15 Best Directorial Debuts of the Last 5 Years

Jordan Peele, Ari Aster, Bo Burnham and other new movie stars in our list of the 15 best directorial debuts of the last 5 years.

Why do we love debut films by directors? For their pure and irrepressible energy, the absence of the burden of experience and audience (and studio) expectations, for the desire to surprise and impress, for new breath and unexpected solutions.

Think back to the first works of George A. Romero ('Night of the Living Dead'), Quentin Tarantino ('Reservoir Dogs'), Steven Soderbergh ('sex, lies, and videotape'). All of these projects were daring, innovative, overthrowing the rules and canons of genres and cinema in general. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of such examples in history. But we decided to limit ourselves to the last 5 years and present to your attention the 15 most striking and notable directorial debuts of recent times. Believe us, the choice was difficult, but damn interesting.

1. Dan Trachtenberg — 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)

An unexpected sequel to the hit but rather secondary film 'Cloverfield' turned out to be a pleasant surprise, surpassing the original in every way. And for good reason, because at the center of this story they placed the interpersonal conflict of people hiding in a bunker, rather than instinctive attempts to survive in a losing battle against a giant monster.

Dan Trachtenberg managed to make a hermetic thriller with minimal sets, constantly growing tension, and a masterfully written conflict between the characters of Mary Elizabeth Winstead and John Goodman. And even the vague ending, designed to dot all the 'i's and connect the two films of the franchise, does nothing to spoil the impression of a powerful and confident debut.

Interestingly, Trachtenberg hasn't directed a single film since then, but has participated in the creation of one of the best TV series projects of recent years.

2. Jordan Peele — Get Out (2017)

The debut of Jordan Peele was praised by everyone. The story of a black guy meeting the relatives of his white girlfriend is unabashedly called one of the best directorial debuts in the entire history of cinema. And it's quite natural.

Peele masterfully placed social themes in a horror setting and mixed it all with witty satire, giving us one of the most engaging films of the 21st century. It's scary. It's funny. It's interesting. 'Get Out' simultaneously pleases the intellectual audience and delivers serious thrills as a ride. Such films come out very rarely, so they fully deserve praise and multiple re-watches.

3. Ari Aster — Hereditary (2018)

Another new icon in the horror genre over the reviewed period is director Ari Aster. His debut film 'Hereditary' is a nuclear warhead in the world of horror films. A film that strikes with its precision and luxuriously placed accents. A picture that revived or even gave birth to a new wave. A work that became the director's calling card and set the vector for his career development.

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The story of a family in which tragic events occur turned out to be frighteningly realistic and devilishly creepy. And for this, Aster didn't even have to resort to base genre techniques like jump scares. After all, a good script combined with competent editing and top-notch acting (especially Toni Collette, who is flawless here) helps achieve any effect the director desires.

4. Bo Burnham — Eighth Grade (2018)

But it's not just in horror that new notable players have emerged in the last 5 years. Bo Burnham — a one-man band who made a name for himself in stand-up — very successfully ventured into the territory of big cinema. In his debut work about a teenage girl who vlogs about the daily life of a teenager and self-esteem issues, he managed to strike a delicate balance between laughter and poignancy.

Many will recognize their own fears and anxieties in the main character, but at the same time, the film is about optimism, a bright future, and the ability to accept yourself with all your flaws. And it's genuinely funny despite all its sentimentality. Just like Burnham himself.

5. Bradley Cooper — A Star Is Born (2018)

Many actors try their hand at directing, but not everyone manages to do it as well as Bradley Cooper. Yes, his debut is not an original project but a remake of a story that is made almost as often as Cinderella movies. But that doesn't affect the fact that 'A Star Is Born' with Lady Gaga and Cooper himself in the lead roles is a great film.

The on-screen chemistry between the actors, which gives goosebumps even to skeptics and unemotional viewers, the soundtrack that instantly became cult classics, vivid and memorable scenes — everything about this film is wonderful. Except for the fact that the story has been worn thin. That makes it all the more interesting to see how Cooper will handle original material in the future.

6. Jonah Hill — Mid90s (2018)

Jonah Hill is a man who is used to breaking stereotypes. For a long time, he was perceived as a comedic actor, but then he worked with Martin Scorsese and in the series 'Maniac'. Nobody believed Hill could become a capable director, but he went and made a wonderful film, 'Mid90s'.

In his debut, Hill showed a coming-of-age story that thirty-year-old guys will perceive as flashbacks from childhood. And it doesn't matter if they listened to Onyx or Malchishnik back then, hung out in Los Angeles or somewhere in the backwoods of Mother Russia.

