Filmmaker Portrait 2019 #20 Hiro Murai

It's easy to give Donald Glover all the credit for the success of Childish Gambino and "Atlanta," his incredible TV series. And no question, he deserves a lot of it. But the visual style of both the show and the music videos has to be attributed to the producer and director of his projects, Hiro Murai. He directed the music videos (including "This is America"), and most recently, the Amazon feature "Guava Island," with Glover and Rhianna.

You don't see a lot of flashy effects from him. He'll use the whole screen, including a lot of depth, and his somewhat rare closeups tend to remain static, even allowing performers to move into and out of it. He has a real talent for wide shots that allow the action to play out seemingly without interpretation. But of course, that's what good direction is, making you think you're seeing the events the way they're unfolding, not the way an author wants you to see them. And, considering the deadpan performances the "Atlanta" troupe gives him, that's the only way it would work, letting them have as much room to play as possible. Sure, I'm a writer, and I love the scripts and the performances, but Murai is the secret ingredient that makes these shows work.