SCFZ

Polling the films of director David Cronenberg

The rules:

- your list can include no more than half of the Cronenberg 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 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, rischka, dt, silga

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 for a fourth time

Dead Ringers
M Butterfly
Videodrome
Naked Lunch
The Dead Zone

seen 11

Seen 20.

Shivers
the Fly
Videodrome
Dead Ringers
Existenz

Intense dislike: Map to the stars, Cosmopolis.

Seen 17.

Crash
Shivers
Videodrome
Scanners
M Butterfly

you can nominate if you want, kanafani!

Sure!

First choice: Jean Eustache (I've seen 14)
Second choice: Jacques Becker (I've seen 10)
Safe choice: Alain Resnais

I've seen 20 of Cronenberg's but not enough of any of the possible next choices to count.

History of Violence
Dead Ringers
A Dangerous Method
Existenz
The Fly

Well, maybe I'll keep those. Hard to choose since, with a couple big exceptions, I find his work mostly pretty consistent in quality, for good and not at times.

Seen 9

Scanners

I've seen 2 by Eustache, 10 by Becker, and 22 by Resnais.

seen only 4

Videodrome
History of Violence

also seen 5 Eustache, 6 Becker, 10 Resnais

Seen 12, and I'm pretty ambivalent about most of his work:

1. The Fly
2. Videodrome
3. Crash
4. Cosmopolis???
5. A History of Violence

yea, i think it makes sense to check views on eustache and becker, no need to check on resnais who will work for sure as a fallback. so if anyone has seen 8+ films by either eustache or becker, please post here!

videodrome
the fly
scanners
existenz
rabid

*seen fourteen (and enjoy most, except for maps to the stars, which i absolutely hatehatehate)

maps to the stars, which i absolutely hatehatehate

Yeah, that was one of the exceptions I was thinking of. It's not good in such a weirdly obvious way too.

greg x wrote: ↑Fri Jan 04, 2019 3:01 pm

maps to the stars, which i absolutely hatehatehate

Yeah, that was one of the exceptions I was thinking of. It's not good in such a weirdly obvious way too.

Seriously, guys. I had a blast watching it.

1. Dead Ringers
2. Maps to the Stars
3. eXistenZ
4. Naked Lunch
5. Crash

1. Videodrome
2. Dead Ringers
3. A History of Violence
4. The Fly
5. Crash

Seen 11 by Cronenberg, 8 by Eustache, 14 by Becker and 18 by Resnais

ok, becker meets the polling criteria, so we'll poll him if eustache doesn't work out - i don't need any more replies about becker, but if you've seen 8+ eustache films, please post here (we need two more people with 8+ views)

4 eustache, 7 becker, 9 resnais and 13 cronenberg

crash
dead ringers
eXistenz
videodrome
the brood



so funny

1. A Dangerous Method
2. Videodrome
3. The Fly
4. Dead Ringers

Seen 9.

Videodrome
Crash
Dead Zone
Scanners

Non-fundable Cronenberg should start a podcast. His voice is more interesting and less vulgar than his films anyway.

The Brood
Videodrome

seen 4

Eastern Promises
A History of Violence

Seen 8:

Dead Ringers
A Dangerous Method
A History of Violence
The Fly

Worst: Maps to the Stars (strong contender for the worst film of the 21st century)

I've seen 6.

1. The Fly (1986)
2. Videodrome (1983)
3. Crash (1996)

cosmopolis
videodrome
the brood
the fly
a history of violence

DEAD RINGERS
THE FLY
HISTORY OF VIOLENCE
CRASH

cronenberg is sort of an interesting guy? his work fits so perfectly at this crossroads of alamo drafthouse genre stuff and subject matter that fits into certain areas of academic interest that the fact that he turned into a pretty elegant mise en scene director around butterfly tends to get overlooked entirely. or something like that. has anyone read his book?

m butterfly
scanners
the fly
existenz
a dangerous method

seen 10

1. The Fly
2. Crash
3. A Dangerous Method

@nrh

a friend of mine read his book, and while he generally enjoyed it, he thought it (or Cronenberg) tried way too hard to still be hip and cool and relevant. Maybe a case of being afraid of being outmoded or out of touch or too old. I guess I'll read it at some point in the future, cause I love reading (fictional) literature by film directors.

-----

01. M. Butterfly (1993)
02. The Brood (1979)
03. Naked Lunch (1991)
04. Fast Company (1979)
05. Maps to the Stars (2014)

Cronenberg seen: 10

-----

Jean Eustache seen: 8
Jacques Becker seen: 2
Alain Resnais seen: 6

seen 11

A Dangerous Method
Crash
The Fly
Eastern Promises

Seen 18

1. Dead Ringers
2. Cosmopolitan
3. Videodrome
4. The Brood
5. The Fly