More like YorGOAT, right? With the 2020 OSCARS telecast right around the corner, I thought it would be a good time to do a Yorgos Lanthimos — that's Georgios "Yorgos" Lanthimos (Greek: Γιώργος Λάνθιμος;[1] IPA: [ˈʝorɣoz ˈlanθimos]; born 23 September 1973), Greek filmmaker — Director Focus, so that is what this is. I had seen and reviewed everyone of his features except his debut My Best Friend (2001) and his latest Poor Things, which garnered 11 Academy Award nominations. But now I have tied things up by critiquing both of those bookends and can, with great pleasure, offer you the definitive ranking of Yorgos Lanthimos's filmography below.
I also watched two of his short films — Necktie (unessential) and Nimic (essential) – but his two early Greek language shorts, 1995's O viasmos tis Hlois and 2001's Uranisco Disco proved impossible to find, as did 2022's Bleat, a 30-minute black-and-white, Emma Stone-featuring SILENT work that Yorgos only ever intended to be viewed in a live setting with a live orchestra, and so far: mission accomplished, as it does not seem to have leaked online.
As is typically the case with directors whose work I really enjoy, this ranking proved especially difficult. I really appreciate how he has so easily morphed in and out of styles over the years. While there's clearly a bridge tonally from the three early (post-My Best Friend) Greek works to the two Colin Farrell mid-2010s vehicles (they're all more or less movies against language/communication, or commenting on the frustration and futility of that fact), he seems to have moved into unchartered waters since beginning his collaboration with the actress Stone. Both The Favourite and Poor Things are big stylistic departures from the rest of his body of work — visually, emotionally and thematically — and they each seem to exist in their own insular world separate from anything else he's done.
I wish I had time to revisit the six pictures previously reviewed on this site for this D.F. but, sadly, I did not. So here is the official ranking of the films of Yorgos Lanthimos with a brief word on each:
#8 My Best Friend (2002): an appeal to the mainstream romcom that never gets as dark as you think it might/it think it does (a pre-early period outlier)
#7 Alps (2011): the only one of YL's Greek language films that I didn't totally connect with, originally, and I'm honestly not sure why (need to revisit)
#6 Kinetta (2005): much of what he's attempting to get through with these first three Greek movies is present in this, his true debut
#5 Poor Things (2023): a kitchen sink novel adaptation that's big and fun and garish, but has the potential to age poorly - no pun intended
#4 The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017): perhaps too low on the list, I always think that Barry Keoghan is the perfect Yorgos actor when I think of this film
#3 The Favourite (2018): probably the film that will be best remembered, at least in how it represents his shift into new cinematic milieus and landscapes
#8 Dogtooth (2009): still feels like his strangest/most controversial picture, but its beauty lies in how it transcends those surface-level complaints
#7 The Lobster (2015): the rare blunt and obvious satire that purposely uses its simple rawness to amazing effect — the first film of his I saw and still the best