My Favourite Filmmakers

for Heart of Glass (1976), Stroszek (1977), Aguirre: The Wrath of God (1972), The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1974), Grizzly Man (2005), Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans (2009), Encounters at the End of the World (2007), Little Dieter Needs to Fly (1998), Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979), Fitzcarraldo (1982), Where the Green Ants Dream (1984), My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done (2009), Lessons of Darkness (1992), My Best Fiend (1999), Rescue Dawn (2006), The White Diamond (2004), Bells from the Deep: Faith and Superstition in Russia (1993), Wheel of Time (2003), Salt and Fire (2016)

Werner Herzog is one of my favourite people ever. I think about him a lot. What is so compelling in his films? I believe it's a number of things. Most of all it's a juxtaposition of gloom and absurdist humour. He has a sort of bleak view of a life, and yet he never fails to make me smile when he expresses it. All of his films are about madness or obsession in some way, and there's a grandness to such subject matter that he never fails to capture. There's something operatic about the 'slow descent into madness' in a film like Aguirre. And yet, the film is also very funny. I don't get the people who miss the humour; almost all of his films could basically be labelled comedies. The man is hilarious, and I guarantee if you listen to him talk, watch one of his audio commentaries, or read one of his books, you will be entertained. The ridiculous lengths he goes to to realise his films is another big draw of his work. Be it pulling a 320-ton steamship up a mountain in the middle of the jungle (Fitzcarraldo), or having his entire cast perform under hypnosis (Heart of Glass, my favourite), the behind-the-scenes for his films is ridiculous. This is just the tip of an enormous iceberg; there's enough just in Fitzcarraldo to fill a book (come to think of it, I own such a book), and I haven't even mentioned his infamous relationship with Klaus Kinski. Hearing Herzog talk about this stuff is amazing.

There's never any pretension with Herzog. "People should look straight at a film" he says. "That’s the only way to see one. Film is not the art of scholars but illiterates. And film culture is not analysis; it is agitation of the mind. Movies come from the country fair and circus, not from art and academicism." Do not analyse his films. Look straight at them. Consider the ending of Stroszek. What does it mean? Herzog says it's a great metaphor, but admits he does not know what it is a metaphor for. I can say that when I first watched it, I was blown away, and though I cannot put into words what it means to me, it is something big, and I feel it whenever I watch the film. It agitates my mind such. Herzog gets lumped in by certain people with a lot of European "art directors" whose films are oftentimes humourless and inaccessible, but I don't think these people understand Herzog, that is, they don't understand how little there is to understand. And with that I introduce this list. My tastes are far from mainstream, but I like to think I'm not a film snob. I watch films and if I like them I like them and if I don't I don't. Herzog's films are weird and they aren't for everybody; if you like them you like them and if you don't you don't. That's all there is to it. This is a list of filmmakers whose films I like.

for Hazard (2005), Love Exposure (2008), Exte: Hair Extensions (2007), Strange Circus (2005), Suicide Club (2001), Why Don't You Play in Hell (2013), Guilty of Romance (2011), Cold Fish (2010), Noriko's Dinner Table (2005), Into a Dream (2005), Tag (2015), Himizu (2011), Bad Film (2012), The Land of Hope (2012), Balloon Club: Afterwards (2006), Love & Peace (2015), The Whispering Star (2015)

Bold and visionary – Sion Sono is my favourite Japanese director working today, but more than that, his films speak to me and excite me more deeply, more personally than any other's. I consider him the voice of my generation – or perhaps I'm not representative of my generation, but he's the voice of my soul anyways. Alongside Herzog and the singer-songwriter Morrissey, he's part of my holy trinity, of poets whose voice has captured agency over my life now. Like Herzog he exaggerates and stylizes situations and characters to capture deeper, inner, ecstatic truths in them. But Sono's films are more about living, now, in this era and generation, and he inspires me beyond compare.

for Ran (1985), Ikiru (1952), Seven Samurai (1954), The Bad Sleep Well (1960), Kagemusha (1980), Dreams (1990), I Live in Fear (1955), The Hidden Fortress (1958), Dodes'ka-den (1970), Drunken Angel (1948), Throne of Blood (1957), Sanjuro (1962), Yojimbo (1961), Rashômon (1950), High and Low (1963), Red Beard (1965), One Wonderful Sunday (1947), Stray Dog (1949), The Idiot (1951)

What's more amazing than the ridiculously and unquestionably high standard of quality that nearly all of Kurosawa's films uphold is the sheer quantity that do. In the years between 1948 and 1963, he was averaging one film per year, and I've found but one that was merely 'great'. And best of all, there are some true masterpieces among his oeuvre. Ran and Ikiru are perfect, both in my top ten of all-time.

for Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004), Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003), Pulp Fiction (1994), Inglourious Basterds (2009), Reservoir Dogs (1992), Django Unchained (2012), Death Proof (2007)

Pulp Fiction was originally the movie that made me start watching more movies, which led me to becoming the sort of cinephile I am now. That film, and to an even greater extent Kill Bill are two of the most entertaining, incredible, and stylish movies I've ever seen. In fact, all of Tarantino's films are pretty much fantastic.

for The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer (1961), Harakiri (1962), The Human Condition I: No Greater Love (1959), The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity (1959), Kwaidan (1964), Samurai Rebellion (1967), Inn of Evil (1971), Sincere Heart (1953)

Harakiri is a perfect film. The Human Condition is the best and most powerful film I've ever seen. Kwaidan is the most visually stunning film I've ever seen. Samurai Rebellion is also incredible. What a great filmmaker! These are all masterpieces, enough already to cement him as one of the greatest directors of all time! And yet, somehow, these are the only four films of his that anybody knows about. Thankfully, some efforts have been made recently to try to rectify this, but there are still intriguing titles in his filmography that are apparently completely unavailable, I'd love to see get releases.

