Joel Schumacher

Three films, three registers, one director. Falling Down follows an ordinary man, worn down by the small failures of everyday life around him, who begins lashing out violently at whoever is in front of him. A Time to Kill puts a father on trial for killing the two men who raped his daughter, in a Mississippi courtroom that cannot keep the case separate from race. Batman & Robin plays the same city as a neon toy box, villains included, directed with the same conviction as the courtroom drama before it.

Signature

• Genre and tone reset completely from one film to the next.
• A social or legal system placed on trial alongside its characters.
• Big, theatrical production design regardless of the story's register.
• A star vehicle built to carry the film's entire moral weight.