Welcome to the inaugural season of Face/Off! This season, we’re pitting two directors with similar backgrounds against one another and letting YOU, the commenters, decide on who reigns supreme!
You have to decide which director is better than the other? Various factors could play into your decision from who takes the biggest risks to who has the more distinctive style. Remember, it isn’t so much about which director has made the most money at the box office or won the most awards, but, in your mind, which director simply makes better films.
Let’s analyze the filmography of today’s challengers.
Woody Allen
1960s & 1970s Directorial Features: What’s Up, Tiger Lily? (1966; co-director), Take the Money and Run (1969), Bananas (1971), Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) (1972), Sleeper (1973), Love and Death (1975), Annie Hall (1977), Interiors (1978), Manhattan (1979)
1980s Directorial Features: Stardust Memories (1980), A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy (1982), Zelig (1983), Broadway Danny Rose (1984), The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985), Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), Radio Days (1987), September (1987), Another Woman (1988), Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)
1990s Directorial Features: Alice (1990), Shadows and Fog (1991), Husbands and Wives (1992), Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993), Bullets over Broadway (1994), Mighty Aphrodite (1995), Everyone Says I Love You (1996), Deconstructing Harry (1997), Celebrity (1998), Sweet and Lowdown (1999)
2000s Directorial Features: Small Time Crooks (2000), The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001), Hollywood Ending (2002), Anything Else (2003), Melinda and Melinda (2004), Match Point (2005), Scoop (2006), Cassandra’s Dream (2007), Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008), Whatever Works (2009)
2010s Directorial Features: You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (2010), Midnight in Paris (2011), To Rome with Love (2012), Blue Jasmine (2013), Magic in the Moonlight (2014), Irrational Man (2015), Café Society (2016), Wonder Wheel (2017), A Rainy Day in New York (2019)
David Lynch
1970s to 2000s Directorial Features: Eraserhead (1977), The Elephant Man (1980), Dune (1984), Blue Velvet (1986), Wild at Heart (1990), Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992), Lost Highway (1997), The Straight Story (1999), Mulholland Drive (2001), Inland Empire (2006)
Only one can move on. Let the Face/Off begin!
Discuss in the comments below your favorite films from each director and who should advance to the next round.