Auteur Theory
The director as the primary creative author of a film, with a distinctive personal vision across their body of work
Primary Examples(114)
High and Low
Kurosawa's class examination
2001: A Space Odyssey
Kubrick's singular vision and perfectionism
A Clockwork Orange
Kubrick's provocative adaptation
Modern Times
Chaplin's industrial critique
Moonrise Kingdom
Anderson's distinctive aesthetic
My Neighbor Totoro
Miyazaki's gentle vision
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
Miyazaki's ecological epic
No Country for Old Men
Coen brothers' McCarthy adaptation
North by Northwest
Hitchcock's chase thriller
Oldboy
Park Chan-wook's visceral style
Once Upon a Time in America
Leone's epic gangster swan song
Once Upon a Time in the West
Leone's definitive western
Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood
Tarantino's nostalgic Hollywood
Oppenheimer
Nolan's biographical epic
Pan's Labyrinth
Del Toro's dark fantasy
Parasite
Bong Joon-ho's class satire
Paths of Glory
Early Kubrick antiwar film
Ponyo
Miyazaki's hand-drawn wonder
Porco Rosso
Miyazaki's aviation romance
Princess Mononoke
Miyazaki's ecological epic
Psycho
Hitchcock's shocking turn
Pulp Fiction
Tarantino's defining work
Raging Bull
Scorsese's character study
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Spielberg/Lucas serial homage
Ran
Kurosawa's King Lear
Rear Window
Hitchcock's voyeurism study
Requiem for a Dream
Aronofsky's visceral style
Reservoir Dogs
Tarantino's debut
Rope
Hitchcock's long-take experiment
Rushmore
Anderson finds his voice
Schindler's List
Spielberg's most serious work
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
Wright's visual maximalism
Se7en
Fincher's signature darkness
Seven Samurai
Kurosawa's epic vision
Spirited Away
Miyazaki's masterpiece
Strangers on a Train
Hitchcock's doppelganger thriller
Tenet
Nolan's temporal puzzle
The Apartment
Wilder's dark comedy
The Big Lebowski
Coen brothers' cult classic
The Birds
Hitchcock's apocalyptic horror
The Boy and the Heron
Miyazaki's late masterwork
The Bridge on the River Kwai
Lean's epic vision
The Darjeeling Limited
Anderson's spiritual journey
The Dark Knight
Nolan's definitive superhero film
The Elephant Man
Lynch's humanist drama
The Fabelmans
Spielberg's autobiographical film
The French Dispatch
Peak Anderson formalism
The Godfather
Coppola's personal vision
The Godfather Part II
Parallel narrative innovation
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Peak Anderson aesthetic
The Great Dictator
Chaplin's political statement
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
Anderson's Cousteau homage
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Jackson's epic vision
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Jackson's epic trilogy
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Jackson's epic continuation
The Prestige
Nolan's obsession theme
The Royal Tenenbaums
Anderson's breakout
The Shining
Kubrick's horror masterwork
The Squid and the Whale
Baumbach's autobiographical debut
The Wind Rises
Miyazaki's biographical drama
The Wolf of Wall Street
Scorsese's excess critique
There Will Be Blood
PTA's American epic
Trainspotting
Boyle's kinetic style
Unforgiven
Eastwood's Western deconstruction
Vertigo
Hitchcock's masterpiece
Whiplash
Chazelle's breakthrough
A.I. Artificial Intelligence
Spielberg completing Kubrick's vision
Anomalisa
Kaufman's singular vision
Asteroid City
Peak Anderson visual style
Baby Driver
Wright's musical visual style
Barry Lyndon
Kubrick's painterly perfectionism
Barton Fink
Coen brothers' distinctive vision
Being John Malkovich
Kaufman/Jonze distinctive vision
Blade Runner
Ridley Scott's visual worldbuilding
Bottle Rocket
Anderson's debut; seeds of his style
Casino
Scorsese's mob trilogy culmination
Citizen Kane
Welles as total filmmaker
City Lights
Chaplin's artistic control
Death Proof
Tarantino's grindhouse homage
Dial M for Murder
Hitchcock's theatrical suspense
Django Unchained
Tarantino's revisionist history
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
Kubrick's dark satire
Dune: Part Two
Villeneuve completes his vision
Dunkirk
Nolan's formal experimentation
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Spielberg's personal suburbia
