10 Overlooked First Films By Great Directors
Beginners luck? Or just raw talent?
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00 Now all great artists have to start somewhere. Every great singer has a low-quality CD of
00:05 them doing karaoke or something somewhere in their attic. All the best athletes start
00:08 out on their peewee football teams. Michelangelo probably drew crude pictures of farm animals
00:13 before he even heard the word 'Sistine Chapel'. And when it comes to film directors, their
00:17 first movies are usually a bit sloppy, a little underwhelming, and largely forgettable. But
00:21 not these ten, though, because they basically nailed it the first time around.
00:25 So let's take a look at them as I'm Jules, this is WhatCulture.com, and these are 10
00:29 Overlooked First Films by Great Directors.
00:31 10. Hunger - Steve McQueen
00:34 Rather than the actor from The Great Escape, this Steve McQueen is a British film director
00:38 best known for the Best Picture Oscar-winning drama, 12 Years a Slave. Outside of that film,
00:43 he also directed the TV anthology Small Axe, the heist movie Windows, and the sex addiction
00:48 thriller Shame. However, McQueen's on-screen career started with a dirty, naked Michael
00:52 Fassbender. In 2008, the director brought us Hunger, a story about the 1981 Irish hunger
00:58 and no-wash strike. Fassbender plays Bobby Sands, a real-life IRA prisoner who died in
01:03 jail as the result of the action. I mean, I could have said spoilers here, but come
01:07 on, these events happened over 40 years ago.
01:09 Hunger was almost unanimously well-received by critics upon its debut at the Cannes Film
01:13 Festival in 2008. Fassbender was praised for his nuanced performance, whilst Queen was
01:18 labelled as an emerging talent for his use of artistic flair to tell a story. And those
01:23 critics were definitely correct, as McQueen is now one of the most treasured British film
01:27 directors. He was even knighted in 2020. As for Hunger, it's very different from McQueen's
01:32 later work, but still a very enjoyable, if somewhat challenging piece of cinema.
01:36 9. Sweetie - Jane Campion
01:39 The only woman to date to be nominated for two Best Director Oscars, Jane Campion is,
01:44 quite simply, a legend. Her 1993 movie The Piano is a heart-wrenching period piece about
01:49 a young woman sold into marriage by her father. Then, in 2021, came The Power of the Dog,
01:55 a beautiful, sprawling western that challenged audiences to dislike Benedict Cumberbatch.
02:00 She got started in her native New Zealand with a short film called Peel, which won the
02:04 short film Palme d'Or at Cannes. She then followed this up with her feature-length debut,
02:09 Sweetie, in 1989.
02:11 Sweetie is about a young woman who struggles with family, romance, and life itself. So,
02:15 basically, everyone in their 20s, right? The titular Sweetie is played by an actor named
02:19 Geneviève Leman. And, excellent namewithstanding, the movie also received praise for its twisted
02:24 view of family life and unconventional presentation. Being a New Zealand indie film, the movie
02:28 didn't actually create much of a splash when it first arrived. However, if you like
02:31 a bit of Jane Campion, then you might have a sweet tooth for Sweetie.
02:35 8. Play Misty for Me - Clint Eastwood
02:38 Though definitely more famous as an actor, Clint Eastwood has stood behind the camera
02:42 more than a few times as well. Although, more often than not, he's also been in the films
02:46 he's directed. What an ego, right? His first directorial effort was Play Misty for Me,
02:50 which sounds like Clint really wanted somebody to pretend to be the redhead from the original
02:54 Pokemon anime. Instead, the film actually stars Eastwood as a radio DJ being stalked
02:58 by an obsessive fan. Instead of demanding autographs and video messages, though, the
03:02 fan instead demands that Eastwood's character fall in love with her. And this goes about
03:06 as well as you'd expect.
03:07 Play Misty for Me is a far cry from Clinty Boy's regular roles as an all-action man.
03:12 Here, he plays a regular fella, completely at the mercy of his fanatical follower. And
03:16 said follower is portrayed brilliantly by Jessica Walter, who was nominated for a Golden
03:20 Globe for her performance. The success of this film opened the door for the Dirty Harry
03:24 star to helm future projects like The Bridges of Madison County, Million Dollar Baby, and
03:29 Gran Torino. All of which ended up starring himself. I told you about his ego.
