Analysis: Best Director 2015

 

Two of the more egregious snubs this year, cinematic greats Quentin Tarantino and Ridley Scott for their work in The Hateful Eight and The Martian, respectively.

Oscar Nominees:

1. George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road: He's by far my favourite out of these nominees and by all accounts should win, in every sense of the word 'deserving'. He's a respected veteran, with a great resume, and more importantly with Mad Max: Fury Road he created not only a whole new dimension and world in itself of such incredible detail and power, but also knew how to control this vast scope with the intricacies of character building and quieter moments. I hate too often to credit all a film's success to one particular individual since there's always so many different technical variables that make up a film, but in this case all the acclaim for Miller has been most rightfully deserved, and I do hope he wins.

2. Alejandro González Iñárritu, The Revenant: Though I'm perhaps not as enamoured with the film as some seem to have been, I have actually grown to like it quite a bit and I think the direction of Iñárritu, fresh off the success of last year's masterpiece Birdman, is the main factor. There are some truly great moments like that opening attack sequence, the bear scene, etc.

3. Tom McCarthy, Spotlight: I kind of hate to put McCarthy at 4th here, as I did like his work in Spotlight a great deal too. I don't think he quite reaches the heights of the procedural thriller like Alan J. Pakula did in All the President's Men, decidedly one of my all-time favourite films though, or even Michael Mann's The Insider, David Fincher's Zodiac etc. although to be fair, those are some of my favourite directors, and McCarthy never seems to be actively trying to ape their style, so perhaps this comparison's kind of unfair. Anyway. McCarthy does well to make Spotlight a thoroughly engaging watch, in an old-fashioned sort of way, and in fact though he does not really reach the heights of Iñárritu or Abrahamson he definitely does the most consistent work, and though the least flashy, never falls into the trap of leaning too much to the emotional or procedural side of the film, and knows exactly at which moment to focus on which aspect of the Spotlight investigation.

4. Lenny Abrahamson, Room: I'm very glad this aspect of the film was rewarded as, though I think Larson's performance was too an extent a wee bit (dare I say it?) overrated, Abrahamson's direction was highly underrated and thus, to see him get some awards recognition here is just fantastic. His work on Room was probably my favourite part of the film as he effortlessly conveyed this sense of unearthly, peaceful yet quite disturbing sense of comfort in containment, doing especially well to frame everything within Jack's (Jacob Tremblay) point of view. The scenes outside of Room are perhaps less exceptional, but still well done in finding such disquietude within the seemingly 'comfortable' suburban lifestyle of the family home.

5. Adam McKay, The Big Short: I wouldn't go so far as to call McKay's work here as horrendous...actually, it's pretty darn close. I think the best way to describe the tone goes for here is Tesco-value The Wolf of Wall Street messily coalesced together with all manner of atrocious editing and just plain smugness. Which might've been what he was going for, I don't know. But when a film turns Ryan Gosling into just the most jarring fourth-wall breaker who can't even light a candle, let alone hold one, to DiCaprio's performance in WOWS, wastes Christian Bale and Steve Carrell in the most mannered sorts of performances, inserts all manner of distracting celebrity cameos that detract from an actually not overly bad script, and just generally makes a not terribly interesting subject matter terribly hard to watch (before people start complaining, 'oh you didn't get it so you wouldn't have liked it', I understood like about 5% of what the heck Jennifer Lawrence was doing in Joy in those businessplace scenes, but still found it a thoroughly engaging watch because of O'Russell's direction and Lawrence's performance).

My Nominees:

1. Todd Haynes, Carol: Travesty perhaps to place him above Miller, but let me explain. Carol was indeed my #1 film of the year, so that might have something to do with it, but I do genuinely feel like he delivered the best work out of anyone this year. Maybe it's because of my neverending love for the likes of Brief Encounter, but that 'silent gaze' Haynes masterfully employs with the silent interactions between Therese and Carol I feel, are examples of directorial homage to films like Brief Encounter but with a very personal style, that work so incredibly well that they deserve a nomination already in themselves. Past that Haynes crafts each scene with such remarkable sensitivity around both the love scenes, the more 'mundane' everyday scenes, even a simple stroll through the city, everything is just so brilliantly done, and though I probably could switch between him and Miller interchangeably I'll give it to Haynes here purely for personal reasons (though even if the two had them had been nominated, I probably would still have wanted Miller to win because who doesn't love a good underdog story).

2. George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road

3. Quentin Tarantino, The Hateful Eight: Tarantino has really outdone himself this time round as a director with The Hateful Eight. I've said before, the film is far from flawless but I still love it for many reasons, one being Tarantino's assured work behind the camera in generating equal amounts humour and tension, sometimes within seconds of one another, in one confined environment. It's basically the auteur doing his own unique take on an Agatha Christie mystery-cum-Western-cum-Reservoir Dogs with a much bigger budget, and he just milks this mixture of genres with such aplomb. Great, great, great, great work here that encapsulates everything I love about Tarantino as a director.

4. Ryan Coogler, Creed: 'Kick-ass' is a great way to describe the excellence of Coogler's work here, with the 'not even 30, that's crazy' director putting to rest any reservations of mine about his style after having seen Fruitvale Station by his dynamic work in rejuvenating the Rocky franchise here. I've given a great deal of attention to the great editing, cinematography and score that's all here, in classic Rocky fashion, but Coogler I think does some of the greatest work in any of the films in so respectfully paying tribute to the originals by calling back to the little tricks and beats that made those films take, but also in turn subverting and changing them into his own very distinct style. It's great work, great stuff, and I loved Creed in large part due to his work here.

5. John Crowley, Brooklyn: I had a tough time picking out this 5th spot. I thought J.J. Abrahams did some marvellous work in the new Star Wars instalment just by adhering so nicely to the tradition of both the old and new films with his stylistic choices, picking out the best bits of both and making them into a grand whole, Ridley Scott's excellent Martian work I would've definitely nominated him for and won if we were purely talking on an 'overdue' level, and Villenueve and Speilberg made a significant imprint with their respective films too. However, I went with Crowley in the end because of just how awry Brooklyn could've gone had it not been for the beautifully delicate touch he handles the film with. Without him making each and every scene fall so in line with its Irish and Transatlantic sensibilities, this could've been just another Nicholas Sparks'-esque (yes, I know the novel was written by Colm Toibin) soppy romance. In his hands it's a near masterpiece. If you haven't seen Brooklyn yet, do. Please.

6. Dennis Villenueve, Sicario
7. Ridley Scott, The Martian
8. Alejandro González Iñárritu, The Revenant
9. J. J. Abrahams, Star Wars: The Force Awakens
10. Steven Speilberg, Bridge of Spies
11. Tom McCarthy, Spotlight
12. Alex Garland, Ex Machina
13. Lenny Abrahamson, Room
14. Bill Condon, Mr Holmes
15. James Ponsoldt, The End of the Tour
16. Sam Mendes, Spectre
17. Bill Pohlad, Love and Mercy
18. Jay Roach, Trumbo
19. Thomas Vinterberg, Far From the Madding Crowd
20. Danny Boyle, Steve Jobs