SCFZ

Polling the films of director Krzysztof Kieslowski

The rules:

- your list can include no more than half of the Kieslowski 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: greennui, bure, roscoe, kanafani, greg x, silga, oscarwerner, john ryan, mrcarmady, umbugbene, evelyn, m arkadin, jiri, brian d, nrh, rischka, aberration

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

my first instinct is to consider the short film about killing, the short film about love, and the dekalog as three separate films for voting purposes, but otherwise to not separate out the eight dekalog chapters that weren't extended into standalone features. open to other opinions, it's been a long time since i saw those films so i don't feel well enough informed to make a good judgment.

Rouge
A Short Film About Killing
Dekalog
Blind Chance

seen 9, though none in many years, really liked some of his films when i first was getting into world cinema, not sure what i'd think of kieslowski now but this is maybe a good opportunity to find out!

seen 21

the double life of véronique
blue
red
camera buff

seen 4

1.Three Colors Blue
2.Double Life of Veronique

Seen 22, mostly a long time ago.

1. Blue
2. Dekalog
3. Red
4. White
5. The Scar

Edited after re-watching Red. I liked it more this time than I did in my 20s... same with Double Life of Veronique, which I re-watched a few weeks ago.

8.

Decalogue

flip wrote: ↑Tue Mar 09, 2021 5:13 pm world cinema

Kieslowski and the Three Colors trilogy are the first things that springs to mind when I think of that term. Exotic, European sophistication at the video store. Those films did nothing for me when I watched them more than a decade ago but perhaps I will like them more now?

kieslowski is one of those directors i tried and tried to see what was exciting about their work but i just came up empty every time. now i am older and more of an asshole and probably would've given up much earlier.

camera buff

Seen 11

Blue
Red
Dekalog
The Double Life of Veronique
Blind Chance

I have a lot of fondness for Kieslowski and admire his best films for their emotional and moral complexity. The Three Colours Trilogy (well, Blue and Red anyway) and Dekalog were a gateway for me to a wider appreciation of cinema. Before that, non-English films were a rarity for me. I am a little less enthusiastic about him now I think than I once was, but he is still a fine filmmaker if not a top of the pile great one, and Blue in particular remains as one of my all time favourites.

A shame that he died so young at 54. He had ‘retired’ after the Three Colours Trilogy but before he died, there was talk of a new film or even a new trilogy in the works.

nrh wrote: ↑Tue Mar 09, 2021 6:18 pmnow i am older and more of an asshole

this is the way

Seen 8:

1. Red
2. A Short Film About Killing
3. Camera Buff
4. The Double Life of Veronique

One of my favourites, great excuse for me to get off my butt and catch up with some stuff.

Rouge
Blind Chance
Blanc
Dekalog

Seen 2:

Three Colours: Blue

Seen 2

Personnel

i liked this one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClUBYsA3vws

Seen 6:

1. The Double Life of Véronique
2. Dekalog
3. Rouge

Was I fast enough?

Edit:
Nooooooooo! FilmJunkie, whyyyyy???? You beat me to it, haha!

seen 6

no end
personnel
the scar

Seen 8

Decalog
Talking Heads
A Short Film About Killing
White

I watched my last Kieslowski when I still considered Ebert a great critic, so I can relate with some of you. That is, until yesterday. A Short Film About Killing reminded me why I don't trust Kubrick.

FilmJunkie wrote: ↑Tue Mar 09, 2021 5:47 pm seen 4

filmjunkie, you can pick our next director if you like!

Searchlike wrote: ↑Tue Mar 09, 2021 9:44 pm Was I fast enough?

Edit:
Nooooooooo! FilmJunkie, whyyyyy???? You beat me to it, haha!

you're third in the queue, mesnalty will get the option if filmjunkie doesn't want to choose or doesn't reply, but if both decline, you're in!

