October 9, 2020
In our current environment of short attention spans, instant gratification, and constant news cycles, it’s easy to use hyperbole when discussing our favorite artists, athletes or other people in the public eye. In the sports world, we’ve seen this over the last several few years with a debate of who had the better basketball career – LeBron James or Michael Jordan. I’ll save my LeBron/MJ thoughts for when I run out of movie topics – so, in about three weeks. Just kidding – I’ve got some great ideas for future posts. For instance, my friend Jean recommended combining my two passions for a post on music soundtracks. That one will be coming up soon.
Anyway, my point about hyperbole and superlatives is that I sometimes fall into the same recency bias when thinking through my favorite movies and filmmakers. For instance, looking back to my favorite films of 2019, I definitely leaned more towards films I saw later in the year. So, if I think about my favorite filmmakers, it probably changes month to month. I’m the type of movie consumer to dive into a director’s work over a series of weeks or months to see how they evolved as a filmmaker and what types of stories they chose to tell over their career. I wrote about these concepts in my posts about directors who took risks here and here. Although I am a big fan of some of our classic directors (Spielberg, Hitchcock, Scorsese, Coppola), my current favorite directors (in some order) are probably Quentin Tarantino, Christopher Nolan, Paul Thomas Anderson and David Fincher, who is probably at the top of that list right now.
Another point about picking a “favorite” filmmaker is that there needs to be a critical mass of work to include that person on the short list. Those four directors I mentioned above all have directed at least eight films, which seems like a good cutoff. For instance, I may grow to love the work of Greta Gerwig or Ryan Coogler, but they have only directed a few (albeit excellent) films. I will need to see more of their work to see if they move into the next level.
What Makes Fincher So Special?
To start, he has a nearly flawless filmography. It’s hard to get it right with every one of your films, but Fincher is as close as you are going to find. I’ve revisited his films over the last few months in anticipation of his new film Mank, which I discussed last week. Netflix just announced that Mank will premiere on its streaming service December 4th. Thankfully it wasn’t another film delayed like No Time To Die was (again) 15 minutes after I posted last week’s preview. Ugh – thanks 2020!
In all of Fincher’s films, there is a rich combination of story, characters, production design, score and wonderful “movie shots”. Almost all of his films are focused on the relationship between two people at the center of the story. It might be a husband and wife, a parent and child, two siblings, detective partners, or business partners. Many of his films will focus in on the narrative from one person’s perspective and then shift to the other’s, highlighting how the events in someone’s life can influence the other. Sometimes he’ll take a chance in presenting the narrative in an unusual timeline or surprise us with a twist ending, but the choices enhance the films – they are not gimmicky (like Christopher Nolan’s can feel at times). At the end of the day, his films remind us that life is messy and it’s rare to have a clean, happy ending.
Fincher is one of those directors who is not just trying to get the actors to read their lines – he is painting a picture to tell a story. All of the details are thought out to an extreme level. He is notoriously known as a perfectionist as a director, sometimes taking dozens of takes to get a scene right. We’ll cover some of the more famous examples when we go through his films. He’s directed ten feature films, so we’re going to do a (kind of) top ten list. But first, we have to mention his earlier work.
Every director starts out small. Rarely is someone given a feature film to direct without cutting their teeth in small television work or commercials. Fincher spent a lot of his early career creating some famous commercials for brands like Nike, Gap and Sony. He then moved on to music videos, where he directed over fifty videos – some were for superstars (Madonna, Paula Abdul, and George Michael for instance) and some were not (like Rick Springfield, The Outfield, and Loverboy – hey, it was the 80s after all). While it may be easy to mock something like Bop Till You Drop, you sure have to admire the artistry of Freedom ‘90. Another impressive stat – in 1990, he held three of the four nominations for Best Director at the MTV Video Music Awards, for Janie’s Got a Gun, The End of the Innocence, and Vogue, for which he won. Having worked his way through the minor leagues, it was time to move on to feature films where he would get the keys to a franchise, but things didn’t quite work out like he hoped it would. It’s time to shift to our top ten list.
10. Not The Way You Want To Start – Alien 3 (1992)
OK, I’m cheating here, because this is the only Fincher film I haven’t seen. I just haven’t gotten around to it. I think the first two films in the Alien series were a perfect mix of horror, suspense, and action. Fincher was brought on board to direct the third installment (after Ridley Scott and James Cameron directed the first two). There was a revolving door of writers on the project and since it was his first film, he wasn’t given much creative control. He has since described it as a terrible experience and is not very proud of the movie. I will probably watch this at some point, but until I do, it’s last on the list, by default. Luckily, his second experience was much better, which we will get to later in this list.
