Oscar Spotlight: What a Difference a Director Makes

This year, Oscar’s Directing Branch nominated two movies showcased at last fall’s Festival and three bigger-budget features by filmmakers who started out as independents. What might fellow directors admire, similarly or differently, in the work of films as different as Hamnet, Sinners, Sentimental Value, and One Battle After Another, especially given all the things that fall under the broad umbrella of directing? How does each film honor its script but use directorial techniques to enrich or complicate the story as written?

Recommended Viewing: Sentimental Value (Joachim Trier), Sinners (Ryan Coogler), and One Battle After Another (Paul Thomas Anderson) are already available on streaming. Hamnet might be by mid-February, but if not, you can seek out its current re-release in cinemas.