Guillermo del Toro introduced a screening of Celine Song’s “Past Lives” last night calling it the best feature debut he’s seen in the last twenty years.
I wholeheartedly disagree with Del Toro — Song’s film has been somewhat overpraised since its May release— but it got me thinking about all of the great feature debuts we’ve seen since 2003.
Just last year, A24 released a very bittersweet picture, from first-time filmmaker Charlotte Wells, titled “Aftersun.” IonCinema’s Eric Lavallée believes Wells’ “Aftersun” was one of the best debuts of the 21st century. A lot of critics seem to think that. He tweeted:
Add Charlotte Wells' AFTERSUN to the 21st century's masterwork directorial debuts w/ the likes of Steve McQueen's Hunger (2008), Oppenheimer's The Act of Killing (2012) & László Nemes' Son of Saul (2015).
I agree, Nemes, Oppenheimer, and McQueen’s debut films were all-timers. Lavallee named the best ones. It’s very rare that a first film can really be as great as these, I’d add, limiting myself to the 21st Century, Todd Field’s “In the Bedroom,” Tony Gilroy’s “Michael Clayton,” Benh Zeitlin’s “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” Bennett Miller’s “Capote,” Trey Edward Shults’ “Krisha” Kenneth Lonergan’s “You Can Count On Me,” Ari Aster’s “Hereditary” Xavier Legrand’s “Custody,” Kogonada’s “Columbus,” Zachariahs Kunuk’s “Atanarjuat,” Miranda July’s “Me, You and Everyone We Know” and Jordan Peele’s “Get Out.”