ICM Forum's Favourite Directors 2020 [RESULTS]

[Coryn]

How did Dreyer and Lubitsch miss my list ?

[OldAle1]

Top 40, boys!

Top 40 English-language directors who made their debuts in the late 1990s? Yeah, I might give him that.

[Torgo]

Top 40 English-language directors who made their debuts in the late 1990s? Yeah, I might give him that.

High praise!
A more important artist than Kiarostami, David Lean, Jean Renoir, Robert Altman or some film rando like Federico Fellini - the poll has spoken.

[pitchorneirda]

#38 (⇧4, #42)
Jean-Luc Godard (1930-present)
Points: 202.37 (31 Votes)
Top 1–5–10: 1–2–1
History: 38←42←23←21←21←21←19←13←16



Trade Marks



Key Films:
À bout de souffle (1960) [Breathless] – 27 Official Lists, also on IMdb
Le mépris (1963) [Contempt] – 16 Official Lists, also on IMdb
Pierrot le fou (1965) – 15 Official Lists, also on IMdb
Alphaville, une étrange aventure de Lemmy Caution (1965) [Alphaville] – 14 Official Lists, also on IMdb
Week End (1967) [Weekend] – 14 Official Lists, also on IMdb

List of Voters (31):

[Lakigigar]

I love the presentation for the top 50. I'll definitely delve into some of these directors (at some point), and it will be soon for Kar-wai Wong, i can promise you that.

That being said, top 40 for Christopher Nolan seems okay. It's still only 40th place of course. I don't get the hate some well-known modern filmmakers get. Sure, i'm not the biggest fan of Nolan either, but he's not out of place too, i guess. especially given Fincher used to be above him.

Yeah sure, i'd think i'd like Wong and Cronenberg more than Nolan, but it's what it is.

[Torgo]

JLG's rank halfed since 2019, after a decade in ICM's Top 22. Ouch.

[Coryn]

JLG's rank halfed since 2019, after a decade in ICM's Top 22. Ouch.

Out of top 200 soon

[pitchorneirda]

#37 (⇩8, #29)
Paul Thomas Anderson (1970-present)
Points: 203.68 (34 Votes)
Top 1–5–10: 1–1–1
History: 37←29←27←33←34←26←23←51←39



Trade Marks



Key Films:
There Will Be Blood (2007) – 19 Official Lists, also on IMdb
Magnolia (1999) – 15 Official Lists, also on IMdb
Punch-Drunk Love (2002) – 12 Official Lists, also on IMdb
Boogie Nights (1997) – 10 Official Lists, also on IMdb
Phantom Thread (2017) – 7 Official Lists, also on IMdb

List of Voters (34):

[St. Gloede]

JLG's rank halfed since 2019, after a decade in ICM's Top 22. Ouch.

I think we lost a couple of members who would have had JLG in their top 10s since 2018 (Kas and Lim - though I thought they disappeared even earlier - if so I don't know).

One thing is clear - I need to head out and recruit some JLG fans.

Damn it, people!

[pitchorneirda]

#36 (⇧8, #44)
Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger / (1905-1990) (1902-1988)
Points: 209.04 (37 Votes)
Top 1–5–10: 0–1–1
History: 36←44←37←37←51←53←56←52←46



Personal Quotes (Powell)



Personal Quotes (Pressburger)



Key Films:
The Red Shoes (1948) – 25 Official Lists, also on IMdb
A Matter of Life and Death (1946) – 23 Official Lists, also on IMdb
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943) – 16 Official Lists, also on IMdb
Black Narcissus (1947) – 13 Official Lists, also on IMdb
I Know Where I'm Going! (1945) – 12 Official Lists, also on IMdb

List of Voters (37):

[pitchorneirda]

#35 (⇧6, #41)
Michael Haneke (1942-present)
Points: 209.65 (34 Votes)
Top 1–5–10: 0–2–2
History: 35←41←46←41←46←42←35←59←65



Trade Marks



Key Films:
Caché (2005) – 14 Official Lists, also on IMdb
Amour (2012) – 13 Official Lists, also on IMdb
Funny Games (1997) – 12 Official Lists, also on IMdb
Das weiße Band - Eine deutsche Kindergeschichte (2009) [The White Ribbon] – 9 Official Lists, also on IMdb
La pianiste (2001) [The Piano Teacher] – 7 Official Lists, also on IMdb

List of Voters (34):

[Lakigigar]

JLG's rank halfed since 2019, after a decade in ICM's Top 22. Ouch.

