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Order of Merit: Best Director

All the directors I consider "best director" worthy over time. There are no nominations or limits, just a threshold of "that good". I started tracking in late 2021 so this only includes films I've watched or re-watched since then.

  • Three Colours: Red
  • Eyes Wide Shut
  • Train Dreams
  • The Brutalist
  • No Other Choice
  • Pom Poko
  • Fantastic Mr. Fox
  • The Clock
  • The Killer
  • Sinners
  • Hard Boiled
  • Sholay
  • Kill Bill: Vol. 2
  • Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
  • Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
  • Kill Bill: Vol. 1
  • Thief
  • Anora
  • Jesus Christ Superstar
  • Princess Mononoke
  • Mulholland Drive
  • Shrek
  • All We Imagine as Light
  • McCabe & Mrs. Miller
  • True Stories
  • The Substance
  • The Straight Story
  • White Heat
  • Hellzapoppin'
  • I Saw the TV Glow
  • Titanic
  • The Ascent
  • Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
  • The Hunt
  • Conclave
  • Red Cliff II
  • The Shop on Main Street
  • It's What's Inside
  • Paprika
  • Tampopo
  • Harakiri
  • The Nightmare Before Christmas
  • Requiem for a Dream
  • Sparrow
  • Unbreakable
  • Confessions
  • The Taste of Things
  • Underground
  • The Boy and the Heron
  • Cure
  • Chicago
  • The Parallax View
  • Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion
  • Threads
  • The Searchers
  • Popeye
  • Invasion of the Body Snatchers
  • Jaws
  • Last Life in the Universe
  • Evita
  • The Informer
  • Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
  • Vampire Hunter D
  • Made in Hong Kong
  • Ordinary People
  • Chinatown
  • The Fugitive
  • Ocean's Eleven
  • Challengers
  • Stop Making Sense
  • West Side Story
  • Hedwig and the Angry Inch
  • Mission: Impossible
  • Broadcast News
  • Dune: Part Two
  • Point Blank
  • The Abyss
  • Dune
  • Punch-Drunk Love
  • Magnolia
  • Evil Does Not Exist
  • The Color of Money
  • Crimson Tide
  • Enemy of the State
  • The Zone of Interest
  • Fargo
  • The First Slam Dunk
  • The Puppetmaster
  • The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
  • The Boy Friend
  • Redline
  • The Watermelon Woman
  • Peeping Tom
  • Se7en
  • Raging Bull
  • Blue Giant
  • A Bride for Rip Van Winkle
  • The Long Day Closes
  • American Splendor
  • Lost Highway