The Ten Most Influential Gen X Directors

Paul Thomas Anderson – At 27, Anderson was already evoking Martin Scorsese with the opening shot of “Boogie Nights” – a steadycam follows mythical lost characters of the 1970s porn world around a nightclub as they fantasize about the future. He directed the movie that put him on the map while resurrecting Burt Reynolds’ career and also turning Mark Wahlberg into a bona fide movie star.

“Boogie Nights” introduced the themes to which Anderson would return in later films, including “Magnolia” and “Punch Drunk Love”: the loneliness that comes with power, the sacrifices needed to attain success and the substitution of a career family for a traditional one. Anderson wrings the most profound emotions from his leading actors by flipping the switch on their strengths and allowing his artists to publically surrender to their own vices. Reynolds and Julianne Moore earned their first Oscar nods in “Boogie Nights,” and Tom Cruise was nominated for his work in “Magnolia.” “There Will Be Blood” is a masterpiece that breaks most traditional film rules, yet manages to incorporate references to classics ranging from “Battleship Potemkin” to “Giant.” Daniel Day Lewis won an Oscar for his role as oilman Daniel Plainview and managed to horrify audiences with his anger. Surprisingly, Anderson also has a comedic side and has directed several “Saturday Night Live” specials.

Wes Anderson – In the first scene of his first film, “Bottle Rocket” – which launched the acting careers of brothers Luke and Owen Wilson – a disturbed young man sneaks out of a mental hospital by climbing down a ladder made of bed sheets.  Never mind that he has already been discharged and can walk out the door.  A friend is watching, and the young man feels compelled to make the escape into an adventure.

Ever since, Anderson has been giving us characters who take the hard road on purpose, just to see if something exciting will happen.  As in life, the reality of the adventure often fails to live up to its potential.  But we enjoy the journey.  And we enjoy spending time in the company of people who would rather explore and learn than simply follow the easy paths in life.  Anderson’s best known movies, “The Royal Tenenbaums,” “The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou,” and “The Darjeeling Limited,” are usually considered comedies.  But they deal with death, loneliness, and regret – and not in a funny way.

His regular stable of actors – the Wilson brothers, Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman and Anjelica Huston – all have comedy in their bones.  But Anderson has extracted from each an equal measure of melancholy.  The result is a series of wistful stories that feel as if they will continue even after the closing credits roll.  Rarely do we laugh.  But we feel heartened at the end, often joyful, and always satisfied. Anderson earned an Oscar nod for the screenplay for “The Royal Tenenbaums,” and just last year he was nominated for best animated feature for “Fantastic Mr. Fox.”

Judd Apatow – His projects sound like bad sitcom pitches.  “An ordinary guy turns 40 without ever having been laid.  We’ll cast over-the-top comic actor Steve Carell as the straight man, letting everybody else do the funny bits.”  “Let’s pick the prettiest actress we can find and get her character so drunk that she has unprotected sex, and gets pregnant by a fat, lazy stoner.”  He has made stars out of camera-unfriendly leading men like Seth Rogen and Jonah Hill.  His films are just as crude and misogynistic as any comedies at the multiplex.  And his characters never really mature – except in the classically unconvincing sitcom way, with hugging at the end.  But his method works.

Part of Apatow’s genius certainly is that he makes us care about his bizarre characters.  There’s an appealing vulnerability to his protagonists that reminds us of ourselves.  We may have lost our virginity in the 1980s (thanks for asking!), but we can still relate to Andy Stitzer’s worries about whether a girl will remember him when he calls, or whether she’ll think he’s too hairy when she first sees him naked.

As with all great comics, Apatow’s best gift is his timing.  Special effects have become so lifelike, and the explosions have become so real, that we’re sometimes scared to enter the theater.  On television, reality programming has all but killed the sitcom.  It’s nice to spend a couple of hours relaxing with Apatow’s version of the classic comedy formula: silly characters are introduced, the lead couple pairs off, a misunderstanding causes them to separate, they mature, and they reconcile.  If only life were so simple.  And so consistently funny.

