Diractors is an ongoing series in which Hassle writer Jack Draper examines films, new and old, whose directors are better known for their work in front of the camera.
The progress of movies directed by actors has been especially interesting in the 2020s. From thrillers to adaptations to onscreen surrogates, actors have elevated their careers with some of more significant films of the past five years. If there is one major takeaway from this decade of Diractors, it’s that the field is only growing. There are hits and misses, but those hits are able to hang with the filmmakers they’re inspired by.
1. TÁR (2022) dir. Todd Field
It was her time; nothing was stopping her. Lydia Tár doesn’t only anchor the decade’s best movie from an actor turned director, but is maybe the best character in any movie from this list. She’s real and deeply unsympathetic while always being compelling. Field expertly tells the story of a conductor driven mad by her own success, unable to be a person while the contemporary world suffocates her. It’s a movie enraptured by its villain with nobody to morally counteract, especially in a world this sterile. Maybe the ending of the decade so far? Lydia’s students would do some foul things to her using OpenAI.
2. NOPE (2022) dir. Jordan Peele
The second of two films that ended up on my 2022 top ten. As event filmmakers go– people who even non-tapped-in-movie-nerds know by name– Jordan Peele has climbed the top of the list. Coming from a background in sketch comedy, Peele has an unwillingness to be boxed in while still holding true to making entertainment. The story of OJ and Emerald on the hunt to expose aliens above their ranch speaks to far more than just extra-terrestrial life attacking humanity. The question of what it means to view something as spectacle in a time when everything is filmed is so compelling. Peele’s status as a master storyteller is nothing new, but this is my favorite iteration of his blend of horror and comedy. Where the hell is Daniel Kaluuya?
3. PASSING (2021) dir. Rebecca Hall
For reasons unplanned, this is the entry on the list that I believe I’ve seen the most: once in the very cute Newburyport Screening Room, once on Netflix, and a third time for a film class in which we compared films to their original text. Even for a film as formally accomplished as this, each viewing did get better than the last. Rebecca Hall is one of my favorite actresses alive, and it’s refreshing to see something so delicately made which lends itself to repeat viewings despite not being mysterious. Nella Larsen’s book of the same name shares exact DNA with Hall’s movie, its greatest strength coming from how colorism doesn’t change but remains the same. Add to this Hall’s affinity for melodrama, a genre near extinct this decade that is only pulled off due the strength of Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga. Some of my favorite period detail of the decade, I might add.
4. SHARP STICK / CATHERINE CALLED BIRDY (2022) dir. Lena Dunham
My appreciation of problematic fav Lena Dunham’s two 2022 films was only further enhanced by my watch through of Girls in 2021. As I turned 21 that year, it only made sense to watch one of the great examinations about delusional youth, which is only reintegrated with Sharp Stick and Catherine Called Birdy. Both movies are so funny )and Catherine is decidedly more moving than Stick), yet there’s a true movement of the needle as Dunham as a writer with these movies. Her sense of humor is ripe for me, and Dunham still has insight into the next generation of young girls despite aging into a mom.
5. URCHIN (2025) dir. Harris Dickinson
Urchin is the most recent release on this list, but I wanted to highlight something that I think is getting pushed aside in the wake of this year’s more noisy movies, both in what Dickinson is trying to reach for and how the movie lingers with me. As a filmmaker, Dickinson cleverly dwells on moments of withholding a win. There’s nothing in Urchin that suggests actual change in ways that are spelled out for us; rather, we see an individual being tossed around in a broken system that never bends to his complications. But also, the guy is a piece of shit. These two pieces are never reshaped to click together for those who miss what’s right in front of them for peace and happiness.
6. THE BRUTALIST (2024) dir. Brady Corbet
My number one of 2024, Brady Corbet’s third film as a director really moved me seeing it at the Chicago film fest. It’s a complicated portrait of assimilation while also being a loving homage to Once Upon a Time in America. I don’t think this needs to (or should) make the next Sight and Sound list to prove its worth, but Corbet has such confidence behind the camera. Architect Lazlo Toth is just as much a victim as he is a cautionary tale; if anything, I’m here for that character just as I was for Celeste in Vox Lux. Despite these compelling characters from Corbet, they still operate within a broken country.
7. THE LOST DAUGHTER (2021) dir. Maggie Gyllenhaal
Coming off a year focused so heavily on parenthood and prickly relationships with your kids, The Lost Daughter slots right in. Adapting from the book of the same name, Maggie Gyllenhaal clearly got a lot out of the story that isolates you when becoming a mom. Combine this with the worst vacation ever put on film. Olivia Colman continues to seriously impress, injecting humanity into someone otherwise unlikable. Gyllenhaal, we’ll get back to you soon in 2026!
8. ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI (2020) dir. Regina King
As the sole 2020 representative, Regina King’s adaptation of One Night in Miami had the disadvantage of never getting the theatrical run it deserved; this movie demands as big a theater display as the play on which it’s based. The film focuses on a night shared between Jim Brown, Sam Cooke, Muhammad Ali, and Malcolm X as they celebrate Ali’s victory against Sonny Liston. It’s sad that we haven’t seen Regina direct anything since, as she knows how to create simmering tension without a false note in these performances. The text is larger than life, and embraces the fiction to say something profound and urgent, only heard louder by the year it was released.
9. WOMAN OF THE HOUR (2023) dir. Anna Kendrick
Its unreal in retrospect to see how many serial killers ended up on national TV. It happened so much that there ended up being compilations of the phenomenon, highlighting this weird intersection of the parallel ’70s rise of game shows and murders. Director Anna Kendrick sees this as another indictment of the boundaries that are never considered by men, and even the non-threatening types are seen as scary. I admire how effectively Kendrick pulls off her premise, with the added addition of what happens after the dating show, when Sheryl (Kendrick) is being followed through the parking lot by seemingly introverted Rodney (Danny Zovatto). Never take for granted that all this happens in the most ordinary of places.
10. THEATER CAMP (2023) dir. Molly Gordon & Nick Lieberman
One of the funniest films of the decade happens to have been made by a diractor, giving us a new voice in comedy. It’s pretty clear that Gordon and Lieberman draw inspiration from Mike Schur and Christopher Guest, making a mockumentary which instantly achieved a beloved status on its release in 2023. Gordon and Lieberman put a fresh coat of paint on the awkward style of comedy, which is so perfect for something as sincere as theater camp. Plus, its always fun to have a movie that captures the vibe of putting on a show and the characters that clash from that. The people putting on that show while coexisting together for the summer are some of the funniest people out there today, including Patti Harrison, Amy Sedaris, Ayo Edebri and Jimmy Tatro. You can really feel the lived experiences from everyone involved, especially Noah Galvin, Ben Platt, and Gordon herself, who snap into this cast of weirdos so easily. Gordon has her solo directorial debut coming soon, and it will be interesting to see what that looks like.
