The Best of the Decade 2010-19: The Top Movie Directors per Brad Strauss of The Director's Club Podcast

I (Seth) recently posted My Favorite Movies of the Decade, and could probably have a good go at a list of the film directors I felt did the best work across the decade.

But it seemed wise to invite my friend Brad Strauss to cite his picks instead.

I know Brad primarily via the Chicago Film Discussion Meetup Group, whose lunch Meetup discussions he long hosted.

Brad and another leader of that group, Al Kwiatkowski, have hosted The Director's Club Podcast for three years and 44 episodes to date.

Coming up is a deep dive into Ingmar Bergman, across three podcasts, and a look at the oeuvre of Brian De Palma.

I've often included Brad's choices in my Best Movies of the Year posts (such as for 2018) and he helped me out with this post about one of the top directors included below. And while it could use some updating, in 2012 I posted his picks of Alternative Best Picture Oscar Winners for every year to that point.

Clearly, he's well-equipped to choose:

The Best Film Directors of the Decade
as selected by Brad Strauss, indicating their best movies from 2010-19

1. Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity, Roma)

2. Afsghar Farhadi (A Separation, The Past, The Salesman) - Seth's note: Everybody Knows is also worthwhile.

3. Frederick Wiseman (Boxing Gym, At Berkeley, Ex-Libres: The New York Public Library)

4. Paul Thomas Anderson (The Master, Inherent Vice, The Phantom Thread)

5. Richard Linklater (Bernie, Before Midnight, Boyhood)

6. Quentin Tarantino (The Hateful Eight, Django Unchained, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood)

7. Martin Scorsese (Silence, The Irishman) - Seth: I also loved Hugo and liked Shutter Island, The Wolf of Wall Street and George Harrison: Living in the Material World.

8. Bong Joon-ho (Snowpiercer, Parasite) - Seth: I also enjoyed Okja and love Mother, a 2009 film that didn't get wide U.S. release until 2010.

9. The Russo Brothers (Captain America: Winter Soldier/Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War/Endgame)

10. Lee Chang-dong (Poetry, Burning)


Seth's Additional Choices (in alphabetical order)

Sean Baker (Tangerine, The Florida Project)
Ryan Coogler (Fruitvale Station, Black Panther, Creed)

The Dardenne Brothers (The Kid with a Bike, Two Days One Night)
Ava DuVernay (Selma, 13th)

Barry Jenkins (If Beale Street Could Talk, Moonlight)

Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave, Shame, Widows)
Jeff Nichols (Take Shelter, Mud, Loving, Midnight Special)
Christopher Nolan (Inception, Dunkirk, Interstellar, The Dark Knight Rises)
Pawel Pawlikowski (Ida, Cold War)
Christian Petzold (Phoenix, Transit)