We love seeing which films rank among our favorite directors’ list of best ever — the ones that left a mark and steered them in the path of becoming some of the most renowned artists of the medium. But let’s face it, we don’t mind a little conflict, either. But Park Chan-wook wasn’t going after his fellow directors in a physical way but rather in a much more damming way — attacking their work!
In a recently unearthed slam session from 1999, Park Chan-wook called out 10 films that he considered the most overrated ever. Keep in mind that by this point, the South Korean director only had two features to his credit. So what’s on the list and what did he have to say? Let’s check it out:
Park Chan-wook primarily took issue with American films, opening the list with Oliver Stone’s Natural Born Killers, which can hardly be called overrated considering it has always been insanely divisive. Regardless, he said of the 1994 film, “This film steals from the works of true independent cinema and makes a huge fuss selling them all out.” Heading later into the 1990s, Park Chan-wook called out Terrence Malick’s The Thin Red Line (#7) for being totally undefined and having “pedantic monologues.” He, too, didn’t think that Alex Proyas’ Dark City (#8) deserved any of the praise young filmmakers had been giving it. And he took it even further with David Lynch’s Lost Highway (#3), calling it “pretentious” aka pretty much the worst thing you can call a film.
Park Chan-wook also slighted Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (outside of the shower scene and Bernard Herrmann score) and Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket, which came in at #1. On that, he said, “Kubrick is something of a mysticized figure. This film in particular is very inferior to his other works. The recruits training of the first half is awesome, but the latter half in Vietnam is a dud.” And yes, he did make room for the granddaddy of all, Citizen Kane (#9), saying it was “a self-indulgent display of techniques without any emotional resonance to justify its scale.” He would go on to praise Orson Welles’ later works, presumably meaning his contributions to the frozen peas industry.
For more international fare, Park Chan-wook put Japan’s Hana-bi at #2, Hong Kong’s Chungking Express at #5 and The Big Blue at #6.
We all have our list of most overrated films ever so it’s cool to see what Park Chan-wook puts on his own list. Personally, I can see justification for something like Psycho and Full Metal Jacket even though I’m a huge fan of both. However, his gripe with Citizen Kane is a bit amateur and obvious, while I’ll never tolerate any form of The Thin Red Line bashing. But go on, Park, you tell Oliver Stone’s what’s up!
What do you make of Park Chan-wook’s list of the most overrated films ever? Do you think he has strong takes or is he off base? Give us your take below!