I think we lost a couple of members who would have had JLG in their top 10s since 2018 (Kas and Lim - though I thought they disappeared even earlier - if so I don't know).

One thing is clear - I need to head out and recruit some JLG fans.

Damn it, people!

Well my job will be to recruit NWR fans haha.

There are some members on Moviemeter which could upset some things i believe, because Onderhond might still have the weirdest taste, but he's been much more succesful at spreading his taste to other users, and there are a lot of "style-over-substance" users (i dislike that word because style = substance), and they could seriously bring some tremor to a lot of these lists that have a lot of classic and arthouse appreciation.

[pitchorneirda]

#34 (⇩3, #31)
Wes Anderson (1969-present)
Points: 212.69 (31 Votes)
Top 1–5–10: 1–2–2
History: 34←31←32←31←41←24←42←56←53



Trade Marks



Key Films:
The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) – 16 Official Lists, also on IMdb
Rushmore (1998) – 10 Official Lists, also on IMdb
Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) – 8 Official Lists, also on IMdb
Moonrise Kingdom (2012) – 8 Official Lists, also on IMdb
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) – 7 Official Lists, also on IMdb

List of Voters (31):

[pitchorneirda]

#33 (⇩17, #16)
Éric Rohmer (1920-2010)
Points: 213.68 (39 Votes)
Top 1–5–10: 0–1–2
History: 33←16←25←16←31←54←50←44←49



Trade Marks



Key Films:
Ma nuit chez Maud (1969) [My Night at Maud's] – 13 Official Lists, also on IMdb
Le rayon vert (1986) [Summer] – 8 Official Lists, also on IMdb
Le genou de Claire (1970) [Claire's Knee] – 7 Official Lists, also on IMdb
L'amour l'après-midi (1972) [Chloe in the Afternoon] – 5 Official Lists, also on IMdb
Conte d'hiver (1992) [A Tale of Winter] – 4 Official Lists, also on IMdb

List of Voters (39):

[St. Gloede]

Wait... What?! I push Rohmer all the way up to 21st (after a series of brilliant rewatches and finishing his filmography) and he drops?!

[pitchorneirda]

#32 (⇧13, #45)
Kenji Mizoguchi (1898–1956)
Points: 216.01 (30 Votes)
Top 1–5–10: 0–2–3
History: 32←45←44←60←56←62←48←35←17



Trade Marks



Key Films:
Ugetsu monogatari (1953) [Ugetsu] – 23 Official Lists, also on IMdb
Sanshô dayû (1954) [Sansho the Bailiff] – 19 Official Lists, also on IMdb
Saikaku ichidai onna (1952) [The Life of Oharu] – 11 Official Lists, also on IMdb
Zangiku monogatari (1939) [The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum] – 11 Official Lists, also on IMdb
Chikamatsu monogatari (1954) [A Story from Chikamatsu] – 8 Official Lists, also on IMdb

List of Voters (30):

[St. Gloede]

JLG's rank halfed since 2019, after a decade in ICM's Top 22. Ouch.

I think we lost a couple of members who would have had JLG in their top 10s since 2018 (Kas and Lim - though I thought they disappeared even earlier - if so I don't know).

One thing is clear - I need to head out and recruit some JLG fans.

Damn it, people!

Well my job will be to recruit NWR fans haha.

There are some members on Moviemeter which could upset some things i believe, because Onderhond might still have the weirdest taste, but he's been much more succesful at spreading his taste to other users, and there are a lot of "style-over-substance" users (i dislike that word because style = substance), and they could seriously bring some tremor to a lot of these lists that have a lot of classic and arthouse appreciation.

