Unappreciated: Roman Polanski

Roman Polanski

 

Don't even start...

 

He can diddle as many people as he likes. Shut up with all that nonsense. I won't let filth-flarn-filth-flarn-filthy gossip affect my movie choices. I don't care what Roman does with his ding dong. I really don't. Neither should you - because...well...have you ever seen one of his films?

 

 

 

What we should remember - is Roman was married to Sharon Tate when the Manson gang ripped her baby out and splattered California with spectacle and gore. He's lived a ridiculous life. Just plain ridiculous. It's hard to imagine anyone facing this many obstacles could STILL produce/direct/write so many fantastic thrillers. How did he stay focused? How did he avoid the press? How is he still famous?

 

Simple: Roman Polanski makes brilliant movies. He's one of our last living auteurs and regardless of what he does with his ding-a-ling, we should admire the work he creates because he's given us some of the most iconic films of the past 100 years. Isn't that worth applauding?

 

**Honorable Mention** "THE NINTH GATE" (1999): So what if it's not really considered a great movie. I collect old books. Johnny Depp collected old books. That's enough to win me over. Thus - I am Johnny Depp battling the forces of evil on my hunt through Europe's antiquarian shops. This movie isn't a Polanski classic, but it's good. I like it. Maybe it means my taste sucks - so be it. While a departure from the typical Polanski style - he did a remarkable job creating what (to me) feels like a return to the old Hitchcock era. I wonder if this was an homage? Hmm...Oh, yeah - and Christopher Lee doesn't play in this one. I would hate to meet him in real life. What horror to have to go through life with that scary face in the mirror. Yowza! Get back Dracula, ain't nobody got time for love bites!

 

 

 

5) "ROSEMARY'S BABY" (1969): You want to fight me because this isn't #1? Bring it! Don't misunderstand - this is the quintessential Polanski film. If you only see one - I suppose this should be the one. I mean ... you know, Ruth Gordon is in this, right? As if that's not reason enough - Mia Farrow plays Rosemary. John (MFkin) Cassavettes plays her husband. Everything about this movie is stellar. There is nothing to pick on. Horror, tension, atmosphere, the Dakota building...and then Satan rapes Rosemary while Ruth Gordon cheers him on! That iconic poster! One of the greatest "horror" films of the past 100 years - you owe it to yourself to take 120 minutes and view this at least once. Otherwise - your life has been wasted. It's up to you now. Do the right thing.

4) "DEATH AND THE MAIDEN" (1994): This was a flop. I absolutely loved it. I think it was the writer inside me - and the fact that this was originally a play, or maybe it was Sigourney Weaver but then again it could have been Ben Kingsley. I don't know. It's really a great suspenseful "closed-door" type mystery that unfolds with agonizing slowness - like sitting beside someone peeling an onion layer by layer, this movie will eventually capture you into its secrets and knock your teeth out. A lot of people dismissed this one. I don't remember why. I think if you approach it blind, or as if you're more interested in the taut thrill-ride play-like aspect, you'll agree. Death and The Maiden is one of the best of Polanski's career.

3) "CHINATOWN" (1974): A masterpiece by all definitions. Stuffed with cameos from royalty, a cast worth slapping your Mama - Chinatown instantly sealed Polanski in as one of the world's premier filmmakers. I won't prattle on about this. I truly believe 99.99% of everyone living has seen this movie, so talking about it seems redundant. John Huston. Angelica Huston. Faye Dunaway and Jack Nicholson. Film noir circa 1974 as only Polanski could have done. You owe it to the fact that you're breathing to go see this film.

 

2) "CUL-DE-SAC" (1966): The film opens with a dazzling visual: a gangster is pushing his broken-down car down this endless stretch of roadway as the sea creeps in on either side. I have marked this spot as one place I'd really like to see before I die - simply because it looks so damn cool. Then of course, there's the castle...Cul-de-sac was Polanski's second film in English and possibly one of the greatest things to happen in cinema during 1966. It's one of those movies you kinda wish you had been alive to see when it came out. The noir-ish, suspense-driven story plods along as you come to realize it's not exactly the story you were expecting. Hidden behind the suspense is the tale of a decaying marriage, loneliness and the delusions of isolation. This is a great head-trip movie. It's less about the astounding visuals and more about the things it plants in your mind to keep with you for a while after the fact. Cul-de-sac was an eye-opening film for me. It showed me that a movie could decieve just as well as it entertained...oh yeah, and then there was the sea...

 

 

 

1) "REPULSION" (1965): I don't know who told Polanski precisely what it was like to have panic disorders and agoraphobia. I don't even know how he managed to twist it into such eye candy - but he did. Then ... as if that weren't enough, he shoves Catherine Deneuve so close to the camera you can see the pulse in her retinas. I love love love love love this movie. It's as if Polanski put a camera inside a woman's head on the day she finally started losing her mind and let us watch the slow, eerie, stealthy decay crest higher and higher until you just want to punch your neighbor's teeth out. And y'all - there is absolutely nothing acceptable about that rabbit. I'm sorry. Gross is gross, and that's gross. Don't get me wrong, I get the symbolism and everything but...damn...that carcass haunts me to this day. This, to me, is Polanski's best work. Everything before and after seems to hinge off the same themes and visuals he captured here in Repulsion. It's distilled, Grade-A Polanski horror. You need this in your life.