7. Kirill Sokolov — Why Don't You Just Die! (2018)

Our cinema also has examples of bright and bold directorial debuts. Take, for instance, the film 'Why Don't You Just Die!' by Kirill Sokolov, which in its ambition and audacity reminds of the early works of Quentin Tarantino and Guy Ritchie. Literally from the first minutes, the film about a guy's attempts to kill his girlfriend's father turns up the schizoid nature to maximum and races without brakes all the way to the very finale, surprising with its creativity time and time again.

Rivers of blood are shed on screen, there is no limit to cruelty, nor to the charisma of the main characters, and all this is seasoned with quality black humor — such a set of ingredients even appealed to critics from Empire, The Observer, and Variety, who highly appreciated the work of our compatriot (by the way, in the West, the film was released under the no less funny and provocative title 'Why Don't You Just Die!').

8. Olivia Wilde — Booksmart (2019)

Let's be honest: Olivia Wilde is a rather average actress with minimal truly memorable roles. But perhaps she will become a first-class director. At least, her debut film demonstrates a very great potential for Wilde as a director.

Among the compliments for the film about female friendship in the last days of school before the start of big life, you can find phrases that 'Booksmart' rethought the teen comedy genre, that it is a new word in the direction of coming-of-age films. Perhaps these are big words, but there is certainly some truth in them. Wilde took a simple plot as a basis but strung a lot of important themes onto it (self-acceptance, trust in loved ones, attitude to life), but did without moralizing, seasoning them with great, universal, and relatable humor.

9. Andrew Patterson — The Vast of Night (2019)

Often, directors in their first major work profess their love for idols, their work, or the era in which they created their main masterpieces. Andrew Patterson is obviously a fan of Steven Spielberg from the 70s and 80s, since in his film 'The Vast of Night' you can find notes of 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' and 'The Twilight Zone'.

At the same time, Patterson is not lacking in courage, because his debut can be characterized as one big conversation about UFOs lasting almost 90 minutes. No action, minimal sets, a tiny budget — all this did not prevent the director from making a strong, engaging, and most importantly atmospheric film.

10. Rose Glass — Saint Maud (2019)

'Saint Maud' is an indie masterpiece of the kind that the most discerning film critics rave about. At the same time, as a rule, few ordinary viewers know about such films. But the film by Rose Glass deserves to be talked about more often and louder.

The story of a girl who has gone crazy (or hasn't) on religious grounds is an example of how a simple plot, with the right presentation, works properly and even gives a feeling of something new. Also feelings of discomfort, antipathy, fascination, and a pinch of madness. If you're ready for this, the film will definitely not disappoint you, and its ending might even cause ecstasy (or something worse).

11. Shannon Murphy — Babyteeth (2019)

A deceptive synopsis about the first love of a terminally ill girl might scare off viewers who expect a repeat of 'A Walk to Remember', 'The Fault in Our Stars', or a dozen other tear-jerking teen dramas.

In fact, Shannon Murphy's film turned out to be completely different. Without cheap speculation on emotions. It's a quiet tragicomedy, from every corner of which sincerity and ease, eccentricity and... normality shine through. Yes, the heroine wears colorful wigs here. Yes, the amount of drugs and sedatives per screen minute sometimes goes off the charts. But behind all this lies a simple and understandable story of growing up and living a life that might not be there.

12. Max Barbakow — Palm Springs (2020)

Debuting director Max Barbakow in his first feature film decided to play 'Groundhog Day', that is, to put the heroes (yes, he is not the only special one here) in a time loop. And he did it pretty well.

13. Darius Marder — Sound of Metal (2021)

Darius Marder and his 'Sound of Metal' became unexpected participants in the Oscar race, despite a modest budget and a complex but not pop topic in academic circles (the main character, played by brilliant Riz Ahmed, is a drummer who loses his hearing).

Marder vividly reminds us of what a bizarre mechanism a human being is, and that a single faulty part of this mechanism can actually destroy a life. But the accents in the film are placed in such a way as to show that any diagnosis is not a verdict, that if you have the will to fight, there is always a way to reach that proverbial light at the end of the tunnel.

14. Florian Zeller — The Father (2021)

My colleague Varvara Ulianenok expressed her opinion about the debut of Florian Zeller as a film director as follows: 'The Father' is a poignant drama about pain and helplessness in the face of old age that will leave no one indifferent.

15. Prano Bailey-Bond — Censor (2021)

True cinephiles love it when, besides the story itself, a film has a bunch of different elements to latch onto. Be it unusual visual solutions or references 'for those in the know'. It provides genuine cinephilic pleasure.

'Censor' is just such a film where the plot is secondary (though it's not bad), and his majesty the homage takes center stage. Homage to the VHS era, homage to low-budget but endlessly ambitious trash horror, homage to the times when the image was vintage, and cinema wasn't as serious and politicized as it is now.

Which debut from recent times do you consider the most successful?