Danger

In Sunday's Los Angeles Times, film critic Mark Olsen has a feature on "New Dangerous" filmmakers, entitled "Danger is the realm's new coin."

The thing that binds these films is that they all risk failure, the possibility that the sleek, knife-edged dive into the water could also be a sloppy belly-flop.

The description of a new and unexpected direction in new films made it seem possible as an sign of the Millennial generation breaking out their own style in film.

However, most of the filmmakers mentioned are Gen X and Boom, not Millennials. 

• Chris Rock (b. 1965)
• Kevin Smith (b. 1970)
• Jonathan Glazer (b. 1965)
• Jason Reitman (b. 1977)
• Alejándro G. Iñárritu (b. 1963)
• Shira Piven (b. 1961)
• Dan Gilroy (b. 1959)
• Olivier Assayas (b. 1956)

There are some Millennials, or at least they appear to be. Surprisingly difficult to track down their birth dates....

• Alex Ross Perry 
• Justin Simien - 30 years old according to The Advocate
• Gillian Robespierre - Millennial membership inferred completely on incidental evidence

In any case, the connecting thread isn't generational. The non-Millennials are middle-aged or older, and might be looking for a different direction in their individual careers as they move past young adulthood.  Perhaps some new attitudes towards film are informing their artistic choices. The Millennials' films do sound different - a romantic comedy about abortion, a satire about race set at an Ivy League college.

Maybe it's starting. Not a problem, if not - it's a bit early, yet.