I don’t think Christopher Nolan is the most innovative director of the 21st Century.
The initial claim is rather bold, and perhaps ignores the marvellous efforts of several highly capable directors.
I will get to those names shortly. But first, let’s try and define what we mean by ‘innovative’ concerning directors.
How innovative is Christopher Nolan? Quite a bit. But if you look at it with a granular lens, some cracks appear.
The Dark Knight, perhaps his most ‘famous’ film, is inextricably linked to the tone and atmosphere of Michael Mann’s Heat.
It’s a great film, certainly. But I’m not entirely sure how innovative it is.
Yes, it did usher in the phase of ‘dark and gritty’ superhero films, but that ground too was trodden 8 years prior, when M. Night Shyamalan gave us Unbreakable.
Ultimately, Nolan’s most innovative film is Memento, and it’s rather spectacular.
Inception also deserves a mention, claims of it being ‘inspired’ from Paprika notwithstanding. It was grand, intelligent blockbuster filmmaking at its finest, although I did find it lacking in terms of emotional resonance.
Now, to be clear, I’m not a card-carrying member of the “Christopher Nolan is overrated” club. I think he’s rightly regarded as one of the finest of his era.
But in terms of ‘innovation,’ I would submit a name before Nolan's.
James Cameron not only ushered in a new wave of 3D films with Avatar, he straight up invented new filming techniques that allowed directors to film organically in 3D.
For all it might be lacking thematically, Avatar belongs near the zenith of innovative blockbuster filmmaking. It was revolutionary.
And Cameron had once prior marked a similar paradigm shift for action filmmaking with the ever-glorious Terminator 2.
Then we have George Miller, who took a few hundred people to a desert in Namibia and came back having made Mad Max: Fury Road, one of the greatest action films of all time, with a heavy reliance on practical effects.
Then there’s Wes Anderson, whose films have such a remarkably unique signature that there is no other person on the planet who could authentically replicate what he does.
The Royal Tenenbaums is a stone-cold masterpiece.
What of Edgar Wright and his pastiche-heavy oeuvre?
The Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy is nothing if not innovative, simultaneously skewering and honouring three distinct genres.
What of ‘The Three Amigos’? Between them, Alfonso Cuaron, Guillermo Del Toro and Alejandro G. Iñarritu have made some of the finest films of the 21st Century.
Children of Men, Pan’s Labyrinth and Birdman are feats of innovation and originality.
What of Richard Linklater, who shot a coming-of-age movie over 12 years? Boyhood was a monumental technical achievement and deeply moving to boot.
Steven Soderbergh shot an entire film (Unsane) on an iPhone 7 Plus this century!
What of the masters? Steven Spielberg, David Lynch, Quentin Tarantino, Paul Thomas Anderson and Martin Scorsese are in the race too!
Then there’s David Fincher and the multifaceted genius of Zodiac and The Social Network.
And those are the just popular names. Spike Jonze (Her), Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine), Darren Aronofsky (Mother!), Sofia Coppola (Lost in Translation) and Jonathan Glazer (Under The Skin) have all made deeply intimate, often disturbing and innovative films.
The list could go on.
Christopher Nolan is an innovative director, most certainly. But I find it difficult to anoint him ‘the most innovative.’
There are plenty of directors who are innovating and challenging the notion of what we consider to be cinema.
Perhaps Nolan is the most popular of them; therefore his efforts are more widely lauded.
But even in the realm of blockbusters, James Cameron’s technically awe-worthy Avatar probably claims victory in the ‘innovation’ stakes.
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