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Post by Deleted on Jun 2, 2019 3:34:02 GMT
I still think mine is 'Tess' - my personal taste leans toward lavish period pieces, and this one is especially evocative and haunting. That it's dedicated to Sharon Tate and was originally meant to be a star vehicle for her makes the onscreen tragedy of the titular character all the more devastating.
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Post by Tommen_Saperstein on Jun 2, 2019 3:54:02 GMT
toss-up between Rosemary and Repulsion. I don't think any of his other work rivals the stuff in his Apartment trilogy, at least not that I've seen. Other than Chinatown that is, but I still have qualms with that one's ending and I've seen it twice.
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Post by Kings_Requiem on Jun 2, 2019 4:25:20 GMT
The Pianist
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Post by themoviesinner on Jun 2, 2019 6:00:48 GMT
He has made several films I'd consider great, but I'd say my favourite is Bitter Moon.
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Post by Longtallsally on Jun 2, 2019 8:05:48 GMT
Repulsion
HM to Venus in Fur
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Post by pacinoyes on Jun 2, 2019 9:01:02 GMT
Genius level, polarizing and contradictory filmmaker, misunderstood on this board within his work itself - arguably the greatest or most important ever director - he was number 1 on my list when we voted. Chinatown is my favorite film of all-time by anyone and the darkest of tragedies in the sunniest of settings.
He has at least 7 films wildly across genres if you really look at them that are routinely called masterpieces (Knife In The Water, Repulsion, Rosemary's Baby, The Tenant, Chinatown, Tess, The Pianist), several other marvelous ones too, he literally introduced psychological components into genre films in ways much more complex than anyone had prior (and that Kurosawa and Bergman were doing in international work) with his sometimes writer (the great Gerard Brach).
Like I often said he was THE leading commercial feminist filmmaker of his era in English (is there a more feminist commercial film in the male dominated US 1970s than Chinatown where the hero/victim is a female - think about it because that statement really causes people to get mad but its true and Chinatown is not even his most feminist film).
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Post by pacinoyes on Jun 2, 2019 10:03:17 GMT
Btw, @tyler - I don't know if you've seen Fassbinder's Effi Briest (1974) - but that is a precursor in some ways to Tess and one of the "doomed tragic female" novels of the 1800s turned into a film (Tess, Effi Briest, Madame Bovary, Anna Karenina - every language has one of its own or several ) I'm a huge Fassbinder fan and I'm convinced Polanski looked at that film specifically in what to copy and what to avoid. A lot of people really hate Effi Briest because it diverts from the book - and is unemotional, it is trying to make a point about the book - but is filmed like a book too- letters, narration, in black and white and very dry to make its points about what happens as it plays out. Polanski must have thought that was too dry, too intellectual because he copies some touches of things like that but not much - in things he doesn't show the audience too. His film "moves" much more in how it tells its story. Interesting to compare those films .......
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Post by jakesully on Jun 2, 2019 12:06:15 GMT
Chinatown
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Post by mhynson27 on Jun 2, 2019 12:10:40 GMT
Macbeth by default.
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Post by TerryMontana on Jun 2, 2019 13:19:03 GMT
Chinatown by far!!!!
After that: Tess, Pianist, Rosemary, Frantic.
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Post by jimmalone on Jun 2, 2019 13:32:13 GMT
Chinatown is easily his best film. The only other one I'd call great is The Pianist.
I hope that "J'accuse" will go right onto the top, though.
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Post by HELENA MARIA on Jun 2, 2019 13:50:17 GMT
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Post by Pittsnogle_Goggins on Jun 2, 2019 17:41:48 GMT
Chinatown
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thomasjerome
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Post by thomasjerome on Jun 2, 2019 18:09:51 GMT
Rosemary's Baby
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Post by stinkybritches on Jun 3, 2019 2:57:17 GMT
repulsion.
one of the best ever.
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Post by DeepArcher on Jun 3, 2019 4:14:22 GMT
Only seen four of his films but Chinatown is an all-timer and Rosemary's Baby isn't far behind on that front, two of the best American films of the New Hollywood era bar none. I'm certainly not well-versed in his filmography enough to be able to either agree or disagree with pacinoyes' remarks about Polanski being a foremost feminist filmmaker ... but I do certainly see where's coming from. Chinatown is a prime example of what he's getting at but then there's also Rosemary's Baby, a film that really couldn't be more relevant today, it's literally about a community trying to control a woman's body ... and Polanski goes ahead and presents this as a straight HORROR movie. I really don't know what to make of the fact that a lot of his best work is about the tragedy of abuse faced by women ... the irony is painful, haunting...
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clunkybob2
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clunky's posts should be locked in a cell
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Post by clunkybob2 on Jun 3, 2019 14:24:22 GMT
HEIL SATAN
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Post by Leo_The_Last on Jun 4, 2019 0:19:15 GMT
The ultimate filmmaker. Has it all, maybe more so than any other I can think of, past and present. I go with the obvious, Chinatown. But there are so many more of course. Even his not-so-great ones are tremendously directed.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 4, 2019 1:04:10 GMT
Rosemary's Baby, one of the greatest horror films ever made.
