We live in a time when film directors seem awfully nervous, making movies with senseless camera movements and twitchy editing.

David Gordon Green is one young filmmaker who has not been infected by the jitters. He understands that a well-composed image can be dynamic by itself. (Imagine visiting the Louvre and having someone jiggle the canvases to make the masterpieces come alive.)

So far, I’ve seen three of Green’s movies, and every one established a mood that grabbed me right away. Like Terence Malick’s movies, Green finds great locations, and with cinematographer Tim Orr, creates visuals and elicits quiet performances that draw you in, rather than scream at you. He’s a confident artist.

Check out George Washington, Undertow and All the Real Girls. Snow Angels is next on my list.

Despite such a short indie career, Green is being feted in LA this week.

AFTER years of cutting his teeth in independent film, David Gordon Green is one of the big boys now. The youthful 32-year-old writer and director, who still happens to wear braces, says he no longer gets carded at bars. But his newfound maturity pales in comparison to the thrill of being invited to host his own three-night film retrospective this week at American Cinematheque’s Egyptian Theatre in HollywoodEgyptian Theatre in Hollywood.

“My reaction? I would use the word ‘flabbergasted,’ ” says Green, adding that the tribute “seems a little bizarre and backward, but it’s quite an honor.”

Audiences might not immediately recognize the wispy, shaggy-haired Southerner as the budding film legend they’ve come to see, when his latest effort, “Snow Angels,” a bleak small-town drama featuring Kate Beckinsale and Sam Rockwell, premieres Thursday night. Beckinsale, who plays a single mother struggling to keep her life on track after her daughter disappears, recalls that before she met Green, “I was warned that I might think he was the production assistant because he looks 13 years old.”

Despite his unassuming air, Green has carved out a niche for himself in Hollywood as a master raconteur with an ear for lyrical dialogue and an eye for authentically American milieus. “If you can categorize filmmakers in a music way, David is a folk director,” says Beckinsale, one of his biggest fans. “He’s a magpie, but he doesn’t go for the shiny things — he goes for the busted tin can and the three-legged dog. I describe him as being like one of those Simon and Garfunkel songs that has all these little odd, interesting, quirky objects and details set to this amazing tune.”