Directors with large bodies of work often develop distinctive styles. Once you these signatures for the first time, their earlier films become exciting treasure hunts for glimpses of their trademarks yet to develop. You might get a glimpse of the Coen brothers yet to emerge, for example, when watching Blood Simple. If you enjoy playing this game, you're going to have a ball with two new short films that recently emerged online. They're the first works by notable directors Tim Burton and Lars von Trier, and you can already see seeds of each of their styles taking root.
Burton's film, a bizarre 1982 low-budget retelling of Hansel and Gretel with an all-Asian cast, it's almost immediately noticeably his product. Though the production stark, Burton's hand is evident, and the film resembles a live-action The Nightmare Before Christmas. The witch's costume especially screams Burton-esque dark whimsy.
Von Trier's short, on the complete opposite end of the spectrum, is a dialogue-less spot-motion adventure starring three bunnies that he directed at age 11. This one bears almost no resemblance to the psychosexual chaos that Lars von Trier would become notable for in the future, but like most of his films, it is totally inscrutable.
These are the earliest known works of both these directors, and they're a great watch of fans of either. We imagine that first films by future great directors will be far easier to find, so it's exciting to find weird gems like this lying around.
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