I love the style he created with Only God Forgives and continued with The Neon Demon. If he keeps making work in this vein, or going to new levels, he will get on my list eventually. Only problem is, I'm not overly impressed by his earlier work, including Drive.

[Teproc]

Mizoguchi "first feminist filmmaker"? I don't claim to know one way or another, but a Japanese man who started making films in the 30s, 40 years into the artform's existence? Not sure this really holds up.

[OldAle1]

I think we lost a couple of members who would have had JLG in their top 10s since 2018 (Kas and Lim - though I thought they disappeared even earlier - if so I don't know).

One thing is clear - I need to head out and recruit some JLG fans.

Damn it, people!

Well my job will be to recruit NWR fans haha.

There are some members on Moviemeter which could upset some things i believe, because Onderhond might still have the weirdest taste, but he's been much more succesful at spreading his taste to other users, and there are a lot of "style-over-substance" users (i dislike that word because style = substance), and they could seriously bring some tremor to a lot of these lists that have a lot of classic and arthouse appreciation.

I love the style he created with Only God Forgives and continued with The Neon Demon. If he keeps making work in this vein, or going to new levels, he will get on my list eventually. Only problem is, I'm not overly impressed by his earlier work, including Drive.

Man I really, really disliked Only God Forgives. I wish I'd written something about it at the time - I saw it last November but I had just started my little hiatus; maybe that film tipped me over as I saw it just before I stopped posting It actually felt very much to me like a film that honestly advocates violence - a pro-revenge, killing-is-good attitude. I've gotten a little sense of that from Drive and The Neon Demon but not so much that it overwhelmed. This just felt really, really unpleasant and immoral to me; I know it's always hard to tell a filmmaker's (or even a film's) intentions but... that's the vibe I got for sure. And I watched a bit of an interview with Refn afterwards and that didn't help matters. As punchable as QT or Bay I think. Rather surprised you've liked these films actually, they really don't seem like they'd be up your alley to me.

[OldAle1]

Mizoguchi "first feminist filmmaker"? I don't claim to know one way or another, but a Japanese man who started making films in the 30s, 40 years into the artform's existence? Not sure this really holds up.

"First feminist filmmaker to reach worldwide renown", maybe. I think Alice Guy probably had some things to say in a feminist way a bit before KM.

[St. Gloede]

I think the keyword is "major", for instance Germaine Dulac is also a very respected feminist filmmaker predating him - but clearly nowhere near his popularity. The size of his films, and focus on fighting for women's right to vote, does give credence to the claim - though it is rather his films more generally focusing on the subjugation of women in Japan rather than his overtly political films that are remembered and praised.

*Only seen 1 short by Guy so can't comment there.

[St. Gloede]

Well my job will be to recruit NWR fans haha.

There are some members on Moviemeter which could upset some things i believe, because Onderhond might still have the weirdest taste, but he's been much more succesful at spreading his taste to other users, and there are a lot of "style-over-substance" users (i dislike that word because style = substance), and they could seriously bring some tremor to a lot of these lists that have a lot of classic and arthouse appreciation.

I love the style he created with Only God Forgives and continued with The Neon Demon. If he keeps making work in this vein, or going to new levels, he will get on my list eventually. Only problem is, I'm not overly impressed by his earlier work, including Drive.

Man I really, really disliked Only God Forgives. I wish I'd written something about it at the time - I saw it last November but I had just started my little hiatus; maybe that film tipped me over as I saw it just before I stopped posting It actually felt very much to me like a film that honestly advocates violence - a pro-revenge, killing-is-good attitude. I've gotten a little sense of that from Drive and The Neon Demon but not so much that it overwhelmed. This just felt really, really unpleasant and immoral to me; I know it's always hard to tell a filmmaker's (or even a film's) intentions but... that's the vibe I got for sure. And I watched a bit of an interview with Refn afterwards and that didn't help matters. As punchable as QT or Bay I think. Rather surprised you've liked these films actually, they really don't seem like they'd be up your alley to me.

