Match Cut Directors Consensus - Darren Aronofsky

[StanleyK]

No guarantee I'll actually tally the results, but post your lists.

In case tallying does eventually happen, please follow the format of the original threads to make the job easier: chronological order with a rating from 1 to 10 (half-points allowed) next to each movie.

Probably one of the most frustrating directors out there. There's just about as much to love as there is to hate in his movies, sometimes in the same scene.

[StanleyK]

Pi - 5.5
Requiem for a Dream - 7
The Fountain - 8.5
The Wrestler - 7
Black Swan - 5.5
Noah - 5.5
Mother! - 7

[Dukefrukem]

1.Requiem for a Dream 10
2.mother! 10
3.Pi 10
4.The Wrestler 9
5.Black Swan 7
6.Noah 6
7.Fortune Cookie 6

8.The Fountain Needs a rewatch

[Ezee E]

Pi - 6
Requiem for a Dream - 9
The Fountain - 5
The Wrestler - 8.5
Black Swan - 9
Noah - 7.5
mother! - 8.5

[Mysterious Dude]

Pi - 9.5
Requiem for a Dream - 10
The Fountain - 6.5
The Wrestler - 8
Black Swan - 9
Noah - 6.5
Mother! - 7.5

[baby doll]

Pi (1998) 7
Requiem for a Dream (2000) 7
The Fountain (2006) 6
The Wrestler (2008) 5
Black Swan (2010) 4
mother! (2017) 5

[Spinal]

Pi 8
Requiem for a Dream 8.5
The Fountain 5.5
The Wrestler 4
Black Swan 6.5
mother! 8

[Peng]

Pi - 6.5
Requiem for a Dream - 9.5
The Fountain - 8.5
The Wrestler - 8
Black Swan - 9
Noah - 7
mother! - 8

[Skitch]

Pi - 10
Requiem for a Dream - 9.5
The Fountain - 8.5
The Wrestler - 5.5
Black Swan - 8
Noah - 6
mother! - 7.5

[Pop Trash]

Pi - 7
Requiem for a Dream - 9
The Fountain - 9
The Wrestler - 8
Black Swan - 8
mother! - 8

Imma fan of his consistent no-fucks-given De Palma + Cronenberg + David Lynch meltdowns. His films are also more funny than they are given credit.

[baby doll]

Imma fan of his consistent no-fucks-given De Palma + Cronenberg + David Lynch meltdowns. His films are also more funny than they are given credit.I liked his schtick more when I was a teenager. Not having seen Pi or Requiem for a Dream since my late-teens or early 20s, I'm not sure if that's because I've grown out of said schtick in the interim or if he just sucks now. Maybe a bit of both.

[Pop Trash]

I liked his schtick more when I was a teenager. Not having seen Pi or Requiem for a Dream since my late-teens or early 20s, I'm not sure if that's because I've grown out of said schtick in the interim or if he just sucks now. Maybe a bit of both.

His films exist in the same Venn diagram as De Palma between ludicrously campy melodrama and dark, disturbing thrills. I get a real contact high from them.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Pi - 8
Requiem for a Dream - 9
The Fountain - 7
Black Swan - 8
Noah - 7 (but with a lot of secret and shameful love)
mother! - 7!

Been debating doing a YouTube video about how much Jewish folklore and kabbalah informed Pi, Noah, and mother!. But I probably won't. But someone out there should.

[Irish]

Noah - 7 (but with a lot of secret and shameful love)

It's not a good movie but there were many, many things about it that were worthwhile --- and even defensible. I don't think your love should be shameful.

(I like that Aronofsky travels further afield and creates work that's decidedly non-commercial. It's sure as shit more interesting than most.)


Been debating doing a YouTube video about how much Jewish folklore and kabbalah informed Pi, Noah, and mother!.

I would be extremely interested in this.

[baby doll]

His films exist in the same Venn diagram as De Palma between ludicrously campy melodrama and dark, disturbing thrills. I get a real contact high from them.That's evidently what he's going for, at least in Black Swan and mother!; I just don't think he does a terribly good job of it. mother!, in particular, seemed to me to suffer from the same problem as Zulawski's Possession: It starts out bonkers and then keeps trying to top itself for two hours. Aronofsky clearly knows how to jolt an audience but he has less aptitude for any kind of sustained storytelling. Rather than a montage of attractions, we invariably get something closer to a conveyor belt--it's just one damn thing after another.

[Pop Trash]

That's evidently what he's going for, at least in Black Swan and mother!; I just don't think he does a terribly good job of it. mother!, in particular, seemed to me to suffer from the same problem as Zulawski's Possession: It starts out bonkers and then keeps trying to top itself for two hours. Aronofsky clearly knows how to jolt an audience but he has less aptitude for any kind of sustained storytelling. Rather than a montage of attractions, we invariably get something closer to a conveyor belt--it's just one damn thing after another.

