Under Recognised 21st Century Auteur Cinema

Half a century has gone past since François Truffaut lamented the lack of originality in the works of the regular crop of French directors, in the sense that they failed to seize the projects with complete creative control, and accused them of churning out trite cinema borne out of transliterating novels and plays for the screen. Writing for the great French cinema magazine, Cahiers Du Cinema, Truffaut's seminal article A Certain Tendency of French Cinema is credited widely for formally introducing the Auteur Theory. The auteur, which is French for "author", refers to a director who exercises an all-encompassing creative control over the production of a film, to the degree where she might be considered the author of the film.

While Truffaut championed the cause and was a foremost auteur of the highest regard, he wasn't the first, and certainly not the last. The likes of  Eisentein, Ozu, Kurosawa and Hitchcock were auteurs before the term was even invented. The past few decades have saw the rise of Kubrick, Wong Kar Wai and Lynch inter alios. (Film nerds will be pressed because I would've invariably missed their favourite auteur — don't worry, I've missed a few of mine too, it's pretty much impossible to recognise them all).

Anyhow, coming to the focus of the discussion at hand — modern auteurs and their under rated/ under recognised films. The likes of Damien Chazelle, Yargos Lanthimos, Greta Gerwig and Jutine Triet, among a plethora of up-and-coming directors form the basis of this discussion. And while not necessarily modern, the fact that the likes of Coen Brothers, Martin Scorsese and Steven Soderbergh continue to make very relevant contemporary cinema, makes them count among the modern list of auteurs. And in any case, the point of this list isn't to distinguish between the eras of auteurs, but rather to pay a very personal homage to great cinema that I felt went under the radar. It's both an exercise I undertake for the love of cinema and archiving, as well as an endeavour to promote films I love. And in tune with this spirit, although I explicitly stated "21st Century Auteur Cinema," I will be flexible enough to include cinema on the waning edge of the last millennium.

Babylon | 2022 

Damien Chazelle

What is better to kick-off a list about sharing the love of cinema than a film that does exactly that?

Bound to go down the annals of film history as a cult classic, Chazelle captures via the means of this indulgent epic a period of great revolution in cinema — the introduction of sound. The film has a great score, which builds up tension and excitement in a way I think is unique to Chazelle. This film doesn't take itself too seriously, except at the times it's paying reverence to Hollywood. While it pays homage to one of the greatest films ever made, Singin' In The Rain, it has a bird's eye look of both sides of the coins while analysing the impact of this techtonic auditory shift. For example, aside from enthusiasts and film nerds, few are aware of the entire art and profession of title writing that existed and was celebrated in early Hollywood, and aspects like these are few among the many insightful dives dealt with in this exuberant film. It's indulgent, it's reverential and, at the risk of sounding crude, if this was directed by someone like Tarantino, the folks who criticised it would be lapping it up (Once Upon A Time in... Hollywood made with the indulgence of The Wolf of the Wall Street). Though it's already gathering cult appeal, it's my sincere hope that time will be kinder to this film than contemporary critics.

Good Time | 2017

Safdie Brothers

It's gritty, it's a bit dark. Robert Pattinson is subtly sensational. It's fast-paced and slow burn at the same time. It's as if this film was made to be a sleeper hit. It doesn't resolve well or please the crowd, it doesn't have moral clarity in its protagonists. It has incredible chemistry without character development (which works well somehow). It's worth a watch.

Kinds of Kindness | 2024

Yorgos Lanthimos 

I want to watch Yargos Lanthimos' entire filmography if this film is anything to go by. Incredibly, almost uncomfortably weird, and yet very representative of the human psyche. It confronts human excesses, weird psychological manifestations in the individual and the society, and once you feel settled in as an armchair psychoanalyst, the narrative strongly subverts your expectations. It's not slow burn, but a "weird burn." It's paced really well, but absurd enough to keep you unsettled and extremely interested. And the narrative structure itself is very unique — "a triptych fable" — which means that it is a narrative with three chapters (like panels of a triptych). Uses the same repeating core cast of actors (an ensemble of great performance) in varying roles. And all of them, but Plemmons in particular, are incredible.

Burn After Reading | 2008

Coen Brothers 

The amount of talent in this cast is so immense that it is bound to be underutilised. But it's a very uniquely structured black comedy. If you have ever imagined what Fargo would feel like smack in the middle of suburban Washington DC, then well, this film kinda answers your awfully specific desire. While comparison to Fargo is blasphemous, it's a unique film in its own regard. Funny in a tongue-in-cheek way for it's entire run, it's as meaningless as most bureaucratic endeavours — as it succinctly captured by short and memorable concluding scene featuring JK Simmons.