Darren Aronofsky – Aronofsky’s films are often hard to watch. His debut feature, “Pi,” is shot with a herky-jerky handheld and makes the viewer feel the main character’s descent into madness. “The Fountain” is a glorious mess, beautifully shot on a full budget – and incomprehensible. “Requiem for a Dream” and “The Wrestler” give up-close – maybe even too-close – views of the stomach-churning lives of marginal characters. Who could forget a beaten and bloody Randy “The Ram” Robinson pulling staples from his body after a brutal “professional” wrestling match?

Aronofsky’s actors have been known to lose a few screws while immersing themselves in their parts. But they give the most amazing, unselfconscious performances. Ellen Burstyn earned an Oscar nod for “Requiem for a Dream,” and Mickey Rourke and Marisa Tomei were both nominated for their work in “The Wrestler.” An Aronofsky film is mesmerizing. Like road kill, it may be hard to watch, but you cannot pull your eyes away. The characters are too compelling, too crazy, too real to ignore. To date, Aronofsky’s films have mostly bombed at the box office. His luck may change with “Black Swan,” set for release later this year.

Sofia Coppola – Born into a cinematic dynasty, this Coppola carved out her own distinct voice as writer, director and producer. Building on the success of “The Virgin Suicides,” “Lost in Translation,” delicate in its sensibilities yet strong in its message, propelled Scarlett Johansson to the A-list and brought out a sensitivity in Bill Murray rarely before shown.

Coppola won the best original screenplay Oscar for that movie, claiming her own place in what is still, mostly, an exclusive men’s club. Several years later, with “Marie Antoinette,” she directed her cousin Jason Schwartzman and actress Kirsten Dunst to perform their roles as though they were the age the royal couple would have been at the time they first met, a few years before the French Revolution – as teenagers.

To drive the point home further, alternative bands from the 1980s provided most of the soundtrack. Combining the music of teen angst with visually luscious costumes and scenes lent a punk tone to European history. Coppola has a strong ear for music, and in all her films the soundtrack becomes its own character. Who could ever forget the karaoke moment in “Lost in Translation,” in which Murray unleashes a series of pent-up emotions by belting out Elvis Costello’s “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding?”

Sam Mendes – Mendes was considered a first-rate stage director for his work with the Royal Shakespeare Company. He showed surprising mastery of the film medium with his debut feature, “American Beauty,” which captured Oscars for best picture, best original screenplay, best cinematography, and best actor for Kevin Spacey. Mendes took home the trophy for best director. While films of gritty decay, both urban and rural, are nothing new, Mendes shattered the image of the idealized suburb to reveal the moral decay inside its picture-perfect homes. None of life’s big topics – marriage, children, houses, neighbors or cheerleaders – was spared.

Mendes revisited this dystopian theme nearly a decade later with “Revolutionary Road,” directing his now-estranged wife, Oscar winner Kate Winslet, and nominee Leonardo DiCaprio, in tormenting performances. In between these two films, he also directed Paul Newman and Tom Hanks in “Road to Perdition” and an ensemble cast in “Jarhead.” Last year’s “Away We Go” revealed a softer, funnier and more relaxed Mendes. The film features John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph as an unmarried, expecting–and very much in love–couple.

As we observe their quest for the right home in which to welcome their baby, we see their tenderness toward each other contrasted against an array of feelings exhibited by a series of other couples. The message? Perhaps the most functional love stories are those in which two people decide what works for them and ignore the outdated social rules that provided such great material for Mendes’s first big film.