I know what you mean about Possession (which I do like). I watched it on a double feature with Polanski's The Tenant a few years ago and preferred Polanski's mysterious, slow burn approach to Zulawski's nuts and nutser approach. I don't think mother! is really like that, though. The first half of that film is a slow burn until it ramps up and goes bonkers. Eventually it turns into a surreal Bunuel-esque comedy-of-manners. It contains some of the most hilarious scenes of 2017. It also, obviously, has some of the most disturbing. I still can't believe it opened wide in North America.

[baby doll]

I know what you mean about Possession (which I do like). I watched it on a double feature with Polanski's The Tenant a few years ago and preferred Polanski's mysterious, slow burn approach to Zulawski's nuts and nutser approach. I don't think mother! is really like that, though. The first half of that film is a slow burn until it ramps up and goes bonkers. Eventually it turns into a surreal Bunuel-esque comedy-of-manners. It contains some of the most hilarious scenes of 2017. It also, obviously, has some of the most disturbing. I still can't believe it opened wide in North America.The first half of this movie is pretty nuts, beginning with the absurd premise that a poet could afford to live in this house on his writing alone. In other words, despite the efforts of the talented cast to give their characters some reality, there are no real people in this film that one can believe in very seriously, only allegorical figures. Accordingly, the hyperbole of the first and second half of the film feels willed, a self-conscious tour de force, rather than growing organically from the characters and situation.

[Pop Trash]

Scorsese on mother! and contempo cinema culture in general:

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/martin-scorsese-rotten-tomatoes-box-office-obsession-why-mother-was-misjudged-guest-column-1047286

[Spinal]

I still can't believe it opened wide in North America.

Guess they thought Jennifer Lawrence would be enough to pull people in. It kind of reminds me of when I saw Holy Smoke at my local mall theater, presumably because it featured the star of Titanic.

[Pop Trash]

Guess they thought Jennifer Lawrence would be enough to pull people in. It kind of reminds me of when I saw Holy Smoke at my local mall theater, presumably because it featured the star of Titanic.

Eyes Wide Shut was like that. Its got Tom and Nicole, guys!

[Ivan Drago]

Pi - 8
Requiem For A Dream - 8.5
The Fountain - 9
The Wrestler - 7.5
Black Swan - 10
Noah - 7.5
mother! - 9.5

[Yxklyx]

Requiem for a Dream - 10
Mother! - 9
Pi - 9
The Fountain - 8
Black Swan - 8
The Wrestler - 7

I think Dukefrukem and I are nearly on the same page - except for The Wrestler.

[MadMan]

I know what you mean about Possession (which I do like). I watched it on a double feature with Polanski's The Tenant a few years ago and preferred Polanski's mysterious, slow burn approach to Zulawski's nuts and nutser approach. I don't think mother! is really like that, though. The first half of that film is a slow burn until it ramps up and goes bonkers. Eventually it turns into a surreal Bunuel-esque comedy-of-manners. It contains some of the most hilarious scenes of 2017. It also, obviously, has some of the most disturbing. I still can't believe it opened wide in North America.

Possession is much better than The Tenant. Polanski has done far better films.

[MadMan]

Pi-9 (90 on my own scale)
Requiem for a Dream-10 (100)
The Wrestler-10 (98, needs a rewatch)
Black Swan-9.5 (95)
mother!-10 (98 really from me)

Still have not seen Noah or The Fountain. I am glad I saw mother on the big screen, just because it was an experience, heh. I was the only one in the theater.

Pi is wonderfully strange, but it suffers from its limitations. I saw and was impressed by Requieum this year. The Wrestler struck a cord with me, but I have only seen it once. Black Swan still echoes in my memory, particularly for its take on glory exacting a high price.

[MadMan]

Pi - 8
Requiem for a Dream - 9
The Fountain - 7
Black Swan - 8
Noah - 7 (but with a lot of secret and shameful love)
mother! - 7!

Been debating doing a YouTube video about how much Jewish folklore and kabbalah informed Pi, Noah, and mother!. But I probably won't. But someone out there should.

Go for it.

[Yxklyx]

Possession is much better than The Tenant. Polanski has done far better films.

Love Possession but I suppose I should rewatch The Tenant - dang not on Netflix DVD - does their streaming service have it?

[MadMan]

Love Possession but I suppose I should rewatch The Tenant - dang not on Netflix DVD - does their streaming service have it?

I don't think so. I believe I rented The Tenant from my local library.

