Re: How Do You Determine Who Should Win Best Director?
Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2011 2:23 am
The issues that go into the production will bump up a director's achievement in my book, as will (in an 'auteur production') the ideas, energy and intent behind it all. Call it an 'A for effort' - although I'll only give them out if the risks the director takes pay off. Scope counts, as do challenges such as crowd scenes, complicated lighting or camera setups, un-backprojected driving scenes and other complex techniques. However even if a film is small and humble in scope the director can still earn my respect for their economy and simplicity.
To outline what I mean, I wouldn't call The Holy Mountain the best film I've seen from 1973, but Alejandro Jodorowsky is a very close runner-up for my Best Director award because the challenges he set out for himself were immense, the ideas were unique and intriguing, and the payout works fantastically on screen. Now, I would call The Spirit of the Beehive the best film I've seen from 1973, and I also give Erice my Best Director award because, even if he had less to deal with on-set, his ideas, narrative threads and compositions are condensed and pressurised that they approach a kind of diamond perfection. The opposite happens in 1957 - Nights of Cabiria is one of my favourite films of all time, and it has such a simple yet elegant beauty and power, but I would give my Best Director award to Mikhail Kalatozov, whose direction of The Cranes Are Flying would have been far more difficult yet is similarly breathtaking and, well, effortless on-screen.
Basically, I will take into account the challenges the director faced, the strength, originality and clarity of their ideas, the scope of their formal/thematic vision, their framing and compositions, their use of actors (especially non-professionals, children, bit performers and other actors that need more hands-on direction) and their mise-en-scène. For those working within the studio system I will pay attention to how they use such a rigid structure to express something philosophically or politically impactful or personal. And I will give extra points to directors who work in other aspects of their productions as well, as long as their work there is successful also.
When I award Best Picture I pay attention FIRST to how the film makes me feel, SECOND to how the film engages me intellectually, and THIRD to how the film succeeds on the strength of formal and structural criteria.
To outline what I mean, I wouldn't call The Holy Mountain the best film I've seen from 1973, but Alejandro Jodorowsky is a very close runner-up for my Best Director award because the challenges he set out for himself were immense, the ideas were unique and intriguing, and the payout works fantastically on screen. Now, I would call The Spirit of the Beehive the best film I've seen from 1973, and I also give Erice my Best Director award because, even if he had less to deal with on-set, his ideas, narrative threads and compositions are condensed and pressurised that they approach a kind of diamond perfection. The opposite happens in 1957 - Nights of Cabiria is one of my favourite films of all time, and it has such a simple yet elegant beauty and power, but I would give my Best Director award to Mikhail Kalatozov, whose direction of The Cranes Are Flying would have been far more difficult yet is similarly breathtaking and, well, effortless on-screen.
Basically, I will take into account the challenges the director faced, the strength, originality and clarity of their ideas, the scope of their formal/thematic vision, their framing and compositions, their use of actors (especially non-professionals, children, bit performers and other actors that need more hands-on direction) and their mise-en-scène. For those working within the studio system I will pay attention to how they use such a rigid structure to express something philosophically or politically impactful or personal. And I will give extra points to directors who work in other aspects of their productions as well, as long as their work there is successful also.
When I award Best Picture I pay attention FIRST to how the film makes me feel, SECOND to how the film engages me intellectually, and THIRD to how the film succeeds on the strength of formal and structural criteria.