The five best movies by one-hit wonder directors
Sometimes, you watch a film so spectacular that you immediately check who it was directed by, only to be disappointed when you discover that they either didn’t make anything else or that this one film was a positive blip in a sea of mediocrity. You feel an inward thudding sensation as it dawns on you that you won’t see another masterpiece like it, and its existence is an anomaly both in the careers of the director and your life.
This can also make the work feel more precious and sacred, almost as though some higher power briefly descended on earth to bestow genius on one unsuspecting creative, giving them a gift to make something that would never be replicated. But it also makes the person behind the work seem even more mysterious, with hidden depths that can only be seen in this one piece of work, never to be seen again.
Expecting an artist to fit into a timely schedule is not conducive to good work. It’s an issue that has plagued the commercial end of the film business for decades. However, to produce high quality and then simply fall off the face of the earth is equally as infuriating.
When producing movies as sublime as the five mentioned below, it should be a legal requirement to follow up such efforts with at least one more attempt at matching that first crystalline piece of creativity. As it is, these five pictures remain the only releases of note from their fabled directors.
The five best films by one-hit wonders:
Drive (Nicolas Winding Refn, 2011)
Drive is a one-of-a-kind masterpiece, and the type of film that Nicolas Winding Refn is unlikely to make again given his subsequent projects. Released in 2011, the film follows the life of a Hollywood stunt driver who finds himself enlisted as the getaway driver of a very real criminal, with the job going horribly wrong and threatening the life of the woman he loves.
The script was initially pitched as a Fast and Furious-type movie, with Refn rewriting it to be a love story set against the backdrop of extremely violent crime. Ryan Gosling’s character is a deeply wounded and sensitive soul who also happens to be an extremely skilled driver and killing machine, with Refn deconstructing our obsession with violence and showing it as a dehumanising modern addiction that threatens the delicacy of love and strips us of our humanity.
There’s a devastating tenderness at the heart of the film, with the driver only being seen for his violent talents but so desperately wanting to be seen as the gentle person behind the facade. Through the gorgeous slow-motion sequences, we see the driver silently pining for Irene (played by Carey Mulligan), with the pair eventually kissing in the mesmerising elevator scene, bathed in a golden light that heightens the ethereal quality of their relationship.
Refn shows the contradictions between the violence that we deem a necessity to cinema and the way this actively negates our own humanity, much like Gosling’s character in the film whose life begins to blur into his work, becoming lost in the illusion. It’s a breathtaking modern love story that is mesmerising and psychotic, creating an audiovisual encapsulation of heartbreak and hope against the haze of Los Angeles.
La Haine (Matthieu Kassovitz, 2001)
La Haine is one of the greatest films to come from the 21st century, with its existence remaining as an enigma within his sparse body of work. The film was Vincent Cassel’s debut acting performance at just the age of 15, playing Vinz in the tale of adolescent aimlessness and destruction against the gritty suburbs of Paris, following a group of friends who wander around for one night as they await news about their friend who was shot.
La Haine is a staggering debut feature that slowly hurls us towards the horrors of a society in free fall. It shows the unrest and pain of disenfranchised people who cannot see their own future. In a world that no longer cares about them, these young men find comfort in the chaos around them, slowly losing sight of the dreams they once created for themselves and any sense of purpose.
It’s a raw and scathing commentary from Kassovitz that aches with contempt towards a world that shows no care towards the people on the fringes of society, creating an explosive portrait of oppression and violence that is equally full of rage and yearning for a new order.
Human Traffic (Justin Kerrigan, 1999)
Arguably one of the best things to come from Wales besides the invention of the Welsh cake, Human Traffic is a criminally underrated clubbing comedy that remains as one of two films in Justin Kerrigan’s filmography. It’s an ode towards the chaos and confusion of being in your twenties, explored through one drug-fueled weekend in Wales.
The film made stars out of John Simm and Danny Dyer as two charismatic party lovers who embark on a brash and psychedelic journey towards enlightenment, fed up with the dull routine of their everyday lives and looking to have one weekend that spares them from a life of mediocrity and unfulfillment.
It’s Dazed and Confused meets Trainspotting, with endlessly quotable lines and riotously funny moments that will have you grinning from ear-to-ear, reminding you of the freedom of your youth and the few perks of drinking culture in the UK, reminding us of the old days and a love letter to the lost freedom of the nineties. It unites us in the shared comradery that was created through organic interactions in bars and clubs and the simple joy of living in rhythm with the people around us. Not to sound all “phones have ruined everything!” but, phones truly have ruined everything.
Fleabag (Phoebe Waller-Bridge, 2016)
After following the unprecedented success of Fleabag with absolutely nothing, the sheer magnitude of the show has continued to haunt me. The wunderkind writer, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, made an appearance in Indiana Jones and Star Wars, but not a whisper has been heard about her so-called exclusive deal with Amazon in which we were expecting another certified masterpiece.
Regardless of Waller-Bridge’s shallow career choices since then, Fleabag continues to be one of the most monumental pieces of modern television and a showcase of screenwriting at its very best, written by someone who has truly mastered the art form. It follows a dysfunctional woman in her twenties who struggles to make sense of her life in the wake of a tragedy, shielding her vulnerabilities with sex and lots of dark comedy.
Waller-Bridge breaks the fourth wall and creates a unique relationship with the audience, confiding to them in a reality-tv esque way as she narrates her own mistakes and questionable decisions, but really uses this to mask her own insecurities and crippling self-hatred over the death of her best friend. But just as we thought the show couldn’t get any better, Waller-Bridge introduced a sordid love affair between Fleabag and the infamous hot priest, forcing strangers around the world to google the loopholes behind sleeping with a ‘man of the collar’. It is an astonishing piece of work that makes you feel intensely inadequate about your own artistic pursuits and skill level, with Waller-Bridge’s writing peeling back new layers of her genius with each episode. It’s shocking reminder that she has yet to put pen to paper since.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michael Gondry, 2004)
There’s nothing quite like the crushing feeling of sheer hopelessness and pain that comes after watching Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, obliterating your romantic fantasies and leaving you rocking in the corner of your room as you realise that maybe love doesn’t exist and monogamy is a scam? It’s a magnificent feat of filmmaking and one which director Michael Gondry has not matched since. Sometimes, we give our everything to one thing, and that’s all we can give, much like relationships.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind follows a man called Joel who is struggling to deal with a recent breakup, deciding to have a new procedure in which he can erase specific memories of his ex-girlfriend Clementine, but soon regrets this choice and tries to rescue the fading memories of his one true love.
With the presence of Jim Carrey as Joel, it creates a strange story world that is both funny, surrealistic, disturbing and devastating, capturing the unique melancholia and heartache of a breakup and the all-encompassing pain that darkens your entire world. You cannot help but remember as you try to forget, plagued by worn-out joy and the simultaneous anger that thrashes around in your heart. It’s the only film that allows us to sit in these feelings, as we’re mostly encouraged to do anything but feel when going through this experience, told to distract ourselves with work, going out and seeing friends to numb the shock of it all. It creates a distorted dream-like world as Joel’s memories start to twist and crumble before his very eyes, becoming lost in a clutter of other thoughts that blur and collapse on each other.
There isn’t anything else like it and it remains one of the few movies that capture the haunting feeling of venturing through the deep recesses of our minds as we frantically search for truth and meaning in the rubble of an old flame.
