Seventh Row

A place to think deeply about movies

Directors We Love

Directors We Love

When we really love a director, we keep tabs on their films, interview them, and often write multiple essays about their work.

Our Expertise

We are an expert source on these directors.

Debra Granik

Debra Granik’s films — Down to the Bone, Stray Dog, Winter’s Bone,and Leave No Trace — interrogate conventional images of American white poverty with unparalleled empathy.

Debra Granik

Luca Guadagnino

Guadagnino’s films tend to explore bodies and how people relate to each other’s bodies — through dance, romance, and desire — offering a totally sensory experience. We’ve gone deep on his three most recent films: Suspiria, Call Me by Your Name, A Bigger Splash.

Luca Guadagnino

Andrew Haigh

Few directors have mastered the art of mise en scène and blocking like Andrew Haigh, who also regularly gets career best performances out of his actors. His work includes: Lean on Pete, 45 Years, Weekend, and Looking

Andrew Haigh

Joanna Hogg

Hogg specialises in scathing and unsettling depictions of the British upper middle class. Her work includes: Unrelated, Archipelago, Exhibition, and The Souvenir.

Joanna Hogg

Mike Leigh

From Vera Drake to Happy-Go-Lucky, Naked to Mr. Turner, nobody creates a truly lived-in cinematic world like Mike Leigh. Discover Leigh’s unique process through interviews with the man himself and his key collaborators on Peterloo.

Mike Leigh

Lynne Ramsay

Lynne Ramsay’s features — Ratcatcher, Morvern Callar, We Need to Talk About Kevin, and You Were Never Really Here — centre on characters dealing with trauma by losing themselves in sensations, not language. We went deep on YWNRH.

Lynne Ramsay

Joachim Trier

Since 2015, Seventh Row has been committed to becoming the best source for criticism on and information about the films of Joachim Trier, director of Thelma, Louder Than Bombs, Oslo August 31st, and Reprise.

Joachim Trier

A Closer Look

Directors we’ve been keeping tabs; we’ve covered at least two of their films.

Anne Émond

The Québécois writer-director of Nelly and Our Loved Ones has distinguished herself as one of Canada’s most exciting new voices.

Anne Émond

Mina Shum

The Vancouver filmmaker of Meditation Park and Ninth Floor is committed to chronicling the Canadian immigration experience and generating empathy for oft-overlooked characters.

Mina Shum

Selma Vilhunen

The Finnish filmmaker behind Stupid Young Heart and Little Wing has quickly distinguished herself for her stories about adolescents, identity, and mental health.

Selma Vilhunen

Frederick Wiseman

One of the great documentary filmmakers ever, Wiseman’s observational films are intellectual delights and fascinating character studies. Recent films include: Monrovia Indiana, Ex Libris, In Jackson Heights, and National Gallery.

Frederick Wiseman

Chloé Zhao

With just two features under her belt — The Rider and Songs My Brothers Taught Me — Zhao is one of the great American filmmakers dedicated to telling stories about masculinity and family, using non-actors.

Chloé Zhao