Polanski

[poliphilo]

I never liked Polanski's work. I saw his early films as they came out- Knife in the Water, Repulsion, Cul-de-Sac. There was something about them that made me feel queasy- migrainey, sick to the stomach.  It was weird.  Art doesn't usually hit me that way. It was as if  they beamed out negativity. 

The last thing of his I saw in sequence was The Fearless Vampire Slayers- the one with Sharon Tate in the bubble-bath. It's Polanski's idea of a romp- self-indulgent, unfunny, really rather tiresome. After that I avoided him.

More recently- because they came my way- I've watched Rosemary's Baby and Macbeth. They didn't make me feel ill-  maybe because my powers of resistance are stronger- maybe because Hollywood didn't give him the absolute control he'd had in Europe.  I liked Macbeth more than I thought I would, though artistically it's a bit of a mess. Rosemary's Baby was undone for me by the absurdity of its ending. They're schlocky films, both of them, a little silly and immature.  It would be nice to think Francesca Annis' nude scene had nothing to do with Hugh Hefner being sat in the producer's chair.

I haven't seen Chinatown. I don't suppose one should come to a final judgement without seeing Chinatown.

Comments

[arielstarshadow.livejournal.com]

I'd be curious what you think of Chinatown. Having seen it...meh. Not that it was a bad film, but I didn't think it was a masterpiece, either.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I don't think I'm going to go out of my way to see it, but I may happen upon it sometime.

I don't believe- on the basis of what I've seen- that Polanski is a great film maker.

[upasaka.livejournal.com]

I've always thought that negative quality was what stood out most about Polanski's work, and what gives it identity. I don't find it at all appealing, and I've never understood what all the fuss was about. I think he'll be forgotten eventually -- unless of course he keeps himself in the headlines in other ways.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I suspect he'll be remembered primarily for being Sharon Tate's husband.

[ideealisme.livejournal.com]

I've seen Bitter Moon and The Pianist. Adrien Brody was hot, and so was the German officer, but god it dragged.

Bitter Moon is just sick and twisted, which suits me :) was that Mrs Polanski playing the main female role?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Yes indeed. Emanuelle Seignier is Madame Polanski.

I've just read an account of the plot of Bitter Moon. I don't think I'll be rushing out to see it.

chinatown

[seraphimsigrist.livejournal.com]

I saw it. not interesting to me.
go ahead make your final judgement!
instead perhaps see the b movie
'big trouble in little china' speaking
of chinatowns it is far more fun

Re: chinatown

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Oh yes- Big Trouble in Little China- I like that movie. It's great fun.

[seraphimsigrist.livejournal.com]

being a religious fellow with an
interest in the mystical I was happy
to learn from it all I know about
chinese mysticism!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Apparently Chinese mystics can fly.

I'd love to be able to fly.

[ideealisme.livejournal.com]

Yeah but if we could fly then the lovely sky would be full of pushing, shoving bad-tempered humans!

/cynical

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Maybe flying would put them in a better frame of mind.

uitility of flying ability

[seraphimsigrist.livejournal.com]

it is a comfort when one
can exit a brothel through
the roof if there is a police
raid I imagine.
(as the three storms did)
you need like them to have rather
a hard hat for crashing through
the plaster.

[halfmoon-mollie.livejournal.com]

I suppose his movies will be popular again, because of all this ... publicity. You are way more of a movie enjoyer than I am, I saw Knife In the Water and that was it for me.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I was a very dedicated cinephile in my youth. :)

[halfmoon-mollie.livejournal.com]

I have no taste, I guess. I LOVE old movies, specifically stuff like Prisoner of Zenda (the one with Ronald Coleman, thankyouverymuch) and Random Harvest (also with Ronald Coleman) and Casablanca and Sunset Boulevard. And Night of the Hunter and Death Takes a Holiday (the original, with Frederic March)and Manchurian Candidate (also the original). I seldom care much for what passes as entertainment these days, which makes me sound a lot like an old fart.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

A panel of French film critics recently voted Night of the Hunter the best movie of all time.

I haven't seen everything on your list, but the ones I have are all great films. It seems to me you have excellent taste.

[halfmoon-mollie.livejournal.com]

Night of the Hunter is one of the scariest movies ever made -without an ounce of blood or gore. The implication is what's scary.

Thanks, Tony!

[ryanstrong.livejournal.com]

I really like Death and the Maiden, Chinatown, and the Ninth Gate. All very different and well-constructed movies. In the Seattle Film Institute, Chinatown is shown as the model for a perfect script.

I also like Fearless Vampire Killers and Rosemary's Baby, because they feel a bit like the Hammer horror films I like so much. They're campy, of course, but that's the way I like them.

I don't know that your opinion could necessarily be changed by any of these, but if the films you've listed are the only ones you've seen, you've neglected his work after 1971--which may not be fair.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I'd forgotten Death and the Maiden was one of his. It's pretty good, but one remembers it for the actors rather than the direction, I think.

Polanski's early stuff inoculated me against him. I'm not saying he's a bad director, only that there's something about his work I find rebarbative. Repulsion, in particular, is a powerful piece of work- nauseating but powerful. It's not a film I'm ever going to forget.