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Poll

Where do you stand on the directing talent of David Cronenberg?

Anytime he makes a movie, there’s a good chance it’ll be a masterpiece.
2 (7.1%)
He is usually great and certainly one of our Best Directors.
10 (35.7%)
He is solid, but only sometimes Great.
11 (39.3%)
He is Good.  I don’t think he’ll ever be Great.
1 (3.6%)
I don’t think there’s anything special about his directing.
4 (14.3%)

Total Members Voted: 28

Author Topic: Cronenberg, David - The Top Directors Working Today  (Read 2028 times)

1SO

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Cronenberg, David - The Top Directors Working Today
« on: June 05, 2008, 01:35:10 PM »
Cronenberg’s last two films gave him the strongest critical support of his career, but I feel like I got off the bandwagon a few stops back (somewhere after NAKED LUNCH and before CRASH.)  I think A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE is okay, but severely overrated, as his style seems to have evolved from shockingly violent to surprisingly flat.

Looking over a couple of polls that posted last month, nobody here seems to have much to say about his early horror film period.  For most of you Cronenberg was deserving of attention after Videodrome, The Dead Zone and The Fly.  I'm a big fan of The Brood and  Shivers also has quite a few good moments.  I like a lot of Scanners, but (as zarodinu pointed out) the lead is terrible.

Dead Ringers was where Cronenberg really took his directing to the next level.  I wasn't a big fan, but I appreciated his attempting something more artistic.  Naked Lunch, to me, is Cronenberg's one true masterpiece.

And I think we're all exhausted attacking or defending A History of Violence.  I hope the comments here focus more on the body of work in general, as well as hopes for the future.
« Last Edit: October 28, 2010, 04:51:57 AM by pixote »

duder

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Re: The Top Directors Working Today: David Cronenberg
« Reply #1 on: June 05, 2008, 02:19:08 PM »
Love his 80s/early 90s phase, with Videodrome, The Fly, Dead Ringers and Naked Lunch. I was lukewarm on Crash and eXistenZ and skipped Spider, but A History of Violence was one of my favorites from that year. Eastern Promises was not as good, but still ok. What you call flat, I call dry. I like the new direction.

And yeah, I have to catch up with his earlier work. I guess I'll watch Spider too, at some point.
« Last Edit: June 05, 2008, 02:22:52 PM by El Duderino »
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Kevin Shields

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Re: The Top Directors Working Today: David Cronenberg
« Reply #2 on: June 05, 2008, 03:13:25 PM »
I think he's one of the great directors we have.

His early films were definitely shock films and then, he progressed into being this solid yet strange and fetishistic director.  Then came Crash which I think, was the peak of his extremities.  Then, he kinda restrained himself which leads to his recent crop of films.  I think he's matured over the years and is getting better every time with each film on a technical level as well as storytelling.  I'm anxious for what he does next. 
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St. Martin the Bald

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Re: The Top Directors Working Today: David Cronenberg
« Reply #3 on: June 05, 2008, 05:24:20 PM »
Cronenberg is one of my favorite directors - his techno-fetish bent in his first wave of work (ending with Crash) established his individuality and his visual style, then he went and reinvented himself and abandoned his exploration of combining man and technology and started re-examining his own work and role violence plays in it and in society at large. For all its humdrum (I call it steady) pacing in Eastern Promises - the brutally raw bath house fight scene was inevitable and more shocking than a lot of his more violent films, the same with AHOV - I think he's trying to show that a realistic form of violence is still more jarring than the usual cinematic form that we have become so desensitized to. I like him because he has something to say w/o being "preachy" - showing, not telling.
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skjerva

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Re: The Top Directors Working Today: David Cronenberg
« Reply #4 on: June 22, 2008, 07:05:57 PM »
i just noticed Scanners is playing at Doc this summer :) 

(actually, loads of cool stuff on their summer calendar.  i'm most excited about the kubelka program, warhol's Camp, and Yvonne Rainer's Kristina Talking Pictures - so much goodness, i love doc!)
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chesterfilms

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Re: The Top Directors Working Today: David Cronenberg
« Reply #5 on: June 22, 2008, 07:48:26 PM »
He is solid, but only sometimes Great.
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Dave the Necrobumper

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Re: Cronenberg, David - The Top Directors Working Today
« Reply #6 on: November 19, 2010, 02:26:55 PM »
If I could have voted:
He is usually great and certainly one of our Best Directors.

Bill Thompson

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Re: Cronenberg, David - The Top Directors Working Today
« Reply #7 on: November 19, 2010, 05:10:45 PM »
If I voted it would have been the first option, any film he makes has the chance to be a masterpiece, and usually that's what he ends up making.