Whether it be the unfortunate death of the filmmaker, an unfavorable initial response, or just an overall unpleasant experience doing the job, there are some directors who only produce one film throughout their career. There is something inherently alluring about the idea of a one-film director, starting with the obvious query of "why only one?"
Regardless of the reasons, these 10 directors only have one directorial credit on their resume, yet their one and only works have made an impact - a singular testament to unfulfilled talent and filmographies that could have been.
10 Return To Oz -Walter Murch - 53%
This is the film that is chiefly responsible for the nightmares of many children and their parents in the 80s. Murch, a longtime sound editor in Hollywood, co-wrote and directed this sequel to the original story from Frank L. Baum's novel, and it remains his only feature film directing credit.
Return to Oz is truly an unsettling and dark trip back into the land of magic and witches. Though the film was divisive and financially unsuccessful on its first release, it has since garnered a strong cult following.
9 One-Eyed Jacks - Marlon Brando - 56%
In 1961, the world's most enigmatic and brooding actor, Marlon Brando, took on his first and only directing gig with this Western epic, originally intended to be helmed by Stanley Kubrick. One-Eyed Jacks shows that Brando could hold his own behind the camera and still deliver the realistic and tortured leading performance that audiences and critics had come to expect from him.
Though the film remains only slightly favored by the majority of critics, it has continued to age fairly well and remains a fascinating moment for the iconic actor/director.
8 9 - Shane Acker - 57%
It's really a shame that animator/director Shane Acker has been unable to get any more projects off the ground in the 11 years since his debut film, 9. The imagination and visual style of the animated film is virtually unparalleled in its industrial wasteland beauty.
Nearly every sequence of Acker's film is gorgeously brought to life, and the darker PG-13 rating allows for the narrative to take appropriately unsettling detours. The film's warm critical reception and profitable theatrical run seem poised to launch Acker's directorial career, but it has since stalled to a grinding halt.
7 Man Bites Dog - Rémy Belvaux, André Bonzel & Benoît Poelvoorde - 74%
While co-director Poelvoorde has directed other films, his two co-directors have not made anything since. Belvaux tragically committed suicide in 2006, ending any hopes of a reunion of the trio. Their only film together is this 1992 black-as-night comedy Man Bites Dog, which centers around a film crew as they film a serial killer going about his dastardly routines.
Unapologetically dark and certainly not for everyone, the film is a sharp satire on the relationship between film and violence. Man Bites Dog remains one of the boldest and recklessly clever films of the 1990s.
6 Don Jon - Joseph Gordon-Levitt - 79%
While Joseph Gordon-Levitt could very possibly still have another few movies up his writer/director sleeve, it has been seven long years since his debut, Don Jon, and there hasn't been any whispers or announcements of any upcoming projects for the big screen.
Don Jon is a dirty comedy with a big heart, a combination that creates its success, about a young man in New Jersey who is obsessed with porn. The film's slick exterior shields its true intentions - a love story about a manchild learning how to actually be with real women. It's funny, sad, raunchy as hell, and a great calling card for Gordon-Levitt's creative prowess. It's underrated and in desperate need of a mass audience second look.
5 Carnival Of Souls - Herk Harvey - 86%
Carnival of Souls is a film that was almost entirely ignored when it was released in 1962. It wasn't until two decades later that the film began to pick up a sizable fanbase and cult following. While it was initially marketed as another churned out horror B-movie, it has since been reevaluated for what it really is, which is a hypnotic exercise in sustained eerieness through its atmosphere.
Harvey shot the low-budget movie with the intent of creating a chilling mood without visual effects, a decision that has no doubt led to the film's endurance and timeless nature.
4 The Honeymoon Killers - Leonard Kastle - 95%
The only film made by writer/director/musician Leonard Kastle is a potently realistic story of a waitress who falls for a criminal, later joining him on a murder spree. It is dark and heavy stuff, shot in black-and-white and with a handheld documentarian style, that attempts to plunge into the depths of depravity and loneliness.
One of the worst films to play on a first date, The Honeymoon Killers is a film that is as powerful and brilliant as it is draining and depressing. Kastle left the film industry after the film's release to focus on the composition of music. He died in 2011.
3 The Night Of The Hunter - Charles Laughton - 95%
The Night of the Hunter is often one of the first films brought up when talking to film scholars about directors who only made one film. Legendary thespian Charles Laughton made one venture into being behind the camera, the resulting project being the thriller The Night of the Hunter.
Laughton's moody and expressionist-leaning film follows a murderer who plots to scam an older woman out of her dead husband's money. The film is perfectly crafted, proving Laughton something of a natural auteur of noir. However, the actor never directed another film.
2 Exit Through The Gift Shop - Banksy - 96%
It is still up in the air, perhaps will be forever, whether or not this 'documentary' is 100 percent authentic. But whether it is a genuine chronicling of events or an ingenious stunt, the film is a singular watch that cannot be matched in sly wit and has an eye for life's absurd sense of irony.
Legendary artist and maverick Banksy begins as the subject of the documentary, only to find himself having no choice but to take the reins himself. It is impossible to describe coherently in words, but it is undoubtedly a masterwork from one of art's greatest trolls.
1 An Elephant Sitting Still - Hu Bo - 96%
There is not a single element of the only film made by Chinese director Hu Bo, An Elephant Sitting Still, that would lead one to think it was the 29-year-old's first film. Unfortunately, the world of film lost a major new talent when the young filmmaker tragically took his own life shortly after finishing the editing for the film.
An Elephant Sitting Still is a masterpiece, a four-hour opus exploring human loneliness and the depression that stems from one's socioeconomic placement. It is slow, dark, melancholy, and a piece of genius that serves as an epitaph for the man who created it. Thanks to a release by Criterion, the film can now be seen and treasured by a global audience.
October 11, 2020 at 09:30PM
https://screenrant.com/best-films-by-one-time-directors-rotten-tomatoes/
10 Best Films By One-Time Directors (Ranked By Rotten Tomatoes) - Screen Rant
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