The five are all visual stylists who worked within genre and mainstream cinema yet advanced the medium in terms of its technique.

Mr. Ichaso can be a striking visual stylist, and his film has a studied, handsome veneer.

So people didn't think of him as a visual stylist.

Add to that he's a visual stylist.

As a forthright visual stylist who coaxes the very best out of her actors, Ms. Martin has no difficulty bringing her story to life.

Sayles has never been a visual stylist, and his latest film is as straightforward and plot-bound as any of the earlier ones.

When it comes to making movies, Mr. Boyle is usually up to no good, which is something this visual stylist does with great ostentatious flair.

All the flicks I've done, people are always going, 'Wow, he's not a really good visual stylist - his films tend to be about dialogue.'

Since Mr. Rodriguez is such a visual stylist, we tend to allow him his extremism, but the carnival air doesn't mask the slaughter and mayhem.

Mr. Ruben is an accomplished visual stylist who often makes actors seem less lifelike than the sets they inhabit.