director
Delivering a much-needed scissor kick to action cinema, Gareth Evans is a director who already has had a major influence in mainstream action filmmaking. Born in Wales, he graduated from the University of South Wales with a Master of Arts in screenwriting. With this knowledge in tow, he directed the independently-budgeted kitchen sink-noir film Footsteps, which didn’t lead to much work.
As 2015 comes to a close, the promises of 2016 in film leave excitement fizzling like the fireworks of New Year amongst Quentin Tarantino fans. We have been treated to an influx of releases ripe from the mind of the divisive director over the past few years, with Inglourious Basterds and Django Unchained providing much controversy and dividing many opinions, but it is The Hateful Eight that is now beginning to incite anticipation about its January release. But, as this excitement grows towards the end of Tarantino’s twenty-fourth year in the filmmaking business, the success he enjoys now has progressed in an initially unexpected way.
After bugging my colleagues with discussion on Woody Allen films maybe one time too many, it was suggested that I write his Beginner’s Guide. Surprisingly, the thought hadn’t occurred to me, but I’m very excited to present my guide for you here now. I’ve gone a slightly different approach than usual because of the sheer amount of films the man has made in his still-continuing career, so it’s broken up into segments rather than a few films you should watch to get you started.
They were at the top of their game. They had it all: the fame, the positive critics, a status amongst the greatest filmmakers of all time, and the power to make any film they wished.
Cady McClain is an award-winning daytime TV actress, but she has another side: as a director. She has completed two short award-winning films, Flip Fantasia and World of Albert Fuh, and the comedy web series Suzy F*cking Homemaker, and is currently in production on a new documentary about women directors called Seeing Is Believing:
Hanna Polak is a documentarian whose films have been screened the world over. It only took her two directorial efforts for her to be recognized by the Academy, as her memorable film Children of Leningradsky was nominated for Best Documentary Short in 2005. After spending some time as a director for hire, Polak is returning to the international documentary scene with an absolutely remarkable film over 14 years in the making, Something Better To Come (you can read my review here).
There aren’t many people who can claim that the woman they watched larking about on children’s morning television when they were a toddler also became of one of their favourite film directors as an adult. But that’s exactly what Andrea Arnold turned out to be, for me. For those of you who have never heard of her I can guarantee that you’ll be impressed.
When asked about who his favourite American directors were, Orson Welles replied: “I prefer the old masters; by which I mean: John Ford, John Ford and John Ford.
Over the course of history, Hollywood has given female filmmakers few chances to work on film projects. Fewer chances than their male cohorts, to be sure – no matter their experience or education. Male directors are hired invariably and without doubt, and they are featured and lauded in media frequently.
How to summarise Hayao Miyazaki in a few words? Brilliant, magical, ecologist, fantastic, cultural, wise, a true master of his art: animation.
Near the conclusion of Hellboy II, we find the eponymous hero at death’s doorstep. Hellboy is laid at the feet of his personal Angel of Death, a shrouded, veiled monstrosity whose ragged wings are festooned with a series of enormous, amber eyes. Elizabeth Sherman, Hellboy’s partner, cradles his unconscious body in a pose reminiscent of the Pietà, an aesthetic emphasized by the magical spearpoint thrust into Hellboy’s side.
Editor’s Letter Essay of week 41 Since Film Inquiry’s inception it’s been our goal to promote diversity in film. Admittedly, I always think of diversity in film in the broadest sense for Film Inquiry: include and promote women, minorities, the LGBT community – and international and independent film, too.
Producer, Director, Writer, Actor. These are just some of the labels one could attribute to Spike Jonze. Absurd, surreal, unique and diverse are just some of the few one could attach to his films.
David Lynch has one of the most polarizing bodies of work in Hollywood (though he is objectively one of the nicest and most genuine people there). His films divide audiences like they were born of a marriage between Moses and Solomon. Filled with peculiar idiosyncrasies and defiantly flaunting conventions of both genre and narrative, Lynch’s films have been stubborn in their consistency for most of his career.
British director Alfred Hitchc*ck’s reputation as the “Master of Suspense” is still familiar to moviegoers around the world 25 years after his death. Hitchc*ck’s jowly visage and drawling accent are pop culture fixtures, and his movies are endlessly imitated and even spun-off into popular TV series. However, Hitchc*ck was more than just the man who gave the world Norman Bates and that infamous shower scene in Psycho (1960).