Review and news hub for movies, music and video games

Earlier today, I received an email from Fearnet's mailing list with "Free Polanski... Movie" as the subject. It is, obviously, a reference to the Free Polanski petition currently making rounds in the film community; but Fearnet isn't promoting that. They just want to sensationally let people know that they have Roman Polanski's great 1965 horror film Repulsion up for free viewing on their website.

Hey, just because it's 44 years ago doesn't mean we should all just forget!

You can watch the full film over there.

On a more serious note, at this point I'm rather ambivalent about Polanski's fate. I'm not going to cry for the man if they throw him in jail. Don't kick a monkey if you can't take a poop in the face, right? Serves him right, or something like that. But I'm not going to pitch a hissy if they let him go, either. I'd feel bad for the victim, but she actually wants Polanski free, so there goes that. So he'll go back to France, a country that doesn't seem to hate or feel threatened by him, return to his wife of 20 years and their kids, then spend the (let's be honest, short) remainder of his life making more movies. Big menace. It seems that the people who want to see him burn are not speaking on society's behalf, but rather acting out of a desire to see the justice system carried out—which is perfectly understandable. Time does come in a double-disc set with crime.

Reading the many heated discussions of his arrest freely spread out across the web, on more than one occasion (to put it lightly) I came across people suggesting that we should also boycott the movies of those who support Polanski. And who are those? One only has to take a look at the names signing the previously mentioned Free Polanski petition, which is being distributed by mega-producer Harvey Weinstein. People are already hating on Whoopi Goldberg and Woody Allen for speaking out. I know why those two get special attention specifically, but if we're going to chide Polanski's defenders, wouldn't it only be fair to go after the following people too?

• Pedro Almodovar
• Wes Anderson
• Asia Argento
• Darren Aronofsky
• Juan Antonio Bayona
• Monica Bellucci
• Gael Garcia Bernal
• Bernardo Bertolucci
• Adrien Brody
• Penelope Cruz
• Alfonso Cuaron
• Guillermo del Toro
• Jonathan Demme
• Stephen Frears
• Terry Gilliam
• Taylor Hackford
• Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
• Neil Jordan
• Harmony Korine
• John Landis
• David Lynch
• Michael Mann
• Sam Mendes
• Mike Nichols
• Alexander Payne
• Martin Scorsese
• Steven Soderbergh
• Tilda Swinton
• Wim Wenders
• Wong Kar Wai
• Terry Zwigoff

There are plenty more (including Ludivine Sagnier, Olivier Assayas, Fatih Akin, etc.), but I'm only highlighting the most well-known ones. Those are some very important names in cinema. Those are the people who have contributed a great deal to art and culture. The idea of antagonizing each and every one of them is silly at best. This doesn't even include other famous people who privately support him but don't want to see their names printed on a petition; or future filmmakers you might love someday who are now just sitting in their dorm room watching Chinatown for the 17th time.

Why not just stop watching movies and television altogether? It'll save you time. Me, all I know is that Polanski made great movies and I happen to love great movies. Movies that have been and will continue to be great no matter what happens to their maker in real life. As long as they continue to be great movies, I will continue to watch them, and I will continue to encourage other people to watch Polanski's movies.

One other thing—I don't understand people who say they're going to stop watching Polanski's movies now. What were they doing for the last 30 years, then? Waiting? Was there a guy in 2005 thinking to himself, "As soon as they catch up to him, I'll smash this The Pianist DVD! It'll happen someday..." It's like a bunch of people who arrived near the end of the party asking for a change in the menu. Just go home, guys.

But anyway, watch Repulsion for free.