It’s time for episode six of Director Showdown! In this series, we pit 64 of the biggest directors to debut since 1998 against each other in an elimination bracket to determine who will walk away the greatest director of the last 26 years!
In the last episode, we looked at forbidden summer love, and the impact that a whirlwind romance can have on a person. By way of Todd Field’s In the Bedroom and Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me By Your Name, we examined the ways a skilled director can convey the rise and sudden fall of a relationship. In a hotly-debated match, Guadagnino ultimately emerged the victor!
This week, we’re setting out to find his next opponent…
Born in 1960 in London England, Joanna Hogg made her feature directorial debut in 2007 with Unrelated, introducing the world to a then-unknown actor named Tom Hiddleston. Hogg and Hiddleston would continue to work closely together for 2010’s Archipelago and 2013’s Exhibition. After a six-year hiatus, Hogg would return to film with a trilogy of films for A24: The Souvenir, The Souvenir Part II, and The Eternal Daughter. The Souvenir duology would earn Hogg widespread recognition outside of the UK, along with several nominations at the British Independent Film Awards.
Hogg’s opponent in this episode is Canadian comedy royalty, the son of Ivan Reitman, Montreal’s own Jason Reitman! Reitman would make his debut in 2005 with Thank You for Smoking, before directing the one-two punch of Juno and Up In The Air (starring Anna Kendrick), both of which earned him Academy Award nominations for Best Director. His filmography since has been varied — as has its critical reception — but it all culminates in 2024’s Telluride-premiering film Saturday Night, a tense, almost-real-time comedy about the making of the very first episode of Saturday Night Live!
In this episode, we examine art and the impact it has on an artist. The Souvenir duology draws heavily from Hogg’s own past as she reflects and reinterprets her own journey as a filmmaker. Meanwhile, Saturday Night examines the legacy of the longest-running variety show on television through the eyes of the people who made it — and directed by someone pretty close to the real people he depicts!
Joining us on today’s episode is Dakota of Contra Zoom Pod! Dakota is a frequent guest who was last heard on the second-ever episode of Director Showdown. On his own site, he’s also written about Saturday Night, which he rated 4.5/5 after it’s TIFF premiere!
Contra Zoom Pod also has a running series on A24 films, which Pierre and Jeff recently joined to discuss The Souvenir duology in more length.
This episode was inspired by Rotten Tomatoes’ Best Director Showdown, which was conducted among RT users over the summer of 2023. The results of that competition are summarized in this article.
Special thanks this week to our good friend Cris, who made the cover art for this episode! Follow her on Instagram, Twitter, and Letterboxd to see more of her artwork, film opinions/reviews, or both!
