6. Peter Greenaway (1942 - )
If you look at The Telegaph's
list of 21 greatest British directors, Peter Greenaway is glaringly missing. Checking out the comments section and the vitriol spewed by the readers at the shame of not including one of Britian's national treasures you'd think the Telegraph offended the Queen. You'll find none of that here, thank you very much. Greenaway got his start with documentary films, and was heavily opposed to the Hollywood way of making movies. Unlike many of the Brits here who at one point or another found themselves working within the Hollywood system, Greenaway stayed far away and instead concentrated on bringing deeply philosophical cinematic works that concentrated on the relationships between culture, history and art. And that's just his less accessible work. When it comes to more mainstream stuff, Greenaway was interested in critiquing the times he found himself in through scrumptious allegorical tales of murder and secrets. He's reached legendary status with many-a-cinephile and fits quite nicely in our top 10.
Must See: The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover (1989)
5. Mike Leigh (1943 - )
We've finally reached our exemplary five British directors who have made such a gigantic impact on British cinema, they are all knights in our eyes regardless of whether they were actually knighted or not. Beginning with Mike Leigh, a director we should all be grateful is still alive and working today - the only one of the last five - his name is synonymous with British greatness. Uncharacteristically, Leigh's first feature film came with 1971's Bleak Moments which was a startling debut that would show the origins of his interest in individual conflict within the constraints of society, but then there was a 19 year gap where his film career came under serious question due to the way he liked to work; namely improvising on set and writing the screenplay as he shot the film thus letting the actors be as natural with their performances as possible. Thankfully, he was back in the 90s and released one brilliant film after another. It's tough to pinpoint a single film that could best describe Leigh because they are all so, so good and even though we chose one, you are highly encouraged to check out his whole filmography.
Must See: Naked (1993)
4. Alfred Hitchcock (1899 - 1980)
Perhaps you're surprised that he's not number one or maybe you think he doesn't belong anywhere near the top 5, but regardless of your personal thoughts about the Master of Suspense, his influence on cinema isn't easily matched by anyone else, from anywhere in the world. Though he made his most famous films in the States, ask any British person on the street what they think is the best thing to come out of Britain and they'd probably say something like Manchester United, fish & chips and Alfred Hitchcock. Whether he's terrorizing you by landmark suspense filmmaking in Psycho, Rear Window and Vertigo or entertaining the hell out of you with Strangers on a Train, North by Northwest and that crazy bird movie, The Hitch is one of cinema's greatest gems. Vertigo recently topped
Sight and Sound's Greatest Of All Time poll ending Citizen Kane's 50 year reign, and his British movies are all over the place in
BFI's and
Time Out's lists.
Must See: Rebecca (1940)