03:33 7. The Loveless - Kathryn Bigelow
03:36 Before stealing the show with her war drama The Hurt Locker, Kathryn Bigelow was mostly
03:40 known for action thrillers. She directed Point Break, the movie that gave us that steamy
03:44 Reeves-Swayze bromance, and K-19 The Widowmaker, easily one of the best submarine-based films
03:49 ever. And yes, I know that really that category just boils down to The Hunt for Red October
03:54 and this, but come on, give me something.
03:55 Bigelow's first outing as a director was The Loveless, and the film was basically about
03:59 a group of bikers who roll into a small southern town. Vance, played by Willem Dafoe, becomes
04:04 entangled with a local girl and her abusive father, who wants to rid his settlement of
04:08 the greasers once and for all. Tense, moody, and emotionally dense, The Loveless is a great
04:12 entry point into the catalogue of one of modern cinema's most groundbreaking filmmakers.
04:17 So Willem Dafoe in leather is never a bad shout, so yeah, there you go.
04:20 6. Hard Eight - Paul Thomas Anderson
04:23 Not to be confused with Paul W.S. Anderson, who makes some very different films, Paul
04:26 Thomas Anderson is considered one of the 21st century's greatest directors. Best known
04:30 for his work on There Will Be Blood, Phantom Thread, and Licorice Pizza, as well as directing
04:34 music videos for Radiohead, Fiona, Apple, and Haim, Anderson's work is often bleak,
04:39 spotlighting realistic characters with tons of personal flaws. His first movie, 1996's
04:44 Hard Eight, is a bit like that, only way more extreme. It stars Philip Baker Hall as a successful
04:49 Las Vegas gambler who takes a homeless man under his wing, a series of events transpired
04:53 that lead to the protégé marrying a sex worker and taking a man hostage. The film
04:58 is stacked to the gills with star power. Alongside Hall, there's John C. Reilly, Gwyneth Paltrow,
05:02 Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Samuel L. Jackson. Not bad for a first go-around, right? Exciting,
05:07 gripping, and with a strong cast of enjoyable characters, Hard Eight is well worth taking
05:11 a gamble on.
05:12 5. Blood Simple - The Coen Brothers
05:15 Joel and Ethan Coen are so synonymous with one another that it's genuinely unsettling
05:19 when one of them does something without the other. And the siblings are responsible for
05:23 some very famous films, including Barton Fink, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, the 2010 True Grit
05:28 remake, and No Country for Old Men. And if you haven't heard of at least one of those,
05:32 then seriously, how did you even come across this list?
05:34 Their success can be traced way back to a picture from 1984 called Blood Simple. A mixture
05:39 of noir crime, psychological thriller, and straight-up horror, Blood Simple is about
05:43 the horrifying fallout of a bartender having an affair with his boss' wife. "Do not
05:48 mix business and pleasure" seems to be the motto here. It's very well acted, with future
05:52 Oscar winner Frances McDormand in the lead female role. It's also shot beautifully,
05:56 adding a new spin to the traditional crime story formula. It's not hard to predict
06:00 the brothers' trajectory based on Blood Simple. Their films continue to be dark, broody,
06:04 and full of shady characters to this very day. The only difference is that they've
06:08 got a lot more money to play with.
06:09 4. Pi, Darren Aronofsky
06:12 Pretty much every single one of Darren Aronofsky's movies is regarded as some sort of classic,
06:17 except for Noah. We don't talk about Noah. Requiem for a Dream, The Wrestler, Black Swan,
06:22 The Whale, these movies all have their place in the hearts and minds of cinema fans. But
06:27 one of his most overlooked entries is actually his directorial debut, Pi. Filmed in black
06:31 and white, because of course it is, Pi stars Max Cohen, a mathematician obsessed with finding
06:36 order and balance within the world. Because Max meets a Jewish character attempting to
06:39 decode the Torah as if it was a string of code. There's a number that's meant to
06:43 represent the true name of God, which comes in the form of some very big ideas for Mr.
06:47 Aronofsky and crew, but he absolutely nails them. As well as making your brain hurt in
06:51 a good way, Pi will also make your eyes just utterly happy in a good way as well. Beautifully
06:56 shot, masterfully acted, and cleverly written, Pi is everything you could want from an Aronofsky
07:01 feature.
