SCFZ

Polling the films of director Park Chan-wook

The rules:

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

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

because it's not clear if anyone has seen 10+ park films, we'll use the new rules again

New Rules

Because Park 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 his 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 his 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 of his 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.

Judgment
Oldboy
Cut (Three Extremes)

seen five

1. Joint Security Area (2000)
2. Stoker (2013)
3. Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002)
4. Oldboy (2003)
5. The Handmaiden (2016)

Seen 9

JSA is high on my top list, and then he has some other good flicks after that...

seen 3, didn't really like any, but we'll go with:

handmaiden (2 stars, vs 1 star for the others)

Seen 7.

1. I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK
2. The Handmaiden
3. Stoker
4. Judgment

Oldboy, JSA and Mr Vengeance aren't bad but definitely my bottom 3.

seen 7

Joint Security Area
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance
Sympathy for Lady Vengeance
Oldboy

Seen 6. Greatly disliked Oldboy and Lady Vengeance. Stoker is legitimately one of the dumbest films I've ever seen. His visual styles are sometimes quite mesmerizing... but it seems he tries to coast on that a bit too often.

These three were fun though..
-I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK
-Joint Security Area
-Thirst

Seen 8 but don't feel strongly enough to vote for anyone.

Seen 6. My votes:
1.Oldboy (2003)
2.Stoker (2013)
3.Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002)
Sadly i see him as a great experimenter. But his stories are so cold, so formal content

Seen 9

1. The Handmaiden
2. Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance
3. Oldboy
4. Sympathy for Lady Vengeance
5. Thirst

I might rewatch JSA. I remember disliking it, but I don't remember why.

greennui wrote: ↑Sat May 02, 2020 8:44 am Seen 8 but don't feel strongly enough to vote for anyone.

Interesting, if they've all left you cold why did you keep going? Or is it that you like them but don't have any preference?

MrCarmady wrote: ↑Sat May 02, 2020 2:22 pm

greennui wrote: ↑Sat May 02, 2020 8:44 am Seen 8 but don't feel strongly enough to vote for anyone.

Interesting, if they've all left you cold why did you keep going? Or is it that you like them but don't have any preference?

I used to like some his films back in cinephile infancy but it's been a while and I haven't liked any of the recent ones I've seen.

Seen 7

1. The Handmaiden
2. Stoker
3. The Little Drummer Girl [mini-series]

Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance
Oldboy
Joint Security Area

6 seen

seen 3

Stoker
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance

seen 3, none of them get a vote

Seen 6. Not a fan, but I'll vote for JSA to keep Oldboy from rising higher.

1. Joint Security Area

Not sure what to think of him. Was bored by one (JSA), enjoyed the other (Oldboy) and loved the third (Thirst).

Need to see more, obviously.

01. Thirst (2009)

Park seen: 3

Monsignor Arkadin wrote: ↑Sat May 02, 2020 2:59 am Seen 6.

M. Arkadin, you can pick our next director if you like!

Oh cool. It's looking to me like we haven't done Nic Roeg or Marco Ferrari. So I would nominate in that order if either are viable.I've personally seen 10 from neither, but because of the pandemic, I can commit to watching 3 more from either (to get to 10 and 8 respectively) if that helps.

10 roeg and 20 ferreri for me.

i've seen 9 roeg, so he'll work for sure - i'll start that poll today!

Nice. I have 7 Roeg and 10 Ferreri

Seen 8:

Oldboy
Sympathy for Lady Vengeance
Stoker
I'm a Cyborg but That's OK

Watched Oldboy, which didn't live up to the hype. Overlong and too cartoonish to pull off the darkness, or maybe too dark to pull off the cartoonishness... But his visual eye is all there, I just think it's better utilised when he goes funnier/more atmospheric. Didn't help that I knew the twist, as well.

Also watched Judgment which goes on the list. Just the right balance of macabre humour, absurdity, and pathos, something that was missing from the cool but po-faced Oldboy. Don't think I'll manage to watch either of the two features I have left until tomorrow but hope to do so soon.

ha, i forgot to tally this, i'd thought to give mrcarmady a couple more days to watch another film or two if he wanted to, then didn't get back to this poll. the results are now in! very little separating the top five films:

results

1. Oldboy (2003) -- 17 pts
2. Sympathy for Mr Vengeance (2002) -- 15 pts
3. Stoker (2013) -- 14 pts
4. Joint Security Area (2000) -- 13 pts
4. The Handmaiden (2016) -- 13 pts
6. I'm a Cyborg But That's OK (2006) -- 8 pts
7. Sympathy for Lady Vengeance (2005) -- 7 pts
8. Judgment (1999) -- 4 pts
9. Thirst (2009) -- 3 pts
10. Cut (2004) -- 1 pt
10. The Little Drummer Girl (2018) -- 1 pt

Ah, I missed out on an opportunity to complete his filmography! Unsurprising top two but not his most interesting films, in my opinion. Will catch up on the ones I'm missing but doesn't seem like it would have made a difference to the results.

up at lbox:

https://letterboxd.com/fliptrotsky/list ... -poll-207/