seen 8

Talking Heads
Camera Buff
The Office
A Short Film About Killing

blue
dekalog

*seen five (feel like dekalog hit that easily-hateable-cuz-it's-so-canonical lvl a while back, but still it's a pretty exemplary example (reredundundantdant) of immaculate utilization (bigbigwordswords) of the tv episodic format (cool story bro); and while i remember renting blue and red around roughly the same time from my old rental place haunt (rip), and i remember watching blue like a couple times during my three-day-rental-period, and i remember watching red a bunch of times during a different three-day-rental-period, i also remember being more challenged by blue, which is why red went down so smooth; double life of veronique is like pretty sterility, i just always end up checking out; didn't like no end, don't remember why, maybe that's why i didn't like it; wouldn't mind seeing blind chance, camera buff, and white)

greennui wrote: ↑Tue Mar 09, 2021 6:06 pm Kieslowski and the Three Colors trilogy are the first things that springs to mind when I think of that term. Exotic, European sophistication at the video store. Those films did nothing for me when I watched them more than a decade ago but perhaps I will like them more now?

if i was making a list of directors who i think are widely admired in film circles generally, but who don't seem to be much admired at scfz, kieslowski would be right near the top (and i'm a bit curious what other directors people think would be on that kind of list). it's been so long since i've seen any kieslowski that i can't really say what i'd think of him now, but i might give rouge another viewing this week. that film was a stepping stone for me into all kinds of international film, so for that reason alone i'll probably never actually dislike kieslowski (and the short film about killing was i think the first eastern european film i ever saw in cinema, at a retrospective, so that was an important film to me too).

and i find these are often our most interesting polls, when we poll directors we don't talk about too often, because then we actually do talk about them, and often the results are a bit surprising, so i'm happy we're running this one.

Seen 13:

Red
Blue
Blind Chance
Dekalog
No End

seen a few, ages ago, and I'm not a fan. Mildly interesting stuff, as far as I remember. One of those director I didn't "get", back then (meaning what was great about them). Others being Bergman or Fellini.

I have zero interest in watching or rewatching more of his stuff, so I'll pass.

flip wrote: ↑Wed Mar 10, 2021 4:55 am(and i'm a bit curious what other directors people think would be on that kind of list)

Some directors I've rarely seen mentioned here:

Kieslowski
Kurosawa
Fellini
Tarkovsky
Bergman
Haneke
von Trier
Almodóvar
WKW (until last week)
Zhang Yimou
Bertolucci

Very much the stalwarts of the "World Cinema" section at the video store. Probably a combination of general apathy + too much time passed.

Seen 9. My votes:
1. Dekalog -TV Mini-Series (1989–1990)
2. A Short Film About Killing (1988)
3. A Short Film About Love (1988)
4. Przypadek (Blind Chance) (1987)

Talking Heads
The Photograph
Railway Station

THE DOUBLE LIFE OF VÉRONIQUE
HOSPITAL
REFRAIN
THE OFFICE

Decades ago, I have seen 2-3 films.
As I am not even sure about the titles (probably A SHORT FILM ABOUT KILLING and some of the THREE COLORS), those I will not count.
On the other hand, I am 100 percent sure I watched THE DOUBLE LIFE OF VÉRONIQUE.
It was also very long ago (my Uni years), the film mostly evaporated from my memory.
But I can clearly remember WHERE I watched it and with WHOM!
It was in the cinema inside (Prague's) "Hotel Pyramid".
Since then I wasn't there — there is still a cinema there (tho now temporarily closed due to the plague).


And I watched it with my then-classmate Veronika.
As far as I remember, she was not a hard-core cinephile, but when (during some small talk) I mentioned going to see THE DOUBLE LIFE OF VÉRONIQUE she got intrigued by the title.
And I got intrigued by the idea to watch a film with someone whose name is identical to the name in the title.
Sometimes, the circumstances of watching a film have a stronger impact on memory than the film itself.

I like TALKING HEADS (thx Rischka!), so (considering the above) i can vote for it (I guess).
Maybe I will watch a few more short films...

greennui wrote: ↑Wed Mar 10, 2021 9:38 am

flip wrote: ↑Wed Mar 10, 2021 4:55 am(and i'm a bit curious what other directors people think would be on that kind of list)

Some directors I've rarely seen mentioned here:

Kieslowski
Kurosawa
Fellini
Tarkovsky
Bergman
Haneke
von Trier
Almodóvar
WKW (until last week)
Zhang Yimou
Bertolucci

Very much the stalwarts of the "World Cinema" section at the video store. Probably a combination of general apathy + too much time passed.

kubrick and antonioni came to mind for me. i have a feeling we're generally cool with kurosawa and tarkovsky even if we don't talk about them much, but i could be wrong.