Filmmakers : Wes Anderson or Darren Aronofsky?

[stuie299]

I recently got in a debate with someone who said they thought Wes Anderson was Indie fluff. I'll just state up front that Anderson is one of my favorite directors ever. When I asked him who he thought was better he said Darren Aronofsky which is a director I happen to not like very much. Considering that I find everyone on Criticker to be extremely knowledgeable I wanted to see what your thoughts were on Anderson vs Aronofsky. I Also wanted to hear from a group of people that might be a little more objective since both of us are extremely biased.

BTW he mentioned other directors like The Coen Brothers, PTA, and Andrew Dominik. Its just that he went off on a tangent about Aronofsky. Specifically his movies Black Swan and The Wrestler.

[ShogunRua]

Honestly, I'm not a huge fan of either. They both possess qualities that have become annoying trends in indie films.

Aronofsky is a hack that makes simple-minded, cliched films (which are almost remakes/adaptations in the case of "Black Swan" and "The Wrestler") with really high production values and some nice acting performances.

Wes Anderson incorporates a type of douchey, hipster meta-humor in his films that I find it nauseating, and rarely makes me crack a smile.

That being said, I would choose Wes Anderson among the two. The guy is legitimately talented, annoying sense of humor or not. His ideas are fresh and original, his pacing is good, and he has a great eye for details and amusing scenes.

Most importantly, I liked "The Fantastic Mr. Fox" more than any Aronofsky film, "The Wrestler" included. (The latter was good, but not great)

[stuie299]

That being said, I would choose Wes Anderson among the two. The guy is legitimately talented, annoying sense of humor or not. His ideas are fresh and original, his pacing is good, and he has a great eye for details and amusing scenes.

That was actually my main point. Even if you don't like his movies overall you still can appreciate his technical ability. Especially his attention to detail.

[TheDenizen]

I've seen 3 films directed by Aronofsky (The Wrestler, Requiem for a Dream and Pi), all of which I really liked. I have very high PSIs for the two I haven't watched.

The only Anderson film I've seen was Fantastic Mr. Fox, which I thought was pretty lame and mostly not funny at all. In fact, I couldn't wait for it to end. I have high PSI's for a couple of his films, but the synopses for them don't really sound that interesting to me.

Douchey, hipster meta-humor is not something I enjoy, and I trust ShogunRua's judgement on that front, so I'm gonna say Aronofsky is better.

[CMonster]

I have to say that I like both of them. I don't think either would make it on my list of favorite directors, but both have talent. I would agree with Shogun than Aronofsky films aren't particularly deep (i.e. moral of Requiem for a Dream is drugs can ruin your life) but how the films are made is incredibly atmospheric. I would compare his films to Ridley Scott's Gladiator. There is a strong stylized look and good performances that make it very entertaining, but there is enough problems or lack of some sort of depth that if the film doesn't click with you, its easy to dismiss as overrated. That is minus The Wrestler which is just different than his other films.

As for Wes Anderson, his movies are hit or miss for me. I would say that it stems from his sense of humor. I don't know if my enjoyment of his films is based on the mood I'm in when I see the film or it the humor only works in some of the films. I really enjoyed The Life Aquatic but found The Darjeeling Limited to be boring.

I'd say both have talent but really enjoying their films comes down to taste. Neither is making something like The Godfather that seems to transcend taste in films.

[stuie299]

As for Wes Anderson, his movies are hit or miss for me. I would say that it stems from his sense of humor. I don't know if my enjoyment of his films is based on the mood I'm in when I see the film or it the humor only works in some of the films. I really enjoyed The Life Aquatic but found The Darjeeling Limited to be boring.

Well if you've only seen those two Wes Anderson films I highly recommend you check out more. Darjeeling Limited is definitely Anderson's worst film. His other movies like Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums are IMO on par with The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou. However Bottle Rock is somewhere in between.

[CMonster]

I have seen the Tenenbaums, but not Rushmore or Bottle Rocket. Both are on my list of films to watch because I did enjoy both The Life Aquatic and the Tenenbaums. I'm hoping they're closer to what I did enjoy from him than what I didn't.

[djross]

Two very different 43 year olds: Anderson's films are wry, dry and give the impression of complete aesthetic control as the director determinedly pursues his clear and consistent artistic goals; Aronofsky has much greater fondness for melodrama, and his work is at times kitschy and overwrought, but he seems very keen to take artistic chances and push his work in different directions. Having seen everything by both of them except Anderson's latest (Moonrise Kingdom), my view is that Anderson's work is more consistently good, but between the two of them Aronofsky has made the only masterpiece (Black Swan).

[Pickpocket]

Weird comparison because they have almost nothing in common. This could be debated to death but personally I prefer Wes

[Spunkie]

Anderson directed Rushmore, Aronofsky haven't directed any fully accomplished movie. I guess I'm not hanging for Aronofsky's next movie, while next Anderson is at least welcome.