As directorial debuts go, these really are the best of the best in that department.
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00:00Filmmaking is not an easy feat by any means, and that is especially evident when it comes
00:05to making your first movie.
00:06With that in mind, it's common practice in Hollywood that most filmmakers only continue
00:11to improve with the more experience they gain, but it's not uncommon for some to hit the
00:16nail on the head on their first go.
00:18An abundance of films developed over the 20th century, such as Charles Laughton's The
00:22Night of the Hunter, Sidney Lumet's 12 Angry Men, and Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs
00:27to name only a handful, make that abundantly clear.
00:31So, what about the best within the 21st century?
00:34Well, there's plenty more where that came from.
00:36I'm Ewan, you're watching War Culture, and here are the 10 Best Directorial Debuts
00:41of the 21st Century, so far.
00:4310.
00:44Ex Machina
00:45British writer and director Alex Garland's sci-fi thriller Ex Machina garnered critical
00:51acclaim when it was released back in 2014.
00:53Ex Machina is a claustrophobic tale exploring the relationship between humans and artificial
00:59intelligence, and how initial curiosity can lead to devastating consequences.
01:05It should be said that the picture doesn't just feature within this list due to that
01:08unforgettable dancing scene, but seriously, who knew Oscar Isaac had moves like that in
01:12his locker?
01:13Ex Machina is creepy, gripping, and keeps you hooked through immense suspense.
01:18Inhabiting a genre that historically has big money backing behind it with a mere budget
01:24of only $15 million, Ex Machina is an intimate and prescient take on subject matter that
01:29we are going to have to reckon with in the years to come.
01:329.
01:33The Babadook
01:34If it's in a word or it's in a look, you can't get rid of The Babadook.
01:38Jennifer Kent's 2014 horror movie The Babadook will surely go down as one of the all-time
01:43great directorial debuts.
01:45A perfect meditation on grief and depression, led by two great performances from Essie Davis
01:51and Noah Wiseman, all punctuated menacingly by the eponymous creature itself.
01:57Kent's low-budget indie horror, adapted from their own short film Monster, which she
02:02developed in 2005, focuses on a young widow and her traumatised child as they adjust to
02:08life without their husband and father respectively.
02:11Out of nowhere, a mysterious-looking children's book appears at their house, telling the story
02:16of The Babadook, a pallid Dickensian-looking monster that terrorises those who discover
02:22its existence.
02:23What follows is a lesson in subliminal terror.
02:26The Babadook lingers on the periphery of every frame.
02:30Grief and trauma given metaphysical form.
02:32It's a truly superb debut and, I would argue, the definitive genre text on all the awful
02:39feelings we carry with us when someone passes away.
02:42Because for all that The Babadook is a blisteringly scary time, it also has one of the most triumphant
02:48and uplifting horror movie endings.
02:50We might not be able to excise grief entirely, but as The Babadook shows us, if we can make
02:56peace with it, then we can all learn to live again.
02:598.
03:00Hereditary
03:01Ari Aster has quickly become one of the big vanguards of the horror genre over the last
03:05several years.
03:07Aster's direction traps the audience through long takes and wide shots that work in tandem
03:11to exhibit unsettling imagery, from which the viewer is subsequently unable to escape.
03:17Hereditary itself is a wild ride that explores ancestry, witchcraft and Satanism through
03:23a modern-day American family who face a horrifying fate their lineage bestowed onto them.
03:29The movie is evenly blood-curdling and spine-chilling, boasting standout performances, in particular
03:35from Toni Collette and Alex Wolff, with the former well-and-truly robbed of an Oscar nomination
03:40for her efforts.
03:417.
03:42John Wick
03:43John Wick changed the game when it released in 2014.
03:47Directed by veteran stunt coordinator Chad Stahelski, with uncredited work by fellow
03:51stuntman David Leitch, although not the strongest of the now four-picture saga, the first John
03:56Wick burst onto the scene and effectively acted as an education to Hollywood on how
04:01to do action well.
04:03Rubbishing the shaky camera of the post-Bourne era, as well as quick-cut editing to hide
04:08bad choreography, and instead giving the viewer a full picture of the carnage unfolding on
04:12screen.
04:13All with a career-best Keanu Reeves showing exactly why he's such a great performer.
04:19The first John Wick does lag in some respects behind its sequels, which up the ante in regards
04:25to action and the overall lore of Derek Kolstad's world, but it's a tight and efficient movie
04:30anchored by a truly brilliant turn from Reeves, who is perfectly suited to the screenplay's
04:36mix of tragedy, levity and relentless action.
04:39The true star of the film, however, is Stahelski's direction.
04:42Two decades of working as a stunt coordinator trained his eye for action, and being able
04:47to marshal that as a director led to one of the purest genre efforts we've ever gotten.
04:52It's not my personal favourite of the franchise, but what a great way to announce yourself
04:56as a director.
04:586.
04:59After Sun
05:01There aren't many films made in the last two decades that hit harder and cut deeper
05:05than Charlotte Wells' directorial debut, After Sun.
05:09Starring a career-best performance to date from Paul Mascal, as well as introducing many
05:13to the wickedly talented Frankie Correo, After Sun is a real gem of a movie.
05:18A dark, coming-of-age drama, After Sun explores the loving but complex relationship between
05:24a father and a daughter, as her now-adult self attempts to put the pieces back together
05:29regarding how much she truly knew him and about the pain he was suffering with on their
05:34last holiday together.
05:35After Sun is undoubtedly one of the best films we've received in recent years, making its
05:40one Academy Award nomination all the more perplexing.
05:435.
05:44Nightcrawler
05:45Nightcrawler's exploration of crime journalism depicts a monstrous and immoral profession
05:51confined within an unforgiving Los Angeles.
