The Auteur's Debut

There is one thing that every big name director has in common– they all at one point made their first film. In some cases the directors were experimenting, seeing how they could push cinema to its edges, because they had everything to gain and nothing to lose. David Lynch’s Eraserhead is probably the definitive example. Other times, directors make their debut with something safe and mainstream, such as David Fincher’s Aliens 3. The directorial debut can go on to define their careers, such as Kevin Smith’s Clerks, or these films can be completely forgotten- Stanley Kubrick’s Fear and Desire remains virtually unseen. What makes these films special is that their directors do not have a defined style to fall back on, they are usually not receiving funds from studios, and the director is filling more jobs than they would if they had the resources.
This morning I watched Joel and Ethan Coen’s first feature film, Blood Simple. This was before the Best Picture Oscar for No Country for Old Men, before everyone knew the words to the songs from O Brother, Where Art Thou, before True Grit made over one hundred million dollars in box office returns, this is 1984 – Ronald Reagan was president and two brothers from Minnesota released their first movie with a budget of less than two million dollars. This film laid the groundwork for many of their following films. It is the story of a woman (played by Coen Brothers regular and Joel’s wife Frances McDormand) sexually involved with a colleague of her husband. The husband hires a private detective to kill both his wife and the man she is involved with. The detective double crosses and shoots the husband, although he fails to kill him – debuting two more Coen Brothers’ themes, untrustworthy main characters and botched crimes. Most of the film takes place in a run down bar, which is typical for the Coen Brothers, as several of their subsequent films are anchored in seedy locations. Not everything about Blood Simple is a blueprint for further Coen Brothers' films, however, and in a lot of ways it was quite different from all of their following films. For large sections of the movie there is no dialogue, just long drawn out death/struggle sequences. The silence helps to build the tension in the film, and helps to establish it as the directing duo's single horror film.
Blood Simple is merely an example among many that illustrates the value of analyzing a auteur’s early work. To experience for yourself the budding genius of directorial debuts, check out any of the following films.
Coen Brother’s Blood Simple, Danny Boyle’s Shallow Grave, Kevin Smith’s Clerks, David Lynch’s Eraserhead, Darren Aronofsky’s Pi, Mel Brooks’ The Producers, Christopher Nolan’s Following, Quentin Tarentino’s Reservoir Dogs, Rian Johnson’s Brick, Tim Burton’s Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, Mike Nichols’ Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf, Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane, and Sidney Lumet’s 12 Angry Men.