#9 - NEIL LABUTE

"She'll be reaching for the sleeping pills within a week, and you and me, we'll laugh about this until we're very old men." Those are the words of Aaron Eckhart's lead character in Neil LaBute's shocking psychological drama, In the Company of Men. Few movies have attracted the kind of attention that LaBute's first film attracted upon its 1997 release. Some praised the film as brilliant, while others decried its seeming misogyny as morally abhorrent.

The film recounts the story of two thirtysomething white collar business partners--both of whom have been rejected by women--who conspire to find a vulnerable woman, simultaneously date her, and then break up with her just to assuage their damaged egos. As if this premise weren't disturbing enough, the two men choose to play their psychological game on a deaf woman. And if that's not enough for you, LaBute goes one step further by ending the film without correcting the wrong perpetrated by the men. There is no justice, and no redemption. There is only vile hatred without consequence.

In 2003, LaBute turned in yet another mini-masterpiece with The Shape of Things, this time turning the tables and instead giving the woman in the film the role of psychological sadist. In that film, LaBute explores the moral and ethical implications of our culture of beauty--a culture that is explicitly and undeniably obsessed with the surface of things.

In analyzing LaBute's films beyond their shock value, we get the sense that LaBute is not so much presenting the world as a dark, immoral throwaway as most people (including the infamous Roger Ebert) have insisted, but is rather presenting the moral and ethical implications of treating other people as means instead of ends in themselves. LaBute's films present a very Kantian philosophy that would have us believe that human beings, by virtue of being rational, are worthy of our respect. As such, an individual cannot use another individual for her own ends without depriving that individual of her autonomy, and thereby her very humanity.

Indeed, as we watch in horror as the two businessmen play with the deaf woman's heart as a way to relieve the pain of their hurt vanity in In the Company of Men, we recognize that the woman becomes something less than human in the eyes of the business partners. She is stripped of her autonomy as she's tricked into being fodder for the pair of psychological vultures. By showing the consequences of dispensing with Kant's categorical imperative, LaBute at once confirms the intuitive power of Kant's moral philosophy, and his own adherence to it.

LaBute is perhaps the preeminent moralist among directors alive today. His films are shocking, unsettling, and profoundly disturbing; however, the discomfort they inspire in us only serves to confirm that our moral intuitions are consonant with his own Kantian worldview. Perhaps it's a sly and underhanded way of expressing a moral sentiment, but that certainly doesn't make it any less compelling.

#10 - OLIVER STONE

Oliver Stone provided us with the definitive paean to self-realizing violence in his 1994 masterpiece, Natural Born Killers. Rife with metaphor, mayhem, and murder, the film captures the logical conclusion to the existential angst that was bound to grow out of the sterile materialism of the 1980s. Indeed, Stone even resorted to the help of musical miscreant Trent Reznor for added sonic ambiance, prominently featuring his "Something I Can Never Have" in the film's climactic scene.

In the end, Stone's film is emblematic of the ironic criticism that defined the end of the twentieth century: Natural Born Killers was simultaneously celebrated by those who saw it as a condemnation of the media's glorification of violence, and decried by those who claimed it did little more than glorify the very violence it purported to condemn. Defiant in his unwillingness to be classified and boxed into a corner, Stone instead succeeded in condemning society, all the while laughing at its unfounded sense of outrage.

Stone continued his success with the witty, gritty, sexy comedy, U-Turn. An intriguingly shameless character study, the film features daringly tenacious performances from the likes of Sean Penn, Jennifer Lopez, Nick Nolte, Billy Bob Thornton, and Laurie Metcalf. It is the perennial actor's movie, as it allows the stars free reign to channel their proverbial underbellies. What results is one of the most sublime (and grossly underrated) comedies of the 1990s.

What's next for Mr. Oliver Stone? Catch his epic Alexander later this year, which promises to tell the ultimately tragic story of one of the greatest military leaders in the history of warfare.

The New Elite: Top 10 Directors of the Last Decade

Move over Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese. For the past 10 years, high-profile directors like Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas have become essentially disposable. The best films of the last 10 years have not come from any of these esteemed directors. Rather, there is a new band of elite directors that have shaped, and continue to shape, the contours of film. For the next 2 weeks, I will present the top 10 directors of the past decade, one each day, counting down backward.

Who will take the crown? Who will fail to make the list? Stay tuned!

(Methodological Note: I have only looked at films since 1994 for the purposes of this list. Therefore, a director like David Lynch, whose brilliant Blue Velvet easily marks the pinnacle of his career, would only have post-1993 films like Mulholland Drive, The Straight Story, and Lost Highway to help establish his prominence and influence. The criteria I have used to compile the list include a director's overall influence, ingenuity, and prolificness.)