How Denis Villeneuve Found His Voice
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- čas přidán 31. 08. 2021
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With Dune on the horizon, in this video essay I look at the career of Denis Villeneuve, to see how he found his cinematic voice and evolved as a director. Including films such as Polytechnique, Incendies, Prisoners, Sicario, Arrival, and Blade Runner 2049.
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He is basically the "anti-junkfoodification" of blockbuster movies director and I love it!
The fact that he can make such good cinema and be as popular as he is brings me a little faith in humanity.
Actually Blade Runner 2049 and Mad Max: Fury Road are the only two blockbuster sequels that worked in past 10 years.
@@SiamHossain7 He's like a better Christopher Nolan.
I just watched Dune, and I absolutely agree! He doesn't insist on spelling out everything for the audience like what Marvel or normal blockbuster movies do. He doesn't have his characters be like "hey wemember this event that happened in the past hur corny quip hur". He just shows it in a way where he doesn't need to explain it. I love it when directors, authors, screenwriters, ANYBODY in the media industry just relies on showing stuff to tell, with the actual telling be secondary.
@@SiamHossain7 I agree with you, just seeing how good the response to dune has been makes me rethink the idea that the average moviegoer is a dumb dumb
Personally, I found Sicario life-changing. It was really an eye-opening experience and one of the first instances where I felt a director take ahold of me as an audience member and making the most of certain key shots and compositions. People don't talk enough about Villeneuve's ability to work with actors and get the best out of them.
I had that with Blade Runner 2049
I had that with arrival
I don't think he's as good with actors as you claim. The only performances in his catalogue that stick is out hugh jackman in prisoners
@@thenorsepioneer7311 Benicio Del Toro? Amy Adams? Lubna Azabal? Jake Gyllenhaal?
sicario 1 was amazing. I didnt care for 2049 much or arrival
This video makes me want to watch all of Denis Villeneuve movies before Dune comes out.
Same here :)
You should! Even as early as Maelstrom he’s got a firm grip on atmosphere and the whole experience is very special.
Yesssssssss
You should. I watched all his movies two years ago and I am glad I did. He’s my favorite director and his movies are deeply felt long after I’ve watched them.
@@gvaldez03 I hope his films are as beautiful as you :)
Villeneuve doesn't make any bad movies and the thing I admire the most about him is that every movie feels like a different world in itself
I find villeneuve's films are filled with an intense, thoughtful stillness that viscerally ecenntuates both character emotions and violence. He does tension unlike most other directors: holding on wide or long shots and letting the frame be filled with the same image for a long period. It allows the viewer to inhabit the space along with the character(s) but also be a voyur looking into a painterly frame; so, we watch and analyze.
I offen feel like I'm watching a moving painting when I see his films. There's this invitation to study what is in the frame and what is happening in it; how that relates to the the narrative.
Very well put.
Brilliantly put
He's the most interesting director of the last 20 years. I can't wait to see more. Dune was fantastic, watched it yesterday.
I've also watched Dune yesterday. I can't wait to see where he's at within 20 years bc he's still quite young (53 yo). I would love him to do a big Lovecraftian cosmic horror tale. Like, profoundly big, otherworldy, where we humans a truly insignificantly small things of the universe.
I saw it last month and it was great waiting to see the next one! :D
@@sk8shred Im seeing Dune this Thursday. Where would you rank it, honestly, out of all his films
@@jeisonr2506 It's tough to say because it's strictly and introductory film as far as the story goes. Like as a single story it is literally incomplete. I really enjoyed it and it did not feel like 2 and a half hours to me, it just went by. At the very end I legitimately thought I was only half way through the movie. I am going to re-watch in 4k as well.
Man he hasn't made a bad movie in his whole career, man should get best director award ge totally deserves it
Villeneuve also has a thing with mother figures (Incendies, Arrival, Blade Runner, Enemy), i wonder how this gonna work with Lady Jessica in Dune
Arguably she is the main protagonist of Dune. She has the final word.
Everyone is saying the mother is the stand out for the film
I just saw it, it works great!
Oh Jessica was incredible. And Rebecca Ferguson did her perfectly.
Saw the film this weekend. Jessica, as in the books, plays a prominent role as a mother figure.
