10 Best Films By 2013's Most Highly Praised Directors

9. Richard Linklater - The Before Trilogy

It seems fitting to classify director Richard Linklater's determinedly honest, relentlessly true depiction of blossoming, enduring love as one complete endeavor. Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, and Before Midnight comprise the best work by an auteur responsible for one of the best high school flicks ever made (Dazed and Confused), the Generation X-defining Slacker, and the irresistible School of Rock. What's most inspiring about Linklater and the way he composes the Before trilogy is his casual, everyman's approach to something as ambitious as what he attempts in those films. He tries to make every line, every note in the film sound off-the-cuff and makes a strident effort to have us fall in love with Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Deply) as naturally, easily, as effortlessly they do. When they begin to encounter problems later on down the road, we hang on for the ride and root for them to stay together, because Linklater's filmmaking has made us believe in every detail of their relationship. We are enamored of the fragile, beautiful connection that exists between the two of them.