SCFZ

Polling the films of director Zhang Yimou

The rules:

- your list can include no more than half of the Zhang Yimou 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 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

01. Red Sorghum (1987)
02. House of Flying Daggers (2004)
03. Hero (2002)
04. Not One Less (1999)
05. Under the Hawthorn Tree (2010)

Zhang seen: 10

Raise the Red Lantern
To Live

seen five, zhang doesn't seem to get much mention around here, maybe he has too much mainstream appeal to seem interesting to bring up (other popular international directors like almodovar and vinterberg similarly don't get much talk at scfz) but i've liked every one of his films i've seen. he seems especially gifted as a storyteller, and his images are consistently impressive. i haven't seen a single of his films after 2000 though (haven't seen Hero or anything later) and i get the impression his later films might be different from his earlier ones. will try to watch some this week!

seen only 2

Hero

first 30 minutes of Coming Home is great, but afterward...

flip wrote: ↑Tue May 19, 2020 1:25 pm i haven't seen a single of his films after 2000 though (haven't seen Hero or anything later) and i get the impression his later films might be different from his earlier ones. will try to watch some this week!

I'd say: not really.
Everything he did "later" one can already find in his first film RED SORGHUM: love, romance, lyricism, "propaganda" for the chinese government, interest in history, gender problems, power struggles, bombastic visuals, melodrama, etc. etc. etc.

Seen 10:

Red Sorghum
Raise the Red Lantern
To Live
Not One Less
Hero

Seen 6.

Raise the Red Lantern

I'm struggling to put it into words why I find him an uninspiring filmmaker so I'm hoping someone else does it lol.

Only seen Hero which was great, would like to see more this week, starting with The Story of Qiu Ju.

i somehow got tired of this guy after 6 but i used to love house of flying daggers so

1. house of flying daggers

Seen 17

1. Red Sorghum
2. Hero
3. House of Flying Daggers
4. Raise the Red Lantern
5. Shadow

Seen 10

1. Raise the Red Lantern
2. Ju Dou
3. Coming Home
4. Red Sorghum
5. Flowers of War

Was a fan in the early 90s, then lost interest, and now my interest is being awakened again. I like him better than the recent Chinese directors I've seen, but I haven't seen that much. I'll probably try to revisit RTRL soon.

1. Shanghai Triad
2. Curse of the Golden Flower
3. Shadow
4. The Road Home

The Road Home
Hero

Seen 5

One of my favorite Asian directors. He made two kinds of film: dramas, often in a rural or historical setting; and stylized martial art films. Saw 11.

1. Red Sorghum
2. The Road Home
3. Not One Less
4. House of Flying Daggers
5. Ju Dou

seen 2

house of flying daggers

wba wrote: ↑Tue May 19, 2020 1:24 pm Zhang seen: 10

you can pick our next director, wba!

Thanks, I'll list a few alternatives, so we can see if we have enough votes.

How about:

Jerzy Skolimowski (have 11)
Bo Widerberg (have 15)
Jess Franco (have 15)

other suggestions:

Jan Svankmajer (have 13)
Chris Marker (have 9)
Bill Melendez (have 16)
Dave Fleischer (have some 20+)
Robert Zemeckis (have 11)
Kar-wai Wong (have 9)
Jean Eustache (have 8)
Dante Lam (have 7)
John Badham (have 7)

I have 10+ of:
Jerzy Skolimowski
Bo Widerberg
Robert Zemeckis
John Badham

8 Widerberg
9 Franco

I've got enough of franco, svankmajer, marker, probably fleischer (but it would take some work figuring out which), zemeckis (9), and wong.

i have 7 by skolimowski, so since two other people have 10+, he'll work, though if anyone else cares to post how many views they have, that will help me to decide whether to use the extended rules

I have 171 Fleischer and 8 Wong. I could help Marker and Svankmajer qualify too, but I'd end up not voting because I can't remember them well enough. I have 3 Skolimowskis.

5 skolimowskis

Story of Qui Ju
Raise the Red Lantern
Hero
Curse of the Golden Flower
Shadow

Might change the last one later as several of the others I've seen would work just as well. Figured I'd go with the wider time range for now.

10 Skolimowski

He really lost his way after Shanghai Triad to me, which I think is very underrated.

Regarding his reputation over time, his early films have suffered neglect like the films of most Asian directors who aren't Japanese. The lack of quality HD editions of his films, along with Woo and several others, has lead somewhat to their marginalisation, relatively speaking. Even WKW's films have only just recently been restored, presumably with European money.

Raise The Red Lantern
Shanghai Triad
The Story of Qiu Ju

Joks Trois wrote: ↑Wed May 20, 2020 3:35 pm He really lost his way after Shanghai Triad to me, which I think is very underrated.

In my opinion Shanghai Triad is easily one of the weakest (maybe even the weakest) of the 10 films of his I've seen.
But I'm also not a fan of "Raise the Red Lantern", so maybe my take on Zhang as a great artist has a different perspective to it.

3 skolimowski -- really interesting director

wba wrote: ↑Wed May 20, 2020 3:41 pm

Joks Trois wrote: ↑Wed May 20, 2020 3:35 pm He really lost his way after Shanghai Triad to me, which I think is very underrated.

In my opinion Shanghai Triad is easily one of the weakest (maybe even the weakest) of the 10 films of his I've seen.
But I'm also not a fan of "Raise the Red Lantern", so maybe my take on Zhang as a great artist has a different perspective to it.

Guess it depends on your entry points to some degree. Yimou was really a big deal when I started getting more seriously into 'foreign' cinema, and I guess I just didn't respond as a well when he changed it up in the 00's.

I'm a little biased too because you know, his post-95 work doesn't feature a young Gong-Li or any Gong-Li.

^ She’s in Curse of the Golden Flower and Coming Home.