Favorite Filmmakers/Films of the Decade:
David Gordon Green
David Gordon Green’s 5 film oeuvre began at the start of the decade with George Washington (2000), a film about a group of lower class children handling a tragedy. The film blends awkward and subtle comedy with poetic and luminous cinematography, along with a resonating sense of sadness. All the Real Girls (2002) has the same sort of tone to it as well. It’s an interesting emotion, that not many directors can achieve; P.T. Anderson, and to a lesser extent and in slightly different way perhaps Wes Anderson’s films are the first to come to mind, but I think what really distinguishes D.G.G.’s films is the small town Southern locations gorgeously captured by his cinematographer Tim Orr. Even in Undertow, and Snow Angels, which weren’t quite as magical as his first two features, the cinematography is fantastic. In 2008 Green shifted gears, and directed probably the best comedy of the decade, Pineapple Express as well as three episodes of Eastbound and Down. Next he directs another comedy called Your Highness which stars James Franco, Zoey Deschanel, Natalie Portman, and Danny McBride who also co-wrote the script. Interestingly enough he will follow that up with a remake of Dario Argento’s horror film Suspiria.
