Last, and assuredly not least, are these poor fellas. The category transients. I will address Eisenstein and Yimou sooner than later.

Thriving on a riff!

Notes on why some of these guys didn’t make the Masters/Majors cut and whatnot.

In almost anyone’s book Sergei Eisenstein has to be considered a major innovator of narrative film.  But, at this late stage, his didactic films come closer to resembling museum pieces than anything which would interest modern audiences.   Still, anyone who influenced Orson Welles can’t be all bad.  Where early Soviet filmmakers are concerned I always preferred the lyrical Alexandr Dovzhenko.  I’ll likely post something on him before getting to Eisenstein.

Zhang Yimou brought his art house sensibility to China’s commercial cinema and has since put together a remarkable body of work.  He has to be considered one of the top five living directors.