Fincher, Anderson and Soderbergh: The Gritty, the Lengthy and the Oscar Awardee

by RJ Panis

With the Oscar buzz all around, I decided to pay homage to three great young directors who are making waves in moviedom despite the works of two of them have only snagged an Oscar nod.

David Fincher's previous movie, Fight Club (1999), was rather talked about for allegedly celebrating violence and gore, in effect overlooking its artistic merits. Fincher envisioned in his movie a world where testosterone and conspiracies wove together frustrated and furious men into the notorious Fight Club. Its members vented their anger by sparring with each other and by terrorizing mindless automatons reigned over by consumerism (commonly known as the corporate people).

Throughout his movies, Fincher's trademark has been the chiaroscuro realm where his characters exist in. His usage of dimmed lights and heavy shadows enabled him to depict a gritty world where his themes perfectly fit in: death, paranoia and redemption. His protagonists as well do not usually emerge triumphant or unscathed either, although good wins over bad but always with a price.

Fincher excels in superb storytelling and visual presentation; his direction has also brought about the latest in visual effects, the best in cinematography and the finest in acting. Sadly, the only merit his recent work has garnered is an Oscar for Best Sound Effects.

Paul Thomas Anderson has been distinguished as one of American cinema's great hopes thanks to three of his films already heralded as masterpieces, despite not being a cinematic success. PT, as he prefers to be called, began with his low-budget film Hard Eight. This gave him the leeway to produce Boogie Nights (1997) and Magnolia(1999), both critically acclaimed and nominated for Oscar Best Writing, and famous as well for its lengthiness (Magnolia's running time is approximately 180 minutes).

Anderson's forte lies with his tackling of a many complex characters. He puts them in a world where everything makes up a tapestry of different lives and various occurrences that overlap each other at some point at one time. Thus his masterpieces are mosaics of life revved up by his excellent storytelling.

However, Anderson's and Fincher's works have only attained accolade despite the ingenuity of their works. For Steven Soderbergh though, this is not the case anymore after bagging an Oscar for Best Director for Traffic and being nominated for Best Director as well in Erin Brockovich.

Soderbergh had been among the untapped geniuses that inhibit the American cinema. His propensity first came under the spotlight with his 1989 film sex, lies and videotape. But he reaped critical acclaim nine years later with Out of Sight (1998) and The Limey (1999). Though they were not blockbusters, his film Brockovich was the one that placed him up the pedestal among Hollywood auteurs and guaranteed income-generators.

Soderbergh is known for his documentary style of shooting,. He also plays with his editing (quick transitions) and lighting (from his azure coloring in Traffic to his strong contrast of light in Out of Sight), achieving a 70s-esque effect in his films. But basically, it all boils down with his moviemaking aptitude that makes him a marvel in Tinseltown.

Hollywood has produced a crop of distinguished directors throughout the century, but the true auteurs remain unaccredited despite the barrage of masterpieces they have been shelling out over Hollywood. Since entertainment has become a large business nowadays, it does not have any room for art. And the Oscars have the tendency to act that way, giving a blind eye over those people behind the camera who truly deserves the esteem.