Villeneuves restraint is something that really elevated Sicario IMO since other more "orthodox" action movies have these long drawn out fight scenes like the john wick fights that sort of desensitize the viewer whereas Sicario takes a more realistic approach and builds tension and releases it in like 20 seconds and that's it, feels way more rewarding as a viewer
I don't think the zoom into the drain is irrelevant. It just shows that, despite the scene being weird and uncomfortable, this is something they do quite often. So much so, the room has a drain.
Well said lol
Yes. And also, during extreme trauma, victims and perps fixate on tiny details which they remember for the rest of their lives. The colour, smell, shape of something superficially irrelevant.
Just watched Dune and the guy is a genius. Can't wait for Dune: Part Two.
Watched Dune yesterday and I was blown away. A true masterpiece and became a huge fan of Villeneuve when I found out he also made Bladerunner 2049 and Arrival, two of my favorite scifi movies of all time, and since yesterday added Dune prt 1 too.
@@vincentkrommenhoek7431 how are you guys watching it lmao
Without spoiling anything, how did Timothee Chalamet and Zendaya fit into Denis’s world? I feel like both receive crazy amounts of PR and hype when they haven’t really proven themselves to be in a Villeneuve film. I was a little disappointed to hear when they brought Zendaya on board because she really isn’t as well established or legendary in her craft the way Rebecca Ferguson is. It just seemed like a media stunt and casting choice so that this film is seen by as many young people as possible
@@jakesierra5955 Completely agree about Zendaya. Her acting suuuuuucks in her other work.
@@joshuagraham9507 the movie is out here in europe and in some part of Asia
Finding your own voice really is the hardest part of making Art. But when you finally do, Oh God, nothing in your life can even come close to imitating it
Today I was thinking about how profoundly convincing the argument of the way language affects our thoughts; as depicted in Arrival.
I took 7 of my friends to watch it in Michigan and everyone except me n my buddy, slept off!
But ever since I saw it, it never left my head.
DV is a true visionary!
Agree, I’ve felt absolutely mesmerized after watching it! Beautiful film
If you're intrigued in the idea of language on film, you should watch some of Godard's works like Alphaville and 2 or 3 I Know About Her
A lot of study has in fact gone into the way different languages affect the brain. So the premise for Arrival isn't that far off from current linguistic theories.
This is how Arrival left me feeling as well; contemplating the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis!
Well movies are really a matter of taste and sometimes people are just tired. :D
But same for me, Arrival never really left my head either mainly because I'm just so damn impressed with the way the movie tells it's story. (To stay vague and don't spoil anything)
Being from Montréal, I have so much goddman respect for Villeneuve
Its so surreal to me that he's making Dune!
The spice must flow
Prisoners is just incredible. Denis and Hugh Jackman need to work together again.
and Jake
0:43 the cut between the explosion in Blade Runner and Arrival was awesome.
Underrated comment
DV has built a toolkit of artistic shots that are his visual fingerprint. The explosion scene is certainly one of them! 🙂
denis is a genius in my mind the only reason i will watch dune honestly, sicario is pure eye opening greatness
This essay is great, I had a blast watching it ! I'm from Quebec and I'm insanely proud of what Denis Villeneuve has become now as a director. I saw Incendies in theaters ten years ago and I have been following him ever since. I remember when he did Polytechnique and I was hearing people on TV being offended he did a movie on such a traumatic event, and still, he did a phenomenal job and I'm so glad he was the one to do it. I think Villeneuve has found his calling in sci-fi and I can't wait to see Dune, I've been hyped for months ! I'm always excited to see people talking about his style and analyzing it, and your video is truly fantastic !
So exciting to be living among a true master of filmmaking like Villeneuve, anxiously waiting to see what gem he releases next.
Very nice vid ! One thing, though: Maelström (Villeneuve's 2000 film) DID considerably raise his profile in the biz, though the film was not distributed in the US (as far as I know, at least). The film won five Genie Awards - the Canadian Oscars -, including Best Motion Picture, and the FIPRESCI Prize at the 51st Berlin International Film Festival. Also, bear in mind that he was already a known name in the biz Quebec even before the release of his first film, since he had won the Canadian Broadcasting Corp's youth film competition, La Course Europe-Asie, in 1991. When his first film was released in 1998, I recall there was lots of anticipation about it (I'm Quebecer myself and studied cinema in college in the mid-1990s). Keep up the good work !