Bronson felt far more like it was promoting violence to me - Only God Forgives is so stylized, stripped back and visually exuberant that none of it feels real - almost as if it is visions from hell. I saw it as a surrealistic nightmare trip.

[pitchorneirda]

#31 (⇩7, #24)
F.W. Murnau (1888-1931)
Points: 220.93 (37 Votes)
Top 1–5–10: 0–1–0
History: 31←24←22←32←20←36←27←20←35



Trade Marks



Key Films:
Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927) [Sunrise] – 34 Official Lists, also on IMdb
Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (1922) [Nosferatu] – 27 Official Lists, also on IMdb
Der letzte Mann (1924) [The Last Laugh] – 16 Official Lists, also on IMdb
Faust: Eine deutsche Volkssage (1926) [Faust] – 14 Official Lists, also on IMdb
Tabu: A Story of the South Seas (1931) – 10 Official Lists, also on IMdb

List of Voters (37):

[RolandKirkSunglasses]

In his 20s Mizoguchi enjoyed visiting brothels and was slashed by a call-girl, the scandal got him suspended from the studio. Once he showed his scar to his assistant and said "you can't understand women if you don't have one of these".

[pitchorneirda]

#30 (⇧9, #39)
Sidney Lumet (1924-2011)
Points: 227.40 (37 Votes)
Top 1–5–10: 1–0–3
History: 30←39←43←53←35←17←25←28←27



Trade Marks



Key Films:
12 Angry Men (1957) – 29 Official Lists, also on IMdb
Dog Day Afternoon (1975) – 21 Official Lists, also on IMdb
Network (1976) – 13 Official Lists, also on IMdb
Serpico (1973) – 8 Official Lists, also on IMdb
The Verdict (1982) – 7 Official Lists, also on IMdb

List of Voters (37):

[pitchorneirda]

#29 (⇩3, #26)
Hayao Miyazaki (1941-present)
Points: 231.11 (34 Votes)
Top 1–5–10: 0–3–5
History: 29←26←24←20←17←12←11←21←29



Trade Marks



Key Films:
Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi (2001) [Spirited Away] – 37 Official Lists, also on IMdb
Tonari no Totoro (1988) [My Neighbor Totoro] – 19 Official Lists, also on IMdb
Mononoke-hime (1997) [Princess Mononoke] – 17 Official Lists, also on IMdb
Hauru no ugoku shiro (2004) [Howl's Moving Castle] – 16 Official Lists, also on IMdb
Tenkû no shiro Rapyuta (1986) [Castle in the Sky] – 9 Official Lists, also on IMdb

List of Voters (34):

[pitchorneirda]

#28 (⇩9, #19)
Steven Spielberg (1946-present)
Points: 233.18 (35 Votes)
Top 1–5–10: 1–2–2
History: 28←19←40←34←26←19←26←36←37



Trade Marks



Key Films:
Schindler's List (1993) – 32 Official Lists, also on IMdb
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) – 28 Official Lists, also on IMdb
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) – 28 Official Lists, also on IMdb
Saving Private Ryan (1998) – 27 Official Lists, also on IMdb
Jaws (1975) – 26 Official Lists, also on IMdb

List of Voters (35):

[Torgo]

#29 (⇩3, #26)
Hayao Miyazaki (1941-present)
Points: 231.11 (34 Votes)
Top 1–5–10: 0–3–5
History: 29←26←24←20←17←12←11←21←29

Whaat How is he dropping?! No need to further observe the countdown for me now.

[frbrown]

#29 (⇩3, #26)
Hayao Miyazaki (1941-present)
Points: 231.11 (34 Votes)
Top 1–5–10: 0–3–5
History: 29←26←24←20←17←12←11←21←29

That is a long slide

Also, flying is a famous Miyazaki trademark.

[Torgo]

Of course, flying and trains are possibly the Miyazaki trademarks.
But what it does even matter now.

[pitchorneirda]

#29 (⇩3, #26)
Hayao Miyazaki (1941-present)
Points: 231.11 (34 Votes)
Top 1–5–10: 0–3–5
History: 29←26←24←20←17←12←11←21←29

Whaat How is he dropping?! No need to further observe the countdown for me now.

