Wilder takes ninth for making a tightly built story feel effortless. Begin with Some Like It Hot (1959): two musicians flee gangsters by joining an all-women band in disguise. Track how each deception creates a new problem instead of merely supplying another joke.
We give his comic construction and tonal control the edge over Nolan’s puzzles. Varda ranks higher for her freedom across fiction and documentary. If dialogue, timing and the pleasure of a satisfying payoff define great direction for you, Wilder deserves a much higher position.
Source: BFI.
Photo: Galerie Poll Berlin · CC BY-SA 3.0 de. Resized and recompressed; original status retained.