Good to hear from a Quebecer! As a Brit I know what it's like to follow home grown talent before the rest of the world properly catches on. There's certainly levels to what would constitute "being on the map". You could argue it was the Oscar nomination for Incendies that really paved the way for his Hollywood career. From what I've heard he didn't set out to make Hollywood films, as he thought it would compromise his vision. But I know he said the Canadian film industry was tough/slow in terms of financing. It also says a lot that even though he was getting some recognition, it still didn't convince him that he was on the right track. Thanks for the highly informed comment👍
@@TheDiscardedImage Indeed, the Canada-Quebec film industry wouldn't probably exist if it wasn't for state subsidies, which cause huge production delays and uncertainty (lots of time can unfold between the moment one applies for a subsidy and the moment the production gets the money), which explains why so many local talents feel the need to expatriate themselves to the US. This is one reason why Villeneuve, for a good chunk of his Canadian career, made videoclips (he won a clip of the year award in 1996 at the Felix ceremony, basically the local Grammys) and short films (check out his hilarious short film in "Cosmos", 1996), since these types of films can be made with smaller budgets and do not require years to produce. I sure can't blame him to have been tired of clips, short movies and small budgets by the time he was in his mid-40s, whence his embracing of a Hollywood career.
I left Blade Runner 2049 in a daze. Dune will be probably ten times the experience. Villeneuve is a genius and I'm so proud that he's a fellow Canadian!!!! He's the new New Wave and his body of work already must be intimidating to many older directors. Christopher Nolan probably is secretly jealous of DV even though CN has had all of the box office success. DV is going to have a stunning career.
I think they’re friend . They’ve got the same sensibility
@@samphyllobates4765 exactly they are not jealous or envious of each others. Artists loves each others stuffs they are not a business who needs to '' destroy'' its competition. Both are my favorite contemporary directors!
Ye
Well friend, I can tell you that Dune is not ten, but 100 times the experience. Not spoiling anything, of course, just... I was literally speechless and tearing up at the end of the movie, stunned and amazed by the sheer magnificence, mysticism, epicness, and yet the deep intimacy of it. Everything was *impeccable*. I can't wait for everyone to see it and witness it. I've already seen it three times, and every screening was pure joy. ♥
@@silivrenelya5342 the power of Cinema…despite WB wanting to destroy the experience by pushing streaming.
Glad Villeneuve and Nolan are fighting for the experience in theater.
GENIUS. Dune was a real meditative spectacle.
I think his twists are top notch. Dude knows how to deliver a gut punch. Prisoners, Arrival, and Incendies all took me the fuck out.
It does help when Roger Deakins is the DP on a handful of your films!
My boy Denis love doing big-budget sci-fi based on books that are hard to adapt. But he did a great job every time. But still and think at times the source material is limiting him. I absolutely love it when he makes a film out of a script. Like sicario and enemy. Hope he gets back to it when he finished Dune part 2.
Cant wait for Dune, Denis is a master in cinema experience, I remember watching arrival, blade runner and sicario in cinemas and it was a fucking highlight
I’m a simple man: I see video about Villeneuve - I click and hit thumbs up! And that was a good video :) thank you
Phenomenal overview, Dune really made me rewatch a lot of Villeneuves work, he definitely knows how to work for the best with his crew and actors to achieve this level of intensity.
It gives me some hope, that we still have a few serious directors etc. (like Denis Villeneuve) who respects the audience, story and craft.
Paul Thomas Anderson is great too
for DUNE, he missed out by using duncan idaho doing exposition speech regarding the fremen, rather than filming his earlier scouting scenes....
Wonderful analysis sir, his lovingly subtle but deliberate approach to these works is a thing of beauty.
Quite a few times during 'DUNE' I couldn't help but think: 'Oh man, of only Moebius were here to see this.'
My favourite (non-animation) director! Such a perfect synthesis of style and substance, he really truly understands how to use a camera to bring a complex world to life.
Same here. He's my true modern hero of filmmaking. An incredibly strong and restrained director.
Now I want to know your favourite animated director!!
