vendetta {gone} [/s]
Wim Wenders
Michael Winterbottom
Robert Wise
Edgar Wright
Wong Kar-wai
Zhang Yimou

There are some directors that pop into my head and then pop right out, so I know I'm missing some of my personal favourites. I have tried to include enough variety for everyone, but I enjoy a film or films by all of these. I could have done a better job at alphabetisation (with some East Asian directors, they use last name first). I also tried to stick to fairly big names (not necessarily mainstream). I'll be surprised if no one can find someone to like in this list (and some who will love various ones on the list, might dislike others on the list, and think they shouldn't be on it). Some will think that I should have included other directors, and indeed I know this is as not thought out as perhaps it should be, but I put a fair amount of time into this.

Multiple choice enabled, and you can vote multiple times for an option to vote vote for every director you like in a poll option. Please list any particular films by any of these directors. Sorry I couldn't list full names for all as I thought of others and added them in.

I'll be interested to see which, "Duh, why didn't I think of that one". I wanted to include Lucas for THX 1138, but didn't. If I have made any mistakes, I apologise.

I can add a few more at the bottom, since it only has Zhang Yimou. Noticed I missed Todd Solondz who I meant to include, added to end of the list. Adding Nicolas Roeg and Robert Altman to the end of my poll list. So it's full, very full, unless I remove some.

Sorry if this is a chore to get through, but my list is merely a jumping off point, feel free to mention your own choices outside of mine as well as comment on directors you like and your favourite films by those directors.


I'm adding my list of favourites (tried to limit to three) so that people might better recognise films that these directors did.

Woody Allen - Sleeper, Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask), Casino Royale

Pedro Almodóvar - Talk to Her, All About My Mother, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

Robert Altman - The Player, Vincent & Theo, Nashville

Lindsay Anderson - if..., O Lucky Man, This Sporting Life

Paul Thomas Anderson - There Will Be Blood, Punch-Drunk Love, Boogie Nights

Wes Anderson - The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

Theo Angelopoulos - The Travelling Players, Eternity and a Day, Ulysses' Gaze

Michelangelo Antonioni - L'Avventura, La Notte, The Passenger

Denys Arcand - Jesus of Montreal, The Decline of the American Empire, The Barbarian Invasions

Hal Ashby - Harold and Maude, Being There

Ingmar Bergman - Through a Glass Darkly, Wild Strawberries, The Seventh Seal

Bong Joon-ho - The Host, Memories of Murder, Snowpiercer

John Boorman - Zardoz, Deliverance, Excalibur

Robert Bresson - Diary of a Country Priest, Mouchette, The Trial of Joan of Arc

Luis Buñuel - The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, Belle de Jour, The Exterminating Angel

Chen Kaige - Yellow Earth, Farewell My Concubine, Temptress Moon

Jean Cocteau - Orpheus, Beauty and the Beast

Joel & Ethan Coen - Miller's Crossing, Barton Fink, Fargo or The Big Lebowski)

Francis Ford Coppola - Apocalypse Now, The Godfather, The Godfather: Part 2

David Cronenberg - Dead Ringers, Naked Lunch, Spider (love so much of his)

Atom Egoyan - The Sweet Hereafter, Exotica, Felicia's Journey

Sergei M. Eisenstein - Alexander Nevsky, Battleship Potemkin, Ivan the Terrible

Rainer Werner Fassbinder - World on a Wire (TV miniseries), Fox and His Friends, Despair

Federico Fellini - La Dolce Vita, 8½, Fellini's Satyricon

David Fincher - Se7en, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Fight Cub

Terry Gilliam - Brazil, Time Bandits, Twelve Monkeys

Jonathan Glazer - Under the Skin, Sexy Beast

Jean-Luc Godard - Alphaville, Breathless, La Chinoise

Michel Gondry - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Science of Sleep

Peter Greenaway - Drowning by Numbers, The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover, 8 ½ Women

Michael Haneke - Funny Games (1997), Code Unknown, The Piano Teacher

Robin Hardy - The Wicker Man (1973)

Todd Haynes - Far From Heaven, Velvet Goldmine

Werner Herzog - Aguirre, the Wrath of God, Fitzcarraldo, Where the Green Ants Dream

Hirokazu Kore-eda - After Life, Air Doll, Nobody Knows

Alfred Hitchcock - Psycho, The Birds, Vertigo

Agnieszka Holland - Olivier, Olivier, Europa, Europa

Hou Hsiao-hsien - Flowers of Shanghai, Taipei Story, A Time to Live, A Time to Die

Shohei Imamura - Black Rain, Vengeance is Mine, The Insect Woman

Juzo Itami - Tampopo, The Funeral, A Taxing Woman

Jim Jarmusch - Mystery Train, Stranger than Paradise, Night on Earth

Jean-Pierre Jeunet - Delicatessen, The City of Lost Children, Amélie

Terry Jones - Monty Python and the Holy Grail (with Gilliam), Life of Brian, The Meaning of Life

Spike Jonze - Her, Being John Malkovich, Adaptation

Alejandro Jodorowsky - The Holy Mountain, El Topo

Aki Kaurismaki - The Man Without a Past, Juha, Drifting Clouds

Abbas Kiarostami - Taste of Cherry, The Wind Will Carry Us, Where is the Friend's Home?