I know some on here will vehemently disagree with me but I feel that his actions in real life do, unfortunately, weaken some of his work. Chinatown especially suffers, as the emotional punch of the ending relies on the viewer despairing at seeing a rapist getting away with it. I strongly disagree with presenting the man himself as a feminist, which is simply incompatible with his actions (and I'm all for no black and white judgments, but come on...), although that's different from saying his films hold feminist themes, which is undeniable, unpleasant reality and all.
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Post by pacinoyes on Jun 4, 2019 2:36:48 GMT
Rosemary's Baby, one of the greatest horror films ever made. I know some on here will vehemently disagree with me but I feel that his actions in real life do, unfortunately, weaken some of his work. Chinatown especially suffers, as the emotional punch of the ending relies on the viewer despairing at seeing a rapist getting away with it. I strongly disagree with presenting the man himself as a feminist, which is simply incompatible with his actions (and I'm all for no black and white judgments, but come on...), although that's different from saying his films hold feminist themes, which is undeniable, unpleasant reality and all. We talked about this before redhawk and I know that you're a real good poster (one of my faves to read actually) and I wouldn't try to persuade you from your POV but just for others on here to assess on their own - and people can search on the other older thread if they like as well. That ending is a merely a component to the whole piece which includes many things happening simultaneously - historical, political, cultural and economic pieces functioning within it - Cross doesn't get away with it in a manner that is heroic or that diminishes the horror at all - so if the act is seen and presented as repugnant then isn't it consistent and thematically precise regardless of who made it - not less so because of who made it? For example, in Victor Salva's Jeepers Creepers - I could say well that film has a clear undercurrent of the director trying to forgive himself or give a clue of his true life crime say (ie the monster kills children, he takes their eyes so they can't identify him, he bounds them so they can't speak to testify, and the monster gets away with it - etc). He creates a readable template for viewers of his film. But Polanski never remotely links himself to any Cross behavior in any way at all - reading Chinatown and the ending that way to me is just off.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 4, 2019 4:38:05 GMT
Rosemary's Baby, one of the greatest horror films ever made. I know some on here will vehemently disagree with me but I feel that his actions in real life do, unfortunately, weaken some of his work. Chinatown especially suffers, as the emotional punch of the ending relies on the viewer despairing at seeing a rapist getting away with it. I strongly disagree with presenting the man himself as a feminist, which is simply incompatible with his actions (and I'm all for no black and white judgments, but come on...), although that's different from saying his films hold feminist themes, which is undeniable, unpleasant reality and all. We talked about this before redhawk and I know that you're a real good poster (one of my faves to read actually) and I wouldn't try to persuade you from your POV but just for others on here to assess on their own - and people can search on the other older thread if they like as well. That ending is a merely a component to the whole piece which includes many things happening simultaneously - historical, political, cultural and economic pieces functioning within it - Cross doesn't get away with it in a manner that is heroic or that diminishes the horror at all - so if the act is seen and presented as repugnant then isn't it consistent and thematically precise regardless of who made it - not less so because of who made it? For example, in Victor Salva's Jeepers Creepers - I could say well that film has a clear undercurrent of the director trying to forgive himself or give a clue of his true life crime say (ie the monster kills children, he takes their eyes so they can't identify him, he bounds them so they can't speak to testify, and the monster gets away with it - etc). He creates a readable template for viewers of his film. But Polanski never remotely links himself to any Cross behavior in any way at all - reading Chinatown and the ending that way to me is just off. I can see that perspective. Discussing how you appreciate/value art taking into account the context of the artist's actions can be really tough (with DFW being one of my favorite writers and Infinite Jest meaning more to me than most books, this is something I've debated, with others and myself, a lot) and something that at the end of the day really just comes down to your gut and the way you read the whole situation, and so I can always respect someone seeing an individual case differently. I would say you likely have a much stronger foundation of knowledge on Polanski's work and the way it interweaves with his personal life than I do, as he's actually one of the big name directors I haven't seen *that* much from, and you're a big fan. I also fully agree with the Jeepers Creepers thing and my issues with Chinatown - which, again, I do like overall, even if it does ultimately rub me the wrong way too much to ever really love it - are nowhere near the problems I have with that pile of garbage.
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speeders
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Post by speeders on Jun 4, 2019 21:32:21 GMT
Rosemary's Baby
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Post by Allenism on Jun 4, 2019 22:43:27 GMT
Rosemary's Baby is still it for me. Chinatown is a stunner as well but it didn't engage me quite on the same level as the former did.
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Post by cheesecake on Jun 9, 2019 2:48:45 GMT
Chinatown with The Fearless Vampire Killers not far behind.
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Post by Pavan on Jun 9, 2019 7:03:01 GMT
Chinatown
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