07:02 3. Shallow Grave, Danny Boyle
07:04 The Doctor, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Catherine D'Amidici all have to work out what to do
07:08 when Lily Allen's dad dies in their apartment. Now that sounds like a recipe for success.
07:13 And that's what goes down in 1994's Shallow Grave. Christopher Eccleston, Ewan McGregor,
07:17 and Kerry Fox not only have to deal with Keith Allen's sudden demise, but also the large
07:21 sum of money that he left behind.
07:23 What follows is a grimly funny crime caper as the three friends deal with the fallout
07:26 of their actions. The screenplay was written by John Hodge, and the movie was directed
07:30 by Danny Boyle, who would go on to work together several more times, including on train spotting,
07:34 and The Beach. Boyle's recognition would far surpass that of his writer. He would go
07:38 on to win the Best Director Oscar for Slumdog Millionaire, and very nearly directed a Bond
07:43 movie. But that's another story for another time.
07:45 In terms of British talent before they hit it big, you really couldn't do much better
07:48 than Shallow Grave. Both the Scottish director and actor would become megastars, and the
07:52 English one would become part of the biggest franchise in sci-fi TV history.
07:56 2. Following, Christopher Nolan
07:59 A few directors can match up to Christopher Nolan in terms of fanatical devotion. Maybe
08:03 Quentin Tarantino, but then again, his first film was Reservoir Dogs, so there's no way
08:07 that we can call that overlooked.
08:08 As for Nolan's first film, he took the Aronofsky approach and filmed 1998's Following in black
08:13 and white. The director went to extreme lengths to get this picture made. He made his actors
08:17 heavily rehearse scenes ahead of time to save on film, he paid for equipment out of his
08:21 own salary, he pitched in with editing, and he even cast his own uncle in one of the roles.
08:26 Safe to say that he was keen to get The Following off the ground.
08:29 Once it did get off the ground, though, it went down a storm. A neo-noir crime thriller
08:33 about a young man drawn into a seedy underworld, Following was praised for its snappy action,
08:38 atypical narrative structure, and nail-biting mystery. It also got Nolan's name out there,
08:42 which allowed him to get the resources together to make his next feature film, a little picture
08:46 called Memento. You might have heard of it.
08:49 1. Bad Taste, Peter Jackson
08:51 The man behind the epic Middle Earth series of movies started his directorial career making
08:55 schlocky horror movies in New Zealand. Before making one of the greatest film trilogies
08:59 ever, and I guess some Hobbit movies, Peter Jackson was best known as the mind behind
09:03 Brain Dead and The Frighteners. But before any of these, though, Jackson was making another
09:07 movie about a group of murderous aliens harvesting human meat for use in their fast food chain,
09:12 which was 1987's Bad Taste. The director also wrote this film, edited it, and played
09:17 two parts, and it was backed up by future collaborators Peter Hearn and Peter Ver Jones.
09:22 In the end, Bad Taste is a funny, silly, over-the-top, low-budget comedy horror movie with plenty
09:27 of laughs and gore stuffed into its 92-minute runtime. More importantly, though, it gave
09:31 Jackson an entry point into the world of cinema, and for that, we are all eternally grateful.
09:36 Jackson came from very humble beginnings and went on to achieve greatness, much like a
09:40 certain resident of the Shire.
09:42 And there we go, my friends. Those were 10 Overlooked First Films by Great Directors.
09:45 I hope that you enjoyed that, and please let me know what you thought about it down in
09:48 the comments section below. As always, I've been Jules, you can go follow me over on Instagram
09:51 @retroj but the O is a zero and you can come check out all of my Warhammer miniatures that
09:56 I've been painting. I know, I am a nerd. But before I go, I just want to say one thing.
10:00 Hope you're treating yourself well, my friend, and not overlooking how much of a big ledge
10:03 you are. You deserve love, happiness, and success, and do not let anything or anyone
10:07 else tell you otherwise, alright? I want you to go out there and smash your life goals
10:10 today because I believe in you and you need to believe in yourself as well. As always,
10:14 I've been Jules, you have been awesome, never forget that, and I'll speak to you soon.