The director. When it comes to the process of making movies there are few positions that hold the promise of greater acclaim for success or more ruthless criticism for failure. Rightly or wrongly, the director of a movie is sort of the face of the production. If an actor turns in a shoddy performance, we might say that they were given poor direction. If the cinematographer has apparently confused a dynamic, engaging visual style with the constant use of Dutch angles, we may assume that the pushy director is just really into feeling like he’s about to slide out of his chair when he’s at the theater. If a movie’s writing is shot through with cliches, melodrama, and an overreliance on vapid spectacle, we might just chalk it up to the usual Marvel formula, har har har. Whether or not any of this is fair, I think it’s safe to say that when someone decides to direct a movie they are faced with a difficult road. No area of filmmaking lacks at least a hint of the influence of the director, so when one such director manages to succeed in wrangling the different aspects of production into a coherent and satisfying whole not just once, but continuously over a long career in Hollywood, people notice. Today, then, on our twentieth episode, the Magellans are bringing to you five examples each of directors that have, for reasons of style, mastery of genre, or simple, inexplicable skill, captured their notice. It’s pretty much recommendations straight through today, folks, so get your DVD players ready, warm up the ol’ VHS player, and queue up your preferred streaming service for the Magellans at the Movies Director Extravaganza with bonus soundtrack provided by Mom insensitively clomping around the kitchen. Lights, camera, podcast!
