Haneke is retired unfortunately :(

I'm working up the courage to watch Hereditary again. It's the only film that has ever legitimately frightened me.

definitely try Beau is Afraid again. Once your expectations are set with it, it becomes such a fascinating and unique picture. I can't really think of many other movies like it. it might be my favourite film from Ari Aster - though Hereditary is still his scariest

To me, it is a good movie but not incredible.

Right, I forgot he’s still currently working in the afterlife.

a fellow ghibli fan

I wonder what Hayao Miyazaki and Damien Leone think of each other's work.

PS: Can I follow you? Love these directors, we have some similar ones.

https://preview.redd.it/sxxx7ld4eiae1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5f32b52cf5251be5524105e095caa4ddff4d7baf

This is probably my answer, too! It’s hard for me to call anything a “favorite” as my taste varies and there are so many films and filmmakers I love. But Lynch is likely the one I’ve returned to the most, read the most about, consumed anything and everything they’ve made or has been made about him (still need to watch Lynch/Oz), and rewatch his work frequently. As a pre-teen first getting into filmmaking he really opened my eyes to how limitless the movies can be. The visuals, characters, sound design, storytelling— every aspect — was just mind blowing. He also never compromised his vision even if that meant the production wouldn’t go forward. Also growing up and constantly day dreaming and just fascinated with dream logic in general made me love him even more. He channeled those vibes in ways no other director can.

I just rewatched Blue Velvet last night. Mulholland Drive is my favorite film. He knows how to make scenes terrifying and also genuinely powerful in their emotions that always take me off guard.

I still get sad knowing he’s dead and we’ll never get any more new material. Lynch is the best.

i'll check the coen brothers out !!

Go watch vertigo rn!

Hereditary and EEAAO are arguably the two best A24 films as well

Sean Baker 100% is one of the best kind of under the radar compared to Ari Aster and the Safdies

Garland is so wildly inconsistent, though. Plus his best film isn’t even A24.

She’s only made one A24 movie though. Then again, it’s one of their best.

A March release is going to make it tough for him to be a contender for a best director nom

I’ve already seen a lot of his stuff but thanks

Add Scorsese and Tarantino to the list and your good to go

I’m interested in seeing the new one he has coming out “Men”

Kurosawa is a great suggestion. The "Only English language" is a really rough limitation, I wish people could step past that and get into world cinema. Other great ones would be Ingmar Bergman, Abbas Kiarostami, Tarkovsky, Makasi Kobayashi, Yasujiro Ozu, Takeshi Kitano, Aki Kaurismäki, Fellini, Pasolini, Luis Bunuel, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Werner Herzog, Satyajit Ray, Roy Andersson, Krzysztof Kieślowski and so, so many others.

I guess nobody here mentioned Mike Leigh or John Cassevetes? Those would be my English language suggestions.

Glad someone included Charlie Kaufman. The man is a genius.

I really liked Christopher Nolan's work. And you know what, I still do. I've just come to realise that while his (and his brother's) stories are really-really good on a thesis level (all the creative uses of time), they often lack the emotional punch on a character level.

And I know this is like comparing apples to oranges, but I feel like Charlie Kaufman's work is similar from the thesis perspective (incredible, out of the ordinary concepts), but his films are also strong as hell from an emotional standpoint. Nolan's stuff kinda feels like epic ideas made into huge movies just for the sake of it, while in Kaufman's stuff, the mechanics are really just a device to tell a very unique, honest and personal story.

Anyway, no one's gonna read this but I thought I'd throw it out there.

Darren Aronofsky

Just finished rewatching some Fincher and came to say this.

I was promted by The Batman as it really felt like a Fincher film.

Two of the movies you mentioned is in my watchlist. Definitely gonna check out his movies afterwards.

I've gotta say, I disagree that this is a good list to binge watch. They are are amazing directors, of course, but apart from Coen films and parts of some PTA films, you're not going to find much joy in this binge session. If you followed this list in that order, you'd probably consider suicide right around We Need to Talk About Kevin.

As much as I love these directors I'm pretty sure if I binge watched Aronofsky I would end up in the deepest pit of despair possible.

I think Kubrick is the most binge-able of the ones you've listed.

His filmography is so unique, even though you can tell each one is a Kubrick movie.

Also, I'm pretty sure I would get pretty depressed from a Yorgos Lanthimos binge.

Prisoners, Sicario, Arrival, Blade Runner 2049, Villaneuve is unbelievable. Can't wait for Dune.