Reel and Roll Awards (11): Best Director 2017

10 great directorial efforts from non-Oscar nominees: 

10. John Carroll Lynch, Lucky

An excellent directorial debut from one of the most proficient go-to character actors in the business. Lynch takes influences from the likes of Jim Jarmusch in terms of crafting the small, intimate and quirky community at the centre of his film, but also carves his own path in just little touches here and there of slightly surreal weirdness, a rather haunting examination of death and morality, his direction is always pretty low-key but in a way that makes the film stand out, and enables the great performance at its centre to flourish all the more.

9. Samuel Maoz, Foxtrot

Israeli film director Maoz's film didn't make the cut for the Best Foreign Language Oscars, which is a shame, as it is a particularly well put-together and  intriguing film focused on a young man enlisted in the Israeli Defence Forces, and his affluent family dealing with a tragedy. It's a low-key slow-burner which Maoz's excellent direction really excels with, and the unique visual panache, the excellent use of sound, and the uniformly solid performances he gets out of his cast to create his altogether quite fascinating combination of tones and moods, is remarkable. 

8. Craig Gillespie, I, Tonya

Gillespie's done a great deal of solid work in previous years, from the underrated Lars and the Real Girl, to the actually fairly decent remake of Fright Night, but this is the first film of his where the direction has truly stood out to me. It may be Scorsese-lite in many ways, but that in itself is worthy of praise. He takes the pre-existing still and adjusts it to the film's own distinct tone and story it's trying to tell, and succeeds entirely.

7. Edgar Wright, Baby Driver

I'm not the biggest fan of the film, but I can't deny the superlative work of Wright here as a director, even if Baby Driver is perhaps the least of all his directorial efforts to date.The film is a fun ride for the most part due entirely to his direction, which wholeheartedly embraces the concept of the driving/musical combination and really goes all-out with the concept. Its faults are almost entirely to do with the writing.

6. Martin McDonagh, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Three Billboards I'd actually say is the film where, to this date, McDonagh's direction stands out the least in terms of the usual idea of 'directing'. Many scenes are handled in a fairly straightforward fashion in terms of visual presentation and staging, and really its the characters, the performances behind them, and the dialogue that once again has warranted most of the (very well-deserved) praise. That said, there are scenes like 'The Last Rose of Summer' scene where his work as a director is superb, and honestly just how he manages to get largely great performances out of everyone is also worth mentioning.

5. The Safdie Brothers, Good Time

Just an extremely well-directed film where the 70s/80s crime thriller vibe is utilized to its full potential. Every choice they make is pretty daring, from the synth soundtrack to the framing of shots with character's heads almost entirely filling up the screen, the quickfire editing, and it all adds up to a pretty stellar film, kind of the antithesis to Baby Driver. I really enjoyed their work here, and can't wait to check out more of their older work, and what comes up for them next. 

4. Bong Joon-ho, Okja

Bong really deserves more acclaim in general as a director, even as a Korean director he's not given quite enough praise I'd say, as he's directed some of the best films in recent years, period. Okja might be up there with Memories of Murder as his best film, and one of the many I hate to leave out of my top 10. Bong's direction actually isn't all that showy but it's the perfect blend of classic family movie Speilberg, with just a touch of that cynicism and dark humour that defines much of his work, and a real emotional graft to it, plus bonus points for starting a new partnership with Tilda Swinton, a perfect match for his style as a director.

3. Sean Baker, The Florida Project

I hate the old saying that child actors' performances are the by-product of a director wholly, but I have to praise Baker for garnering such great performances out of his young, and largely inexperienced cast, just his work with the whole ensemble in ensuring that every fits perfectly into the universe of The Florida Project is worth commending. Outside of that, Baker's depiction of a hauntingly beautiful yet sad landscape, filled with hope and bleakness in equal measure, is exceptional in every element, the choice of songs, shots, storytelling techniques, even that choice of an ending I love. Fantastic work.

2. Denis Villeneuve, Blade Runner 2049 

Villeneuve's best work as a director by far, though I'm not quite sure if it's my favourite film of his yet, as you really feel this is the project where he was allowed to wholly realize his vision without any restraint. I'm happy the box-office disappointment of the film hasn't caused any obvious disruption to his future plans as a director (I hope) because this is a great example of how if you give an auteur free reins, almost anything, even a seemingly unnecessary sequel to Blade Runner, can be great. Villeneuve takes what was established before and gives his own unique take on it, and I love that you can still see hints of his characteristic minimalism, and fascination with the 'smaller' details, even in something as grand as the Blade Runner universe.