+ Joel Coen

for Barton Fink (1991), A Serious Man (2009), The Man Who Wasn't There (2001), The Big Lebowski (1998), Raising Arizona (1987), The Hudsucker Proxy (1994), O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), Fargo (1996)

The Coen brothers have their own distinct brand of eccentricity prevalent in all of their films - in their comedies, to some extent in their serious films, but most of all in those films of theirs that occupy a bizarre grey area in between. Moreover, their films are all pretty exceptionally well-crafted. My favourites are A Serious Man, which leans slightly more towards comedy, and The Man Who Wasn't There, which leans slightly more towards serious, I guess. The Big Lebowski, strictly comedy, is one of the greatest of all comedies. And they have so many other good movies... Barton Fink, oh my god.

for Annie Hall (1977), The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985), Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989), Bullets Over Broadway (1994), Manhattan (1979), Everyone Says I Love You (1996), Shadows and Fog (1991), Whatever Works (2009), Broadway Danny Rose (1984), Midnight in Paris (2011), Cassandra's Dream (2007), Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)

Woody Allen has basically written and directed one film per year, for over forty years now; I've seen more of his films than anyone else's, and I've yet to encounter one I disliked. Most are great. Some are really brilliant. His comedies have an incomparable and recognizable wit to them, and his neurotic, often self-deprecating style of humour has never gotten old. But he can also do more serious films and do them well.

for Double Indemnity (1944), The Apartment (1960), Ace in the Hole (1951), Some Like it Hot (1959), Sunset Blvd. (1950), The Lost Weekend (1945), The Front Page (1974)

Wilder is responsible for at least two of classic Hollywood's very best film noirs, and best comedies. But even his minor films... I've learned never to doubt Billy Wilder to make an entertaining movie. He is the unequivocal master of old Hollywood.

for Twin Peaks (2017), Eraserhead (1977), Mulholland Dr. (2001), Wild at Heart (1990), Blue Velvet (1986), The Elephant Man (1980)

I love Lynch. I love the way he talks. I love the way he moves his hands. I love the way he does his hair. And I love his dreamy, darkly comic movies. Besides these movies though, he is also responsible for Twin Peaks. The 1990 series was my favourite live-action show ever. The 2017 series is twice as good, and now maybe my favourite thing ever. It is at once completely visionary, having nothing in common with anything else on TV or in the movies, and then, alternately, it features just the most superlative absurdist comedy, perfectly tuned to my sense of humour. It's sublime.

for Memories of Murder (2003), Snowpiercer (2013), Mother (2009), Okja (2017), Parasite (2019)

After making the two greatest Korean films with Memories of Murder and Mother, Joon-ho Bong's dabbling in Hollywood has produced two of the most exquisite and eccentric blockbusters of recent years – Snowpiercer and Okja. He is one of those rare filmmakers who takes his time releasing films, and seems to only put out masterpieces; in Bong's case, masterpieces of such a deliciously dark comic flavour, that they seem to be made especially for me. Judging from Okja, his incredibly creative latest offering, Bong is in his prime form, and while he might not have built up as impressive a resume as the others on this list, there is nobody on the list whose next film I am more excited to see.

for Tokyo Fist (1995), Gemini (1999), Tetsuo (1989), Hiruko the Goblin (1991)

A runner-up. Though he is not quite the master that the rest of the people on this list are, whenever I think of Shin'ya Tsukamoto, I feel he deserves to be included amongst my favourite filmmakers. Here is a fiercely independent artist who, while never receiving the kind of recognition or bigger budgets of similar horror directors, has just kind of been doing his thing, in a decades-spanning career that shows no signs of stagnation or decline. Tsukamoto's films have a heavy-metal-inflected style all their own, though he bears comparison to David Lynch in the way he involves himself in every aspect of the design of his movies, to bring to life these dark dream-worlds (Tetsuo is as ambitious and bold a debut - or a statement of intent - as Lynch's Eraserhead was).

for Fallen Angels (1995), 2046 (2004), Happy Together (1997), Chungking Express (1994)

And another runner up. How can I not include him. Kar-Wai Wong is the best director of the 90s. He is a painter with the camera. With the barest of resources, he can capture the most beautiful images, and then choose the perfect music or pop song to pair them with, and combine it all together in a way that seems perfect yet effortless. Watching a Kar-Wai Wong movie is more like listening to a great album. To really appreciate it, watch it with headphones, loud, in the dark; fully immerse yourself in it. His movies are just the most romantic movies ever made. I fall in love not just with his characters, but with his settings. My affection for big Asian cities can be summed up by the feelings Fallen Angels evokes. It triggers so many memories, of things and feelings I've experienced, or things I haven't, but long to; a nostalgia for my time in Asia. I think I felt it on my first viewing, even before I'd ever been there.