(2009) 3 Perry Seibert At one point during Angela Ismailos' documentary Great Directors, an investigation into what gives great filmmakers the passion to make their art, John Sayles says, "Every movie is political." While Ismailos gets some of the world's most revered directors to talk about their art, she does seem more concerned with the idea that it's politics -- the need to affect or comment on social structures -- more than any other force that seems to define the best moviemakers. Ismailos sat down with some of the biggest and most well-respected helmers in the world including David Lynch, Bernardo Bertolucci, Todd Haynes, Catherine Breillat, Agnès Varda, Ken Loach, Stephen Frears, and Richard Linklater. As the film opens, she spends a few minutes with each of them discussing how they got their start in the business, and the variety of ways they got their feet in the door should be inspiring to any aspiring director. But very quickly after that she focuses on the idea of politics as the driving force for these artists, and she offers ample quotes from them to support this notion. From Breillat's insistence on expressing her characters' sexuality, to Linklater's take on the socioeconomic scale in America, to Ken Loach and Stephen Frears offering up scathing indictments of Thatcher-era England early in their careers, the movie locks in on this topic and doesn't let go for a good third of its running time. Luckily, almost all of them have fascinating things to say, none more so than Bertolucci, who explains how even the look and style of any film you make is inherently political, as you either accept or reject your culture's aesthetic status quo. Eventually the conversations slide from the political to the personal with the filmmakers talking about the artists that most inspire them (Haynes discussing Rainer Werner Fassbinder's "monstrous desire to create" is a highlight), and explaining how having children affected their work. In the film's opening, Ismailos claims she's making this movie in order to learn about the directors that motivate her, and while that could have easily turned into an endlessly fawning valentine she does a savvy job of never staying with any one of the filmmakers for too long. She keeps the movie humming along without making it seem like she's shortchanging any of her subjects. Great Directors won't teach you how to be a great director, but it does offer a valuable lesson in how passion -- in whatever form it takes -- can be the ultimate muse.

Trailer

Great Directors on AllMovie

Great Directors (2009)

Great Directors

rate it

editor rating

user rating

genres

Film, TV & Radio

sub-genres

category

Documentary

directed by

Angela Ismailos

countries

USA

release date

July 2, 2010 (USA - Limited)

run time

86 min.

produced by

Anisma Films

released by

Paladin

Submit corrections

by Mark Deming synopsis

Ten of the world's great filmmakers discuss their art, their influences and their creative motivations in this documentary. In Great Directors, Angela Ismailos chats with a handful of talented and influential movie directors, among them Bernardo Bertolucci, Catherine Breillat, Liliana Cavani, Stephen Frears, Todd Haynes, Richard Linklater, Ken Loach, David Lynch, John Sayles, and Agnès Varda. Along with discussing the particulars of their work (often illustrated by relevant film clips), the directors also talk about artists and events that have made a lasting impact on them, films they hope to make in the future (all ten directors were still at work at the time the film was shot), issues that are important to them (creative and otherwise), and other filmmakers that they like (or hate). Ismailos' first feature film, Great Directors received its world premiere at the 2009 Venice Film Festival.

characteristics

- Politics

- Filmmaking

- Filmmaker

related movies