2013 Calvin Awards: Best Director
By Kim Hollis
February 22, 2013
BoxOfficeProphets.com
The Calvin Award for Best Director goes to Ben Affleck, and if you had told me back in 2003 that in a decade we'd be having this discussion, I would have assumed you were delusional or a hapless Boston Red Sox fan or perhaps both. Now we sit in the year 2013, the Red Sox have won two World Series titles, and Affleck has directed three seriously good movies. The first of those, Gone Baby Gone, placed right at #21 on our list of best films during its year of release, while Affleck placed seventh in the director category. His next effort, The Town, finished higher up the Best Picture list at #11, with Affleck moving up to take fifth place amongst helmers. Move forward a couple more years and Affleck as now ascended to the top of our director list, while the film itself placed third in the Best Picture Category. Clearly, we really like Affleck's work, and he's only getting better and better as he hones his craft.
Argo is a taut thriller set right in the midst of the Iran hostage crisis. Instead of being a dry examination of the efforts to aid Americans trapped in the home of the Canadian Ambassador, Affleck approaches the story as an exciting, tense series of events with some comedic elements even thrown into the mix. The film shifts tone easily and naturally, moving from the endangered Americans to the Hollywood makeup artist and producer who help create their cover. By the end of the film, even if we know exactly how it will end, we're on the edge of our seats, rooting for a plane to take to the air. Affleck's come a long way from his early role as Basketball Player #10 in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie.
Finishing just a few points behind for a similarly exciting take on historical events in the Middle East is Kathryn Bigelow, who follows up the exemplary The Hurt Locker with Zero Dark Thirty. Bigelow won previously for The Hurt Locker, so she's establishing herself as quite the talent amongst BOP staffers. Whereas The Hurt Locker focused upon the thrill seekers who handle bomb disposal, Zero Dark Thirty is a far more deliberate, careful film. The story proceeds slowly, which is not to say that the film itself is slow. In fact, watching Maya's investigation into the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden unfold is intriguing, engaging stuff. By the time we get to the raid on the compound that comprises approximately the final half hour of the film, the tension is unmistakably high despite the fact that again, we know exactly how this story will end. We hope that Bigelow keeps up the comparably torrid pace she's been on with her moviemaking over the past few years.
The same year that Bigelow won for Best Director, our third place finisher this year placed...third. Quentin Tarantino is consistently a favorite of the BOP staff, having taken that third spot for Inglourious Basterds. He also has another third place finish for Kill Bill Volume 1 and a ninth spot for Kill Bill Volume 2. We appreciated the way that Django Unchained felt playful and entertaining even as it toyed with weightier ethical issues. There aren't many directors working today who can examine slavery and racism while paying homage to genre pictures. We're hearing that Tarantino's next film may tie thematically to both Basterds and Django, and if true, it ought to be a hell of a ride.
Fourth place goes to Ang Lee, who presents a truly luscious-looking parable in the form of the adaptation of Yann Martel's Life of Pi. This movie employs the best use of 3D effects besides Avatar, and one of the most impressive aspects of the film is the way that Ang brings the animals to life even as most of them were rendered on a computer. It would have been easy to try to "humanize" them in some way, but this never happens. Richard Parker the Tiger is cruel and vicious, and there is never a moment in the film where we are allowed to believe that Pi should let his guard down. Some are bothered by the ambiguity of the ending, but there can be no arguing that the film is an ambitious take on a book that should have been all but impossible to film. Somehow, Ang succeeded.
Next up is David O. Russell, who surprisingly has only a ninth place finish (for The Fighter) so far in our Calvin Awards history. We admire Silver Linings Playbook for humanizing the plights of people who must contend with mental illness. People want to believe that solutions are easy, but as Silver Linings Playbook illustrates, life is more often full of shades of grey (go away, E.L. James fans). With The Fighter and now this film, Russell has shown a propensity to look at mental health issues in a sympathetic way is admirable.
Sixth and seventh go to a guy who directed the biggest box office opener ever and a helmer who adds another masterpiece to his storied career. BOP fave Joss Whedon, creator of such classic shows as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and Firefly, was handed the reins to The Avengers, a film that brings together Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, The Hulk, Black Widow and Hawkeye. This could have been truly awful, but Whedon found the way to bring these disparate personalities together in a way that really worked. Seventh goes to Steven Spielberg for Lincoln. You might have expected Spielberg to direct the bigger, brassier, more exciting project, but instead he examines a slice of the life of our 16th president and allows the supporting players to shine. This movie could have been dry and deadly dull, but Spielberg delivers a film that is truly engrossing.
Rounding out are top ten are a couple of Andersons and a Mendes. The first of our Andersons is Wes, who brings his vibrant storytelling abilities to a coming-of-age romance between two teens. As always, the detail in the film is exquisite, and the performances he elicits from his unknown young performers is impressive. Then we have Paul Thomas Anderson, who delivered a divisive film in The Master, one that has both ardent supporters and voluble detractors. Challenging and ambiguous, it's a journey into a dark heart that doesn't necessarily provide easy or satisfactory solutions. Finally, Sam Mendes took on the Bond franchise and delivered a movie with fabulous action sequences, marvelous cinematography, and yet still had an emotional core to it that has rarely been seen in the series.
Just missing the top ten this year were Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight Rises), Tom Tykwer, Andy Wachowski and Lana Wachowski (Cloud Atlas), Rian Johnson (Looper) and Robert Zemeckis (Flight).
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Best Director
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