Krzysztof Kieślowski - Dekalog (tv miniseries); Three Colours Trilogy: Blue, White, Red; The Double Life of Veronique

Takeshi Kitano - Fireworks, Kikujiro

Stanley Kubrick - A Clockwork Orange, 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Shining, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

Akira Kurosawa - Dodes'ka-den, Rashomon, Ran

Fritz Lang - M, Metropolis, Contempt

Yorgos Lanthimos - Dogtooth, The Lobster, The Killing of a Sacred Deer

Ray Lawrence - Bliss (not in the poll, but I love this film)

Ang Lee - Eat Drink Man Woman; Lust, Caution; Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Mike Leigh - Naked, Secrets & Lies, Life is Sweet

Jens Lien - The Bothersome Man, Sons of Norway

Sergio Leone - The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, For a Few Dollars More, Once Upon a Time in the West

Ken Loach - Riff-Raff, Raining Stones, Land and Freedom

Bigas Luna - Jamón, Jamón; La teta y la luna; Golden Balls

David Lynch - Mulholland Drive, Blue Velvet, Eraserhead

Terrence Malick - The Tree of Life, Days of Heaven, The Thin Red Line

George Miller - Mad Max and Mad Max II (The Road Warrior)

Hayao Miyazaki - Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle

Gaspar Noé - Enter the Void, Irreversible

Yasujirō Ozu - Tokyo Story, Tokyo Twilight, A Story of Floating Weeds

Peter Weir - Gallipoli, Picnic at Hanging Rock, The Year of Living Dangerously, The Truman Show

Park Chan-wook - Oldboy, Lady Vengeance, I'm a Byborg But That's OK

Wolfgang Petersen - Das Boot, Consequence

He Ping - Red Firecracker, Green Firecracker; Wheat

Satyajit Ray- The World of Apu, Aparajito, Pather Panchali

Jean Renoir - The Rules of the Game, The Grand Illusion, La Chienne

Alan Resnais - Night and Fog, Hiroshia Mon Amour, Last Year at Marienbad

Jacques Rivette - The Nun, Celine and Julie Go Boating, Paris Belongs to Us

Nicolas Roeg - The Man Who Fell to Earth, Don't Look Now, Walkabout

Éric Rohmer- Pauline at the Beach, Claire's Knee, My Night at Maud's

Walter Salles - Central Station, The Motorcycle Diaries, Behind the Sun

John Schlesinger - Sunday Bloody Sunday, Midnight Cowboy, Marathon Man

Martin Scorsese - Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore

Vittorio De Sica - Umberto D., Bicycle Thieves, Two Women

Volker Schlöndorff - The Tin Drum, The Ogre, The Ninth Day

Ridley Scott - Alien, The Duellists, Blade Runner

Tony Scott - The Hunger

Todd Solondz - Happiness, Welcome to the Dollhouse, Palindromes

Oliver Stone - Natural Born Killers, Salvador, Platoon

Quentin Tarantino - Kill Bill Volumes 1 & 2, Reservoir Dogs, Jackie Brown

Andrei Tarkovsky - Stalker, Andrei Rublev, Solaris

Béla Tarr - Damnation, The Prefab People

Lars von Trier - The Element of Crime, Europa, Melancholia

François Truffaut - Fahrenheit 451, The 400 Blows, Jules et Jim

Tsui Hark - Butterfly Murders, Once Upon a Time in China, Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain

Tom Tykwer - Run Lola Run, Winter Sleepers, Heaven

Denis Villeneuve - Maelstrom, Sicario, Arrival (he also directed Blade Runner 2049)

Luchino Visconti - The Damned, The Leopard, Ossessione

Wim Wenders - Paris, Texas; Wings of Desire; Until the End of the World

Michael Winterbottom - Code 46, Wonderland

Robert Wise - The Andromeda Strain (really why I included him), The Haunting, Star Trek: The Motion Picture

Edgar Wright - Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead, The World's End

Wong Kar-wai - In the Mood For Loves, 2046, Ashes of Time

Zhang Yimou - Red Sorghum, Ju Dou, Raise the Red Lantern

Edited by Logan - August 04 2018 at 17:28

Awesome, thanks Dennis! I was wishing for that kind of post.

Edited by Logan - August 04 2018 at 11:30

I'm going to give this a shot, since, of course, I have favourites from each of these directors. This also should help people to recognise more directors. I will try to limit to three even if there are many more that I like or like just as much by a director. EDIT: Added my favoured list of films to go with the directors to my opening post. In various cases, I could have gone with other choices, and in some cases, were I to know more of the films, my choices might well be different.

Edited by Logan - August 04 2018 at 17:33

Hi,

^^ You mentioned Roeg and Altman, and they should be on my list. Will edit them in.

Edited by Logan - August 04 2018 at 14:50

Hi,

MortSahlFan wrote: This is the first poll I can't answer, and by the time I was halfway down, I couldn't look any further. Not only was it tough, but some had 3 directors, some entries had 5.... Vittorio De Sica Robert Bresson Frank Capra Luchino Visconti Ingmar Bergman Elia Kazan Mike Leigh Akira Kurosawa Ken Loach John Cassavetes John Huston Robert Altman Billy Wilder Aki Kaurismaki Paul Mazursky Sidney Lumet Abbas Kiarostami Stanley Kubrick Rainer Werner Fassbinder Orson Welles

Srry about that. Thought my master list in the opening post would help, as I ordered it mostly alphabetically with both, but maybe not. For me such lists are not a problem, but it depends on one's eyes and how one reads (takes some time and effort to get through, mind you). I will bold the ones on my list. Be great if you could mention a favourite film from each of your choices.

I think that I will add Luchino Visconti, as one of my choices was a mistake, and I think I would have had I thought of him. And through serendipity, it happens to fit alphabetically right where I wanted to remove one.

Edited by Logan - August 04 2018 at 17:07

Logan wrote: Awesome, thanks Dennis!  I was wishing for that kind of post.

Hi,

The aliens got it right with one director:

“We like your movies, particularly the early, funny ones.......You want to do mankind a real service? - Tell funnier jokes”