[StanleyK]

1. Requiem for a Dream - 9.04 (13)
2. mother! - 8.08 (13)
3. Pi - 7.79 (12)
4. Black Swan - 7.62 (13)
5. The Wrestler - 7.54 (12)
6. The Fountain - 7.50 (11)
7. Noah - 6.63 (8)

Average: 7.74

Didn't qualify:
Fortune Cookie - 6.00 (1)

Biggest fan: Dukefrukem
Biggest hater: baby doll



Requiem for a Dream would have been inducted in the Match Cut Hall of Fame.

[baby doll]

Requiem for a Dream would have been inducted in the Match Cut Hall of Fame.The one thing we can all agree on is ass-to-ass.

[Thirdmango]

Requiem for a Dream - 5
The Wrestler - 8
Noah - 5

[Spinal]

The one thing we can all agree on is ass-to-ass.


Requiem for a Dream - 5


Apparently not!

[Dukefrukem]

1. Requiem for a Dream - 9.04 (13)
2. mother! - 8.08 (13)
3. Pi - 7.79 (12)
4. Black Swan - 7.62 (13)
5. The Wrestler - 7.54 (12)
6. The Fountain - 7.50 (11)
7. Noah - 6.63 (8)

Average: 7.74

Didn't qualify:
Fortune Cookie - 6.00 (1)

Biggest fan: Dukefrukem
Biggest hater: baby doll



Requiem for a Dream would have been inducted in the Match Cut Hall of Fame.

I'm very happy with these rankings. I dont think I've been so satisfied with MC ranking stuff. Well done everyone.

Do we have a MC hall of fame? If not, I'm going to make a thread for it.

[StanleyK]

I'm very happy with these rankings. I dont think I've been so satisfied with MC ranking stuff. Well done everyone.

It's really surprising to me that a polarizing movie like mother! has such a strong consensus rating, especially compared to The Fountain which I seem to remember was very well loved around here.

[Dukefrukem]

mother! literally took my breathe away. I can understand why some wouldn't like it. But I went into it blind and came away feeling something hither to unheard of. I'd put it up there as one of the most impactful movies I've ever seen.

[StanleyK]

Do we have a MC hall of fame? If not, I'm going to make a thread for it.

I believe this was the last update to the regular Directors Consensus which used to happen weekly:

Match Cut Director Consensus - YEAR 5 (http://matchcut.artboiled.com/showthread.php?2670-Match-Cut-Director-Consensus-YEAR-5)


HALL OF FAME
47. Woman in the Dunes - 9.0 (14)
46. The Green Ray - 9.000 (7)
45. Secrets & Lies (1996) - 9.000 (14)
44. Shoeshine (1946) - 9.000
43. Dr. Strangelove (1964) - 9.012
42. The Sweet Hereafter (1997) - 9.017
41. Pulp Fiction (1993) - 9.020
40. My Life To Live - 9.029
39. All that Jazz - 9.0294 (17)
38. In the Mood for Love (2000) - 9.034
37. Seven Samurai (1954) - 9.041
36. Ordet - 9.062
35. To Be Or Not To Be (1942) - 9.063
34. Throne of Blood (1957) - 9.067
33. Umberto D (1952) - 9.075
32. The Third Man - 9.080
31. Paths of Glory (1957) - 9.088
30. The Goat (1921) - 9.091
29. Double Indemnity ((1944) - 9.094
28. Sunset Blvd (1950) - 9.097
27. El (1953) 9.1
26. Little Dieter Needs To Fly (1997) - 9.125
25. High and Low (1963) - 9.150
24. Schindler’s List (1993) - 9.150
23. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) - 9.156
22. The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly (1966) - 9.166
21. Mulholland Drive (2001) - 9.174
20. Satan's Tango (1994) - 9.2
19. The Son - 9.2
18. Pather Panchali - 9.2
17. Apocalypse Now (1979) - 9.205
16. Rear Window (1954) - 9.207
15. Manhattan (1979) - 9.213
14. Late Spring (1949) - 9.214
13. Do The Right Thing (1989) - 9.346
12. Los Olvidados (1950) - 9.357
11. Yearning – 9.375 (4)
10. The Godfather (1972) - 9.390
9. Annie Hall (1977) - 9.420
8. The Passion of Joan of Arc (1929) - 9.464
7. Sunrise (1927) - 9.469
6. Fargo (1996) - 9.476
5. Baseball - 9.5
4. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) - 9.500
3. Sherlock, Jr. (1924) - 9.528
2. Casablanca (1942) - 9.532
1. Citizen Kane (1941) - 9.553

[Ezee E]

Love that Baseball is a top five of all time.

[Pop Trash]

What the hell is Yearning?

[baby doll]

What the hell is Yearning?One of Naruse Mikio's best late period films.

[Thirdmango]

Apparently not!

Truth. I feel like Requiem for a Dream is effective, I've never had a movie make me have to literally pause the movie and lie down because I literally felt ill, but then I'm not really a fan of feeling ill and needing to throw up because a movie prayed on my low blood pressure so well.