SCFZ

Polling the films of director Im Kwon-taek

The rules:

- your list can include no more than half of the Im Kwon-taek films you've seen, up to a maximum of 5. So if you've seen seven of his films, for example, you can list only a top 3. It's only if you've seen ten or more of his films than you can list the maximum of five.

- i'll assume ballots are ranked unless you tell me otherwise. unranked ballots are fine.

- deadline for ballots: next Tuesday, in seven days, whatever day that is

- if anyone is watching films for these polls, then i'll extend the deadline up to three days, if someone requests an extension

- next poll: whoever posts the first ballot in this thread is free to nominate the director we poll next, unless you've nominated in this round already (everyone should get a chance). Already nominated this round: oscarwerner, greennui, mesnalty, bure, ofrene, arkheia, brian d, rischka, twodeadmagpies, john ryan, karl

umbugbene created an index on letterboxd of all of our previous polls here: letterboxd.com/umbugbene/list/index-of-all-scfz-director-polls/

one rule for nominees: at least 3 scfzers need to have seen 10+ of a nominee's films, or at least 4 scfzers need to have seen at least 8 of the nom's films, so if it isn't clear if that will be the case, we'll confirm that's true before moving forward

if 24 hours pass after a poll opens, and no one eligible to nominate has posted a ballot, then i'll nominate someone, and then we'll start over, and everyone will be able to nominate again

we'll use the same rules as used in the duras poll:

New Rules

Because Duras has fewer views than most directors we've polled, I'm changing some of the rules for this poll:

- if you have seen an odd number of Duras films, you can round up, when dividing by two, instead of down, to determine the length of your ballot. So if you have seen 7 Duras films, you can vote for 4 films (instead of 3). But please only vote for the additional film if you think it's deserving of a vote.

- if you have seen 11 or more Duras films, your ballot can extend beyond 5 films -- if you have seen 13, say, you can vote for up to 7 films. I'll award 0.5, 0.3 and 0.1 points to 6th, 7th and 8th ranked films (and nothing to 9th or later ranked films). Those additional votes will help to get a complete top ten.

seen two but watching more, so my ballot may change

Village in the Mist

deeply problematic ideologically, also contains a scene of extreme brutality, but i haven't been so impressed with the visuals and direction in a film in a long time.

the princess bride
the american president
when harry met sally...
a few good men

*seen eight (kool karl should get this joke; apologies to flip in advance for clicking to look at my list, thinking for a split second that this is a real ballot, and then quickly going 'wait...what?')

**seen zero im's cuz i'm still a n00b

i've only seen one but it's among my very favorite films: mandala

i'm deep into la flor so no time for anything else!!

i know my vote won't count, just a recommendation. it's on youtube

rischka wrote: ↑Tue Dec 10, 2019 8:03 pm i've only seen one but it's among my very favorite films: mandala

i'm deep into la flor so no time for anything else!!

i know my vote won't count, just a recommendation. it's on youtube

you can vote for it if you like it, because of the new rules, i'm watching that film now too and it's great

Not seen a single one...

so far the princess bride is winning our im kwon-taek poll, so i hope we get a few more ballots

I'll also vote for:

1. Mandala

seen 10
1. Fly High Run Far
2. Pursuit of Death
3. Mandala
4. The Family Pedigree (Jokbo)
5. Beyond the Years

Seen 16:

1. Sopyonje
2. Chunhyang
3. Fly High, Run Far
4. Mandala
5. The Taebaek Mountains

Hard to leave off Ticket, Surrogate Woman, Pursuit of Death, Come Upward and, especially, that little-seen masterpiece When Harry Met Sally.

Seen 8

1. Mandala
2. The Surrogate Woman
3. Painted Fire
4. Hand in Hand

Seen several movies, but didn`t like them. I vote only for:
1.Painted Fire (2002)
----
Kim Ki-duk says Kwon-taek Im was his teacher. But Kim Ki-duk`s "Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring" (2003) is much more impressive, then Mandala (1981) by Kwon-taek Im if to compare such "Buddhist" movies.

oscarwerner wrote: ↑Thu Dec 12, 2019 7:17 pm
----
Kim Ki-duk says Kwon-taek Im was his teacher. But Kim Ki-duk`s "Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring" (2003) is much more impressive, then Mandala (1981) by Kwon-taek Im if to compare such "Buddhist" movies.

