How Do We Even Begin to Rank Directors?!

07/01/23 • 78 min

Is it easy to rank your favourite directors? It can be a daunting task! How can we for instance even begin to compare directors who made 50+ films with directors who made 5? How do we compare studio directors to arthouse auteurs? Oh, and is it just a matter of how great the films are, or do we look for something else, such as personal style and artistic impact?

In this episode, we will look at the 4 most common ways of ranking directors:

Average rating
Number of favourites
A personal/intuitive connection
An assessment of their career and impact

Lean back as we try to poke holes in each other's systems, or perhaps even attempt to dismiss helpful systems altogether, and ponder the big questions related to what truly makes one director better than another.

In this episode, we will look at the 4 most common ways of ranking directors:

Average rating
Number of favourites
A personal/intuitive connection
An assessment of their career and impact

Previous Episode

The Unbelievable Free-Moving Camera of Mikhail Kalatozov

Are any films more visually impressive and pioneering than Kalatozov's golden trio of late-life films, The Cranes Are Flying (1957), Letter Never Sent (1960) and Soy Cuba (1964). Thanks to the innovations of his brilliant cinematographer, Sergey Urusevskiy, the camera is simply ALIVE!

The unbelievable long takes, trailing through all-consuming fires, moving through buildings and generally just feeling truly free, would likely need to be done

with CGI today, but here, they are done as is, on the ground, years before Godard or Truffaut debuted, and with far more prowess.

How was it possible?

Oh, and did Kalotozov invent the disaster movie genre in the process?

Listen in and feel free to leave your comments on ICMForum.com.

Timestamps:

Intro: 00:00

What Makes These 3 Films So Impressive: 00:01:51

The Cranes Are Flying: 00:06:15

Letter Never Sent: 00:35:10

Soy Cuba: 00:52:01

Quick notes on Kalatozov's Other Films: 1:12:34

Next Episode

Is Comedy Universal?

How can it be that we "all" seem to hate beloved Turkish, Russian and Indian comedy classics and mega hits, despite their incredibly IMDb averages and striking vanguard?!

Is it because comedies just don't translate that well? Is it because we just don't have a sense of humour? Or: Is it because we have been brainwashed by the cultural dominance of the US, the UK and to a lesser extent France and Italy?

Yes, how do we actually feel about US and UK comedies? Do they translate everywhere?

And how come the ratings for many of these Turkish, Russian and Indian films are so insane, towering over almost all beloved classics from other countries? Is something deceptive going on, or do they just strike a powerful nerve with the local population?

We will also dive into the controversial decision by IMDb to actively remove the Turkish classic Hababam sinifi (1975) from their top 250, despite having an average rating of 9.2 and more than 40k voters, a decision that stands until this day. Is it pure Anglo-Saxon chauvinism or could there be something else to their decision?

Timestamps:

Intro: 00:00:00

Do Any of Us Believe Comedy is Universal: 00:04:20

Do we laugh easily? 00:07:44

Are US and UK Comedies Universal Due to Cultural Dominance?: 00:18:16

Will Anyone Defend Turkish Comedies: 00:27:48

How Bad Are the Soviet Comedies?: 00:44.24

Indian Comedies: 00:50:35

Was IMDb Right to Remove Hababam Sinifi from Their Top 250?: 01:03:19

Do Comedies Need to be Funny?: 01:10:25