Paul Thomas Anderson we already wished him a happy birthday last week and expressed excitement that he’s filming again. He’s made four full length features. None of them have been any less than very good. Great track record. Robert Altman has long been cited as a major influence of Anderson’s. Perhaps he can take a page from Altman’s book and get prolific. That may be a far fetched dream but it’s a sweet one.
Kimberly Peirce has only one feature to her name but it was impressive. 1999’s Boys Don’t Cry won lots of just praise for Hilary Swank & Chloe Sevigny’s moving duet but strangely, Peirce herself, who guided the entire riveting film didn’t seem to gain as much heat from the project. IMDB lists her next project (cross your fingers) as being an Iraq war drama with Ryan Phillipe and Channing Tatum but earlier rumors this year had her making a family drama with Charlize Theron next. I don’t care what she does… just so long as she does something already. It’s been seven years. What gives?
Baz Luhrmann. Surely everyone reading knows my affection for this Aussie wunderkind. In the past 15 years he’s made exactly three films, all of them part of his highly theatrical “red curtain trilogy” (Strictly Ballroom, Romeo + Juliet, Moulin Rouge!). I love the style and even if he changes it up considerably for his next project, I’m anxious. How long exactly will we have to wait? The Alexander project obviously died after Oliver Stone made his first. Now, the fourth Luhrmann film is supposed to be a romantic epic starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman. That pairing sounds orgasmic on paper. The trick for Luhrmann as a filmmaker is that now, after Moulin Rouge!, anything less than "Spectacular! Spectacular!” just won’t do.
Fernando Eimbcke made my favorite feature so far this year, the Mexican comedy Duck Season. I know next to nothing about him or his filmography or what’s next (maybe Mexican readers can enlighten us?) but he was totally charming at the Toronto Film Festival and I can’t wait to see the follow-up.
Finally we have Jonathan Glazer. He wowed with his moody, exciting debut Sexy Beast and then floored me with his sophomore effort, the haunting and challenging Birth which I think about more than most of the films in my top ten list for that year. He also made two of the best music videos ever, Radiohead’s “Karma Police” and Jamiroquai’s “Virtual Insanity”. He’s clearly someone to watch --in just about every sense of the phrase.
Agree? Disagree? Who would be on your list of five? And if you're new to the blog, check out the whole thing.
