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Instantly after the premiere of ‘Dune’, Denis Villeneuve has been in the centre of attention. The director’s work is being commented by the people from around the world. That is the reason why we are going to introduce the Canadian creator to you. We present the ranking of his best movies.
8. ‘Arrival’ (2016)
This is an unusual film which presents a problem of communication between humans and aliens. The unordinary element is focusing on the mutual understanding, instead of action scenes.
The main character is played by Amy Adams. The woman is a linguist who has to meet a challenge of creating a new language. This action might be the only way to communicate with aliens, who seems to be planning an invasion. It is obvious that such plot is intriguing and original.
However, I think the realisation of that project does not delight as much as the idea. This is an ambitious movie, which, nevertheless, to be a failure. Denis Villeneueve have not fulfilled his potential but you might watch the film at least for brilliant visual effects and some other interesting elements.
7. ‘Polytechnique’ (2009)
Now, this production of Villeneuve has been quite forgotten. However, it is probably the best film based on the story of a school tragedy (along with ‘Elephant’ 2003). ‘Polytechnique’ shares the mysterious atmosphere, similarly to the mentioned movie of Gus van Sant. However, it might be described as more emotional and unambiguous.
The creator refers to a real course of events that took place at one of the Canadian universities. That was the building where where a student killed fourteen people. His targets were women. Staying influenced by incel ideology, he believed they were the cause of all evil.
‘Polytechnique’ shows how dangerous the extreme views are. A single person might become a beast unimaginably fast. That is the reason why the film keeps in suspense, arouses anxiety.
6. ‘Sicario’ (2015)
It has not been the first story about mafia. However, you can see the difference in quality. Right at the beginning, a scene of the convoy proves the production is perfectly created action movie.
‘Sicario’ is more than only a storyline of FBI agent’s first so complex mission. First of all, this is a nihilistic story that brings doubt in human morality. All events take place in Juarez, in Mexico. The city belongs to the zone influenced by drug cartels. The most terrifying aspect is the plot based on the real events that happened in Juarez.
The film was so successful that Stefano Sollima continued the story in the sequel. Still, the new production has not been evaluated as positively as the first one.
5. ‘Dune’ (2020)
A few days ago, the film show made a positive impression on me. In this ranking ‘Dune’ is placed not in the top, only because of awaiting for the next parts of the story. All of them will create an epic saga. The film will not be evaluated properly until every movie from the series is completed. However, I already consider ‘Dune’ to be Denis Villeneueve’s opus magnum.
The film is an adaptation of Frank Herbert’s prose. The director had already been mentioning the classic of science fiction literature as an important novel for him. He has admitted that ‘Arrival’ and ‘Blade Runner’ were created to gain some experience before taking up ‘Dune’. I my opinion he managed to finish a great project. The story of House Atredes consists not only of a high quality camera work, but also of the plot that was precisely reflected from the novel.
4. ‘Prisoners’ (2013)
The film is a dark detective story. Everything happens in Boston. ‘Prosoners’ is one of the most popular Denis Villeneuve’s films. The director presents genuine characters and the plot referring to religiousness and mythology. The leading character was played by Hugh Jackman. The desire of saving his child makes him able to do horrible deeds. The movie leaves evaluating his action for a viewer.
3. ‘Enemy’ (2013)
In the year of ‘Prisoners’ premiere, there was the second film of Denis Villeneuve released. ‘Enemy’ is a surrealistic, arousing anxiety story of Adam, played by Jake Gyllenhaal. Setting up an action happens in the moment, when Adam notices a man who looks exactly like him.
This production is probably the most untypical work of Denis Villeneuve. It consists of many mysterious motifs, such as split personality or an ambiguous symbol of spiders, that often appear unexpectedly.
Film critics think Villeneuve failed to make a film inspired by the works of David Lynch. However, I belong to the group of people who are delighted with analysing every scene and event.
2. ‘Blade Runner 2049’ (2017)
In my opinion, the sequel of cult ‘Blade Runner’ is one of the best David Villeneuve’s films. The first part was made in 1982 by Ridley Scott.
Some viewers describe the movie as superficial, focused only on the audiovisual layer. I don’t agree with that opinion. The futuristic story brings up plenty of actual topics, like searching for your true identity. The leading character is played by Ryan Gosling, who seems to be as charismatic as Harrison Ford, the protagonist of the original.
However, ‘Blade Runner 2049’ didn’t arouse a lot of interest among the audience. It also did not get many awards. Nevertheless, these days the production has been appreciated and described as a modern classic.
1. ‘Incendies’ (2010)
None of Denis Villeneuve’s films makes as big impression on a viewer as ‘Incendies’. This is a story of siblings who decide to find their missing family members. They travell to the Near East (probably Lebanon). The country is destroyed because of the war.
The mystery of lost father and brother changes life of the main characters. The last plot twist also is shocking for a viewer. That is why the movie is being described as a drastic illustration of suffering, which is caused by a war.
Honourable mention: ‘Next Floor’ (2008)
This is a short film, created at the beginnings of Denis Villeneuve’s career. The fifteen-minute-production presents a surreal story about people, who struggle with untypical addiction. Their need to eat is so strong that they even do not pay attention to the building that keeps falling apart. It might be understood as a symbol of consumerism, a symbol of inevitable death.
And what are your favourite films of Denis Villeneuve?
Text: Katarzyna Kabernik – writer, journalist, film critic, literary scholar by education. She writes for the film.org.pl portal and the monthly “Kino”. Winner of the 2nd place in the Competition for the Krzysztof Mętrak and the winner of the competition Krytyk Pisze FKA.
English Translation: Natalia Chojnowska
Polish version here
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