Spike Lee

I think Spike Lee's most transformative film would have to be She's Gotta Have It, on account of its challenging of mainstream film notions in style and substance (through budget), the way it helped propel an independent filmmaking movement in the 1980s, and, as Greg Tate called it, its "uncompromisingly black vision." The character of Nola is a unique, layered representation that would still be appreciated in films today. As Connor said below, the difference between a sexual object and a sexual being is gigantic - and Hollywood still has trouble grasping it. It takes an unceasing voice like Spike Lee's to work such viewpoints into good films.