Great Directors (2009)

63% of critics liked it
(35 reviews)
47% of users liked it
(338 ratings)

Ten of the world's great filmmakers discuss their art, their influences and their creative motivations in this documentary. In Great Directors, Angela Ismailos chats with a handful of talented and influential movie directors, among them Bernardo Bertolucci, Catherine Breillat, Liliana Cavani,… More Ten of the world's great filmmakers discuss their art, their influences and their creative motivations in this documentary. In Great Directors, Angela Ismailos chats with a handful of talented and influential movie directors, among them Bernardo Bertolucci, Catherine Breillat, Liliana Cavani, Stephen Frears, Todd Haynes, Richard Linklater, Ken Loach, David Lynch, John Sayles, and Agnès Varda. Along with discussing the particulars of their work (often illustrated by relevant film clips), the directors also talk about artists and events that have made a lasting impact on them, films they hope to make in the future (all ten directors were still at work at the time the film was shot), issues that are important to them (creative and otherwise), and other filmmakers that they like (or hate). Ismailos' first feature film, Great Directors received its world premiere at the 2009 Venice Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 26 min.
Directed By: Angela Ismailos
Genres: Documentary, Television

In Theaters: Jul 2, 2010 Wide
On DVD: Nov 8, 2011
Studio: Paladin

Critic Reviews

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader
Though her choice of interview subjects is so random and the discourse so broad that this 2009 documentary never really arrives anywhere... it delights from start to finish and then evaporates.
Bill Stamets, Chicago Sun-Times
A pleasing if not surprising sampler of apercus, bon mots and clips.
Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer
Ismailos' 10 mini-profiles might have been better used as DVD extras or a cablecast introduction to an individual director's movie. It's not too late.
Wesley Morris, Boston Globe
Rarely have clips from so many good and great movies been put to such dull use.
Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post
The number of interviewees makes the film a signpost survey, more meaningful to film- study newbies than veterans.
Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News
This is a meat-and-potatoes espionage yarn that passes by quickly enough and meets the requirement of making us try to guess: Who is Salt?
Catherine Shoard, Guardian [UK]
You'd learn more just watching one of their films.
Sukhdev Sandhu, Daily Telegraph
In the end, The Great Directors is neither a manual nor a toolkit, but a miscellany that needs to be a monograph.
Robert W. Butler, Kansas City Star
This is one of the best movies ever about film directors.
Ray Greene, Boxoffice Magazine
It's flawed, but it beats the veiled promo films we usually get about the inner workings of cinematic creation.
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul), St. Paul Pioneer Press
A better title for Great Directors would be Good Directors Who Returned My Calls.
Brent Simon, Shared Darkness
Standing unabashedly on the shoulders of giants, Angela Ismailos pays free-association homage to her favorite filmmakers in this engaging but scatter-shot documentary.
Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid
If she dearly loves these filmmakers, or some of their films, it's too hard to tell.
Gerald Peary, Boston Phoenix
The chore is to blank out Greek filmmaker Angela Ismailos's clueless, indulgent voiceover and moony on-camera presence...
Kent Turner, Film-Forward.com
Angela Ismailos's breezy Great Directors is like eavesdropping on the best bits of her candid and casual conversations with her personal favorite filmmakers
Michelle Orange, Movieline
For the most part it's a treat to watch.

Read all 16 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Randy T

No disrespect to Anela Ismailos, but how could anyone interview the likes of David Lynch and John Sayles and Catherine Breillat and not have an interesting documentary?