Top working directors

[djross]

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[paulofilmo]

Mike Leigh

Not meaning to be curt, I feel like stopping there.

[theficionado]

the Coen brothers
the Dardenne brothers
David Cronenberg
Apitchatpong Weerasethakul
Tsai Ming-Liang
Quintin Tarantino
Kim Ki-duk
Werner Herzog
Terrence Malick
Lynne Ramsay

I do love that you have John Maringouin in your list, though.

[MmzHrrdb]

Great Directors who haven't degenerated:
Jacques Rivette - the only working director who's actually improved with old age
Philippe Garrel
Jerzy Skolimowski
The Coens
Martin Scorcese
Luc Moullet
Quentin Tarantino

Great Directors who have degenerated:
Jean-Luc Godard
Alain Resnais
Alain Tanner
John Woo

[djross]

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[djross]

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[mwgerb]

This isn't a list of the actual best working directors as much as it is the ones who I am excited about when I hear they have a new project:

P T Anderson
Darren Arofonsky
James Cameron
The Coen Brothers
Alfonso Cuaron
Clint Eastwood
David Fincher
Terry Gilliam
Peter Jackson
Spike Lee
Terrence Malick
Christopher Nolan
Roman Polanski
Ridley Scott
Steven Spielberg
Quentin Tarantino
The Wachowskis

[Anomaly]

THE THIRD TEN
Aronofsky, Darren. The Wolverine (sequel to something or other).

It's a sequel to X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Weird, huh? Hopefully this means it'll be done right for once.

My list:
PT Anderson
Wes Anderson
Darren Aronofsky
Coen Brothers
David Cronenberg
Alfonso Cuaron
David Fincher
Werner Herzog
Peter Jackson
Spike Jonze
Charlie Kaufman
David Lynch
Terrence Malick
Chris Nolan
Martin Scorsese
Quentin Tarantino
Bela Tarr
Guillermo del Toro

[CarsonWid]

I tried really hard to make an ordered list, but I gave up because there are too many and its too difficult, therefore I'm making categories:

Because They've Given Us So Much Already (But They Might Not Get Any Better):

Wes Anderson
Christopher Nolan
Coen Brothers
Martin Scorsese
Lars von Trier
Wong Kar Wai
Danny Boyle
Peter Jackson
Quentin Tarantino
Guillermo del Toro
Sion Sono
Steven Soderbergh

They're Just About To Hit Their Prime (Going To Better Than They Are Now):

Nicolas Winding Refn
Paul Thomas Anderson
Darren Aronofsky
Jason Reitman
Gaspar Noe
Sofia Coppola
Edgar Wright
Guy Ritchie
Spike Jonze
Noah Baumbach
Zach Snyder

They Haven't Done Much, But They Show Great Promise

Duncan Jones
Neill Blomkamp
Matthew Vaughn
Andrew Dominik
Rian Johnson
Rachid Bouchareb
Charlie Kaufman
Steve McQueen
Clark Gregg
John Hillcoat
Jaco van Dormael

[MmzHrrdb]

A top ten, though I still have a lot to see:

1. Terrence Malick
2. Michael Haneke
3. Gaspar Noe
4. Hayao Miyazaki
5. Tsai Ming-liang
6. Wong Kar-Wai
7. Lynne Ramsay
8. Joe
9. Bela Tarr
10. Paul Thomas Anderson

Also shout outs to Lars von Trier, David Lynch, Guy Maddin, Lucrecia Martel and the Coens who all just missed out on being on the list...

I wish Lucile Hadzihalilovic would hurry up and make another film