A look at Oscar-nominated director Denis Villeneuve’s filmography

Quebec’s Denis Villeneuve is up for a best-director Oscar for his work on the brainy sci-fi drama “Arrival,” which is also a best-picture contender.

Villeneuve’s varied resume features films filled with dark themes, searing character sketches and nuanced performances. Here’s a look at his feature work:

“Un 32 août sur terre” (“August 32nd on Earth”) — Villeneuve makes a splash in 1998 with this surreal French-language desert tale about a woman who decides to have a baby after surviving a near-fatal car crash.

“Maelstrom” — This off-beat parable from the year 2000 also showcases Villeneuve’s more avant-garde sensibilities. It centres on the daughter of a well-known fashion designer who spirals out of control after getting an abortion and then killing a man in a drunk-driving collision.

“Polytechnique” — The horrific Montreal Massacre unfolds as a black-and-white nightmare from the perspective of two students in 2009’s “Polytechnique.” The restrained docudrama, which Villeneuve shot twice so there would be both English and French versions, manages to be both abstract and filled with emotion as it examines the tragedy.

“Incendies” — Villeneuve followed up a year later with this Oscar-nominated saga (named in the foreign-language category), which puts his mastery of building slow-burn tension on full display. A pair of Quebec twins make a shattering discovery about their mother and her war-ravaged past.

“Prisoners” — In 2013, Villeneuve offered up his most mainstream offering to date, the big-studio popcorn thriller “Prisoners.” It simmers with his nerve-rattling, sombre stamp as Jake Gyllenhaal and Hugh Jackman star as a cop and a father each embarking on a desperate hunt for a pair of abducted children.

“Enemy” — Villeneuve was back in 2014 with another English-language feature starring Gyllenhaal, but it couldn’t be weirder. Gyllenhaal plays a sullen Toronto professor who seems to lose his grip on reality when he meets his doppelganger. An array of subconscious anxieties bubble to the surface.

“Sicario” — This drug drama released in 2015 further cemented Villeneuve’s reputation for masterful thrillers with smarts.

“Arrival” — Oscar takes notice with this unconventional sci-fi drama from last year, in which the aliens take a backseat to heady themes about humanity, language, and love.

“Blade Runner 2049” — Film nerds rejoiced when Villeneuve was named director of this hotly anticipated followup to Ridley Scott’s classic noir “Blade Runner.” Starring fellow Canuck Ryan Gosling, the sci-fi feature is expected in October.