SCFZ poll: Roman Polanski

[flip]

Polling the films of director Roman Polanski.

The rules:

- your list can include no more than half of the Polanski 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: greg x, umbugbene, roscoe, bure, greennui, wba, brian d, mesnalty, ofrene, st gloede, john ryan, holymanm, oscarwerner

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]

Cul de Sac
Knife in the Water
Chinatown
Repulsion
Frantic

seen 13

[greennui]

Tess
Bitter Moon
Cul-de-sac

Seen 8.

[Umbugbene]

Seen 15

1. Chinatown
2. Bitter Moon
3. Knife in the Water
4. Venus in Fur

[brian d]

seen 28!

cul-de-sac
the tenant
knife in the water
repulsion
the fearless vampire killers

[mesnalty]

Seen 10:

1. Chinatown
2. Rosemary's Baby
3. Knife in the Water
4. Repulsion
5. The Tenant

[liquidnature]

Seen 5ish

1. The Pianist
2. Knife in the Water

edit: miscounted and forgot several films for some reason, as I was looking at letterboxd instead of my film log.

[therouxxx]

I like all 6 I've seen

Tess
Knife in the Water
The Ghost Writer

[Holymanm]

Only seen Repulsion; didn't like it at all... might watch a couple more

The Pianist

Seen 2

[rischka]

oh good another rapist... seen 9

1. rosemary's baby
2. chinatown
3. the tenant
4. knife in the water

[Monsieur Arkadin]

Seen 11

Repulsion
Cul-De-Sac
The Tenant
Bitter Moon
Venus in Fur

[wba]

It's "rapist month" on SCFZ!

I happen to love exactly 5 of his films, listed below in preferential order:

01. Frantic (1987)
02. Bitter Moon (1992)
03. Knife in the Water (1962)
04. The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967)
05. Chinatown (1974)

Polanski seen: 16

[MrCarmady]

Seen 5.

1. Chinatown
2. Knife in the Water

Shame he's a horrible person, might watch another one regardless.

[oscarwerner]

Seen 20. My votes go to:
1. Chinatown (1974)
2. Rosemary's Baby (1968)
3. Repulsion (1965)
4. Cul-de-sac (1966)
5. Knife in the Water (1962)
so many good films during very long career. Yesterday i have counted 19 Polanskis-have forgotten "An Officer and a Spy" (2019). I liked it. Glad old man haven`t lost his cinema quality.

[Roscoe]

1. ROSEMARY'S BABY
2. THE PIANIST

Seen enough to rate more. The adoration received by CHINATOWN mystifies me. I'm sorry it looks like we in the U.S. won't be getting to see the most recent one.

[Lencho of the Apes]

Repulsion
Rosemary's Baby
Cul De Sac
The Tenant
The Pianist

[wba]

The adoration received by CHINATOWN mystifies me.

And the adoration received by ROSEMARY'S BABY mistifyes me.

It's a sly satire, but I don't get the hype.

[Roscoe]

Yeah, Mileage is gonna vary. That's how I feel with CHINATOWN -- a sly upending of noir tropes, but I don't get the hype. Entirely serviceable in every way. Only one moment really lives, Huston's remark about most men not realizing that they're capable of "anything." Otherwise I'm left with a shrug. "Forget it, Roscoe, it's CHINATOWN" and yeah, forgettable is the word. I remember sitting through it with a bunch of friends who were utterly besotted with it, sitting there utterly stunned at film's end, and all I could say was, "so where you wanna eat?"

[john ryan]

Seen 13

1. Chinatown
2. Rosemary's Baby
3. Repulsion
4. Tess
5. Macbeth

[---]

Seen 6

Rosemary's baby
Chinatown
Knife in the water

[nrh]

bitter moon
the tenant
fearless vampire killers
what?
the ghost writer

[St. Gloede]

Seen 19:

The Tenant
Chinatown
Rosemary's Baby
Dance of the Vampires
Repulsion

[Caracortada]

A giant!

1. Rosemary's Baby
2. Repulsion
3. Chinatown
4. Knife in the Water
5. Tess

Worst: Pirates

[nrh]

Worst: Pirates

i like that one, better than chinatown at least

[Monsieur Arkadin]

Yeah, Mileage is gonna vary. That's how I feel with CHINATOWN -- a sly upending of noir tropes, but I don't get the hype. Entirely serviceable in every way. Only one moment really lives, Huston's remark about most men not realizing that they're capable of "anything." Otherwise I'm left with a shrug. "Forget it, Roscoe, it's CHINATOWN" and yeah, forgettable is the word. I remember sitting through it with a bunch of friends who were utterly besotted with it, sitting there utterly stunned at film's end, and all I could say was, "so where you wanna eat?"

I'm in the same boat with both Chinatown and Rosemary's baby. They're both well made, fun genre fair, with slight subversion. But overall, the blandest films in his filmography.

[ralch]

Seen 9

1. Chinatown
2. Rosemary's Baby
3. Tess
4. The Pianist

[ofrene]

Rosemary's Baby
Chinatown
Macbeth
The Tenant

[Silga]

Seen 14:

The Ghost Writer
The Ninth Gate
The Pianist
Chinatown
The Lamp

And I think that both Frantic and Carnage are his worst and most disappointing.

[...]

Rosemary's Baby
Tess
Macbeth
Chinatown
Repulsion

Rape and its consequences along with paranoia of accusation are constantly reoccurring in Polanski's work, dwelled on over and over again with such attention paid to the methods of victimization and dotingly detailed observation of its victims that calling his films masochistic, as some do, doesn't quite do justice the obsessive investment in creating these scenes over and over again. "Rape", in various forms, is Polanski's defining theme and there isn't any director who captures it as totally as he does. Both a perpetrator and victim, rape will also be his defining artistic legacy.

[Roscoe]

Yeah, Mileage is gonna vary. That's how I feel with CHINATOWN -- a sly upending of noir tropes, but I don't get the hype. Entirely serviceable in every way. Only one moment really lives, Huston's remark about most men not realizing that they're capable of "anything." Otherwise I'm left with a shrug. "Forget it, Roscoe, it's CHINATOWN" and yeah, forgettable is the word. I remember sitting through it with a bunch of friends who were utterly besotted with it, sitting there utterly stunned at film's end, and all I could say was, "so where you wanna eat?"

I'm in the same boat with both Chinatown and Rosemary's baby. They're both well made, fun genre fair, with slight subversion. But overall, the blandest films in his filmography.

Understand, I make no particular claims for ROSEMARY'S BABY as high art. It's a hugely enjoyable movie made with a degree of sense and wit that elevates it, for me, above Polanski's more blatantly Highly Artistic works which tend, for me, to just lie there onscreen, inert.