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Kaufman/Gondry collaboration
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Anderson's stop-motion style
Fargo
Coen brothers' regional specificity
For a Few Dollars More
Leone's spaghetti western style
Full Metal Jacket
Kubrick's war film
Gone Girl
Fincher's cold precision
Goodfellas
Scorsese's defining gangster film
Harakiri
Kobayashi's samurai critique
Heat
Mann's procedural precision
Howl's Moving Castle
Miyazaki's visual imagination
I'm Thinking of Ending Things
Kaufman's identity dissolution
Ikiru
Kurosawa's humanist masterpiece
Inception
Nolan's puzzle-box construction
Inglourious Basterds
Tarantino's revisionist WWII
Inside Llewyn Davis
Coen brothers' artist portrait
Interstellar
Nolan's cosmic ambition
Isle of Dogs
Anderson's stop-motion style
Jackie Brown
Tarantino's most mature work
Kiki's Delivery Service
Miyazaki's gentle coming-of-age
Kill Bill: Vol. 1
Tarantino's genre synthesis
Kill Bill: Vol. 2
Tarantino's genre meditation
Lady Bird
Gerwig's directorial debut
Laputa: Castle in the Sky
Miyazaki's adventure vision
Lawrence of Arabia
Lean's epic vision
M
Lang's visual innovation
Mad Max: Fury Road
Miller's sustained vision
Memento
Nolan's breakthrough
Memories of Murder
Bong Joon-ho's breakthrough
Metropolis
Fritz Lang's visual epic
Secondary Influences(63)
A Serious Man
Distinctive Coen sensibility
Ready Player One
Spielberg's pop culture nostalgia
Always
Spielberg's romantic sensibility
Amadeus
Forman's examination of genius and mediocrity
Amistad
Spielberg's historical conscience
Last Night in Soho
Wright's horror pastiche
The Pianist
Polanski's personal Holocaust film
Léon: The Professional
Besson's stylized violence
Lincoln
Spielberg's historical drama
Little Women
Gerwig's structural innovation
Batman Begins
Nolan's grounded approach
The Post
Spielberg's journalism drama
The Dark Knight Rises
Nolan's trilogy conclusion
Marriage Story
Baumbach's personal drama
Bridge of Spies
Spielberg/Coen collaboration
Burn After Reading
Coen brothers' dark comedy
The Departed
Scorsese's crime thriller
Catch Me If You Can
Spielberg's lighter touch
While We're Young
Baumbach's midlife comedy
Saving Private Ryan
Spielberg's WWII epic
Midnight in Paris
Allen's romantic nostalgia
Million Dollar Baby
Eastwood's tragic vision
Minority Report
Spielberg's dark sci-fi
Double Indemnity
Wilder's cynical vision
Scarface
De Palma's excess
True Grit
Coen brothers' Western
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
Capra's populist vision
Munich
Spielberg's moral complexity
Empire of the Sun
Spielberg's Ballard adaptation
Witness for the Prosecution
Wilder's courtroom drama
White Noise
Baumbach's DeLillo adaptation
The Sugarland Express
Spielberg's feature debut
Fight Club
Fincher's subversive style
Shaun of the Dead
Wright's Cornetto trilogy
From Up on Poppy Hill
Ghibli/Miyazaki tradition
Shutter Island
Scorsese's psychological thriller
Snatch
Guy Ritchie's kinetic style
Some Like It Hot
Wilder's comic masterpiece
Gran Torino
Eastwood's late-career reflection
The Terminator
Cameron's breakthrough
Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope
Lucas's mythic synthesis
12 Years a Slave
McQueen's unflinching visual style
Hook
Spielberg's Peter Pan
Hot Fuzz
Wright's Cornetto trilogy
Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back
Kershner elevating Lucas's vision
The Thing
Carpenter's paranoid horror
Sunset Boulevard
Wilder's Hollywood critique
Incendies
Villeneuve's breakthrough
The Hudsucker Proxy
Coen brothers' Capra homage
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Spielberg's serial adventure
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Spielberg's darker adventure
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Cameron's action perfection
War Horse
Spielberg's classical style
Insomnia
Nolan's early thriller
Prisoners
Villeneuve's American debut
War of the Worlds
Spielberg's dark spectacle
The World's End
Wright's Cornetto finale
Jaws
Young Spielberg's breakthrough
Jurassic Park
Spielberg's technical mastery
West Side Story
Spielberg's musical
The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)
Baumbach's family drama
The Color Purple
Spielberg's literary adaptation
Ratatouille
Bird's artist manifesto