Never Made a Sucky Film

The list of 'world's greatest filmmakers' is HUGE. Ask anyone about their favourite film director, and the most probable names to pop out would be Spielberg, Scorsese, Nolan, Kubrick, Kurosawa, Satyajit Ray and Guru Dutt. The more jaded film lovers would answer Haneke, Kieslowski, the Korean masters (Park Chan Wook, Bong Joon Ho, Kim ji Woon, Kim ki Duk), the Japanese legends (Takashi Miike, Takeshi Kitano) etc.  

It's a vast canvas. But ask yourself, how many directors have a PERFECT track record? Legends like Fellini, Hitchcock, Wilder, Ford, Spielberg, de Palma, Lumet, Peckinpah, Tarantino have made at least one stinker. How many directors have a filmography which doesn't contain even a single disappointment? Let's narrow it down to such folks, who've made a minimum of four films.

Chris Nolan - the obvious first choice. Every film of his, from Memento to The Dark Knight has been excellent. Even those who doubted him for Insomnia became a devotee post The Dark Knight and Inception.

Park Chan-wook - Every single product made by this man is a masterpiece. His 'worst' movie, I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK carries a paltry 90 percent on RottenTomatoes.

Paul Thomas Anderson - With just five films, all of different genres - Hard 8, Boogie Nights, Magnolia, Punch Drunk Love and There will be Blood, PT Anderson is well on his way to becoming the modern Kubrick.

Stanley Kubrick - He was someone who obsessively fussed over details, and it shows in his glowing filmography. Even his last film, Eyes Wide Shut, despite not being a masterwork was still pretty good.

Terrence Malick - Makes movies every ten years, makes sure it's an extraordinary experience for the audience each time. Those who've been recently converted as Malicktards post Tree Of Life would agree.

Darren Aronofsky - Pi, Requiem for a dream, The Fountain, The Wrestler,  Black Swan - all examples of filmmaking of a very high order. Despite the fact that Black Swan was a ripoff of Perfect Blue.

Alejandro González Iñárritu - I doubt that he'd ever make a bad movie. Considering how powerful Amores perros, 21 Grams, Babel and Biutiful are.

Sam Mendes - One of the few current generation filmmakers who jumps genres with every movie yet churns out tour de force gems each time. His weakest film to date Jarhead too teems with layers that seldom exist in Hollywood war films.

Hayao Miyazaki - The legendary filmmaker of Studio Ghibli ties with Pixar for making the highest quality movies in the world. Every film of his has been pure artistic magic, and his recent Ponyo is no exception.

Bong Joon-ho- One of the Korean giants who shot to fame with the magnificent Memories of Murder has been consistently making great cinema. His last film Madeo was even better, if not as good as MOM.

Kim Ji-woon - Yet another Korean maestro who knows how to dislocate your jaw with sheer imagery. All his feature films from The Quiet Family to I saw the devil have been extraordinary. Even in the disappointing horror trilogy Three, his short film Memories was outstanding.

Edgar Wright - Perhaps the most surprising addition to this list. But he's made a name for himself with such excellent films as Shaun of the dead, Hot Fuzz and most recently Scott Pilgrim.

Krzysztof Kieślowski - The granddaddy of them all. With rich, sublime work ranging from the powerful Decalogue to the beautiful Three Colors trilogy, Kieślowski achieved what even Kurosawa couldn't - a spotless filmography and a spot on this list.

Update: Jean-Pierre Melville, Andrei Tarkovsky, Orson Welles, Alexander Payne, Emir Kusturica, Asghar Farhadi - Rightly suggested by Saheer Iqbal, Low Funda Boy, ravi_ki_rand, Varun Grover, ronty023 respectively.

Notable Disqualifications: 

Ethan and Joel Coen  - The grandmasters of killing characters beautifully. They've been making movies since 1984, and still haven't made a dirty picture. The Ladykillers is their albatross,and that alone disqualifies them from this list.

Sergio Leone - His first film Il Colosso di Rodi was a failure.

Vishal Bharadwaj and Anurag Kashyap - Both command colossal cults and fan following. But their latest films 7KM and TGIYB weren't universally acclaimed.

Danny Boyle - Nine out of the ten films he has made are absolutely marvelous. The one that disqualifies him from this list is The Beach. 

Akira Kurosawa - Dodesukaden is the only truly bad movie Kurosawa has made, and that alone doesn't get him to the list.

Wong Kar Wai - Apart from My Blueberry Nights, all his films are very fascinating.

Satyajit Ray - An illustrious career marred by a few hiccups like Ashani Sanket.

Guru Dutt - The Orson Welles of India made a stinker too. It was called Baaz. (Thanks to Pavan Jha for the link)

Quentin Tarantino: Two words - Death Proof.

Can you name some more filmmakers who boast a flawless filmography? Think some of the names don't deserve to be in the list? Send in your entries (and reasons) in the comments below.