Most Underrated Directors

After reading my list of overrated filmmakers, I was asked by a friend if I would make a list of the most underrated film directors. Though skepticism and negativity is as fun to read as it is to write, I feel I should give just as much credit to the positive. So here is my list of the 5 most underrated or under-appreciated directors:

5. Bobcat Goldthwait
In the eighties and nineties there was a sometimes grating but always darkly funny comedian by the name of Bobcat Goldthwait. With a gruff but high pitched voice and twitchy mannerisms, Goldthwait sometimes acted like a live action Tasmanian Devil. Fast-forward to today and Bobcat has managed to make a splash as a feature director. Taking taboo and sometimes tactless subjects and making them seem human and even sympathetic, Goldthwait makes the best mix humor and pathos this writer has seen in a while.

Filmography
Shakes the Clown (1991)
Sleeping Dogs Lie (2006)
World's Greatest Dad (2009)

4. Sofia Coppola
It's a man's world out there. Very few women make it as writers, directors, even actresses have it hard. Sofia Coppola has not only managed to make quality films for the past few years her 2003 romantic drama Lost in Translation was downright incredible. Though her next film Marie Antoinette didn't make as big a splash, Sofia Coppola's will inevitably rise to new heights as the new decade begins.

Filmography
The Virgin Suicides (1999)
Lost in Translation (2003)
Marie Antoinette (2006)

3. Alex Cox
Eccentric oddities abound in Alex Cox's films. Usually featuring outcasts and misfits as the main protagonists, Alex Cox has had a long but marginally successful career. Ironic and brimming with anger, movies like Repo Man and Sid & Nancy gives voice to those who live fast and die young and prove that you don't need a big budget to make timeless classics.

Filmography
Repo Man (1984)
Sid & Nancy (1986)
Straight to hell (1987)
Walker (1987)
Highway Patrolman (1991)
Death and the Compass (1992)
The Winner (1996)
Three Businessmen (1998)
Revengers Tragedy (2002)
Searchers 2.0 (2007)
Repo Chick (2009)

2. Guy Maddin
Guy Maddin is a director for only the die hard fans of cinema. Finding a niche recreating images from early films, Guy Maddin simultaneously pays homage and prods the genres of the 1920's and 30's. Anyone who thinks avant-garde is a fencing phrase should stay far away from Maddin movies, but for those willing to be weirded-out maybe you should dabble into the mind of the mad Manitoban.

Filmography
Tales From the Gimli Hospital (1988)
Archangel (1990)
Careful (1992)
Twilight of the Ice Nymphs (1997)
The Heart of the World (2000)
Dracula: Pages From a Virgin's Diary (2003)
The Saddest Music in the World (2004)
Cowards Bend the Knee (2004)
My Dad is 100 Years Old (2006)
Brand Upon the Brain! (2006)
My Winnipeg (2008)

1. Rian Johnson
With unique visual flair, pristine characters and undeniable storytelling abilities, Rian Johnson is probably one of the most unique new visionaries in film today. Within two movies, Johnson has captured the true heart of what cinema is all about; imagination, glamor and suspensions of reality. Stories so pure in heart and constructed with such care that one can just lose themselves in the magic. I have no doubt Rian Johnson will one day recieve the praise and attention he deserves, but until then I will anoint him: most underrated director ever.

Filmography
Brick (2005)
The Brothers Bloom (2008)