Best Movies of 1988 by Director
2362
53
Woody Allen
Gena Rowlands, Mia Farrow, Ian Holm, Blythe Danner, Gene Hackman
Drama
USA
English
209
2
Pedro Almodóvar
Carmen Maura, Antonio Banderas, Julieta Serrano, María Barranco
Comedy / Drama
Spain
Spanish
561
5
Theo Angelopoulos
Tania Palaiologou, Michalis Zeke, Dimitris Kaberidis
Drama
France / Greece / Italy
Greek
2447
56
Michael Apted
Sigourney Weaver, Bryan Brown, Julie Harris, John Omirah Miluwi
Drama / Biography / Adventure
USA
English
2718
69
Harold Becker
James Woods, Sean Young, John Kapelos, Steven Hill, Kelle Kerr, John Rothman
Drama / Romance
USA
English
NR
-
Luc Besson
Rosanna Arquette, Jean-Marc Barr, Jean Reno, Paul Shenar, Sergio Castellitto
Adventure / Drama / Romance
France / USA / Italy
English
2718
69
Paul Bogart
Anne Bancroft, Matthew Broderick, Harvey Fierstein, Brian Kerwin, Karen Young
Drama / Comedy
USA
English
2718
69
Catherine Breillat
Delphine Zentout, Etienne Chicot, Olivier Parnière
Romance / Drama
France
French
1621
33
Martin Brest
Robert De Niro, Charles Grodin, Yaphet Kotto, John Ashton
Action / Adventure / Comedy / Thriller
USA
English
2718
69
James Bridges
Michael J. Fox, Kiefer Sutherland, Phoebe Cates, Swoosie Kurtz
Drama
USA / Japan
English
2504
58
Tim Burton
Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Michael Keaton, Catherine O'Hara
Comedy / Fantasy / Horror / Family
USA
English
2725
71
Christopher Cain
Emilio Estevez, Kiefer Sutherland, Lou Diamond Phillips, Charlie Sheen
Action / Drama / Western / Adventure / Crime
USA
English
2718
69
Glenn Gordon Caron
Michael Keaton, Kathy Baker, Morgan Freeman, Tate Donovan, Henry Judd Baker
Drama
USA
English
1140
17
Claude Chabrol
Isabelle Huppert, François Cluzet
Drama / War / Crime
France
French
2538
60
Alan Clarke
Gary Oldman, Lesley Manville, Philip Davis, Andrew Wilde, Charles Lawson
Drama / Sports
UK
English
1966
38
Francis Ford Coppola
Jeff Bridges, Joan Allen, Martin Landau, Frederic Forrest, Mako
Drama / Biography
USA
English
2607
63
Gérard Corbiau
José van Dam, Anne Roussel, Philippe Volter, Sylvie Fennec
Drama / Period Film
Belgium / France
French
899
14
Charles Crichton, John Cleese
John Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline, Michael Palin
Comedy / Crime / Caper
USA / UK
English
1334
22
David Cronenberg
Jeremy Irons, Geneviève Bujold, Heidi von Palleske
Drama / Thriller / Horror
Canada / USA
English
1437
26
Terence Davies
Pete Postlethwaite, Freda Dowie, Angela Walsh, Dean Williams
Drama / Biography
UK
English
2504
58
Jonathan Demme
Alec Baldwin, Michelle Pfeiffer, Paul Lazar, Captain Haggerty
Comedy / Crime / Gangster
USA
English
2758
73
Jacques Demy
Yves Montand, Mathilda May, Françoise Fabian
Musical / Romance / Comedy
France
French
1964
37
Claire Denis
Isaach De Bankolé, Giulia Boschi, François Cluzet
Drama
France / West Germany / Cameroon
French
2436
55
Michel Deville
Miou-Miou, Christian Ruché, Régis Royer
Comedy / Drama
France
French
2302
49
Clint Eastwood
Forest Whitaker, Diane Venora, Michael Zelniker, Samuel E. Wright
Biography / Drama / Music
USA
English
2189
43
Christine Edzard
Alec Guinness, Dereck Jacobi, Joan Greenwood
Drama / Period Film
UK
English
2301
48
Mike Figgis
Melanie Griffith, Tommy Lee Jones, Sting, Sean Bean
Crime / Drama / Thriller / Post-Noir / Gangster
UK / USA
English
355
3
Stephen Frears
Glenn Close, John Malkovich, Michelle Pfeiffer
