Top 10 Movie Directors of all time

Top 10 Movie Directors of all time

Top 10 Movie Directors of all time

Movie-making is one of those rare arenas where passion blends with the challenging reckoning of excellence. And there have been some true masters at work who had juggled with both quite effortlessly. Classics were made, cult status created, and we marveled at the cinematic brilliance of the timeless directorial ventures. Here’s a tribute to the Top 10 Movie Directors of all time.

Top 10 Movie Directors of all time
Top 10 Movie Directors of all time

Top 10 Movie Directors of all time

10. Martin Scorsese

Martin Charles Scorsese, prodigious maestro who won both commercial and critique admiration with the massive list of masterpieces under his belt is one inevitable inclusion to our list of Top 10 Movie Directors of all time. He was born on November 17, 1942 in Queens, New York City, and came to the limelight with his first feature film, Who’s That Knocking at My Door (1967). Scorsese also directed De Niro to an Oscar-winning performance as boxer Jake LaMotta in the biographical piece Raging Bull (1980). Scorsese won his first Academy Award for Best Director for The Departed (2006). The names don’t end if we keep writing his creation.

9. Satyajit Ray

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlojSRL_x0I

Satyajit Ray, the legendary stalwart of Indian film industry and a genius of true accord, was born in Calcutta on May second, 1921. His father, Sukumar Ray was also an eminent pioneer poet and writer in the history of Bengali literature. A talented graphic artist as well, Ray designed numerous book jackets and magazine covers. His first movie Pather Panchali (1955) hailed a new dawn for Indian movie-making genre and it won several International Awards and set Ray as a world-class director instantly. And that was merely the beginning of so many masterful works. He had won a special life-time achievement award at the 1992 Acadamy Awards. Japanese film-maker Akira Kurosawa and Ray were acquainted. Kurosawa said of Ray’s work, “To have not seen the films of Ray is to have lived in the world without ever having seen the moon and the sun.

8. François Truffaut

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMRoAtPrvkA

Not much unlike Ray, Truffaut also heralded a new age of French filmmaking. In 1954, as a test, Truffaut directed his very first short film. Only two years afterwards, in 1956, he had successfully assisted Roberto Rossellini with some later abandoned projects. The true phase of his worthwhile career began not very long after. He had directed Les Mistons (1957), now considered as the actual first step of his cinematographic portfolio. The other big year was 1959: the immense success of his first full-length film The 400 Blows (1959) was the gigantic beginning of the New Wave, a fascinatingly new way of making movies in France, and it’s of no surprise that Truffaut is here in our list of Top 10 Movie Directors of all time.

7. Steven Allan Spielberg

He is without a doubt one of the most influential film entities in the history of film. Steven Spielberg is perhaps Hollywood’s most well-known director and one of the wealthiest filmmakers in the whole world. It was his earlier contribution that made him an instant superstar among directors: Jaws (1975). His next film was the classic Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), a uniquely original UFO story that to date remains a classic. Some of his other equally remarkable works include Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) the Terminal (2002). He absolutely deserves to be in our list of Top 10 Movie Directors of all time.

6. Quentin Tarantino

The chewy, razor sharp dialogue and abundant blood thirst of Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction catapulted him to an absolutely era-defining stature and influence beyond the wildest fantasies of any director. Tarantino can still make even the simplest act of watching a film seem such a grand experience- a gift the true maestros possess. A brilliant pop-culture beckoner, he thrilled movie lovers with his genre making masterpieces. His films are brilliantly characterized by non-linear storylines, viciously satirical subject matter, an aestheticisation of violence, and most importantly the utilization of ensemble casts. He has a known pattern of consisting of established and lesser-known performers, also the endless references to popular culture. With his massive popularity, Tarantino remains a much revered addition to this list of the Top 10 Movie Directors of all time.

5. Hayao Miyazaki

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0JUQ7Zfmu0

It’s about time the rest of the world came to adore the genius of Japanese animator Miyazaki. His films have been breaking box-office records consistently in Japan for years. He’s now in his 60s, but the work just keeps getting better. His films create the world anew, literally speaking. Each is set in an intricate, self-contained fantastical world that’s been built from scratch and drawn with utmost devotion. Miyazaki’s stories are frequently considered children’s fare but frankly speaking, they are deeper than they look. They are like the best fairy tales, they conceal the contrasting dark, very adult themes beneath their surfaces.

4. Abbas Kiarostami

The highest ranking non-American, and one of the most respected film-makers working today – by his peers if not the general public. Operating majorly in rural Iran, Kiarostami has often concealed potentially life-threatening political message within films of simplicity and warm compassion. But he has complicated his medium, too, by mixing both the flavor of drama and documentary, and actors and non-actors, to mesmerizing effect. His recent in-car drama Ten provided a daring Tehran exposé as well as an exotic and new film-making technique – one that almost does away with the director completely. But Abbas indeed remains a valid inclusion to the list of the Top 10 Movie Directors of all time.

3. Stanley Kubrick

Stanley Kubrick, another formidable name in our list of Top 10 Movie Directors of all time. Kubrick’s first UK film was Lolita (1962). The next film he completed was a collaboration with the renowned sci-fi author Arthur C. Clarke. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) is hailed by many as the best ever made; an instant cult favorite. It had set the standard and tone for many science fiction films that later followed. Kubrick followed this with A Clockwork Orange (1971). He couldn’t direct a sequel to The Exorcist (1973), Kubrick made his own horror film: The Shining (1980), another jewel of cinematic brilliance.

2. Akira Kurosawa

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-McmgQbee0

After working in a wide variety of genres, Kurosawa made his first international breakthrough film Rashomon (1950) in 1950. It won the top prize at the Venice Film Festival, and had first displayed the richness of Japanese cinema to the West. The next few years saw the rather low-key, touching Ikiru (1952) (Living), the epic Seven Samurai (1954), the barbaric, significant Shakespeare adaptation Throne of Blood (1957), and also a fun pair of samurai comedies Yojimbo (1961) and Sanjuro (1962). After a lean period in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Kurosawa still remains a strong presence in  the list of the Top 10 Movie Directors of all time.

1. Woody Allen

While best known for his majorly popular romantic comedies Annie Hall (1977) and Manhattan (1979), Woody has made many transitions in his films and throughout the years his creations continue to entertain us. His movies have a set tone of transitioning from his “early, funny ones” of Bananas (1971), Love and Death (1975) and Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex * But Were Afraid to Ask (1972); to his more storied and the romantic comedies of Annie Hall (1977), Manhattan (1979) and Hannah and Her Sisters (1986). As of now he remains a director of significance and a valued addition to our list of Top 10 Movie Directors of all time.

Movies will come and go, time will flow, but the consistent pattern of intriguing human genius will send even more number of filmmakers of utmost brilliance.

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