Mine is Don Hertzfeldt (followed by Satoshi Kon)
@@eliasbonafe9236 mine’s Satoshi Kon! Don Hertzfeldt definitely ranks highly tho!
@@hollandscottthomas cool! Favourite movie from Kon? To me it is Perfect Blue. I feel like that movie is just 'perfection'. To me one of the best animated movie ever. Millennium Actress is incredible too, but I found Perfect Blue to be more engaging and ambitious!
@@eliasbonafe9236 I’m pretty split! I love Paprika, but I think Paranoia Agent is his best cos I’m a but of a sucker for urban legends and anthology type stories. Tokyo Godfathers might be the best Xmas movie ever?
Roger Deakins is the master behind the visuals of Denis’s movies
The cinematography in blade runner is mind blowing
if you listen to the podcast they did together you'll notice that Denis has more insight into the cinematography of his films than you think. But yeah, Roger is Amazing!
Deakins didn't shoot Arrival, and it still looks great.
@@inkgeneral124 But the original movie looked better.
Given the wide range of DPs he’s used, I think it’s safe to say Villeneuve has a brilliant mind for the camera. He could probably be a Cuarón/PTA-type who could lens his own films, if he really wanted to.
Monsieur Villeneuve is a true artist, and it is his leadership style that ensures everyone contributes to a whole that is greater than its parts. As a Quebecer myself, I will say that the culture here fosters that kind of collaboration approach. I have seen it many times, in many different organizations when working projects, even though I work in a very different industry. Every team quickly feels like "family", no matter how big the organization. I am comparing based on projects I worked on around the globe, including the US. In Quebec, there is genuine warmth in teams, little tolerance for big egos, a very flat hierarchy culture that is open to professional debates, a deeply ingrained appreciation of craftsmanship, the arts and design combined with solid technical know-how. Humour and teasing between team members tends to be gentle, not "win/lose" humiliation. It is a society to whom the pursuit of acquisition of wealth for its own end or blind ambition are quite distasteful, leaving lots of space for creative integrity. The New Zealanders are similar. I do not have experience in the Scandinavian countries, but suspect we would feel at home there, though the Quebecers are more extroverted.
His style of story-telling is so hard-hitting and he makes you feel the scene. I almost feel like watching the Coens but sans the tad bit theatrics. Started his filmography with Sicaro and then Arrival and later Prisoners and Enemy. Never was I once disappointed with him doing any injustice to any genre.
He is amazing, I want to work with him on a movie someday
Dune was such a beautiful movie that I watched it twice so far. I think it's his masterpiece and I genuinely can't wait for the second part. Also Hans Zimmer elevated the movie's aesthetics immensely. I can say without a slight of a doubt that Dune is visually breathe taking movie that should be awarded.
Just watched Dune, and found it to be another one of his masterpieces!
thank you for the essay!
one of the sexiest styles in contemporary cinema 👑
Great commentary! Thank you
He's one of the few directors who has a distinct voice that can be told from a diverse range of stories.
He's almost genre proof in that respect. Because he focuses on the effects to our characters of extreme change, trauma, violence and what happens when our comfort zones are blasted out of existence, this can be adapted in any genre. And he doesn't judge, just lets us immerse ourselves in the stories of his characters.
Very inspiring video, makes me want to explore all Villeneuve filmography, thank you !
I use Blade Runner (and now also Dune) as a moving painting with the sound low when reading. Love it.
This was informative, thank you.
great video, thanks!
Everyone needs to see 2049. A damn fine piece of art
Great video!
The best director working rn
Wow. This video man. Thanks TDI.
Brilliant essay.
As someone who loves his filmography,
having seen 3 screenings of it now, I can confirm that there's plenty of "Villeneuve" in Dune Part One~
I absolutely love August 32nd on Earth, a quirky but not silly “comedy” that perfectly captures the 90s obsession with 60s mod and new wave references. It’s a film that lives in a similar space as Chungking Express, but more compact.
So it’s really surprising to see how dark and somber his film became after his hiatus. It’s almost as if he reset his career and focused more on tone and feel and has grown to become one of the best directors working today.
The best director we have at the moment
Awesome video! I never connected Villeneuve with Goddard in the past but now I feel so surprised that I never saw Goddard the inspiration in Villeneuve. Thank you for enlightening me :D
Today's September 1st or it would be August 32nd. I don't know if that is a genius reference or a catchy coincidence.
