By their very nature, debut films are supposed to be rough drafts. First-time filmmakers often have limited resources and inexperience behind the camera before starting their first feature, so its natural that they don’t all show a fully-fledged talent at the height of its powers. Films such as Wes Anderson’s Bottle Rocket or Martin Scorsese’s Who’s That Knocking at My Door? are fine pictures, but they are more evident of a director searching for a style than someone who has already arrived at a perfect form.
But every rule has its exception, with some debuts basically perfect films right from the off. To celebrate the power of a great debut film, we have assembled a list of five that we think deserve to be labelled with the grandiose term of “masterpiece”. It’s telling that all the directors on this list worked in film in some capacity or other – whether it’s in criticism, acting, writing or as a video store clerk – before making the transition towards directing.
While one always has to study film in some capacity before being a filmmaker, these directors were extremely attentive to the power of cinema before they made their arrival on the big stage, making sure that they knew exactly what they wanted to say, and how they were going to say it.
Read our list below to see what choices we have made. Think that there’s a great debut in particular that we missed? Please let us know what you think via the comment section below!
The 400 Blows
François Truffaut was a film critic for Cahiers du cinéma before he made the transition to filmmaking, so he knew a thing or two about how to compose great images. A fierce critic of what he believed was a stagnant French film scene, he created The 400 Blows as a direct response. The result is film history, kicking off a deeply creative phase in cinema known as the French New Wave.
From beginning to end, The 400 Blows is, simply put, a bonafide masterpiece. Starring a first-time Jean-Pierre Léaud in the central role, it tells the story of a precocious child who is always getting into trouble at school. Capturing the vicissitudes of youth with consummate ease, the resultant film looks like the work of someone who has been in the business for years.
Citizen Kane
The one debut to arguably win them all, Citizen Kane fiercely announced the unique talent of Orson Welles upon the international film stage. But the man was easily ready. Before he directed Citizen Kane he was an established theatre director, staging Shakespeare classics to great critical acclaim as well as broadcasting an infamous War of the Worlds radio adaptation that made people believe that an alien attack was actually imminent.
For Citizen Kane he was given no interference by the studio, allowed to tell his singular vision of a newspaper magnate’s rise and fall with complete cinematic confidence. Often a contender for one of the greatest films of all time, Citizen Kane really deserves all the praise it gets.
A Star Is Born (2018)
Bradley Cooper was preparing for A Star Is Born his whole life. The actor, well known for his Hangover roles as well as playing the Racoon in Guardians of the Galaxy, would always make sure to study and takes notes of what directors did on set, making his transition to writer-director an easy one.
It helped that, when he finally decided to create yet another version of a A Star Is Born, he had the full weight of the studio system behind him. The resultant film, charting the tumultuous relationship between rock star Jackson Maine (Bradley Cooper himself, who also learned to sing and play guitar for the role) and starlet Ally (Lady Gaga, in the casting masterstroke of the decade) plays like the work of a veteran, gracefully understanding the difficulties of relationships and how they express themselves in relation to art.
Lady Bird
Actor turned director Greta Gerwig had a lot of writing experience before she got behind the camera, having worked on screenplays that included Hannah Takes the Stairs, Nights and Weekends (which she technically co-directed), Northern Comfort, Frances Ha and Mistress America (co-written with her husband Noah Baumbach). Therefore it was only a matter of time before American’s indie darling would go behind the camera herself.
The result was Lady Bird, a fiercely personal exploration of growing up in Sacramento, California and attending Catholic High School that featured a career-best performance from Saoirse Ronan. Tackling topics such as womanhood, class and growing-up within the high school genre, the delicately written and directed film touched a chord with many people upon its release, quickly announcing Greta Gerwig as a truly major American director. As a result her subsequent release, the incredibly well-done adaptation of Little Women, was a hugely anticipated release. It will be fascinating to see what she does next with Barbie, starring Margot Robbie in the titular role, next.
Reservoir Dogs
From the very opening scene of Reservoir Dogs – featuring a bunch of black-suit clad guys talking shop about the work of Madonna – Quentin Tarantino announces his unique cinematic vision. Once they walk down the street and The George Baker Trio’s “Little Green Bag” starts playing, one already knows that they are in the hands of a master director.
Previously working as a video store clerk, Tarantino used his encyclopaedic knowledge of film to his advantage, making his films chock-a-block full of references but always somehow still uniquely his own. Luckily for his debut outing, his screenplay for Reservoir Dogs was picked up by Harvey Keitel who agreed to help co-produce the movie, which was shot mostly in an abandoned mortuary. A unique spin on the heist film as it only shows the events before and after the actual crime itself, it introduced the director’s unique use of music, camerawork and dialogue to the world of cinema. Things have never been the same since.
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