Five years, 49 filmmakers, and a lot of films along the way came an unexpected thing that would become part of my world as a writer. It wasn’t meant to be a regular thing but it just evolved that way and I ended up enjoying. When I made my very first piece on Sofia Coppola back on September 3, 2010, it originally started off as a one-off thing for the LAMB Director’s project. Then came Darren Aronofsky in December and I realized that I had something that could be a side-project from my work in reviews and such. The timing for this new discovery couldn’t have come at a better time.
For anyone that has read me for the past few years know how bad of a year 2010 was for me personally as I wasn’t just struggling with depression but also began to shut myself off creatively. Just as I was starting to rebuild myself, I realized that using this blog shouldn’t just be for film reviews as I knew that something more needed to be done. Doing the piece on Sofia Coppola and then Darren Aronofsky made me realize that I could do a whole lot more as I felt that ten years at Epinions.com had sort of held me back into doing a lot more. In 2011, four more came in the form of Todd Haynes, Gus Van Sant, Alexander Payne, and Lynne Ramsay. The last of which was someone I had just discovered and was blown away by her work to the point that she just became a subject immediately.
Thus came what would become a monthly thing where I explored all sorts of different filmmakers from favorites like the Coen Brothers, Lars von Trier, Wes Anderson, Guillermo del Toro, Paul Thomas Anderson, Christopher Nolan, Sergio Leone, Quentin Tarantino, and Stanley Kubrick to filmmakers I’ve heard about but was unfamiliar with like Andrei Tarkovsky and new discoveries like Nicolas Winding Refn. All of which happened in 2012 and more would come in 2013 where things would become more diverse in the coming years.
Part of the reason for the Auteurs series to happen isn’t just to profile established filmmakers like David Cronenberg, Ang Lee, and Baz Luhrmann but also women filmmakers like Nicole Holfocener, Jane Campion, Kathryn Bigelow, Andrea Arnold, and Julie Taymor as it is something that I’m proud of. It also gives me the chance to profile filmmakers that many haven’t heard of like Carlos Reygadas, Jean Vigo, Leos Carax, and Gaspar Noe as well as an emerging filmmaker in Xavier Dolan.
It’s been an adventure as I’ve seen so many films and watch so many filmmakers that I didn’t think it would come to some big milestones. Especially as it relates to a couple of giants such as doing a four-part piece on the works of Woody Allen (Pt. 1, Pt. 2, Pt. 3, & Pt. 4) as well as the films of Francois Truffaut. At the same time, filmmakers Steven Soderbergh, Pedro Almodovar, Alfonso Cuaron, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Terry Gilliam, Jim Jarmusch , Wong Kar-Wai, Jacques Tati, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, and Whit Stillman would be explored along with the likes of Francois Ozon, Noah Baumbach, Jason Reitman, Julian Schnabel, Michael Cimino, Bong Joon-Ho, and Bennett Miller as it helped cultivate a slate of films and filmmakers who have done so much for cinema.
In the course of doing these profile on filmmakers, I have seen a lot of films that is now becoming impossible to count at this point as I’m sure I own about a 1/3 of these films on DVD/Blu-Ray. And thus, the time has come for the next and final subject of the series for 2015. This individual was someone I’ve been a fan of for years as I knew that this person has to become a subject but when? Well, for anyone that has been following some of my activities in the past few months would probably have a good idea of who it is. Ladies and gentlemen, the fiftieth person to be profiled in the Auteurs series is….
David Lynch.
The 50th Auteurs piece on Lynch will be a three-four part series not just devoted to his work on films but also television, shorts, and other projects as there will be additional pieces covering his work in short films and music videos that will come for the remainder of the year as well as the remaining parts of the TV show Twin Peaks as well as its film Fire Walk with Me and The Missing Pieces.
© thevoid99 2015
11 comments:
CONGRATS Steven! I also applaud you for using your talent and creativity to channel your passion, which in turn helps you with your depression. I hope you're no longer struggling with that and that you continue to move forward. You have such an amazing wealth of film knowledge, which is so insightful for people like me. So keep up the great work on the auteur series!
You're welcome and the one on Lynch will be big. It's not just his feature films that I'm going to cover as that's just part of who he is. There's so much about him that needs to be discussed. That is why he is the perfect choice for #50.
He's definitely a great choice but there's just so much to cover!
Although I see from your other auteurs that you aren't afraid to be ambitious. Looking forward to it.
I'm glad you were able to use this blog and this series to help you through depression. Thats amazing. I can't wait to read more!
And also fuck epinions. :) lol
@assholeswatchingmovies.com-Thank you. It's going to take a while but if you're going to do a piece on David Lynch. You better make damn sure you do it right.
@Brittani-I have a tentative list of the filmmakers I hope to do for 2016 as it's going to keep going. I have no idea who I will do for #100. And yes, Epinions can suck it. Oh wait, it already did.
Congratulations on your 5 year Auteurs anniversary, and long may the series continue! A great way of highlighting the filmmakers and spreading your knowledge. Look forward to your #50 on David Lynch, he is a unique talent and I'm a fan of his work.
@Chris-Thanks. The Lynch piece will be big as I don't know anyone (except for those with no taste) who doesn't like David Lynch.
I love Blue Velvet and Lost Highway, but those films might be too dark and disturbing for some viewers.
Twin Peaks TV-show and The Straight Story are Lynch’s most mainstream material I guess.
@Chris-I love those films as well as I'm still in the early parts of the second season as I hope to finish the series before the end of the year.
Congrats on 5 years of these! Not a big fan of Lynch, but still looking forward to what you have to say about him. You might turn me around on him.
@Wendell-Well, I'll try but I don't think you'll be convinced since he's not for everyone. Besides, this will be big.
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