So pumped about Dune! ✌️
No wonder Sicario is a favourite. Nice analysis!
His Canadian films.
Cries in Québécois.
Villeneuve is the best director of our time and he gets better with every movie. I‘m saying this after I have seen dune witch sets new standards in the cinematic world
Excellent!
I love this analysis. Thank you so much The Discarded image. I am a big big fan of Denis Villeneuve and I didn't know why exactly. But this video makes me think that Villeneuve is so fascinated by how women discover how much of a different animals men are from them. For example, I never understood the universe construction of Sicario. It's an amazing film but I never knew why would Denis be interested in directing that film, and I now I think it suits his ideas, because in Sicario the protagonist gets into a universe only built upon men's instincts.
He is just amazing. Please make Dune Part 2 happen.
Amazing director!!!!!
Is it a coincidence that this video was released on August 32nd? ;)
Great video on one of the best modern filmmakers. You make a fascinating point re when a film's budget increases, it almost always becomes less personal (i.e. less of "himself" in the film). Are you planning a follow up on Dune?
Denis Villeneuve is a gift to hollywood
my fav director atm
I’d like to complement about that scene with the infrarred night vision perspective, because besides the reference to Godard’s “Alphaville”, it reminded me of FW Murnau’s “Nosferatu”, where there’s a scene when the main character is arriving at Nosferatu’s castle and they turn the image to negative, in a classical german expressionism way, that aims to convey the idea of crossing a threshold into the paranormal world, and I think that Villneuve does the exact same thing, crossing to Mexico (in a symbolic way through the tunnel that reminds of hell) and also crossing a threshold into a world with no law, where the rules Kate understands are completely shattered, as her character ends up being by the end of the film.
I'd argue that in his recent movies (Blade Runner, Arrival, Sicario) the sound track plays a central role in his work. Still sad as hell about Johan Johansson's death and Id love to hear his take on the Blade Runner sound track he was working on before being replaced with Hans Zimmer. Really I'm a bit bored by Zimmer at this point. While he can create amazing sound tracks (Blade Runner is one of my favorite), he often uses what to me at this point feels generic; the usual orchestral soundtrack. And it seems that he went in that direction with the Dune OST though I didn't properly listen to it because I want to watch the movie first.
Sicario and Arrivals OSTs both had very specific themes that they worked around. In Arrival it was language and time, in Sicario the whole soundtrack si full of overly distorted sounds and rhythmic patterns which push the movie forward as if it was part of a big machinery. (A process in motion that can't be stopped. Whatever)
In Blade Runner, as far as I understand Johansson was replaced because his take on the soundtrack was to far of the original which arguably is one of the most famous soundtracks of cinema history... so I kinda understand why they wanted to stay close to the original, thus the epic synth-focused sounds with a bunch (a metric shit ton) of reverb. (I love it!) But as a consequence it doesn't speak it's own story like the soundtrack of Arrival and Sicario. Instead, it kinda does the usual, create and support emotion. I guess one interesting part is that it has a clear theme / melody. That's something that isn't as common these days.
Compare to JJ's "A Model of the Universe" (god that piece is beautiful) It might sound like it has a melody but really it's more of a harmonic piece and the melody in most parts just plays a few notes in alteration to define a chord. It's not really a melody.
From what I've heard from the Dune OST, it sounds a lot like a western orchestral soundtrack with hints of different cultures spread in. Really, if you've watched any movies of the past decades were a few people traverse a desert on foot or on some animal in a nice short montage, you've heard a similar soundtrack. And I've wished they instead would have chosen the approach from Sicario and Arrival of letting the music sound a bit more special and tell it's own story.
(Again. That's just my first impression of jumping through a few tracks in spotify. No spoilers :D)
It's funny how the style that he created, has been so copied and overdone this point that people are literally calling Zimmer himself as generic Lol, when literally all he did was his thing, experiment with different instruments on every project. I mean that's like saying Phil Collins music is generic just because he created the heavy drumbs rhythmic that defined the 80s music. the point is, whenever you create something original, there will always be people there to copy it, and milk it to death. until the creator himself gets called out for being repetitive
@@v-trigger6137 Ok, I give you a point here on the topic that Hans Zimmer created / started something big. I can't argue against this and I don't want to.
