polanski is one of my favorite directors. i finally saw the latest documentary on him made in 2008 (wanted and desired) which made me rather sad. of course, as the case is with most ‘good’ directors, he’s done his share of terrible films; ‘bitter moon 1992‘ is just one of them. bitter moon was almost as bad as bertolucci’s last tango in paris.  in that film, i felt embarrassed for the actors and the director. but his ‘knife in the water 1962‘, ‘chinatown 1974‘, ‘rosemary’s baby 1968‘ (starring another favorite director of mine, john cassavetes), ‘the tenant 1976‘ (a lovely film about france in general) and of course ‘repulsion 1965‘. all of these films remain to be what “polanski” is to me. his later film ‘the pianist‘, which received so much attention, wasn’t that terrible, but by no means did it deserve the given status to be the defining moment of his career. of course, hollywood is always late in awarding great talent. maybe they were just catching up for lost time. by dd