SCFZ Poll: Kon Ichikawa

[flip]

Polling the films of director Kon Ichikawa

The rules:

- your list can include no more than half of the Ichikawa 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 Friday, 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, greg x, wba, st gloede, evelyn, thoxans

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

[flip]

I think I'll use the 'new rules' for this poll, since it seemed we were on the borderline of having the views for an Ichikawa poll:

New Rules

Because Ichikawa 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 Ichikawa 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 Ichikawa 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 Ichikawa 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.

[flip]

seen two:

Fires on the Plain

[Umbugbene]

Seen 16

1. The Burmese Harp
2. Fires on the Plain
3. Enjo (Conflagration)
4. Ten Nights of Dreams (multiple directors, but Ichikawa's segment is the best)
5. An Actor's Revenge
6. The Makioka Sisters
7. Punishment Room
8. Being Two Isn't Easy

[mesnalty]

Seen 2:

1. Conflagration

[thoxans]

the makioka sisters
conflagration
otōto (her brother/younger brother)

*seen five

[Roscoe]

I AM A CAT
TOKYO OLYMPIAD

[brian d]

seen 4

the burmese harp
the makioka sisters

[nrh]

ten dark women
an actors revenge
the makioka sisters

[wba]

01. The Heart (1955)
02. Odd Obsession (1959)

Ichikawa seen: 4

[Curtis, baby]

seen 4

fires on the plain
the burmese harp

[thoxans]

i bet if i had nominated rob reiner for this one, then kool karl would be showing up to vote. he must be traveling through yet another eastern country with his gf. lucky devil...

[augusto]

the heart
conflagration
an actor's revenge
the burmese harp

[john ryan]

seen 11

1. the burmese harp
2. tokyo olympiad
3. fires on the plain
4. conflagration
5. the makioka sisters

[rischka]

kokoro (the heart)
an actor's revenge
hakai/the outcast (broken commandments)

haven't seen many of the biggies

[...]

Conflagration
The Makioka Sisters
An Actor's Revenge
A Girl at the Dojo Temple
47 Ronin

Ichikawa's difficult to assess, judging from those I've seen, for being exceptionally crafted, often intellectually compelling, but with some distance that keeps the movies from being more strongly "felt", leaving the experience less personally affecting as that of many other great filmmakers. To some extent that may well be purposeful, the distancing acting to allow the viewer a kind of clarity that emotionalism can distort, something that seems to have some support from the times Ichikawa does draw the viewer in more, but it does render the experience of the films more difficult to hold for the emotional connections being lessened. Still, I haven't seen a film of his I haven't admired and at his best there are some distinctly powerful moments that often come from the characters failure to grasp connection or depth of feeling as well.

[St. Gloede]

Seen 16:

1. Nobi / Fires on the Plain (1959)
2. Kokoro / The Heart (1955)
3. Yukinojo henge / An Actor's Revenge (1963)
4. Kagi / Odd Obsession (1959)
5. Shokei no heya / Punishment Room (1956)

[jww342]

Seen 6

1. The Burmese Harp
2. An Actor's Revenge
3. Younger Brother

[flip]

i'll start a new director poll once we get a nomination, it's roscoe's turn, and he already suggested fred niblo or rex ingram (if you'd like to change those suggestions, let me know). i'd like to check if either of them would work, so if anyone has seen 7+ films by either niblo or ingram, please post here!

[john ryan]

2 Niblo and 1 Ingram. Sorry I can't be of more help, roscoe.

[wba]

4 Niblo, 1 Ingram

[Umbugbene]

3 Niblo, 2 Ingram

[flip]

feeling a bit less optimistic about niblo or ingram now, but i think we should still wait to hear from a few other regulars. any other ideas if these two won't work roscoe?

[greennui]

0 Niblo, 0 Ingram, I'm afraid.

[rischka]

2 niblo 1 ingram

[nrh]

just watched house of hanging/, the fifth and last of ichikawa's '70s mysteries featuring the kinsuke kindaichi character. starts off in ichikawa's comic, ironic mode, all off-hand surrealism, jazz music and exaggerated physical set-pieces. the film's version of japan seems to be lost in a kind of time warp, where the trauma of the war seems to have done strange things to the memories and traumas of the past. bodies start piling up in increasing gruesome fashion, and the film becomes more and more sombre as the family secrets unearthed become more tragic and appalling (as a western reader of mystery novels the tangled family history reminded me a little of late ross macdonald).

if there's any major issue it's that the family history is complicated enough i actually had trouble following it all at; at a certain point, in the middle of a torrent of exposition, kindaichi himself admits to not being able to follow it all and the characters (and film) pause to study a family tree chart...

[oscarwerner]

Seen only 4 of Ichikawa:
The Burmese Harp (1956)
47 Ronin (1994).
Sorry, i saw 0 Niblo, 0 Ingram

[flip]

D

t

so there doesn't seem to be enough viewership for either a niblo or ingram poll (unfortunately, those would have been interesting), so we'll need another suggestion. if roscoe has another name to propose that will work, we'll go with that, but if not, nrh it would be your turn to nominate. i'd like to get a new poll up today, so if a workable suggestion comes from either of you by day's end i'll go with that. thanks!

[Roscoe]

Gimme a minute, let me see what I can come up with...

[Roscoe]

Ida Lupino? Von Stroheim? Norman MacLaren?