30 Film Directors Who Have Never Made a Bad Movie

by Jason Dietz, Metacritic Features Editor – June 9, 2018

Recently, we looked at 30 filmmakers who made only one well-reviewed movie over their entire careers, and then 25 great directors who missed out on perfection by just one film. But there is an even more elite group of film directors who have received critical acclaim for every single film they ever directed. In other words, they've never received anything but a green Metascore for one of their features.

How many of those directors can you guess? Check them all out in the gallery above. Note that we only looked at directors who have made at least five films since 1980.

20 of 30 photo by Wild Bunch/Dwango

Hayao Miyazaki

If you were to draw up a list of the most influential filmmakers in the history of feature film animation, the name Hayao Miyazaki would appear near the very top. The Japanese co-founder of the famed Studio Ghibli has, among other achievements, directed 11 feature films, and every one is a winner—led by one of the genre's all-time great works, 2001's Spirited Away. And critics aren't the only fans. Several of his features set box office records in Japan.

Though the now 77-year-old Miyazaki claimed to retire from feature film directing after The Wind Rises, he recently began work on a new film, How Do You Live?, though it is likely several years away from a release.

The full filmography (as director):
71 The Castle of Cagliostro (1979)
86 Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)
78 Castle in the Sky (1986)
86 My Neighbor Totoro (1988)
83 Kiki's Delivery Service (1989)
83 Porco Rosso (1992)
76 Princess Mononoke (1997)
96 Spirited Away (2001)
80 Howl's Moving Castle (2004)
86 Ponyo (2008)
83 The Wind Rises (2013)

Where To Buy