List by Devon Torrey Bryant
Five In A Row!
This list was inspired by a conversation on the March 2nd/9th editions of Mark Kermode & Simon Mayo's film review, where a listener raised the question of which director has had the longest "hot streak" in cine-history. Due to the five-across design here on Letterboxd I thought it might be fun to have folks suggest their favorite Five In A Row by a filmmaker. The films must be consecutive, there must be five, and you can only use a director who has been used previously if there is no overlap between your five and the previous five. Make sense? Bonus points for over-explaining yourself :)
What's this? Some doubters for the genius that is Herzog's Bad Lieutenant ;) Honestly though I see this as a great insane comedy with Cage at his most nuttiest and Herzog indulging in his usual obsessions in the most hilarious way. I proudly own this on blu ray.
@Jeremiah - Oh man, I do not disagree with you about Bad Lieutenant. When I heard about it, before it came out, I thought it sounded like one of the worst ideas I'd ever heard in my life. When I saw it, however, it was so insane that I absolutely loved it. Herzog saw how ridiculous it was, and just went for the goofy jugular, letting Cage rip. I was definitely into it. Not sure it beats his earlier stuff exactly, but it doesn't really have to. He makes so many films that he can just do what he likes. Not all of his work is for everyone, even his fans. I think that's pretty admirable.
I guess we could announce a winner from this list by adding the IMDb scores?
Peter Jackson's should be:
Braindead
Heavenly Creatures
Forgotten Silver
The Frighteners
LOTR
But maybe TV movies don't count?
How about the Dardennes who have a five with Rosetta, The Son, The Child, Lorna's Silence and The Kid with a Bike?
I'd have to argue that Kim Jee Woon should be on here. Starting with the weakest of the 5, he just gets better and better -
Three Extremes II, A Tale of Two Sisters, A Bittersweet Life, The Good, The Bad The Weird and finally I Saw The Devil. What a run!
Also, I'd have to say Todd Solondz deserves a mention - Welcome To The Dollhouse, Happiness, Storytelling, Palindromes and Life During Wartime
Also, Argento from Deep Red onwards.
Deep Red, Suspiria, Inferno, Tenebrae, Phenomena
Even Lee Chang-dong's worst is better than most directors' best:
2010 Poetry
2007 Secret Sunshine
2002 Oasis
1999 Peppermint Candy
1997 Green Fish
Definitely second the Dardennes who have yet to step wrong.
I'd add:
Oliver Stone:
Platoon -1986
Wall Street -1987
Talk Radio -1988
Born on The Fourth of July -1989
JFK -1991
Not to suggest the Oscars carry that much weight, but just look at what these films racked up and realize it nearly matches Coppola's feat of four in a row (and without a clunker like One From The Heart): Three were nominated for best picture, with the first one winning, two won best director for Stone a mere three years apart, one that wasn't granted a picture nod still won best actor for Michael Douglas, and the other may just be the best in the whole bunch featuring a powerhouse performance by Eric Bogosian and one of the greatest adaptations of a play ever put to celluloid. Stone may not have made a good film in a long time, but he had one hell of a streak.
Note: The Doors and JFK were both released in 1991 with The Doors being released earlier, but Stone made JFK before The Doors, it just took longer to edit, so these are the five movies he directed in a row.
I'd also add:
Andrei Tarkovsky:
Ivan's Childhood -1962
Andrei Rublev -1966
Solaris -1972
The Mirror -1975
Stalker -1979
Stanley Kubrick:
The Killing -1956
Paths of Glory -1957
Lolita -1962
Dr. Strangelove -1964
2001: A Space Odyssey -1968
Jean Renoir:
The Crime of Monsieur Lange -1936
The Lower Depths -1936
Grand Illusion -1937
La Bete Humaine -1938
The Rules of The Game -1939
Kenji Mizoguchi:
The Life of Oharu -1952
Ugetsu -1934
A Geisha -1953
Sansho The Bailiff -1954
The Crucified Lovers -1954
Jean-Luc Godard:
Breathless -1960
A Woman is A Woman -1961
Vivre Sa Vie -1962
Le Petit Soldad -1963
The Carabiniers -1963
Abbas Kiarostami:
Close-Up -1990
Life, and Nothing More... -1991
Through The Olive Trees -1994
Taste of Cherry -1997
The Wind Will Carry Us -1999
Robert Altman:
Thieves Like Us -1974
California Split -1974
Nashville -1975
Buffalo Bill and The Indians -1976
3 Women -1977
Yasujiro Ozu:
Late Spring -1949
The Munekata Sisters -1950
Early Summer -1951
The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice -1952
Tokyo Story -1953
Frederick Wiseman (the greatest documentarian to ever live):
Hospital -1970
Basic Training -1971
Essene -1972
Juvenile Court -1973
Welfare -1975
Mike Leigh:
Topsy-Turvy -1999
All or Nothing -2002
Vera Drake -2004
Happy-Go-Lucky -2008
Another Year -2010
I can't believe nobody has said Bela Tarr yet for:
Damnation
Satantango
Werckmeister Harmonies
The Man From London
The Turin Horse
or Ingmar Bergman for:
Through A Glass Darkly
Winter Light
The Silence
All These Women
Persona
or Michael Haneke for:
Funny Games
Code Unknown
The Piano Teacher
Time of the Wolf
Cache