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Polanski's latest is a supernatural mystery reminiscent of Umberto Eco's books (e.g., Foucault's Pendulum). Although the preview trailer makes it look like a special effects action picture, it is more like a psychological thriller in which Johnny Depp's character learns more about himself through the process of searching for copies of a rare book. I would have preferred a version in which no special effects are used, leaving to the viewer's imagination the question of evil having a physical manifestation. It is interesting to compare this film to "Eyes Wide Shut", which has some parallels but is much slower and takes itself much more seriously than "Ninth Gate". "Ninth Gate" held my interest, although Emmanuelle Seigner's character identity is obvious from the not-so-subtle hints. Still, there are those who won't be satisfied until Lucifer shows up sprouting horns and a tail, covered in hellfire; that isn't gonna happen in this film.
Polanski's latest horror was a disappointment to me in some ways, too. I had high hopes for this combination of a film based on a good book (Club Dumas), good actors (adore Langella and Depp), and a director with three great horror films under his belt (Fearless Vampire Killers, Rosemary's Baby, and Repulsion). The Ninth Gate didn't measure up to these, though I still enjoyed it overall.In fact, the book is based on a fine novel, Arturo Perez-Reverte's The Club Dumas, which the dust jacket describes as a "beach book for intellectuals." Polanski follows the plot fairly faithfully, but it's one of those novels that's shot-through with the kind of literary references that may not translate well to the screen. In this case, the novel's "subtext" is Alexander Dumas' novel The Three Musketeers. The Perez-Reverte book assumes an audience that's familiar with the Dumas novel. I'm not sure whether that's true for Polanski's film adaptation. If a person really liked the movie, the question might be worth following up.
What surprised me about the film is the manner in which various characters handled books. These were supposed to be early printed editions, which can be quite fragile (or very tough - depends on the book and how it's been cared for). One of the books is reputed to be invaluable, but Depp and his book-collector friend handle it like it was cheap paperback. I work in a rare book and manuscript library, and those scenes made me cringe more than any horned devil with cloven hooves and a pitchfork.
BTW, does anyone know what city Polanski used for New York City? (I'm assuming that Polanski still can't return to the U.S., and that he had to shoot another city as New York in the film.)
Wasn't he in something called the Lodger? It was set in Paris and was about the problem of finding an apartment. You had to wait until someone died, that's how tight the rental scene was.I found the movie very unsettling. He starred in it, but maybe he wasn't the director. I think it's from way back in the seventies.
Looked it up. It's the Tenant. The critics hated it. One called it a "self-parody". All the same, I found it creepy and not boring.
Yes, that's right! So Polanski has done five horror films altogether: Fearless Vampire Killers, Rosemary's Baby, Repulsion, The Tenant, and The Ninth Gate. Polanski directed all of them and appeared in two, FVK and The Tenant. I think he'd have made a good actor for the lead role in Ninth Gate if he were the right age (or at least the age of that character in the book). Ironic that Depp appeared in The Astronaut's Wife, which owes so much to Rosemary's Baby.
I'm wondering now if there is a common theme in all of the above movies,or is he only examining evil's different manifestations?I'm tempted to rent them now to compare. Perhaps going along with evil, might be the theme in some of them--Rosemary's Baby, The Tenant.
Was the Fearless Vampire Killers any good?
Oh yes, what about Knife in the Water, what category would that one fall into?
I'm thinking of Polanski along with Jerzy Kosinski as artists who were deeply scarred by the Nazi years. Perhaps he is going over the material of his life to try to make some sense of it all.
> > I'm tempted to rent them now to compare. Perhaps going along with evil, might be the theme in some of them--Rosemary's Baby, The Tenant. < <A Roman Polanski horror film fest? That would be fun and interesting.
> > Was the Fearless Vampire Killers any good? < <
Yes, absolutely, especially if you grew up on Hammer horror films the way I did. FVK is a sendup of the Hammer horror films of the 60s which manages despite itself to be genuinely creepy in moments. Roger Ebert has his head up his ass when he calls FVK Polanski's worst film. Speaking of film fests, a good couple of films would be Polanski's Fearless Vampire Killers and ...: you would see Ferdy Mayne on both sides of the vampire fence, as a vampire and as a vampire hunter.
Evil triumphs in all of Polanski's horror films, including FVK (in which Sharon Tate becomes a vampire -- the film ends with her preparing to bite Polanski). Here's what one reviewer says about the cut U.S. version of the film: "The altered cut tries unsuccessfully to maintain a slapstick comedy tone, and blunts Polanski's clear message: the ineffectualness of virtue in the face of organized Evil. It is a theme shared byROSEMARY'S BABY and CHINATOWN, and present to some degree in Polanski's entire filmography."
> > Oh yes, what about Knife in the Water, what category would that one fall into? < <
I'm deeply ashamed as a self-professed Polanski fan that I haven't seen this one. I shall rent it immediately. For an interesting discussion of the horror genre, read Stephen King's Danse Macabre.
> > I'm thinking of Polanski along with Jerzy Kosinski as artists who were deeply scarred by the Nazi years. Perhaps he is going over the material of his life to try to make some sense of it all.> >
One would also have to figure into the equation the manner in which Polanski's pregnant wife met her death.
I forgot to mention the name of the Hammer horror with Ferdy Mayne as a vampire hunter. Anyone know? Is it Captain Kronos?
To me, Noah Cross (John Huston) in "Chinatown" embodied evil better than characters in any of Polanski's horror films.
I could not believe the amount of tobacco smoked in this film! And like you, I was concerned about the damage the books could incur.It is nice to see that Polanski still has a sense of humor about Satanic cults. When Langella says "Boo!", I felt like Polanski himself was flipping the Manson Family "the Bird".
Dunno about the NYC substitute, but Polanski could have just used the location footage that someone else (assistant director?) provided.
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