Sam Levinson’s work is not easy to write about.
The writer and director has in the course of just a few, prolific years done what takes many other artists much longer.
He’s gone from small productions to big ones, massively increased his budget cap, with this most recent project, “The Idol,” he’s been invited to the Cannes Film Festival, and he’s become a household name, a harder feat for behind the camera personnel than those whom the camera trains on. The fact that Levinson has become a known quantity outside of film-sophisticate circles has to do with the provocative nature of most of the stories he tells, sure, and the attendant scandals they often produce, and the buzzy young actors implicated in those scandals too.
But more than these reasons, I think Levinson’s ability to break the below-the-line barrier comes down to the fact that his work now evinces a highly recognizable style.
Read full article