8 Underrated films by famous directors
If I asked you to name the most popular filmmakers of our time, chances are that the names of more than a few of these directors will come up. However I find it both amusing and tragic that certain excellent films made by these same directors, get overlooked by many of us. But they don’t all share the same fate, while some gathered mainstream attention upon release but were forgotten over time, some never managed to reach that level of popularity at all. In this article I shall list 8 such underrated films that were made by renowned auteurs of the craft and deserve a viewing from you.
1. DUEL (1971) - STEVEN SPIELBERG
This Dennis Weaver vehicle (no pun intended) is packed with blockbuster-thrills and provides undeniable evidence that Spielberg was a great filmmaker long before he ushered in the summer-blockbuster era with Jaws. Duel is a masterfully directed film, so much so that it's hard to believe it was a TV movie made on a shoestring budget. Spielberg manages to give humane characteristics to the vehicles in the film in order to make up for the physical absence of an antagonist.
The film captures the tension and confusion of Hopper's character and makes us feel his helplessness.
2. SPACE COWBOYS (2000) - CLINT EASTWOOD
Space Cowboys has an intriguing premise that is handled with care by Clint Eastwood, there's a certain easygoing atmosphere that he manages to create which is mirrored by the chemistry shared by the leading men of the film.
If i'm honest I didn't know what to expect from this film about retired fighter pilots who are sent on a mission by NASA, it is a slightly odd premise but the film is effortlessly enjoyable.
3. KING OF THE HILL (1993) - STEVEN SODERBERGH
The undisputed 'king' *wink wink* of underrated films, it is beyond me how an absolute cinematic treasure like this has been under everyone's radar all these years. Soderbergh directs this film to perfection, it is remarkable that this 2 film old director at the time managed to make such a perfectly tuned biopic of a child who struggles following desertion in depression-era America.
It is painstakingly depressing to see the boy suffer as he does in the film, but it is also beautiful in ways similar to Polanski's The Pianist, which i'm sure you all know and love.
Anyone familiar with Soderbergh's body of work would swear by his versatility, but there is not a finer example of sensitive & sentimental filmmaking in the man's filmography.
4. HUGO (2011) - MARTIN SCORSESE
Admittedly Hugo is a fairly popular film but with a disappointing box office performance and low number of votes on film rating website (on which I based this entire article) so it deserves a mention. For a filmmaker as legendary and iconic as Martin Scorsese to change his filmmaking style so late in his career may seem like asking too much, but good old Marty was brave enough to challenge himself by doing exactly that. Everything right down to the production design, camerawork and the themes explored seem very non-Martin Scorsese, and that is part of the reason why Hugo is an amazing film.
On it's own Hugo is a great film about the wonders of childhood, but what makes it more exciting is the fact that we get to witness a great artist diving into a new genre and he does it by crafting a beautifully immersive world that is equal parts sweet and melancholic.
5. THIEF (1981) - MICHAEL MANN
Thief is an immensely stylish crime thriller that benefits from an enigmatic lead in James Caan. The visuals are way ahead of their time and provide evidence of Michael Mann being excellent at making his films look deliciously nocturnal even early on in his career (another fine example is Collateral or the more recent Blackhat). Some of the acting is poor and and the film doesn't rely too heavily on it's plot but Thief is an intricate character study of a complicated criminal who is superb at what he does, he thinks he knows what he wants but his apparent self-assurance is just a way to cover up his moral confusion. Too pretentious? sorry. Watch Thief, even if it's just for the wonderfully stylised crime noir atmosphere.
6. FROST/NIXON (2008) - RON HOWARD
Ron Howard has built a career on great popcorn tentpoles (i'm looking at you Da Vinci franchise and Rush) and is a remarkable filmmaker in his own right, but this film is something else. Frost/Nixon is a astute example of understated filmmaking, it stays with it's characters in a room (for most of it's runtime) and let's us explore the fantastic performances of it's two perfectly cast leads (well to be fair Michael Sheen makes every role seem perfect for him) Ron Howard gives uncompromising attention to detail throughout the film, resulting in what is perhaps the most underrated biopic (sort of) of the last decade.
7. BLOW OUT (1981) - BRIAN DE PALMA
Brian De Palma ditches his usual voyeuristic style of filmmaking to give us this technical marvel. Blow Out features some of the best split-diopter usage I have ever seen and also boasts one of the best sound designs in my experience. What's more there's even John Travolta being non-John-Travoltaish for the first time in his career. Over the years Blow Out has achieved a cult status amongst cinephiles but it still remains massively underseen by mainstream audiences.
8. CARNAGE (2011) - ROMAN POLANSKI
Roman Polanski is one of the greatest living filmmakers, there's no denying that. The man has given us films like Chinatown, Rosemary's Baby, The Pianist amongst many others, but recently his career has gone into something of a slump, at least in terms of the attention his work has received. Carnage (the only comedy on this list) is a perfect example of the aforementioned. A great satire with a famous cast, that received little to no attention from audiences. I don't know if it was the marketing or distribution to blame but the film remains one of the funniest, most underrated dark comedies in recent memory.
