The 2010’s have been pretty welcoming to those still holding onto the idea of the ‘auteur’ with complete artistic control of their product. Despite the rise of made-by-committee superhero movies, corporate mergers, and Disney’s stranglehold of box office receipts, great directors with something bold to say have still managed to find ways to say it. While North American cinema can point towards the striking science-fiction of Denis Villeneuve, Martin Scorsese’s victory lap and arguably best ever decade and Damien Chazelle’s jazz odysseys and technical marvels, world cinema has seen brilliant and idiosyncratic offerings from directors as diverse as Hong Sangsoo, Claire Denis, Joanna Hogg, Agnes Varda and, even, remarkably still going, Jean-Luc Godard.
But what will the 2020’s hold in store for directors with deeply personal visions? How can they find a way to balance studio interests with their own storytelling instincts? Additionally, in a world with so few mainstream directors who are women and people of color, will the diversity of the world finally be reflected by cinema itself?
It’s a hard task to make both great art and create lasting impact. Usually, the luxury to make what you want is reserved for a very select few. Nonetheless, we believe that there are a crop of up-and-coming/already established directors out there who are likely to dominate the decade and reshape the popular filmmaking landscape. Read on below to see who we have picked.
Greta Gerwig
With the one-two punch of Lady Bird and Little Woman already under her belt, Greta Gerwig’s transition to directing has seemed effortless. Then again, she has always been collaborating and shaping films to her will, her work with partner Noah Baumbach very much bearing her unique perspective on life and witty sense of humor. She even managed to take the perpetually-told story of Little Woman and give it a true 21st century spin, using a playful non-linear narrative to create a new angle on the aged material.
Her work with actors is superb, for example, bringing out career-best performances from Saoirse Ronan in both of her efforts (they should always work together). The box office and critical success of her second solo directorial effort, Little Woman, confirmed the immense promise Lady Bird had, laying the way for Greta Gerwig to have the kind of high profile success denied to her female predecessors such as Elaine May and Barbra Streisand. As perhaps the most high-profile (at least critically) torchbearer for women in cinema (besides old guard leader Kathryn Bigelow), Gerwig has a lot riding on her shoulders: I’m convinced she can rise to the occasion.
Barry Jenkins
Barry Jenkins had already had a cracking decade with Best Picture winner Moonlight and its devastating follow-up If Beale Street Could Talk, but it seems that the most critically acclaimed African-American filmmaker of the moment has a lot more stories to tell.
First up he is moving to television to adapt Colson Whitehead’s 19th century alternative history novel The Underground Railroad. Next he is slated to adapt the life of dance choreographer Alvin Ailey. This busy slate is great news, meaning that the cruel eight year gap between Medicine for Melancholy and Moonlight will not be repeated, ensuing Jenkins’ name will hopefully become part of the fabric of Hollywood in the 2020’s.
Josephine Decker
Given that she is easily the most experimental director on this list, Josephine Decker’s inclusion is perhaps the most optimistic. Her work is structurally abrasive, eschewing traditional narrative to cut straight to the emotion of her characters. Nonetheless, her last effort, Madeline’s Madeline represented a major step up in form for the American director and hit the zeitgeist concerning how to depict feminine mental health in a fresh and novel way.
With Shirley, a metafictional horror story starring Elisabeth Moss set to premiere at Sundance this month, and Young Adult adaptation The Sky Is Everywhere already in preproduction, Decker can hopefully poise herself as one of the most daring and innovative voices in contemporary cinema, bridging the gap between arthouse and awards-worthy drama unlike anyone else.
Ava DuVernay
In many ways, the story of Ava DuVernay has been one of the most promising of the past decade. Here is a black woman finally been given the chance to fail, and massively. After directing the stirring biopic Selma – managing to tell a compelling Martin Luther King story despite not being given any of the rights to his speeches – Ava DuVernay had a huge misfire with A Wrinkle in Time, making only $131 million off a $103 million budget.
The sheer fact that she could fail (like countless white male directors) and still been given the chance to direct When They See Us, a devastating, Emmy-winning drama about the Central Park Five, displays her sheer talent and willingness to tell stories that others in Hollywood can’t as well as the changing direction of representation in Hollywood. Her impact has been keenly felt this decade, and not just through her directing: her TV show Queen Sugar only hires female directors, showing her willingness to bring others up with her. In the 2020s, whether its directing films, creating television shows or mentoring other female filmmakers, her presence will make definitely create further change in the Hollywood system.
Taika Waititi
With one of the most interesting career trajectories in contemporary cinema, moving from homespun dramas in his native New Zealand to helming big-budget studio work to creating award-winning comedy in the form of Jojo Rabbit, Take Waititi has asserted himself as one of the most distinctive voices in modern Hollywood.
Perhaps, the most exciting thing about Taika Waititi is that his more mainstream work – such as Thor: Ragnarok and episode ten of The Mandalorian – does not dilute his uniquely Kiwi sense of humor. Seeming that he’s up against the corporate properties of Marvel and Star Wars respectively, this is no easy feat. With a feature film adaptation of Next Goal Wins being filmed now, as well as the upcoming release of Thor: Love and Thunder, it seems that Taika Waititi could be one of the rare directors who really can have it all.
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