Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu

I think Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu is sort of a melodramatic "method" director -- he goes for big emotions, all of which he insists on feeling himself. The results can seem phony and purple, even repugnant, if you're unsympathetic (Ignatiy Vishnevetsky on Biutiful: "a film that sees itself as much more meaningful than it really is"), but devastating and possessed of a genuine popular touch if you're in tune. It is certainly a very Dickensian approach; you might also say histrionic, operatic, self-dramatizing, over the top. But before one feels too critical of it, remember that this method is deeply encoded in the DNA of the theater, which began with masks and booming voices in amphitheaters. There was melodrama before there was drama.