But when you listen to the stuff that HZ created recently, most recently Dune, it's a very similar mixture of mainly big orchestral sounds with a lot of somewhat subtle synthesizers. They're not really generic but I think we could / should expect more from the biggest guy in that market atm. Basically, if it's not "generic", then at the very least he doesn't really advance with the industry by creating new sounds either.
Again, listen to JJ's OST for Sicario and Arrival and maybe Cliff Martinez's Drive. Those are IMO quite unique. Also, listen to what Nils Frahm did for the movie Victoria. That's a very niche movie but the OST is amazing. (czcams.com/video/sH-lIC0nTxU/video.html) Other recent good ones I can think of from my head are Tenet, or what Ludwig Göransson creates.
I love Blade Runner because I'm a sucker for synthesizers but even this soundtrack was mainly or in large parts composed by Benjamin Wallfisch. (I know that "second hand" from people who work with HZ on these movies including.) Dunkirk was quite special. The last truly unique sound that HZ created was the one for interstellar.* And then for most other movies he creates good music with usually a few very good tracks that stand out. For instance, Time from Inception. But that Track consists of a orchestral sounds with a guitar. That's not what I'd call refreshing.
* I didn't watch every single movie that HZ made the OST for. Didn't watch the new Wonder Woman, certainly didn't watch The fucking Boss Baby. So Interstellar is the last one I remember was unique or different.
In the ends it's subjective. I currently like some specific sounds, very into big-bad brass sounds, hammonds, rhodes, synthesizers. I like small string quartets. (Max Richter - On the Nature of Daylight. Used in Arrival and a few other movies. And basically everything that Olafur Arnalds creats) And on the other side there is this specific big orchester sound that make up the biggest part of HZs sounds.
By the way, Dune does go in the right direction. There is certainly something refreshing here but it doesn't reach the "creativity" of the OSTs for Sicario and Arrival. (Just two subjective examples.) HZ uses a lot more sounds, bigger range of synths sounds, vocals, effects. A few quite pure synthesizer sounds similar to the Blade Runner sound tracks.
OT rant: I like the Dune OST in general. One thing that kinda breaks it for me is the use of non western, specific African culture instruments. In general, I think that's a good thing. What breaks it for me is that it reminds me of stereotypical use of African sounds whenever you see a desert in a movie. Might be very subjective but this combination of people living in a desert in Dune and the OST using african / eastern sounds & harmonics seems like a stereotype to me.
TL;DR is: yeah, HZ moved movie soundtracks forward by a lot and he still (Dunkirk, Blade Runner in parts, Dunkrik) contributes some amazing work. But he's currently not the one who really pushes the industry forwards, Instead he seems to rely on a sounds that has been with us for decades. I mean, big orchestral pieces have been used in sound tracks since the send half of the 20th century... Credit where credit is due though. I agree with you here. And the topic is very subjective, and what I've written is my opinion on the matter.
I can’t decide who’s my #1 top director , Nolan or Villeneuve? For me , I think it’s a tie.
I can’t decide between tenet or blade runner 2049, my favourite sci fi movies of all time.
Nolan is on a downward trajectory. Didnt make a good movie since Interstellar almost 10 years ago.
Incedies remains one of the most mindblowing movies I`ve ever seen
Villeneuve has definitely become my favorite contemporary director. Definitely above Nolan and Tarantino, who have stagnated. His films are the only ones that get me excited to go to the cinema anymore. PTA too, but to a lesser degree as his films have gotten more and more self indulgent IMO. Alfonso Cuaron and Wes Anderson are close seconds unless I'm forgetting someone
wouldnt say nolan has stagnated but thats my opinion
@@Prodbyjah464 yeah he did. A genius nonetheless but needs to get back to basics.
@@MrDrezzy007 how has he stagnated exactly, not tryna be rude it’s your opinion and I respect it but could you elaborate
@@Prodbyjah464 His last good film was Interstellar almost 10 years ago. Dunkirk was okay, tenet a flop.
@@MrDrezzy007 Dunkirk I think is one of his better films and tenet is kinda ahead of its time. But I can understand if you didn’t like them
I love films
I want Villeneuve to make a huge Lovecraftian cosmic horror movie.
my biggest flex is that i am currently living in his hometown
Enemy was my first Denis experience. I truly believe all his movies are masterpieces.