Drama / Romance / Period Film
USA / UK
English
2718
69
Brian Gilbert
Judge Reinhold, Fred Savage, Corinne Bohrer, Swoosie Kurtz, Jane Kaczmarek
Comedy / Family / Fantasy
USA
English
2758
73
Terry Gilliam
John Neville, Eric Idle, Sarah Polley, Oliver Reed, Charles McKeown
Adventure / Fantasy / Comedy / Family / Cult
UK / West Germany
English
2758
73
Jean-Luc Godard
Lydia Andrei, Jean Bouise, Laurence Côte
Drama / Short / Romance
France
French
2730
72
Allan A. Goldstein
Jan Rubes, Aaron Schwartz, Sharon Corder, Susan Douglas Rubes, Ken Zelig
Comedy / Drama / Religion / Period Film
Canada
English
1538
32
Peter Greenaway
Joan Plowright, Bernard Hill, Juliet Stevenson, Joely Richardson
Comedy / Drama
UK / Netherlands
English
2718
69
George Roy Hill
Chevy Chase, Madolyn Smith-Osborne, Kevin O'Morrison, Joseph Maher, Jack Gilpin
Comedy
USA
English
2591
62
Sammo Hung Kam-Bo, Corey Yuen
Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung Kam-Bo, Biao Yuen, Pauline Yeung, Wah Yuen
Action / Comedy
Hong Kong
Cantonese
2504
58
Juzo Itami
Nobuko Miyamoto, Rentaro Mikuni, Masahiko Tsugawa, Tetsuro Tamba
Comedy / Crime
Japan
Japanese
2758
73
Jon Jost
Jon A. English, Barbara Hammes, Jennifer Johanson, Ed Green
Experimental / Drama
USA
English
2212
45
Jonathan Kaplan
Kelly McGillis, Jodie Foster, Bernie Coulson, Leo Rossi
Drama / Thriller
USA / Canada
English
1222
19
Lawrence Kasdan
William Hurt, Kathleen Turner, Geena Davis
Drama / Romance / Comedy
USA
English
1068
16
Philip Kaufman
Daniel Day-Lewis, Juliette Binoche, Lena Olin
Drama
USA
English
2070
41
Aki Kaurismäki
Turo Pajala, Susanna Haavisto, Matti Pellonpää
Comedy / Drama / Crime / Romance / Adventure
Finland
Finnish
1154
18
Krzysztof Kieslowski
Miroslaw Baka, Krzysztof Globisz, Jan Tesarz, Zbigniew Zapasiewicz
Drama / Crime
Poland
Polish
2771
74
Krzysztof Kieslowski
Grazyna Szapolowska, Olaf Lubaszenko, Stefania Iwinska, Piotr Machalica
Drama / Romance
Poland
Polish
2719
70
Ted Kotcheff
Kathleen Turner, Burt Reynolds, Christopher Reeve, Ned Beatty, Henry Gibson
Comedy / Romance
USA
English
2354
52
Emir Kusturica
Davor Dujmovic, Bora Todorovic, Ljubica Adzovic, Husnija Hasimovic
Drama / Comedy / Crime / Romance
UK / Italy / Yugoslavia
Romany
2637
64
Frank LaLoggia
Lukas Haas, Len Cariou, Alex Rocco, Katherine Helmond, Jason Presson
Fantasy / Horror / Mystery / Thriller
USA
English
2718
69
Spike Lee
Laurence Fishburne, Giancarlo Esposito, Tisha Campbell, Kyme, Joe Seneca
Comedy / Drama / Musical
USA
English
1372
23
Mike Leigh
Philip Davis, Ruth Sheen, Edna Doré, Philip Jackson, Heather Tobias
Comedy / Drama
UK
English
1478
30
Sidney Lumet
Christine Lahti, River Phoenix, Judd Hirsch, Jonas Abry
Drama
USA
English
1311
20
Penny Marshall
Tom Hanks, Elizabeth Perkins, Robert Loggia, John Heard
Comedy / Family / Fantasy
USA
English
604
7
John McTiernan
Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Bonnie Bedelia, Reginald VelJohnson
Action / Thriller
USA
English
2305
50
Ramón Menéndez
Edward James Olmos, Estelle Harris, Mark Phelan, Virginia Paris, Mark Eliot
Drama / Comedy
USA
English
2143
42
Chris Menges
Barbara Hershey, Jodhi May, Jeroen Krabbé, Nadine Chalmers
Drama
UK / Zimbabwe
English
2375
54
Claude Miller
Charlotte Gainsbourg, Didier Bezace, Simon de La Brosse
Drama / Crime / Romance
France
French
581
6
Hayao Miyazaki