Christopher Nolan – This director likes head games. His first movie, “Memento,” co-written with and based on a short story by his brother Jonathan, is famously told in reverse. The brothers earned an Oscar nomination for best original screenplay. Each Nolan film operates like a puzzle, including this year’s “Inception,” which features layer upon layer of puzzles nestled inside each other. In “Batman Begins,” “The Dark Knight” and “The Prestige,” Nolan created complete and dark worlds that seem familiar but operate under their own convoluted logic. Everything about a Nolan film is tight: the setting, the characters, the plot, and, with growing budget, the visuals. From the simply-shot “Memento” to the elaborate sets and international production of “Inception,” in a cheap motel or in a city bending upside down, every detail is meticulous and intentional. Best of all, Nolan makes the special effects serve the story, rather than letting the story serve the effects. Movies are supposed to take us where we have never been. Nolan acts as tour guide, ensuring that our trip is memorable and, yet, puzzling.

Jason Reitman – He was enrolled in a pre-med program before his producer-director father advised him to drop out and pursue what he loved. Fortunately, the son listened. Jason Reitman infuses his stories with a personal passion that has resulted in three of his films defining an entire decade. He wrote and directed “Thank You for Smoking,” directed “Juno,” and wrote, directed and produced “Up in the Air.”

His movies have been well received by the Motion Picture Academy. “Juno” won Diablo Cody an Oscar for best original screenplay and earned nominations for best picture, best director and best actress. “Up in the Air” generated Oscar nominations for George Clooney, Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick, and Reitman was nominated for best original screenplay, best director and best picture.

Reitman’s stories provide a running commentary on our times. In each of his films, the lead character tries to balance his or her flaws against an idealized perception of family while facing an uncertain and often gloomy sense of self. At the same time, Reitman provides his characters with both humor and hope while avoiding clichéd sentiment and mawkishness. Reitman has outgrown his father’s shadow to produce some of the most powerful movies about modern adulthood.

Guy Ritchie – Writer, director and producer Ritchie is known as much for his marriage to, and divorce from, Madonna as for his films. This is a shame considering that, “Swept Away” aside, his movies are great entertainment. Starting with “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels,” Ritchie introduced us to England’s underworld of crooks, thieves, mobsters and hoodlums, with a frenetic pace cut at irregular intervals by signature slow-motion action.

Whether it’s Brad Pitt as a gypsy boxer taking a dive in “Snatch,” or Robert Downey Jr. defending his manliness in last year’s “Sherlock Holmes,” Ritchie gives us, well, guys. The dialogue is fast, the editing faster. The cast of characters includes Brits, Americans, Africans and everybody in between. In Ritchie’s gangland, race becomes the afterthought to the one thing his stories have in common: people – rich and poor, desperate and powerful – behaving badly to get what they want: money, guns or women.

His original leading man, Jason Statham, has made a career out of playing this same bad-boy character for many other directors. Ritchie’s movies feel like a series of extended music videos, and he manages to inject humor into the most absurd situations. Guy Ritchie movies are sexy and pure fun.

M Night Shyamalan – How you view “The Sixth Sense” depends largely upon whether you guessed the secret.  We confess ignorance until the very end, which is why we consider it a work of genius.  Unfortunately, such a trick can be pulled only once.  Shyamalan has so conditioned us to expect a big surprise that each subsequent story’s twist is almost always a letdown.

And it only gets worse when, as in “The Happening,” there isn’t much of a twist at all.  No wonder, then, that in our view the quality of his work has deteriorated over time.  Whereas most artists establish certain mastery as they age, Shyamalan seems to experience a gradual diminution of his talent.  Still, his gift of suspense is prodigious.  And it’s often more fun to watch a movie where we keep guessing at the secret than to watch one where the ending is foreordained.  Shyamalan’s casting has been hit-or-miss.  Only in “The Sixth Sense” and “Signs” did we accept all the leads as plausible.  And some of his plots are downright silly.

But we still believe he has great work ahead of him.  Alfred Hitchcock, the director with whom Shyamalan is unavoidably compared, turned out his best work – and lots of it – in his 50s.  Shyamalan, who just turned 40, has the promise of such a legacy.