All of his movies are in my top, and I just discovered that they were all made by the same director
Awesome video! Been a fan of Villeneuve’s since Enemy! Any ideas where I can watch August 32nd on Earth and Maelstrom? In america they’re pretty hard to find :/
Hard to find in Germany as well
A lesser known gem from Denis Villeneuve is his short-film "Next Flour" it's a masterpiece of a short and you can see his style evolving and some elements of it are even in his latest film Dune, totally recommend it's worth the watch.
Just watched Dune, and I must say, the music truly is forefront in the movie.
Denis Villeneuve Can Master both Crime and Science Fiction
One of my favorite film makers. And I'm not even the type of guy who HAS favorite film makers. Like maybe Quentin T. is the only other one I even know. Denis has something special in his work. Enemy broke my brain for weeks. Then I realized he had made Arrival, Prisoners, Sicario, and the new Blade Runner all of which were affecting in a way movies aren't usually for me. I'm almost scared to watch Polytechnique
Around 9:30 or so, where you question calling something minimalism, maybe what's really meant is austere. I'll acknowledge it's only a slight difference, but sometimes that and the texture of words in general does something to the overall effect. Like there's gestalt in austerity. The fewer the details the more you pay attention to them. The smallest aspects have long lives.
AESTHETIC
The greatest of all time 🙏
Nolan is for mind, Villeneuve is for soul.
villeneuve and Nolan are the best modern day directors
Didn't knew he made Sicario. The first movie he made that got my attention was Arrival.
I've only seen two of his movies. Arrival and Dune.
As an arachnophobe I can’t watch Enemy ever again. They appear throughout the movie in closeup shots. Dune is perfect, for what it is.: as a Part One of a two part movie experience. I honestly think Villeneuve has more in common with David Lean than any other director I can think of. And that Dune is his Lawrence of Arabia. It has very similar themes, to do with colonialism, messianic leaders, prophecy, etc, not to mention the desert landscapes and both director’s ability to get a uniquely beautiful set of iconic images out of so baron a canvas. The poster shot for Dune is already iconic. But also, like lean, he points his camera in those 180 degree directions that you touched on all the time.
If you consider how Sergio Leone barely ever used middle shots if he could avoid it, especially outdoors. The camera would show us a landscape, with a detail or two to draw our eye, such as a horse and rider, a mill squeaking repetitively, an approaching train, etc; then cut to a close up of a face, which itself is a landscape, filled with similar details of colour and ruggedness, with one detail in particular to draw the eye again, like a scar, a lazy eye, a cigar being chewed. Well, Villeneuve seems to have taken this one step further, where his landscapes are always (again, as you touched on) metaphors for the internal landscapes of his characters; less directly to do with the plot, more to do with the deeper sense of the story’s meaning. He likes to reflect inner states through ingenious visual metaphor, to the extent that you can watch the settings and backgrounds change as a way of following the story and characters, almost as much as their actions and dialogue.
Am I being a bit artsy fartsy? Maybe, but I do love his work. And I think you get him. Loved the video anyway.
I think Denis is by far one of the best directors of this present time. He's even better than Nolan as a director but his scripts are written in very few words. Nolan on the other hand might have better story writings but he suffered from over exposition and thus isn’t a flushed-out director as Denis. Warner Bros are really lucky to have them as their future partner. Too bad Nolan went to Universal now tho.
@@tonimashdane33498 I wouldn’t put same mendes on their level yet.
The only one of those films I still haven't seen is incendies
Has anyone used that boyfriend looking at the other girl meme to depict Denis as the girl, internet as the BF, and Nolan as the GF?
you can also replace Internet with Hans Zimmer - who had to give up on making the soundtrack for tenet in order to work on Dune.
But yeah, basically Villeneuve feels a bit like a Nolan minus the gimmicks - someone who makes accessible yet critically acclaimed movies, movies that feel operatic in scale and demand thought. but where Nolan favors complex puzzle like plots, Villeneuve works with straightforward plots and uses that space for atmosphere. There is a difference but also a similar appeal of "thinking man's blockbuster".