Noriko Hidaka, Hitoshi Takagi, Chika Sakamoto, Shigesato Itoi
Animation / Family / Fantasy / Adventure
Japan / USA
Japanese
688
11
Errol Morris
Randall Adams, David Harris III, Gus Rose, Jackie Johnson, Marshall Touchton
Documentary / Crime / Biography
USA
English
2758
73
Luc Moullet
Françoise Buraux, Richard Copans, Luc Moullet
Short / Documentary / Comedy
France
French
684
10
Mira Nair
Shafiq Syed, Hansa Vithal, Chanda Sharma, Sarfuddin Quarrassi, Raghuvir Yadav
Drama
UK / India / France
Hindi
2718
69
Gregory Nava
William Hurt, Timothy Hutton, Melissa Leo, Francisco Rabal, Concha Hidalgo
Drama / War / Crime
USA
English
1332
21
Mike Nichols
Harrison Ford, Sigourney Weaver, Melanie Griffith
Comedy / Romance / Drama
USA
English
2504
58
Mike Nichols
Matthew Broderick, Christopher Walken, Matt Mulhern, Corey Parker
Comedy / Drama
USA
English
2591
62
Nigel Noble
Leleti Khumalo, Baby Cele, Pat Mlaba, Miriam Makeba
Documentary / Music
USA
English
1886
36
Bruno Nuytten
Isabelle Adjani, Gérard Depardieu
Drama / Biography / Period Film / Romance
France
French
2333
51
Ermanno Olmi
Rutger Hauer, Anthony Quayle, Sandrine Dumas, Dominique Pinon
Drama
Italy / France
English
1475
28
Marcel Ophüls
Marcel Ophüls, Klaus Barbie, Claude Lanzmann
Documentary / History / Biography / War
France / USA
French
835
13
Katsuhiro Ôtomo
Mitsuo Iwata, Nozomu Sasaki, Mami Koyama, Tesshô Genda
Animation / Action / Adventure / Sci-Fi / Thriller / Cult / Comic
Japan
Japanese
2210
44
Frank Oz
Steve Martin, Michael Caine, Glenne Headly, Anton Rodgers
Comedy / Crime
USA
English
2704
68
Krsto Papic
Davor Janjic, Alma Prica, Miodrag Krivokapic, Branislav Lecic
Drama
Yugoslavia
Serbo-Croatian
1477
29
Alan Parker
Gene Hackman, Willem Dafoe, Frances McDormand
Crime / Drama / Thriller / Detective
USA
English
2718
69
Donald Petrie
Annabeth Gish, Julia Roberts, Lili Taylor, Vincent D'Onofrio, William R. Moses
Comedy / Drama / Romance
USA
English
2504
58
Vasili Pichul
Natalya Negoda, Andrei Sokolov, Yuri Nazarov, Lyudmila Zajtseva
Drama
Soviet Union
Russian
2637
64
Roman Polanski
Harrison Ford, Betty Buckley, Emmanuelle Seigner, Djiby Soumare, Dominique Virton
Crime / Mystery / Thriller
USA / France
English
2591
62
Robert Redford
Rubén Blades, Richard Bradford, Sonia Braga, Julie Carmen, James Gammon
Comedy / Fantasy / Drama
USA
English
2522
59
George A. Romero
Jason Beghe, John Pankow, Kate McNeil, Joyce Van Patten, Christine Forrest
Drama / Horror / Sci-Fi / Thriller
USA
English
2697
67
Bernard Rose
Charlotte Burke, Jane Bertish, Samantha Cahill, Glenne Headly, Sarah Newbold
Drama / Fantasy / Horror / Mystery / Romance / Thriller / Adventure
UK
English
2219
46
Alan Rudolph
Keith Carradine, Linda Fiorentino, John Lone, Wallace Shawn
Drama / History / Comedy / Period Film
USA
English
1525
31
John Sayles
John Cusack, Jace Alexander, Gordon Clapp, Don Harvey
Drama / Sports / Period Film
USA
English
2051
40
Fred Schepisi
Meryl Streep, Sam Neill, Dale Reeves, David Hoflin, Jason Reason
Drama
Australia / USA
English
2697
67
John Schlesinger
Shirley MacLaine, Peggy Ashcroft, Twiggy, Shabana Azmi, Leigh Lawson
Drama / Musical
UK
English
1423
25
Martin Scorsese
Willem Dafoe, Harvey Keitel, Barbara Hershey, Harry Dean Stanton, David Bowie
Drama / Religion / Biography
USA
English
2573
61
Ousmane Sembene, Thierno Faty Sow
Sidiki Bakaba, Hamed Camara, Ismaila Cissé, Ababacar Sy Cissé
Drama / War