100% disagree with this lol. really dislike kim ki-duk tbh

Mandala was phenomenal; the only other IKT I've seen kept sidelining its Buddhist content in favor of melodrama about women being ruled by their womanparts in a way that seemed kinda clubfooted. Surprised me to learn they were by the same director.

Not voting.

Seen 7 and watching more as we speak, but I'll get my ballot started now:

1. Mandala
2. Wangshibri
3. Village in the Mist
4. Taebaek Mountains

Umbugbene wrote: ↑Fri Dec 13, 2019 5:51 am Seen 5

umbugbene you can pick our next director if you like!

crypt trotsky wrote: ↑Fri Dec 13, 2019 6:59 pmumbugbene you can pick our next director if you like!

Is there some disqualifying reason why we haven't polled Tarkovsky yet? Too little output...? Is it just negligence on our part, or are we saving the best (almost) for last?

If not Tarkovsky I'll go with Lars von Trier.

no one suggested tarkovsky yet! hopefully we can get to a top ten - i have a feeling some of his films won't get any votes - but i'll start that poll now

karl wrote: ↑Wed Dec 11, 2019 12:08 am Hard to leave off

Umbugbene wrote: ↑Fri Dec 13, 2019 5:51 am watching more

i've tallied the results of this poll so far, but karl, if you want you can vote for up to 8 films in this poll (with the new rules), and that would be helpful to break ties, and i gather umbugbene you still want to add to your ballot? i'll wait until late today to post the results, if anyone edits a ballot please let me know! new ballots welcome too

Yes, I'm still watching. I still have Gilsoddeum, The General's Son, Festival, and Chunhyang to watch, so don't wait for me if you want to close the poll.

Well since only a handful of people have seen enough to cast votes in an Im Kwon-taek poll - no real surprise there - I can add a few more if Flip likes, to make 8:

6. Ticket
7. Come, Come, Come Upward
8. The Pursuit of Death

Umbugbene wrote: ↑Tue Dec 17, 2019 11:53 pm Yes, I'm still watching. I still have Gilsoddeum, The General's Son, Festival, and Chunhyang to watch, so don't wait for me if you want to close the poll.

there's no rush, i'd rather get more votes and i might watch another too, thought very highly of both films i watched last week. i've already factored your earlier ballot into the tally, so if you'll be editing your ballot, please don't delete or edit your previous post - post a new ballot, so i can compare the old and new votes and adjust properly. thanks!

edit - i saw that you added a film today, so added in the extra points already

I'm up to 9 so far now but still need to watch Festival and Chunhyang this weekend. No worries if you want to finish the poll before I do that.

1. Mandala
2. Wangshibri
3. Village in the Mist
4. Taebaek Mountains
5. Gilsoddeum

No change in the top 4; I only added Gilsoddeum.

thanks, i'll post the results so far, and if you watch more over the next few days and want to update your ballot, i'll be happy to adjust the totals -- i won't be posting to letterboxd for a few days. we had votes for 16 different films, not many film forums would get 16 films in an im kwon-taek poll. clear winner:

results

1. Mandala (1981) -- 16 pts
2. Fly High Run Far (1991) -- 8 pts
3. Chunhyang (2000) -- 6 pts
4. Seopyeonje (1993) -- 5 pts
5. Pursuit of Death (1980) -- 4.1 pts
6. Village in the Mist (1983) -- 4 pts
6. My Hometown / Wangshibri (1976) -- 4 pts
6. The Surrogate Woman (1987) -- 4 pts
9. Painted Fire (2002) -- 3 pts
10. The Family Tree (1979) -- 2 pts
11. The Taebaek Mountains (1994) -- 1.5 pts
12. Hand in Hand (1989) -- 1 pt
12. Beyond the Years (2007) -- 1 pt
14. Ticket (1986) -- 0.5 pts
15. Come Come Come Upward (1989) -- 0.3 pts
16. Festival (1996) -- 0.1 pts

ahem i'm pretty sure the princess bride came in tied at fifth...

Okay I'm up to 13. Here's my updated ballot:

1. Mandala
2. Wangshibri
3. Village in the Mist
4. Chunhyang
5. The Surrogate Woman
6. Taebaek Mountains
7. Festival

I wanted to watch Come Come Come Upward, but the version on YouTube seems to be 13 minutes short.

results are final now, updated, i decided to leave out the princess bride to make room for some im kwon-taek films with less exposure

Thanks... one thing though, my vote for Gilsoddeum was superseded, and I don't see any other votes for it, so it shouldn't be in the final list, should it?

Good luck with your move! Hope it's a nice place.