Sacrilege! I dearly love BOTH. They're just very different: Nolan's films are much more cerebral while still packing an emotional punch; Villeneuve's are much more emotionally driven and gut-wrenching while also making you think...
@@maximeteppe7627 I don't see many other people talking about this in general, but it's extra relevant here: Villeneuve is a director who respects his premise in the real world fully. Nolan is not.
When Villeneuve lands aliens on earth, the whole world completely stops and devolves into post traumatic crisis mode. When Nolan blows up a building in Gotham, the suspect barges through a wall in a school bus and "disappears" into traffic with debris falling off of it. Hell, when Marvel movies wipe out the entire lower Manhattan with skyscraper sized levitating centipedes and an alien army, it's mostly just shrugged off because the literal god and his buddies managed to punch the whole situation real hard in the doo-hickey laser.
One of the reason why Villeneuve's movies seem so impactful is because there is appropriate heft to everything. Nothing is handwaved or expedited, and every single character acts as a human with personal traits reacting to happenings in the real world. Over a decade of mindless muscle-guy punch ups have taught us that blockbusters exist in this weird cartoon universe where nothing has consequences beyond being flung into a building that evacuated in less than 30 seconds. Villeneuve is _the only_ blockbuster (or even just blockbuster-adjacent) director that will dutifully deal with the impact of 2000 people dying in a building collapse.
This is already long winded, but his approach is gaining ground. The breakout animated hit of 2021 was Invincible, which basically does the exact same thing. It's not so much "what if Superman was evil?" as it is "what if superheroes actually had consequences?". Mad Max, one of the only non-D*sney blockbusters in a decade, had no problem giving decisions weight and characters fragility, even if the overall premise was kinda bonkers. Mainstream audiences are getting disillusioned with pretend-fighting where everyone just punches real hard and the best one is the one that punches the hardest but they're actually everyone the best one and also the death of literally half the universe can be fixed by punching a lot. I've often said that stupid media creates a stupid culture. In that regard, respecting the premise of the world in media is a pretty good sign vis-à-vis the climate crisis and the impending climate doom.
Amazing comment!
I like an abundace of style. Bring it on.
If it over shadows the plot... well I guess its a good thing that you didn't write a book. I also love all the "grounded" aspects of film, complex plots, truely engaging drama.
I am not really commenting on how it applies to that particular film, I am not familiar enough with it.
Some people will always jump to this "style over substance" statement- if there is alot of noticable "style."
Anyway, just something to think about.
Does somebody know the name of the music that starts playing at 5:35. I recognise it from a movie but I can't find it
Great video of a great director; I really need to see Incendies and am extremely excited for Dune; being a lover of both dystopian SciFi and Villeneuve's films (Blade Runner 2049 is of course at that exact crossroads and is a masterful follow-up to the original Blade Runner) I cannot wait! Question: at 7:56 and a couple of other times (10:10), Are you saying "ascetic" or "aesthetic" It sounds like the former, but the latter seems to fit better. There is a subtle pronunciation difference which at least to my ears eludes you. Unless you are saying and meaning "ascetic" but I don't think so. But enjoyed the video!
Anyone know where I can watch Maelström in the UK? It’s the only Villeneuve I’ve not seen yet (bar Dune) and can’t find it anywhere
Another thing I find interesting about DV.
(SPOILERS FOR BLADE RUNNER and ARRIVAL)
First, I orginaly didn't like the conclusion to Blade Runner. Specifically, I was let down by the "twist" that our protagonist is not the "chosen one". I kinda expected that and wished for it as well. After a while I changed my mind on that subject because in that instance, DV does to the viewer what the story "does" to the protagonist. We're let to believe something quite strongly up to the point were the rug is drawn from our feet and we have to deal with the reality that our believes are far of reality. So what the protagonist feels at this point is what we feel.
Similarly, in Arrival, DV shows us the conclusion of the movies without us noticing. Because we weren't expecting to based on our perception of time. So similar to the Blade Runner example, he makes a point about something by using our emotions and understanding of reality against us. He makes us believe th things the protagonist does just to share the emotions with the protagonist about this believe not being real. He makes us notice the "limitation" of our perception of time by showing us the conclusion to the story without us realizing.
Could you please make the same video on Luca guadagnino he's at his carrers best now !
We need Dune part II