No please stay you're the one keeping this thread alive

[pitchorneirda]

#27 (⇩2, #25)
Jean-Pierre Melville (1917-1973)
Points: 239.18 (35 Votes)
Top 1–5–10: 0–2–2
History: 27←25←30←29←49←37←40←39←30



Trade Marks



Key Films:
Le samouraï (1967) – 19 Official Lists, also on IMdb
L'armée des ombres (1969) [Army of Shadows] – 17 Official Lists, also on IMdb
Bob le flambeur (1956) – 14 Official Lists, also on IMdb
Le doulos (1962) – 11 Official Lists, also on IMdb
Le cercle rouge (1970) – 9 Official Lists, also on IMdb

List of Voters (35):

[pitchorneirda]

#26 (⇩5, #21)
Woody Allen (1935-present)
Points: 239.76 (32 Votes)
Top 1–5–10: 0–1–7
History: 26←21←29←19←15←13←17←14←7



Trade Marks



Key Films:
Annie Hall (1977) – 33 Official Lists, also on IMdb
Manhattan (1979) – 19 Official Lists, also on IMdb
Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) – 12 Official Lists, also on IMdb
Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) – 8 Official Lists, also on IMdb
The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985) – 7 Official Lists, also on IMdb

List of Voters (32):

[blocho]

Wait... What?! I push Rohmer all the way up to 21st (after a series of brilliant rewatches and finishing his filmography) and he drops?!

You must have said something really negative in those podcasts!!!!

[Lakigigar]

I think we lost a couple of members who would have had JLG in their top 10s since 2018 (Kas and Lim - though I thought they disappeared even earlier - if so I don't know).

One thing is clear - I need to head out and recruit some JLG fans.

Damn it, people!

Well my job will be to recruit NWR fans haha.

There are some members on Moviemeter which could upset some things i believe, because Onderhond might still have the weirdest taste, but he's been much more succesful at spreading his taste to other users, and there are a lot of "style-over-substance" users (i dislike that word because style = substance), and they could seriously bring some tremor to a lot of these lists that have a lot of classic and arthouse appreciation.

I love the style he created with Only God Forgives and continued with The Neon Demon. If he keeps making work in this vein, or going to new levels, he will get on my list eventually. Only problem is, I'm not overly impressed by his earlier work, including Drive.

I like The Neon Demon also much more than Drive.

Also, i don't really think it makes much sense to watch interviews with directors, and judge people on that. Like, Lars Von Trier's been misinterpreted a lot too from what he says in interviews. Good directors are sometimes a bit quirky, introverted, laid-back, weird, sometimes even to the point of being asocial or unsympathetic, and they're no isolated cases to be fair. Some directors have been known to be very difficult to work with (and I would be no exception to that, probably if i were to become a director, although you can never know for sure, but i'm a "perfectionist" so I would be quite "demanding", although i would never show alpha-male dominant behaviour towards females like some directors do).

Saying Only God Forgives promotes violence is also nonsense, or all violent movies should promote violence, and there are movies that go way further on that than Only God Forgives (like Martyrs). To be fair, some people argue the Grand Theft Auto franchise has increased violence, but I think the existence of violent video games has decreased it, because it enabled possible people who are "violent" to canalize their behaviour through video games.

[Torgo]

#26 (⇩5, #21)
Woody Allen (1935-present)
Points: 239.76 (32 Votes)
Top 1–5–10: 0–1–7
History: 26←21←29←19←15←13←17←14←7

Blame it on Metoo, blame it on his output after wherever-you-draw-the-line (1994? 1997? 2005? 2011?), Woody's very clearly gone from our Top 15. My most-seen director (30ish films), but it's been some time that I loved his work and I'm not really rewatching much, so .. my memory of his greatness starts to fade.

