TS: David Gordon Green vs. Lynne Ramsay

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In my mind, the two most exciting young filmmakers today. Both are very interested in naturalism and so tend to eschew things like exposition. They're also masters of mood and sense of place, with a focus on cinematography and music. And for young directors, they're refreshingly irony-free. Their first films, George Washington and Ratcatcher, respectively, are also similar in content: child protagonists come of age in slummy communities.

I loved Ramsay's Morvern Callar but have to give the nod to Green for the heartbreaking All the Real Girls. (Amateurist, I know you wanted to start a thread about this at one point. Thoughts?)

NB: Both are now reportedly working on huge literary adaptations: Green is doing John Kennedy Toole's Confederacy of Dunces and Ramsay is directing Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones (and hopefully making it much better than the book). These could both be make-or-break films for the directors, so I'm very curious what they do with them.

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 1 May 2003 17:06 (twenty years ago) link

i have only seen their first films and i loved them both; i'm not sure which one i would choose higher, probably george washington which is just totally stunning. i'm psyched to see confederacy of dunces - i can't imagine how that is going to translate to his style of filmmaking!

― j fail (cenotaph), Thursday, 1 May 2003 18:58 (twenty years ago) link

i though Green was working with a Terrence Malick script. Can't wait to see that.

― ryan, Thursday, 1 May 2003 20:03 (twenty years ago) link

I think he's always juggling a few projects. Like, I don't think he was expecting to make All the Real Girls as his second movie; he wanted to make something else first, but it fell through. But last I heard, Confederacy was a go.

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 1 May 2003 20:07 (twenty years ago) link

i wouldn't be surprised if what i heard is false. i am still waiting for Malick's The Moviegoer, which sounds like the most perfect marriage of director and material ever.

― ryan w (ryan), Thursday, 1 May 2003 20:09 (twenty years ago) link

i have to say that found George Washington very, very depressing. not sure why, but there is something oppressive about the tone of that movie.

― ryan (ryan), Thursday, 1 May 2003 20:13 (twenty years ago) link

I think The Moviegoer was just one of many rumors, perhaps with some small basis in fact, circulating about Malick's next project. I've taken a strict I'll-believe-it-when-I-see-it policy on this. As for Green's next film, he's told several interviews that it's being produced by Malick (as was Zhang Yimou's Happy Times and a few other recent pictures) but I don't recall reading that Malick wrote it. I'll try to put together some thoughts on All the Real Girls before or during the weekend.

― amateurist (amateurist), Thursday, 1 May 2003 20:17 (twenty years ago) link

I'd love to put together some thoughts on the movie. I'd love to see the movie. God, I hate this province sometimes.

― slutsky (slutsky), Thursday, 1 May 2003 23:05 (twenty years ago) link

It only played in Chicago for about two weeks. I made sure to see it opening weekend.

― amateurist (amateurist), Friday, 2 May 2003 02:17 (twenty years ago) link

Ha! I was just about to do Harmony Korine vs Gordon Green, but Lynne Ramsay is a much more interesting choice. George Washington is one of my favourite films of the last five years, but All The Real Girls hasn't made it over to the UK yet either. I saw GW when I was living/studying in New York, and all of my classmates hated it, comparing it unfavourably to Korine, who is to my mind an entirely different proposition. I think Ramsay is a more worthwhile comparison (I haven't seen Morvern Callar yet) in her use of locations. It's a cliche that a good film can make a character's physical environment mirror their state of mind, but I really think this is true for both debuts. As I have said on another thread, I don't like a lot of modern British films, but I really respected Lynne Ramsay for urging British filmmakers to look to the North American independent scene for inspiration - this is a whole other thread, though. I can't wait to see what David Gordon Green does next.

― Nordicskillz (Nordicskillz), Friday, 2 May 2003 04:15 (twenty years ago) link

is All the Real Girls on video/dvd yet? how does it compare to george washington? what i read about it actually didn't interest me.

― j fail (cenotaph), Wednesday, 7 May 2003 17:06 (twenty years ago) link

three weeks pass...

all the real girls is being released on columbia tristar (no criterion) on 8/19. i am counting the days. that movie is the best of 2003 hands down in my opinion.

― todd swiss (eliti), Friday, 30 May 2003 05:19 (twenty years ago) link

two months pass...

I finally saw it (All The Real Girls) last night!

The short version is that I loved it, and I am trying to find the time to watch it over again today before I have to take it back. I love the score and the soundtrack (I'll even forgive the use of stop-motion stuff because it had Mogwai over the top), love the flow of the movie, perhaps even more artfully stitched together than George Washington. Some of the humor could have been corny and some of the dialogue between the two main characters could have been mawkish, but both dependeably trod their respective thin lines. I can forgive Zooey Deschanel's occasional puppy-cute musings on peanut butter and trampolines if just for her beautiful, beautiful eyes - the finest orbs to grace a movie in quite some time. Hurrah!

― Nordicskillz (Nordicskillz), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 16:12 (twenty years ago) link

one year passes...

Any word on what Ramsay is up to? Is it still Lovely Bones?

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 19:55 (nineteen years ago) link

yur

― Remy Snush (x Jeremy), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 20:30 (nineteen years ago) link

I just did a little investigation, and some sources are now reporting that Peter Jackson wrested the project from Ramsay! Very little info, tho.

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 20:31 (nineteen years ago) link

doubtful. He was nodded early on because of Heavenly Creatures, but there's been little follow-up. Perhaps we'll see him as EP?

― Remy Snush (x Jeremy), Thursday, 2 December 2004 05:13 (nineteen years ago) link

two years pass...

Green is the nexus btwn Apatow & mumblecore now. He's seen his last positive review from Armond White.

http://www.thereeler.com/features/green_on_the_scene.php

― Dr Morbius, Friday, 14 September 2007 21:11 (sixteen years ago) link

five years pass...

I don't think i've ever heard of this happening before. what could it all mean?

http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=36855

― piscesx, Wednesday, 20 March 2013 02:21 (eleven years ago) link

two years pass...

Green is exec producing an Amazon series called Red Oaks (did the pilot last year). My friend's teenage son just got cast in it, first role outta high school.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Oaks

― the increasing costive borborygmi (Dr Morbius), Monday, 15 June 2015 11:42 (eight years ago) link

a recurring role too

― the increasing costive borborygmi (Dr Morbius), Monday, 15 June 2015 18:56 (eight years ago) link

four years pass...

she's sort of the successor to Kieslowski

― flappy bird, Saturday, 5 October 2019 04:26 (four years ago) link

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