9. A Most Unusual Love Story – The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button (2008)
When looking at the films that Fincher has directed, this is probably the one that doesn’t look like the others. Most of his films are in the thriller / suspense genre, whereas this film is the story of one man’s unusual journey through life and the relationships that shape who he becomes. Partnering with Fincher for the third time, Brad Pitt plays the titular character who (for unknown reasons) ages backwards. This might be the one exception of a Fincher film that I think is a little too long, clocking in at almost three hours. The beginning scenes where Button is an “old child” are kind of charming, but a little weird, and the very end where he is an adolescent going through dementia are very sad. But the middle section, where Button and his long love interest (played by the wonderful Cate Blanchett) are the same age, is the best part of the film. They have great chemistry together and make for a perfect couple. The film is overall very good – it’s beautifully shot, especially the scenes when Button is “young” early in the film. Despite lukewarm comparisons to some of Fincher’s stronger work, the film was a box office and critical success, landing thirteen Oscar nominations, winning three technical awards. In addition to Pitt and Blanchett, the cast includes Taraji P. Henson (who would be nominated for best supporting actress for her performance) and a breakout performance from Mahershala Ali, who would go onto win two Oscars later in his career.
8. Is This Real? – The Game (1997)
Fincher’s suspense thriller with Michael Douglas and Sean Penn will keep you guessing throughout, wondering what our main character is really experiencing. Douglas plays a wealthy investment banker who receives an unusual birthday present from his delinquent younger brother, played by Penn. Douglas is enrolled in an unusual “game” which is run by a mysterious corporation whose goal seems to be to f*ck with people’s lives. As he starts to see all aspects of his life spinning out of control, we are left wondering if he is experiencing a simulated “game” or a nightmare that will ruin his life. There are a few plot holes in this one, but there are a lot of fun “what just happened” moments that make this worth watching. There is also an interesting subplot to the making of this one. Jodie Foster was originally attached to star with Douglas, but they couldn’t make the plot work (specifically they didn’t think she would be believable as Douglas’s sister since she is twenty years younger). The negotiations broke down, there was a lawsuit, and things got ugly. Foster would eventually work with Fincher in our next film.
7. A Film For Quarantine – Panic Room (2002)
After seven months (Has it been seven? I’ve lost count) of quarantine, you may not be looking for a film that has a claustrophobic feel, but this is a good suspense thriller starring some top actors. Jodie Foster and Kristen Stewart (in an early role for her) play a mother and daughter who have just moved into a New York City mansion following a nasty divorce. The house features an unusual panic room that does not sit well with the mom, who has a fear of confined spaces. On their first night in the house, three burglars break in to steal valuables that are locked in a safe in the panic room. The thieves (including Forrest Whitaker and Jared Leto) are determined to let nothing get in the way of their fortune, especially when Foster and Stewart lock themselves in the panic room. This film features some great filmmaking techniques, including where it looks like the camera is literally going through the wall as Fincher moves the scene from one room to another. Fincher has often said that Hitchcock is a big influence on his filmmaking style and that Rear Window, in particular, influenced this film.
6. The (First) Bestselling Novel Adaptation – The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2011)
It’s not easy to adapt a best-selling novel, let alone a worldwide phenomenon that was part of a trilogy that sold tens of millions of copies worldwide. The Swedish “Millennium” crime series written by Stieg Larsson (and sadly not published until after his death) was an enormous hit in his native country, and was adapted into three films that were released in 2009. A U.S. adaptation was naturally considered, given the popularity of the books and Fincher was quickly brought on board to direct. While this film has some very dark themes, we see the best of Fincher’s storytelling on display. There is a mystery at the heart of the film, we have a main character (played by Daniel Craig) going through a career crisis who decides to try to solve a thirty year old murder, and we have a mysterious computer hacker analyst (played by an unrecognizable Rooney Mara) helping him. Here is where Fincher brings together the relationship of two very different people, showing us their individual narratives in concurrent timelines. You are not sure how this is going to come together, but once it does, it’s very strong as the film moves towards the climax. This film highlights another example of Fincher using beautiful locations to amplify the story, whether we see the characters in a bustling city or the snow-covered Swedish countryside. There are a few violent scenes in this one, and it runs a little long, but it is an excellent adaptation of a best seller, a bar that is very high to achieve and one that Fincher would repeat three years later. We’ll cover that film and the rest of my top ten list next week.
I hope you enjoyed part one of my look at the work of David Fincher. If you are interested in learning more about Mank, the new trailer just dropped and you can find it on imdb.com. Thanks again for reading and if you’d like to be notified of future posts, you can subscribe here.