I am way, way late to the party. And I haven’t yet seen one of his feature films.
My favorite director is now Spike Jonze.
In the past, had I recognized the name as auteur, which made me assume he was one of those guys that tries too hard.
The other day, I fell into watching his music videos (thanks youtube!) and was utterly blown away. He is a master of his craft. He was great on a budget, but made fancy ones as well. It felt like every next video was my favorite. He knew timing exquisitely and suspense and climax.
I would find myself jumping out of my seat and laughing out loud.
And half the time I didn’t like the music!
Here are three videos, each a decade apart – 1999, 2009, and 2019.