Senegal / Algeria / Tunisia
French
695
12
Ron Shelton
Kevin Costner, Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins, Trey Wilson
Comedy / Drama / Romance / Sports
USA
English
2697
67
Marisa Silver
Alan Boyce, Keanu Reeves, Michelle Meyrink, Jennifer Rubin, Pamela Gidley
Drama / Romance
USA
English
646
9
George Sluizer
Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu, Gene Bervoets, Johanna ter Steege
Horror / Mystery / Thriller / Drama
Netherlands / France
Dutch
2783
76
Aleksandr Sokurov
Aleksei Ananishnov, Eskender Umarov, Irina Sokolova
Sci-Fi / Experimental
Soviet Union
Russian
2659
65
Penelope Spheeris
Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Alice Cooper, Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Lemmy
Documentary / Music / Biography
USA
English
2697
67
Oliver Stone
Eric Bogosian, Ellen Greene, Leslie Hope, John C. McGinley, Alec Baldwin
Drama / Crime
USA
English
2591
62
Charles Sturridge
James Wilby, Kristin Scott Thomas, Rupert Graves, Anjelica Huston, Judi Dench
Comedy / Drama / Period Film
UK
English
1401
24
Jan Svankmajer
Kristýna Kohoutová, Camilla Power
Animation / Fantasy / Experimental / Adventure
Czechoslovakia / Switzerland / UK / West Germany
English
2008
39
István Szabó
Klaus Maria Brandauer, Erland Josephson
Drama / Biography
Hungary / West Germany / Austria
Hungarian
948
15
Isao Takahata
Tsutomu Tatsumi, Ayano Shiraishi, Yoshiko Shinohara, Akemi Yamaguchi
Animation / War / Drama
Japan
Japanese
1842
34
Béla Tarr
Miklos B. Szekely, Vali Kerekes, Gyula Pauer, Hedi Temessy
Drama
Hungary
Hungarian
169
1
Giuseppe Tornatore
Philippe Noiret, Salvatore Cascio, Marco Leonardi, Jacques Perrin, Antonella Attili
Drama
Italy / France
Italian
2758
73
Rob Tregenza
Ken Gruz, Sarah Rush, Caron Tate, Henry Strozier, Dennis Jordan
Drama
USA
English
2070
41
Shinya Tsukamoto
Tomorowo Taguchi, Kei Fujiwara, Nobu Kanaoka, Renji Ishibashi, Naomasa Musaka
Horror / Sci-Fi / Action / Experimental
Japan
Japanese
2718
69
Buddy Van Horn
Clint Eastwood, Patricia Clarkson, Liam Neeson, Evan C. Kim, David Hunt
Action / Thriller / Crime / Drama / Detective
USA
English
2663
66
Jonathan Wacks
A Martinez, Gary Farmer, Joanelle Romero, Amanda Wyss, Sam Vlahos, Wayne Waterman
Adventure / Drama / Comedy
UK
English
1880
35
Vincent Ward
Bruce Lyons, Chris Haywood, Hamish McFarlane, Marshall Napier, Noel Appleby
Fantasy / Adventure
Australia / New Zealand
English
2245
47
John Waters
Sonny Bono, Ruth Brown, Divine, Deborah Harry, Ricki Lake
Comedy / Drama / Music / Cult
USA
English
2718
69
Henry Winkler
Billy Crystal, Alan King, JoBeth Williams, Janet Carroll, David Ackroyd
Comedy / Drama
USA
English
2758
73
Rudy Wurlitzer, Robert Frank
Kevin J. O'Connor, Harris Yulin, Tom Waits, Bulle Ogier
Drama / Comedy / Music
Switzerland / Canada / France
English
367
4
Robert Zemeckis
Bob Hoskins, Christopher Lloyd, Joanna Cassidy, Charles Fleischer
Animation / Comedy / Fantasy / Family
USA
English
1459
27
David Zucker
Leslie Nielsen, Priscilla Presley, Ricardo Montalban
Comedy / Crime / Thriller / Detective
USA
English
2772
75
Andrzej Zulawski
Andrzej Seweryn, Jerzy Trela, Grazyna Dylag, Waldemar Kownacki, Iwona Bielska
Adventure / Drama / Fantasy / Sci-Fi / Action / Epic
Poland
Polish
2484
57
Charlotte Zwerin
Jimmy Cleveland, Harry Colomby, John Coltrane, Ray Copeland
Documentary / Biography / Music
USA
English
