BLADE RUNNER 2049 (2017), Dir. by Denis Villeneuve

There’s an ironic contrast between the two BLADE RUNNER films when you imagine them in context of auteur theory: on one hand, Ridley Scott’s original work and its place in his career embodies pretty much the opposite of the arcane “visionary story” idea - rather, it’s another bullet (albeit, a piercing one) in the chamber of a hired gun (maybe a bit reductive, but this is somehow the same guy that made ROBIN HOOD).

Meanwhile, 2049 is lathered with Villeneuve’s signature seasoning - it lures the viewer through a minefield of intense melodramatic pathing by leveraging the dreamy, trance-like perspective that comes as consequence of a central character’s emotional crisis. But that’s not really what a Villeneuve movie is, is it? The man has so many tricks up his sleeve, it's a clever trap to become reductive when talking about his movies. There must be some enigmatic quality being overlooked in that analysis of the soft-spoken dude from Quebec who somehow posseses the virtuosic storytelling ability to have his cake and eat it too:

• Compile a filmography that would make even the harshest critic swoon? Check.
  

• Convince Warner Bros (with hard numbers) to fork over the cash for two DUNE movies? Check.
  

• Win over the hearts of zoomers without having to resort to Tiktok or Letterboxd gimmicks? Check, for the most part (take that, Scorsese).

All things considered, therein lies the problem of trying to measure the weight of an artist’s signature on their work - the act itself attempts to make a binary analysis of an endlessly dimensional piece of art. Of course that’s not even factoring in a film’s place in the so-called “cinematic canon” - when Scott is influenced by noir, he’s subverting genre, but when Denis does the same, he’s winking to the audience. In the same way that the original BLADE RUNNER and 2049 should be viewed as distinct entities, there’s also a clear distinction to be made between the “auteur-driven” decisions they make (and rightfully so)… even when, speaking in broad strokes, they’re making the same ones.