05:53He's as despicable and dislikable as they come, but Jake Gyllenhaal's Louis Bloom
05:58is just a physical embodiment of the inhumane domain he inhabits, for the audience to detest
06:04and, twistedly, become enchanted by.
06:06Nightcrawler offers a seasoning of strong, supporting performances from Bill Paxton,
06:11Rene Russo and Reece Ahmed that stand out amongst others, but it is Gyllenhaal who studies
06:16the ship so that it sails most smoothly.
06:19However, this was only made possible due to Dan Gilroy's wonderful direction and Oscar-nominated
06:24script that allow Gyllenhaal unlimited access to investigate LA's deepest and darkest
06:29secrets.
06:304.
06:31Michael Clayton
06:32From one Gilroy brother to another now, and yeah, 2007 is kind of one of the best movie
06:38years we've ever gotten.
06:39For a brief moment in the late 2000s, we got a spirited resurgence of artful, independently
06:45crafted features like No Country for Old Men, Zodiac, There Will Be Blood and the assassination
06:51of Jesse James by the coward Robert Ford.
06:53It was truly a banger year, and one of the best efforts from it was Michael Clayton,
06:58which marked the directorial debut of one Tony Gilroy.
07:02Years before he rocked up to the galaxy far, far away and stole all the other Star Wars
07:06movies and shows' lunch money with Rogue One and Andor, Gilroy had cut his teeth as
07:11a screenwriter on the Bourne series and a few other efforts from the late 90s.
07:16However, it was Michael Clayton that truly illustrated the extent of Gilroy's talents,
07:20a film he both wrote and directed.
07:23Starring George Clooney as the titular character, Michael Clayton is a stylish, moody and gripping
07:29legal thriller that dives into the underbelly of the agricultural industry and the dark
07:34arts of the legal profession.
07:35It's one of Clooney's finest ever performances, with the actor perfectly selling Clayton's
07:40inner turmoil and the high stakes stress of the conspiracy being unravelled.
07:44And he's matched perfectly on the opposite side by Tilda Swinton, who plays a lawyer
07:49working for the agricultural giant in Clayton's sights.
07:52Truly fierce filmmaking, and one that exemplifies why 2007 was such a great year for the medium.
07:59Number 3, Pig.
08:01Pig might be one of the most slept on movies we've gotten over the last decade.
08:06Starring Nicolas Cage as a reclusive truffle pig farmer whose prized companion is abducted
08:10one night, Pig also marked the directorial debut of Michael Sanoski.
08:14Sanoski's film is beautifully paced and tells a lyrical, heartbreakingly good story
08:20anchored by one of Cage's finest ever performances.
08:24A brilliant reminder of his unique talent, having been afforded ideal space by the director
08:28and screenwriter Vanessa Brock to do his stuff.
08:32Pig is such an accomplished piece of work that it almost beggars belief that it's
08:36Sanoski's directorial and screenwriting debut.
08:39As things currently stand, it's my favourite film of the 2020s.
08:42A beautifully affecting piece of cinema that dives into loss and legacy, and the burdens
08:47they can bring.
08:49Number 2, In Bruges.
08:51Martin McDonagh has to be one of the greatest filmmakers of the last two decades, and as
08:55far as directorial debuts go, they don't get much better than In Bruges.
08:59The film follows the aftermath of a botched job with hitmen Ray and Ken, expertly portrayed
09:05by Irish double act Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, who find themselves stuck in the
09:09rather dull city of Bruges while they await ramifications from Ray Fiennes as Harry, their
09:14psychotic boss.
09:16In Bruges exhibits McDonagh's trademark balance of comedy and tragedy that we've
09:20all grown accustomed to.
09:21Many factors play into the film's favour and make it as popular as it is, but one overwhelming
09:26reason that literally can't be overstated is the on-screen chemistry shared and showcased
09:32by Farrell and Gleeson.
09:34Ray and Ken are the total opposites of one another, but that's what makes them work
09:38so well as a duo.
09:39Ray's temperamental nature is contradicted by Ken's thick skin, making them the idyllic
09:44yin and yang for one another.
09:46That's to make it work, In Bruges requires Farrell and Gleeson to bring their respective
09:50A-games to the table, and they all but deliver on that front as McDonagh exchanges Bruges'
09:56characteristic piece for purgatory.
09:58And number 1, Get Out.
10:00If you'd asked folks ten years ago if they thought Jordan Peele would go on to become
10:05one of the key innovators in the horror genre and develop some of the best films of the
10:09decade, they would've probably been surprised.
10:11Peele was a beloved figure on the comedy scene for years before he swapped sketch routines
10:17to the director's chair, and while talented, hadn't really intimated the feats he was
10:21capable of.
10:22This is part of what made his 2017 directorial debut, Get Out, such a phenomenon.
10:28Peele's Get Out is a genius-fluid horror satire and arguably the most essential film
10:34of the 2010s, a black-led production that takes aim at racism and the polite insidiousness
10:40in which it pervades in wide spaces.
10:42Drawing upon the Stepford Wives and Rosemary's Baby as inspiration, Peele's film is both
10:47surreal and unsettling, and a perfect announcement to the world that a new horror king was in
10:53town.
10:54And those were the ten best directorial debut films of the 21st century so far.
10:59What have your favourite debuts the last two decades been?
11:01Share your thoughts and recommendations down in the comments below, as there are a bunch
11:05I know I like, but didn't make the cut.
11:07Don't forget to like the video if you enjoyed it, and hey, if you're new here and fancy
11:11more, why not hit the subscribe button too?
11:13Either way, thanks a bunch for watching, I've been Ewan, and I'll catch you next time.
11:18Bye!