Denis Villeneuve movies, ranked: Dune, Enemy, and more
By Matthew Pyne
Denis Villeneuve is a master director. More specifically, he is the master of building tension. He is perhaps the greatest modern director at this skill, rivaled only by Alfred Hitchcock, in my opinion.
With the release of Dune, Villeneuve seems to really be entering the consciousness of the mainstream. With the box office success of Dune, comes the opportunity to stake his claim in the director version of Mt. Rushmore, depending on how the next Dune movies are received.
Dune isn’t Villeneuve’s first high-budget film a studio has entrusted him with. Blade Runner 2049 was a revival of the 1982 Ridley Scott classic. Blade Runner 2049‘s budget exceeded $185 million and raked in $259 million worldwide. Even though the movie performed relatively well, it fell short of expectations. Dune was given a slightly smaller budget, but thus far has already surpassed Blade Runner 2049‘s box office numbers, with $296 million worldwide. Villeneuve has proven he can handle the tall task, after making smaller movies both in scale and in budget earlier in his career.
I thought this might be a good time to take a look back in appreciation of the ten feature films Villeneuve has made so far and see where they stack up to Dune, especially.
Ranking all10 Denis Villeneuve films
10. August 32nd on Earth
August 32nd on Earth had its release in 1998 at the Cannes Film Festival. The story follows Simone, a woman who awakes following a car accident that leaves her mostly unharmed, except for a bloody nose. Seen as her ‘awakening,’ Simone decides something is missing in her life and that ‘something’ is a child. She asks her friend Philippe to be the one to help her conceive. They travel to the desert, among other locations in attempt to achieve a pregnancy. The scenes in the desert evoke scenes from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and to me the entire film feels like a dream.
In fact, I think the title implies that Simone is living in another ‘world’ or perhaps purgatory. Since, August 32nd and the subsequent August 33rd, 34th, and 35th seen in the film don’t exist, her search for meaning may just be a requirement of purgatory.
The films asks some big questions, but ultimately it doesn’t quite compare to Villeneuve’s other films in terms of pacing and structure. Ultimately, it is an impressive debut for Villeneuve and it’s always fun to evaluate filmmakers first feature to see them try to find their footing.
August 32nd on Earth is currently streaming on Mubi.
My score: 7.1/10