Movie talk: "The Greatest Directors?"

Notice the question mark, folks... I'm not proclaiming these folks as the definitive top ten. I don't claim to be enough of an expert to do a list like that, and I don't even think I'd want to do one like that. These ten (technically eleven), however, are the ones whose work has most consistently moved me, personally. Some you'll know, some you probably won't. Onward...

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COEN (JOEL AND ETHAN). I would love the work of the Coen Brothers even if they weren't from my home town. Really. Their off-kilter sensibilities, their unwillingness to stay in a rut making exactly the same film each time, have led to such incredibly diverse titles as the dark noir "Blood Simple", the silly comedy "Raising Arizona", the warm likeable characters of "The Big Lebowski" and the Biblical parallels of "A Serious Man". The only thing they all have in common is a nearly cartoonish at times approach that has led some critics to say they don't have any sympathy for their characters, but it seems to me that anyone paying real attention to their films can tell otherwise. Best Film: "Fargo" (or maybe "The Big Lebowski")

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GILLIAM (TERRY). Another former Minnesotan, this ex-Monty Python member shares a certain degree of the off-kilter style of the Coen Brothers, but usually takes things even farther into flat-out surrealism (is there something in the Minnesota water?). "The Time Bandits", "The Adventures Of Baron Muchausen", even the closest thing to a "normal" movie he's ever done, "The Fisher King", all have a touch of the strange to them. And usually something to say about human nature and good and evil too, though never at the expense of his (and your) sense of wonder. None of this is more true than in his all-time classic "Brazil".And you can generally get a strong dose of the old Python humor as well.  Best film: "Brazil".

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HITCHCOCK (ALFRED). Now, there can't be anyone reading this who doesn't know Hitchcock. The absolute master of suspense, Hitchcock also had a dark sense of humor that often manifested itself at unexpected times in films like "Shadow Of A Doubt", "Vertigo", "North By Northwest" and the film that gets the blame for starting the slasher movie trend, "Psycho" (don't blame Alfred for that). He was also one of the strangest, most personally bizarre folks in the movies in his private life, but after all, there's often a direct connection between artistic genius and... well, let's call it eccentricity. If yolu're a fan of suspense, you ARE a fan of Hitchcock. Best film: "Rear Window".

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HUSTON (JOHN). John Huston, both in the films he made during his long association with Humphrey Bogart and with other stars, loved tales of strong, tough guys. But they were often stories of tough guys who had some weak spot that inevitably came out, as in "Key Largo", "The Maltese Falcon" or "Treasure Of The Sierra Madre". That last was a classic example of Huston's total lack of hesitation to look into the darker side of human nature and present leading characters who weren't exactly admirable. On the other hand, his tough guys COULD sometimes be much more likable, as in the Oscar winning "The African Queen". Best film: "Treasure Of The Sierra Madre".

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KAURISMAKI (AKI). Kaurismaki is a Finnish director who is quite possibly the world's absolute master of dead-pan, straight-faced humor... in fact, his movies are generally as dark as it's possible for a comedy to get and still be considered a comedy, and you might find it difficult to find many conventional laughs in "The Match Factory Girl". He also sometimes likes to challenge his audiences with films like "Juha", a completely silent film. But he's also willing from time to time to give audiences films that are just plain silly ("Leningrad Cowboys Go America", the saga of an untalented Finnish rock band touring the U.S.) and even warm and touching (as in "The Man Without A Past"). His films are occasionally reminiscent of some of the Coen Brothers' more comedic titles. Best film: "Leningrad Cowboys Go America".

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KUROSAWA (AKIRA). The legendary master of the samurai film,. he certainly did give us some of the all-time action-packed classics of that genre with films like "The Seven Samurai", "The Hidden Fortress" and "Yojimbo". But the thing that really made him a master was the way he completely understood all sides of human nature as thoroughly as Shakespeare himself, which made his Shakespeare adaptations like "Throne Of Blood" ("Macbeth") and "Ran" ("King Lear") all the more resonant. And few films are more touching than his "Ikiru"("To Live"), the story of a dying man attempting to accomplish one last good deed that will justify his having lived. Kurosawa was unquestionably one of the giants. Best film: "Ikiru".

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LEE (SPIKE).  Known for his movies about divisive racial issues such as "Do The Right Thing" and "School Daze", Lee really deserves a less restrictive image. He's one of the classic New York film makers and in movies like "Summer Of Sam" gives us portraits of his beloved home town unlike any others, and isn't afraid of showing us both the positive and the negative. He can also do epics well, as in the Word War II saga :"Miracle At St. Anna". And very few film makers of modern times have developed as many technical innovations (especially in the area of cinematography) to enable them to tell their stories in new and different ways. Best film: "Do The Right Thing".

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SCORCESE (MARTIN). Yet another director known for one specific type of film even though they've ranged quite far afield from that one style. Though, it has to be admitted, hardly anyone has ever made gangster movies better than "Mean Streets", "Goodfellas" and "Casino", or given us a picture of gangster life that makes the goodfellas seem more like the everyday guys you run into on the street. Just don't forget spiritual themed movies like "The Last Temptation Of Christ" and "Kundun", period pieces like "The Age Of Innocence", or suspense films like "Shutter Island", either. Best film: "Goodfellas".

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TORNATORE (GIUSEPPI). The Italian master of sentiment and nostaliga. Almost all of Tornatore's films have a warm, romantic look back at the past and a certain sadness that the promise of those days has turned out to be unfulfilled. And yet, somehow, watching a marathon of movies like "Cinema Paradiso", "The Star Maker" and "The Legend of 1900" don't make you feel sad or depressed... quite the contrary. I'm not sure how he manages it, but he does. He's also from time to time turned a little darker and given us Hitchcock-like suspense stories like "A Pure Formality". Just so, you know, he doesn't get into too much of a film making rut. Best film :" Cinema Paradiso" (my all-time favorite foreign language film, with my all-time favorite musical score in any film).

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WONG (KAR-WAI). Hong Kong's ong has a particular favorite theme that always seems to wind up in each of his movies, no matter what the subject matter is: loneliness, the way so many of us are isolated from each other, and the ways we try... and sometimes succeed... to bridge the gaps and establish connections. I once began a review of his masterpiece "Chungking Express" with the words "Perhaps the best film ever made about loneliness", and nothing has happened to change my mind since I wrote that. But other titles such as "Fallen Angels", and "In The Mood For Love" are also very impressive. Even in his one and only attempt at a martial arts film in "Ashes Of Time", there's more screen time devoted to the hero's emotional state than his fighting skills. I don't really have one single favorite director, but Wong would definitely be a strong contender for the spot. Best film: "Chungking Wxpress".