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Kathryn Bigelow Is Responsible for the Two Best Movies Directed by Women, According to Metacritic — See the Top 25

"Zero Dark Thirty" and "The Hurt Locker" take the top two spots.
The Best Movies Directed by Women, According to Metacritic
"Zero Dark Thirty"

After naming Alfonso Cuarón the best-reviewed filmmaker of the 21st century and Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer the worst, Metacritic‘s next list explores the 25 best movies directed by women. Unsurprisingly, Kathryn Bigelow takes both the #1 and #2 spots with “Zero Dark Thirty” and “The Hurt Locker,” respectively.

Bigelow became the first woman to win the Academy Award for Best Director with the latter, a painfully tense drama about the Iraq War. (Her latest, “Detroit,” just misses the list by a few points.) Ava DuVernay also shows up twice (with “Selma” and “13th”), as does Sarah Polley (“Away from Her” and “Stories We Tell”), while the likes of Sofia Coppola, Mia Hansen-Løve, and Maren Ade are represented as well. Here’s the data-driven review aggregator’s full list:

25. “Gideon’s Army” (Dawn Porter)
19. (tie) “A Film Unfinished” (Yael Hersonski)
19. (tie) “Away from Her” (Sarah Polley)
19. (tie) “Things to Come” (Mia Hansen-Løve)
19. (tie) “Citizenfour” (Laura Poitras)
19. (tie) “The Arbor” (Clio Barnard)
19. (tie) “Democrats” (Camilla Nielsson)
16. (tie) “Lost in Translation” (Sofia Coppola)
16. (tie) “Selma” (Ava DuVernay)
16. (tie) “Uncertain” (Anna Sandilands with Ewan McNicol)
08. (tie) “American Splendor” (Shari Springer Berman with Robert Pulcini)
08. (tie) “Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem” (Ronit Elkabetz)
08. (tie) “My Perestroika” (Robin Hessman)
08. (tie) “Big Men” (Rachel Boynton)
08. (tie) “Persepolis” (Marjane Satrapi with Vincent Paronnaud)
08. (tie) “Winter’s Bone” (Debra Granik)
08. (tie) “13th” (Ava DuVernay)
08. (tie) “The Fits” (Anna Rose Holmer)
07. “Stories We Tell” (Sarah Polley)
06. “35 Shots of Rum” (Claire Denis)
03. (tie) “Sita Sings the Blues” (Nina Paley)
03. (tie) “Toni Erdmann” (Maren Ade)
03. (tie) “Sherpa” (Jennifer Peedom)
02. “The Hurt Locker” (Kathryn Bigelow)
01. “Zero Dark Thirty” (Kathryn Bigelow)

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