I know some will say he has had better. But this movie is great. The images stick in your mind and the acting is suberb. But i know it was his first feature and just want to ask if he topped out on his first movie?
shareMy top five Polanski (impossible for me to say one's better than the other; they're all excellent!):
Rosemary's Baby
Knife in the Water
Repulsion
Chinatown
The Pianist
I turned 'Stranger' into 'Starman' in the Sunday New York Times.share
I wouldn't consider it Polanski's best, but I found the relationships between the characters unique. I found it amazing how Polanski managed to make a story out of practically nothing.
This world is a comedy to those that think, a tragedy to those that feel.
Reading this thread tells me I need to see more Polanski....
I've seen so far:
1. Rosemary's Baby
2. Chinatown
3. The Pianist
4. Knife in the Water
5. Fearless Vampire Killers
6. Ghost Writer
That's my order, too.
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"Knife in the Water" is one of the most impressive director's debuts I've seen.
Yes, I believe it is his best! One of my favourite movies, ever. So much content, subtlety, complexity within such a simple story, in one setting. Extremely economic and sparse. Every cut, every image in place. Perfect pacing. Suspenseful and meaningful, but also very funny in a very dry way, just the way I like it!
I've always loved Repulsion too, much more so than Rosemary's Baby. I like Rosemary's Baby, (especially the way it's shot, the sets, the music), but I think it's a bit tedious at times, and Mia Farrow quite annoying.
Chinatown is very moving, a classic, but I find that there's some minor flaws in the overall flow and tone.
I think The Ghost Writer is brilliant too.
I liked Bitter Moon, Cul-De-Sac, Death And The Maiden and even Frantic quite a lot.
The Ninth Gate was better than I had expected, despite some pretty silly special effects. I found it funny, extremely entertaining and strangely affecting.
I saw The Tenant a very long time ago, and didn't like it very much. Should try it again.
I haven't seen The Pianist yet.
The Fearless Vampire Killers I found pretty stupid. I think any of his non-comedies are much funnier films.
Carnage... my god, it's hard to believe, considering my love of Polanski, how much I hate that movie. Uninteresting from beginning to end, hollow characters, very bad acting, stupid script, boring cinematography. Stagey and superficial. There's a lot of similarities between Carnage and Knife In The Water, but to my taste, the difference in quality is huge.
My personal top-list (from what I've seen) would be:
1. knife in the water
2. repulsion
3. chinatown
4. the ghost writer
Just seen this for the first time and really loved it. Beautiful little tense film. So much atmosphere. I'm a huge Polanski fan and rate Repulsion, The Tenant and Knife in the water equally......Rosemary's Baby is the most powerful for me though, but I love all of his 'apartment' movies.
Chinatown is over-rated imo and not my thing.
Yes! This is absolutely Polanski's best. Polanski made a lot of masterpieces, but this is a very unique and special one. It has the spirit of Polanski in it's purest form.
I know a lot of great critics and film theorists that agree that this is his best.
It is interesting that you found the acting superb.
According to my DVD extras, everybody on set thought the girl, Jolanta Umecka, was hopeless and gave her a hard time. Eventually, her entire part was dubbed in post production by another actress. Similarly, Polanski had doubts about Sygmund Malankowiicz's performance and dubbed all his lines himself.
None of this was apparent to me when I watched the movie recently, but that might be because I don't understand Polish. For example, I find the dubbing in the Tenant quite noticeable, because it is in English, and for me it slightly detracts from what is otherwise one of my favourite Polanski films.
In Italy, it has long been routine for films to be shot silent with all the sound added in post production and I usually find this very conspicuous, even though I don't speak Italian. This is because the dialogue is invariably recorded with a flat, dead tone that makes for instant ennui, while the Foley effects are too emphatic. This sound mix is so common that I guess it must seem OK to Italian audiences. Perhaps they are just used to it.
I am not, so I have a real problem with the Golden Age of Italian cinema (50s and 60s). Rossellini, Fellini, Da Sica, Antonioni, Bertolucci, Pasolini, Zeferelli, Leone, Bava and Agento are very different from each other as film-makers in almost all respects, but to my ears their films all sound the same:
Horrible!