In my previous post about the death of Stanley Kauffmann I wrote that movies are still humming and crackling for the most part, but “you could certainly argue that the arrival of the post-cinematic, sub-literate, sensation-and-explosion-seeking, digitally-attuned generation of jizz-whizz moviegoers (by far the least educated and most reality-averse in Hollywood history) and the filmmakers in their midst has brought things to an all-time low.” And I’m wondering if we can put a list together of under-40 filmmakers who are not in this bag?

I don’t think I’m being too dismissive or pessimistic to say that generally speaking the under-40 generation of filmmakers (mostly born between the mid ’70s and mid ’80s although there are some arrested-development types between 40 and 50) are inclined tward cinematic imaginings that have clearly been more influenced by their online and gaming experiences as teens and 20somethings than by real-life experiences, and who are more or less committed to composing and presenting stories, activities and images that reflect digital as opposed to organic realms. Filmmakers, in short, who are more or less opposed to the idea of making films about the actual world. When I say this I mean scripts that are (I know it’s a pain but bear with me) based on actual, first-hand-observations of human behavior and the real-world physical laws that govern things like running, falling, fist fights and the like. In both the dramatic and comedic realms, I mean.

And so I’m asking which directors besides All Is Lost‘s J.C. Chandor (who was born around ’74 or ’75) and Labor Day‘s Jason Reitman (who was born in ’77) who seem to be interested in making movies that are about the actual world and the actual people in it? Because I think it’s quite clear that the majority of under-40 filmmakers are not interested in this at all. I think it’s quite clear the corporate zombie executives at the big studios along with the zombie agents have been sneering for years at the absurd notion (hah!) of reality-based dramas and comedies, largely because the under-40s aren’t interested. They want imaginative super-realms, bigger-than-life, absurdist attitude, amplified and intensified, digital wonderment, comic-book myths, guys swan-diving off 40-story skyscrapers, Grand Theft Auto-styled car chases and fist fights, and guys farting so loudly and strongly that plate-glass windows collapse into shards.

I know this makes me sounds like a totally out-of-it dork, but like it or not there IS a thing out there called “reality.” There are things like gravity and weather and human frailty and other factors that determine what is generally possible and impossible when guys try to do crazy stuff or run away from cops or what-have-you. There are certain laws that cause car chases and fist fights to be limited and/or clumsy activities that are more on the level of what you might see on YouTube or in reality series like Cops. I recognize that most audiences prefer fantasy crap, but as much as they might prefer this reality is still out there and it’s not going to change any time soon. And so I’m asking “which younger directors seem to understand and accept this, even though this acceptance might, God forbid, ensure their failure as commercial filmmakers?” And don’t mention Paul Thomas Anderson, who is basically an old fart traditionalist who was born in 1970 and is therefore over 40.