A Brief Introduction

Within the past few months I have been fortunate enough to be challenged by a friend to go out and complete lists on a lovely place called Letterboxd, a site and app for ranking and reviewing movies, with no bar for entry. Initially the idea of doing a List seemed ridiculous because I could not think of a topic. The idea of a Top 10 List was mentioned as a starting point and I thought what the heck, why not? The more I got into it the idea of a Top 10 List seemed absurd. How can I come up with only 10 movies out of the thousands that are available to watch? How does one define what “Top 10” is? Is it my personal favourite films? Or the 10 most techincally perfect films I have ever viewed? With some difficulty and a lot of back-tracking, I hammered out a list that I admired and appreciated, with elements of both objective film making and personal choice seeping onto it.

My next question: now what?

Having completed my starting point I saw no reason to slow down creating lists, the world in desperate need of my two cents. My friend mentioned that doing the filmography of famous directors would be an interesting challenge. So I started with Michael Bay. This turned out to quite possibly the single biggest regret of my life thus far. Not to say I did not learn anything about Michael Bay or that there are no redeeming traits of his movies. He has an excellent eye for shots, and his action sequences, while explosive, are often very well composed and almost always fun to watch.

Having made such a serious misstep on my first attempt I thought it may be more enjoyable to watch a director I liked, with films that are generally very well received. After watching some YouTube videos on the man’s work and seeing his name on my Top 10 List I decided my next project would be David Fincher.

What an excellent choice this had turned out to be. Watching his films was simply spectacular and even his worst film (in my opinion) still had lots of great qualities. The first thing you need to understand about David Fincher is that his films are ways of looking at life through the only context that matters: human interaction. The relationships and emotional connections characters have with one another is the real meat of a David Fincher film. Nearly all of his movies are less about the plot and sereis of events that transpire, and are more about characters and people within these situations. I like his films because they never seem so ridiculous, and even the most outlandish characters have idiosyncrasies that make them real people with real emotions. Fincher is able to make these characters real and these struggles relatable because of his defining style as a director: his attention to detail.

He is meticulous in detailing every move of his characters because they nearly always come back around to tell the audience something about the shift in that character. Just like the scores he makes which are so unique and captivating, his films have this remarkable quality of music: creating a beautiful pattern, only to break it for catharsis. His camerawork is captivating and while he follows main characters to draw us in, he is not afraid to have characters talking while doing something mundane. This act of talking while working, walking, or socializing, makes his movies seem more realistic, his characters more alive than simply people in a story. Watching his work was truly a joy because of wonderfully crafted most of his work was.

Looking at his total filmography, you might think that there are some obviously weak films in there, but when you really hold them up to inspect, there is not much out of place. Bellow I have listed, in order from my personal favourite to least favourite, films from David Fincher with some of my thoughts, I hope you enjoy.

David Fincher – Filmography Thoughts

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

I really didn’t expect this to be my favourite, I really thought it was going to be something else. But when I look at score, shots, acting performances, plot, pacing, and my enjoyment of the film, this reigns supreme. Its shocking how good this movie is, how visceral and captivating it is. The mystery dominates the movie and I swear I was invested 10 minutes into it.

Fight Club

I’ve seen this movie about 5 or 6 times now in my life and every time I pick up something else about it. This time it wasn’t the inter spliced shots of Tyler Durden into it before we meet him, or the Starbucks cups sitting throughout the shots, but the idea of “franchises” that really stuck with me. Despite being number 2 on here it is still in my Top 10. The dialogue might be some of the best Fincher has ever done.

The Social Network

This is a movie that the first time I watched it, I hated Jessie Eisenberg and by extension Mark Zuckerberg. When I watched it for this list, I was surprised just how much empathy I had for Zuckerberg and his struggle to be a decent person. Score is literally jaw dropping, the club scene still stands out as bold and refreshing no matter how many times you watch it.

Se7en

Now I know some people may blast me for putting this down here but it honestly did not hold up as well as I would’ve thought. Don’t get me wrong, still a great film but I think there are films on this list with better writing and better character juxtaposition. This is a film in which Brad Pitt makes me genuinely dislike him so I have to give him credit for that. Felt more like an exercise in spectacle than a mystery but it is still a fabulous film.

Gone Girl

This was also a shock to me. While the subtelty of the performances was fantastic I found the plot very odd in terms of character motivation. I really enjoyed watching it and the score might just be a hair behind The Social Network. This movie impressed me with probably the highest number of important characters with distinct personalities. This movie made me want to go watch A Madea Christmas just for Tyler Perry.

Panic Room

A textbook thriller, with great performances all around. This is a film you need to see if you haven’t. I loved it but I don’t want to say too much more about it, just go watch it.

Zodiac

The longest Fincher film, but one where the actors really bring the characters to life, Jake Gyllenhall, Mark Ruffalo, Robert Downey Jr., Brian Cox, amd John Carroll Lynch are all fabulous. This movie is haunting and quietly disturbing. You want this man to be caught, you want his ciphers decoded. Great work making the viewer feel like part of the team trying to bring down The Zodiac Killer.

Alien³

Hot take: This movie is pretty good. Now I never saw it as a kid growing up, if I had I would have said how boring and drawn out this movie was. Thankfully, I saw it as an adult and honestly this is a movie I will definitely rewatch for the character development. Still felt like an Alien movie but one that had very strong emotional moments in it.

The Game

This is a movie I did not enjoy. Technically is was well constructed, visually it did everything right, I don’t know if it was Michael Douglas or the plot itself but I did not like watching it. I’m sure if I watched it again I might find some more redeeming traits of this movie, but I don’t know if I want to watch it again. Far and away my least favourite.