[Torgo]

#28 (⇩9, #19)
Steven Spielberg (1946-present)

Key Films:
Schindler's List (1993) – 32 Official Lists, also on IMdb
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) – 28 Official Lists, also on IMdb
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) – 28 Official Lists, also on IMdb
Saving Private Ryan (1998) – 27 Official Lists, also on IMdb
Jaws (1975) – 26 Official Lists, also on IMdb

Holy shit his films are on many lists

[cinewest]

I love the style he created with Only God Forgives and continued with The Neon Demon. If he keeps making work in this vein, or going to new levels, he will get on my list eventually. Only problem is, I'm not overly impressed by his earlier work, including Drive.

Man I really, really disliked Only God Forgives. I wish I'd written something about it at the time - I saw it last November but I had just started my little hiatus; maybe that film tipped me over as I saw it just before I stopped posting It actually felt very much to me like a film that honestly advocates violence - a pro-revenge, killing-is-good attitude. I've gotten a little sense of that from Drive and The Neon Demon but not so much that it overwhelmed. This just felt really, really unpleasant and immoral to me; I know it's always hard to tell a filmmaker's (or even a film's) intentions but... that's the vibe I got for sure. And I watched a bit of an interview with Refn afterwards and that didn't help matters. As punchable as QT or Bay I think. Rather surprised you've liked these films actually, they really don't seem like they'd be up your alley to me.

Bronson felt far more like it was promoting violence to me - Only God Forgives is so stylized, stripped back and visually exuberant that none of it feels real - almost as if it is visions from hell. I saw it as a surrealistic nightmare trip.

Refn promotes a lot “fashionized” ugly, nihilistic stuff because of its “sensorial” attraction. I could make a long list. Besides the beautified violence, he revels in misogynism and other immoral acts. There is a big difference between him and Von Trier, who explores some of the same territory while delving into human nature.
Refn, on the other hand seems to “rip off” other directors (lynch, especially, in the last two, and the TV series) for his personal pleasure, which is why I compared him to Tarantino, though Refn is more visual and really has no way with words.

Their films are the equivalents of cinematic comic books, and while both have a distinct talent for working in this vein, I don’t think very highly of their intentions or accomplishments, probably because I have very different notions of cinema as art.

[Lakigigar]

Man I really, really disliked Only God Forgives. I wish I'd written something about it at the time - I saw it last November but I had just started my little hiatus; maybe that film tipped me over as I saw it just before I stopped posting It actually felt very much to me like a film that honestly advocates violence - a pro-revenge, killing-is-good attitude. I've gotten a little sense of that from Drive and The Neon Demon but not so much that it overwhelmed. This just felt really, really unpleasant and immoral to me; I know it's always hard to tell a filmmaker's (or even a film's) intentions but... that's the vibe I got for sure. And I watched a bit of an interview with Refn afterwards and that didn't help matters. As punchable as QT or Bay I think. Rather surprised you've liked these films actually, they really don't seem like they'd be up your alley to me.

Bronson felt far more like it was promoting violence to me - Only God Forgives is so stylized, stripped back and visually exuberant that none of it feels real - almost as if it is visions from hell. I saw it as a surrealistic nightmare trip.

Refn promotes a lot ugly stuff because of its “sensorial” attraction. I could make a long list. Besides the pleasure of violence, he revels in misogynism and other immoral acts. There is a big difference between him and Von Trier, who explores some of the same territory as he delves into human nature.
Refn, on the other hand seems to “rip off” other directors (lynch especially in the last two and TV series) for his personal pleasure, which is why I compared him to Tarantino, though Refn is more visual and really has no way with words

Their films are the equivalents of cinematic comic books, and while both have a distinct talent for working in this vein, I don’t think very highly of their intentions or accomplishment, probably because I have very different notions of cinema as art.

I don't think you could be any more wrong on this.

But than again, i can't remember ever agreeing with you on something.

[tobias]

Wait... What?! I push Rohmer all the way up to 21st (after a series of brilliant rewatches and finishing his filmography) and he drops?!

I have him at #1 and I forgot to vote. That explains some of it I guess. I don't know how many points a #1 vote is worth but it would be interesting to see if he still would have dropped and how much.

I also had Godard at #12 though I'm fairly sure that alone would not push him back into the top 25.

Edit: Btw did Rivette make the cut at all or did I just miss him?