Born in Paris in the early 1930s, Roman Polanski lived a life marked by many tragedies.
From seeing both parents taken away to the camps during the Nazi occupation of Poland and forced to live with a series of clandestine foster families to a later youth under the equally horrific oppression of Communist Russia and the Poland of the Iron Curtain, he came to the attention of the film community with his debut film Knife in the Water, quickly moving on to a series of British and American successes.
But even then, tragedy struck, with his new wife and future child murdered viciously by the Manson Family, with all these experiences feeding into his grim, fatalistically existential narratives onscreen. Later (rather compromised) court matters led to his being scapegoated and rendered fugitive, forced to continue his directorial endeavors in a handful of European countries not subject to extradition laws (a matter that returned to public attention in the early millenium.)
His is a cinema marked by both Decadence and doom, grimly determinist and Kafkaesque regardless of genre or subject, from Hitchcockian narrative to spy thriller to outright horror.
Oft feted and nominated (and winning) laudatory awards both domestically and abroad (in England, France and Europe per se) and much discussed in critical circles, he nonetheless remains something of a controversial figure, most often due to circumstances entirely out of his control or driven by self-serving accusatory figures in the media, courts and even public opinion. But do these accusations paint as clear cut a condemnation of the man as it may seem?
Join us as we discuss the life and films of Roman Polanski, and decide for
yourselves...
Week 87: Paranoia, Decadence and Dissolution – The Films of Roman Polanski
https://weirdscenes1.wordpress.com/
https://www.facebook.com/WeirdScenes1
https://twitter.com/WeirdScenes1 (@weirdscenes1)
https://thirdeyecinema.podbean.com/
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/third-eye-cinema-weird-scenes-inside-the-goldmine-podcast/id553402044
https:// (open.spotify.com) /show/4s8QkoE6PnAfh65C5on5ZS?nd=1
https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/09456286-8956-4b80-a158-f750f525f246/Third-Eye-Cinema-Weird-Scenes-Inside-the-Goldmine-podcast
Weird Scenes 4/4/19: Sean Connery - Beyond Bond
Weird Scenes 3/21/19: Roddy McDowall - a true character
Weird Scenes 3/7/19: The Italian Stallion: the Films of Sylvester Stallone
Weird Scenes 2/21/19: The King died on the throne: the weird world of the Elvis movie
Weird Scenes 2/7/19: Wk 58 Superhero cinema pt. 3: Marvel studios steps in
Weird Scenes 1/11/19: Week 56 - Superhero cinema pt. 1: DC
Weird Scenes 1/24/19: Week 57 - Superhero cinema pt. 2 : early Marvel
Weird Scenes 9/27/18 - Week 55 - This podcast will self destruct in 5 seconds
Weird Scenes 9/13/18 - Week 54: Eddie Romero and the horror of the Philippines
Weird Scenes 8/30/18: Week 53 - Joe Don Baker: Walk softly and carry a big stick
Weird Scenes 8/16/18: Week 52 - Easy Ridin' with Cap - the films of Peter Fonda
Weird Scenes 8/2/18: Week 51 - the OTHER career of William Shatner
Weird Scenes 7/19/18 - Radley Metzger - a dash of Euro Chic
Weird Scenes 7/5/18 - Io, Emmanuelle
Weird Scenes 6/21/18: Watch Out, Baby…it’s Eddie Constantine!
Weird Scenes 6/7/18: In the Shadow of Giants: the Weird World of Amicus films
Weird Scenes 5/24/18: The Icy Eyes of Death - the films of Barbara Steele
Weird Scenes 5/10/18: Embracing Mania – Ken Russell in the 80's
Weird Scenes 4/26/18: The First Gay Action Hero?
Week 92 (Sun. Oct. 15) - Mark Briody of Jag Panzer
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Cinema: A to B
I Finally Watched...
Star Wars Escape Pod
Pod Meets World
Kill James Bond!