It would have totally made that scene. :)

Meanwhile this brilliant woman needs to finally get the credit she deserves.

http://secrethistoryofstarwars.com/marcialucas.html

@shian What trick question? I suppose you are trying to say that directors are great regardless? Yeah, that is true. But it is also true that some of us humans have johnsons, and others of us . . .

. . . well . . .

johndaugters.

I'm gonna take shit for this, but fuck it. I'm used to it. If you really wanna know - Here's the skinny - we are qualifying this by saying "great female" directors. We did not say list who you think are the greatest directors. That's the first mistake. You ask any filmmaker that is not a woman who they think are their top 5 directors on the planet, and no one has a woman in their top 5.

Bigelow and Marshall are the only woman who consistently make DECENT films. But in the grand scheme of things they're above average at best. There are no POWERHOUSE women directors on par with Spielberg, Hitchcock, Aronofsky, FF Coppola, Fincher, Del Toro, Scorcese... the list goes on and on. Its not because there are more men than women directing, its because the way the women think causes them to lose the ability to differentiate between what the story needs, and what they want to see emotionally. They make great editors, producers, writers, etc, BUT when making decisions about story they get hung up on things that DO NOT MATTER to the story, they focus on things that matter to them. I literally heard a woman director scream at a producer who was trying to explain that something she wasn't getting didn't matter, "IT MATTERS TO ME!!!" No one, especially the audience gives a shit that the father doesn't seem to be empathetic to the way his daughter feels about her favorite stuffed animal. It's not important to the story, not important to the scene, it does not matter. In my experience they get hung up on a shit-ton of micro elements, and ignore the macro; the big picture, and the story and the film subsequently suffers. As a result they make shitty films.

There are no GREAT women directors. I wish there were. I honestly do. I really thought Mimi Leder and Sofia Coppola were gonna shatter the mold, but when they got too big, and stopped listening to the people around them that were saving them from themselves, their stuff went to shit.

Bigelow and Marshall have managed to divorce themselves from whatever mechanism it is that causes micro-itis. And so they make watchable movies. But they are not in any way groundbreaking, powerhouse, GREAT directors. Middle of the pack at best.

I get what he means by a top five list and always thing it's a little bullshit to have to qualify by gender, but I totally disagree that it's because of some innate quality, and I think the mold will be shattered, and I think Bigelow and Coppola might be on a few people's top five lists already.

Interesting approach @shian. Although, I feel sick by watching Aronofsky's name next to Hitch in that list... And don't know if great, but IMHO Bigelow is far better director than presumptuous Darren.

@Mirrorkisser, John Ford? John Cassavetes? Stanley Kubrick?

It's funny, many European cinephiles would be the first to cite many American directors past and present as among the greatest - from the 50s Cahiers / Nouvelle Vague group on, it's been a long tradition of European critics and intellectuals finding greatness where the locals were indifferent or hostile.

And of course some of us Americans, myself included, might romanticize the international school a bit more over our own... I think there's a lot of great cinema, and without question America has been a big part of it. Just not the only game in town, and for various reasons, true artists often seemed to flourish more outside of the system (but then you also have those who worked within it to create masterpieces).

I read Ben Affleck makes movies again, so you better save some of that popcorn :) (granted, provided popcorn is an american invention, its a great contribution to cinema!)

@oedipax John Ford is alright, still could not decide whether i would place Mizoguchi, Truffaut, Godard, Fritz Lang, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Jean Vigo, Roberto Rosselini, Jean Renoir or even Georges Melies behind or in front. But he is a good one. Like Scorsese and F.F. Coppola a lot, too. But none of all those belongs into the top5 imho, if such a list makes any sense at all.

I also think there are too little women in that business. they are mostly not that into technical stuff...but actually isnt it the same with painters, musical composers?

Almost all genetical material that is related to intelligence is located on the x-chromosome, which does not mean that women have the double amount, but they get the average value of both. the result is, there is more male genius and more male intellectual deficiency, as they dont have a second balancing x-chromosome. maybe they just lack that last divine touch :)

i never argued about the woman part. fully agree. although i suspect different, still not less populistic and provocative reasons :)

was just wondering how someone could mention aronofsky (not a bad filmmaker) ahead of tarkovsky, bergman, kurosawa or fellini. with hitchcock i would have granted, its a matter of taste. well, some people prefer a napa valley 5 $ wine to a mouton rothschild for 4000$, taste or not taste, i dont know...

@oedipax: I like Kubrick, Cassavetes is ok, but come on, really Bergman, Kurosawa, Tarkovsky level? Have you seen all their flicks? I grew up with american cinema, i discovered the european masters afterwards. And still in my opinion, although i like several american directors a lot, none is in the olymp of film making.

Just like no woman is perhaps in the top 100 of film makers...sad, but true fact.

Leni Riefenstahl was a great director. I also like Agnes Varda or Larissa Shepitko that i mentioned before. I have to check out for Beau Travail. If its your #1 it is surely worth a look :)

@oedipax actually its also vice-versa influence. kurosawa loved john ford. and then the seven samurai and yojimbo massively influenced spagetti western movies or george lucas and spielberg.

hmm the early bergman, like wild strawberries or the seventh seal, those movies belong into the olymp of cinematography. just like rashomon, seven samurai or ran.

one american i forgot is terrence malick, not bad, but he repeats himself.

i think for many women its a technical barrier. they have aversions towards too much technology. plus most women, even top class university educated ones i know, rather prefer those super emotional movies. maybe what makes them strong is their achilles heel?

+1 Lucrecia Martel

What are you guys basing Sofia Coppola's supposed fall on? Marie Antoinette? Somewhere? I don't think she's made a bad film yet - maybe they weren't huge crossover hits like Lost in Translation, but fine filmmaking nonetheless.

I will say that The Bling Ring looks like a less imaginative Spring Breakers at this point (just going off the trailer), but I have faith in Coppola and the late Harris Savides that it'll be worthwhile whether or not it's entirely successful.