Well, the Michael Mann marathon was, I think, a smashing success, and among the more entertaining things I've done for myself on this blog lately.
Just to prove that I'm easily swayed by reader requests, I'm following up on a suggest made a couple weeks back by loyal reader Diego: not only should I do another one of these, why not put up a poll to see what director should be the next subject? And by "next" I mean "starting this August", since that gives me a month off, and who needs more time than that to recuperate?
I've picked five filmmakers according to a arcane series of rules and criteria, including: availability on DVD or other means THAT ARE CERTAINLY NOT ILLEGAL, BECAUSE THAT'S NOT THE WAY WE DO THINGS HERE; a reasonable number of features, that is, at least 8 but not any more than 18 or 19, so I can manage it in four (perhaps very densely packed) weeks; I haven't reviewed a significant portion of the filmmaker's work, or I can see value in revisiting what I've already reviewed; I don't have a particularly strong opinion about the filmmaker's work taken as a whole, and/or haven't seen a significant number of their films (this was the hardest rule to apply: it meant no Coens, no Soderbergh, no Cuarón, and no Scorsese); it's a filmmaker I'm willing to spend that much time with.
Hopefully my five-man shortlist will prove reasonably appealing to most everyone; but just in case, I've provided an "other" option, and if there's anyone who comes up over and over again in write-ins, that meets the other rules, I'll be happy to abide by the majority rule. The only person I'd strictly outlaw as a write-in candidate is James Cameron; I'm already planning on digging through his filmography later this year.
The poll will remain open until 12:01 AM on Sunday, July 28. Voting has been moved to the sidebar, top right.
04 July 2009
15 comments:
Just a few rules so that everybody can have fun: ad hominem attacks on the blogger are fair; ad hominem attacks on other commenters will be deleted. And I will absolutely not stand for anything that is, in my judgment, demeaning, insulting or hateful to any gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or religion. And though I won't insist on keeping politics out, let's think long and hard before we say anything particularly inflammatory.
Also, sorry about the whole "must be a registered user" thing, but I do deeply hate to get spam, and I refuse to take on the totalitarian mantle of moderating comments, and I am much too lazy to try to migrate over to a better comments system than the one that comes pre-loaded with Blogger.
For the good of Tim and others, I want to make sure we know that Tim has never seen The Parallax View. Vote Pakula!
ReplyDeleteI'd love if those that write in would leave a comment letting us knw what their selection is.
But damn, doesn't this feel like it is bound to be the Miyazaki show?
Voted Spike if only because I feel he has the most contentious oeuvre and at least from what I've seen is the most stylish, or perhaps just the most showy -- and there alone is an example of the contentiousness. Plus, I can hook you up with a copy of We Cut Heads if you need it.
ReplyDeleteI voted for Miyazaki because I have seen every single movie he's made, which is much more than I can say for any of the other choices. Of course, it's a double-edged sword, because of Tim says anything mean about Totoro, I may have to abandon this site forever. :-(
ReplyDeleteI'm by all means a huge fan of Miyazaki but I guess I just feel analyses of his films would be the least interesting to read. Partly because they're all good without much argument otherwise.
ReplyDeleteI voted Almodovar because I had forgotten that I have seen more of his movies than you and want to know how that happened and when you are going to fix it.
ReplyDeletei voted for Miyazaki, because i would actually read the reviews, which i sadly could not say for Mann as i don't really care about the guy, even if he has had some good movies.
ReplyDeleteI'd dispute calling Lee the most stylish and showy director, being Almodovar on that list... ;). His films are also filled with contentious content. And that's whom I voted for.
ReplyDeleteI guess Myazaki will win, which is a pity for me, since I don't have much use for anime in general, and whenever I've tried to watch some of his films I was bored to hell within two minutes.
But Tim is always interesting to read.
I'll say it once and say it loud: I voted for Miyazaki and I'm proud. He's the most interesting practitioner of anime purely because he does something different from the usual anime tropes and excesses: his sensibilities are feminist instead of phallocentric; his aesthetic is environmentalism, not steampunk technophilia.
ReplyDelete@Javi: I thought of Almodovar when making that claim, and I'd argue that his earlier films (of those I've seen, and discounting Women on the Verge as that was kind of his blueprint for a while) aren't as stylistically experimental and audacious as Lee's work, especially the first half of his career. I'd love to read reviews of All About My Mother, Talk to Her and Bad Education, though.
ReplyDeleteAlmodovar would be my 2nd vote, if I had one. But there's a whole lot left of July so I wouldn't be so sure Miyazaki's got it in the bag...
The truth is that there isn't a dud on the list, so we'll have a good month no matter what. Still, my argument against Miyazaki would be one of lack of diversity. I've enjoyed all of his films that I've seen (about half) but there's a hair's breadth between many of them. Which is okay I suppose, it just makes for less interesting reading.
ReplyDeleteI saw the voting again today, and I'm surprised at the love for Pakula. I guess it could be interesting though. I watched The pelican brief recently, and I thought they should have bought a two-page add on all main newspapers declaring their love for Julia Roberts, and save themselves the effort of making the movie. I mean, it's so out there, I was embarrassed while watching the movie. The ending...
ReplyDeleteAlso, if may say so, I consider voting Ang Lee (another favorite to win, as I see) a little bit of a waste, considering Tim has already reviewed Brokeback mountain and Lust, caution, and his filmography is not that long.
Yes, and The Ice Storm is the only other movie I'm terribly interested in reading a review of.
ReplyDeleteI'll turn this into a race war if it's what I gotta do for Spike to get some love.
Nothing surprises me more than the lack of enthusiasm for Spike, to be honest. I figured he'd walk away with it or, at the very least, finish close to the top.
ReplyDeletePelican Brief may not exactly be Pakula's high water mark, but All the President's Men, Klute, and The Parallax View all make the case for him quite nicely. Plus, his career has a fair amount of variety.
It bears mentioning that the chief reason I put Ang Lee on the poll was my strong sense that my Lust, Caution review was completely unsatisfactory.
ReplyDeleteOtherwise, I agree with Will: I though Spike Lee had this thing in a walk. And I expected Almodóvar to be his stiffest competition.
Well, I voted for Almodovar since I've not had a chance to hear about his earlier work and I think his films can have very diverging opinions and reactions.
ReplyDeleteAlso, it's sad to note the truth in Tim's shorthand that it would be a "five-man shortlist." When I recently mentioned to a friend that I am only reading women's fiction this year as a new year's resolution, she nodded, then smiled as she said, "now try doing that with film." It was then I realized how ridiculously hard it seems to be to find women filmmakers in the local library, at the theaters, etc.
What would be your top twenty women filmmakers?
peace from downriver,
Matt