Overrated is a word that gets thrown about a lot these days, usually because people are either searching for another word and can't find it, or because they genuinely can't believe that something they dislike is getting more attention than it deserves. Nobody is ever right about which things - and in this case, it's movie directors - are overrated and underrated, of course, but that doesn't stop us from making a case for our opinions anyway. And there's nothing wrong with that, because that's what makes cinema so wonderful in the first place: everybody takes something completely different away. That in mind, here's 10 modern directors (in no particular order) who we think are getting way more credit than they deserve. Please note that "overrated" doesn't mean "bad" and never has done. Though at least 9 of the 10 people on this list are actually very talented (I'll let you figure out which one
isn't), we still don't think they've quite reached the heights to match all the praise being branded around - not yet, anyway.
10. Terrence Malick
I'm a big fan of Terrence Malick's early work:
Badlands and
Days of Heaven are genuine cinematic gems. With those movies, Malick firmly established himself as a visionary filmmaker of great soul and depth. I'm also a champion for
The Thin Red Line, though you could absolutely argue that Malick's inherent pretentiousness threatens to overhaul the great parts of that movie. Renowned for his tendencies to take off and disappear for, I don't know, ten years or so, Terrence Malick has returned to the scene recently and has started pushing out movies as if being directed at gunpoint - or an underlining feeling that he's been wasting his time in exile, at least. And the problem I have now is that Malick's enigmatic nature has been mistaken for something mythic, as if the man is an invincible legend who can't put a foot wrong - purely because he made some great films a long time ago, and refuses to be interviewed and such.
The New World failed to engage. And the
Tree of Life was an intriguing - if not frustrating - slice of what I can only deem is largely "experimental" cinema. Say what you will, but its two and a half hour running time will test you patience. Does Malick ask too much of us? Ultimately, you have to remember that the myth doesn't make the man: the man makes the myth. And that hasn't really happened yet.