1. Kathryn Bigelow, Detroit 

Few can capture the sheer intensity and brutality of any given life-or-death situation like Kathryn Bigelow; it’s almost a given that in a film she helms, from Point Break to Zero Dark Thirty and her Oscar-winning work on The Hurt Locker, there will be at least one sequence to pull you into a brutal, relentless point of no return. Bigelow’s latest, Detroit, is no exception. Depicting the escalating tensions in 1967 Detroit – culminating in the infamous 12th Street Riot – it’s an exhausting film, and one the scariest in recent memory. Bigelow unsettles without feeling exploitative, her use of disconcerting camera angles, a deft handling of a terrific ensemble, and pushing forth an undercurrent of emotion without ever holding the audience's hand. It's her best work as a director to date, topping even her exceptional work on The Hurt Locker, and it's a shame that she got next to no awards attention, particularly given the narrative of female directors getting acclaim this particular year.

For my thoughts on the Oscar nominees, click here.

1. Paul Thomas Anderson, Phantom Thread*
2. Christopher Nolan, Dunkirk*
3. Kathryn Bigelow, Detroit
4. Denis Villeneuve, Blade Runner 2049
5. Guillermo del Toro, The Shape of Water*
6. Sean Baker, The Florida Project
7. Jordan Peele, Get Out*  
8. Bong Joon-ho, Okja
9. The Safdie Brothers, Good Time 
10. Martin McDonagh, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri 
11. Greta Gerwig, Lady Bird* 
12. Craig Gillespie, I, Tonya
13. Edgar Wright, Baby Driver
14. John Carroll Lynch, Lucky 
15. Samuel Maoz, Foxtrot  
16. James Mangold, Logan 
17. Lee Unkrich, Coco
18. Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman, Loving Vincent
19. Paul King, Paddington 2
20. Taika Waititi, Thor Ragnarok 
21. Patty Jenkins, Wonder Woman
22. Andy Muschietti, It 
23. Richard Linklater, Last Flag Flying 
24. Sebastián Lelio, A Fantastic Woman 
25. Luca Guadagnino, Call Me By Your Name  
26. Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, Battle of the Sexes 
27. Aisling Walsh, Maudie
28. James Gray, The Lost City of Z
29. Armando Iannucci, The Death of Stalin
30. James Franco, The Disaster Artist 
31. Jang Hoon, A Taxi Driver
32. William Oldroyd, Lady Macbeth
33. Danny Boyle, Trainspotting 2
34. Rian Johnson, The Last Jedi 
35. David Lowrey, A Ghost Story
36. Aki Kaurismäki, The Other Side of Hope
37. Andrey Zvyagintsev, Loveless 
38. David Gordon Green, Stronger 
39. Jon Watts, Spider-Man Homecoming
40. James Gunn, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
41. Francis Lee, God's Own Country 
42. Chad Stahelski, John Wick Chapter 2
43. Chris McKay, The Lego Batman Movie
44. Steven Soderbergh, Logan Lucky 
45. David Leitch, Atomic Blonde
46. Ruben Östlund, The Square
47. Mike Flanagan, Gerald's Game
48. Scott Cooper, Hostiles
49. Paul McGuigan, Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool 
50. Taylor Sheridan, Wind River 
51. Steve Speilberg, The Post
52. Kogonada, Columbus
53. Dee Rees, Mudbound 
54. Joe Wright, Darkest Hour 
55. Ridley Scott, All the Money in the World
56. Alexandre O. Philippe, 78/52
57. Matt Spicer, Ingrid Goes West 
58. Matt Reeves, War for the Planet of the Apes
59. Kenneth Branagh, Murder on the Orient Express
60. Michael Showalter, The Big Sick 
61. Sean Foley, Mindhorn 
62. F. Gary Gray, Fast & Furious 8
63. Michaël R. Roskam, Racer and the Jailbird
64. Ridley Scott, Alien Covenant 
65. Ben Wheatley, Free Fire
66. Aaron Sorkin, Molly's Game
67. Stephen Chobosky, Wonder
68. Lone Scherfig, Their Finest
69. Olivier Assayas, Personal Shopper
70. Doug Liman, American Made
71. Michael Haneke, Happy End
72. Jake Kasdan, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle 
73. Yorgos Lanthimos, The Killing of a Sacred Deer 
74. Bill Condon, Beauty and the Beast
75. Nacho Vigalondo, Colossal
76. Terry George, The Promise
77. Marc Webb, Gifted
78. Dan Gilroy, Roman J. Israel, Esq. 
79. Pierre Coffin, Kyle Balda, Despicable Me 3
80. M. Night Shaymalan, Split
81. Jordan Vogt-Roberts, Kong: Skull Island
82. Zack Snyder and Joss Whedon, Justice League 
83. Michael Gracey, The Greatest Showman 
84. Seth Gordon, Baywatch
85. Luc Besson, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets
86. Alexander Payne, Downsizing 
87. Stephen Frears, Victoria & Abdul 
88. Rupert Sanders, Ghost in the Shell
89. Charlie McDowell, The Discovery
90. Patrick Hughes, The Hitman's Bodyguard
91. Tomas Alfredson, The Snowman 
92. Darren Aronofsky, Mother! 
93. Matthew Vaughan, Kingsman: The Golden Circle
94. James Ponsoldt, The Circle 
95. Colin Trevorrow, The Book of Henry
96. Michael Bay, Transformers: The Last Knight