Max von Sydow Memorial Poll

You missed Skyrim

what a run

honestly might vote Hannah and Her Sisters, his handful of scenes are great

I did miss Skyrim, yes.

Technically it's probably a Bergman. But he was so freaking good as Lassefar

i've seen The Emigrants, but Alfred says i can't vote til i see The New Land.

Shame is his best in the Bergmans.

i watched Through a Glass Darkly last night... of the four characters, he's the one who doesn't change; solid workmanlike presence though.

I went through a month-long binge of watching Bergman films, but it was a long time ago and I forget which was which apart from The Seventh Seal of course and Face to Face for some reason (though I might have that confused with Through A Glass Darkly), must go back and rewatch when I get around to it.

The Virgin Spring. Didn't have to think about it. I like Through a Glass Darkly more, but that's Harriet & Gunnar's movie. MVS at the end of The Virgin Spring is a force of nature. It is the most brutal and true depiction of revenge and its consequences I have ever seen in film.

RIP

I could vote for any of the Bergmans, but Shame is the one, and I'm saddened it's not better known.

The Emigrants and The New Land really are one film.

I’ll be basic and vote for The Seventh Seal.

Yes, him and Liv are phenomenal in it.

xp

The odd horror film The Night Visitor is a sleeper here, but it's gotta be a Bergman and I'd go with The Virgin Spring for flappy's reasons.

i foresee a Flash Gordon darkhorse win

An incredible headline pic.twitter.com/187X4fva7W

— Zach Schonfeld (@zzzzaaaacccchhh) March 9, 2020

The Virgin Spring would be my second choice. I need to see those Troells.

...and Flash Gordon, though I suspect that it’s one of those I’d’ve need to have first seen a 7 to still appreciate.

Pelle

he was only forty when he co-starred in The Exorcist! I thought he was 40 in 1932.

Going with the Passion of Anna

The actress who played his wife in The Virgin Spring was 12 years older than him; the one who played his daughter was only 10 years younger

No Strange Brew!?!?!?

Hm, yeah, that does look more important than a few I included.

https://www.theringer.com/movies/2020/3/9/21171594/max-von-sydow-dies-best-performances-seventh-seal-exorcist

Virgin Spring, 2nd choice would be Shame.

3rd would be Egg! Egg! A Hardboiled Story obvs

Weirdly beloved by Pauline Kael and nobody else is such a weird thing to say about Flash Gordon, I assume they mean at the time?

I've never actually seen Shutter Island but now I want to just to see this man:

https://www.aveleyman.com/Gallery/2017/V/18992-28832.jpg

go watch Shutter Island RIGHT NOW

I mean it is fucking terrible, but hilariously so

Counterpoint

I know I should vote for The Seventh Seal or Winter Light, but The Exorcist is indeed my favourite film here. If it's supposed to be performance, one of the Bergmans. I actually think he veers close to camp a couple of times in Hannah and Her Sisters.

Impossible to vote but he played a great cold blooded KGB dude in "The Kremlin Letter". Hilarious in HAHS and heartbreaking in "Pelle The Conqueror".

rewatched Winter Light fairly recently, he's so good in it, and he shoots himself pretty early on.

Strange Brew is fine (sorta), but voting for it would mark you as kind of a dick

rather ludicrously missing are The Best Intentions (in which Max plays Bergman's grandfather) and Until the End of the World

the George Stevens Jesus movie is infamously star-wrecked and gaseous, but MVS goes all in with the Nordic dignity. plus he gets baptized by Charlton Heston.

Guess what I voted

the power of Christ compelled you huh

I wouldn't have voted for it even if it were here, but Strange Brew is better than fine! Maybe it's a Canadian thing?

Joubert first in a strong field

I don’t interest myself in “why”. I think more often in terms of “when”, sometimes “where”… always “how much”

he was only forty when he co-starred in The Exorcist! I thought he was 40 in 1932.

― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn)

IRL LOL

RIP voice of Vigo, he's great in Until the End of the World tho many probably give up on the movie before he turns up for the third act

^This is a good point

he was born in '29, that makes him 44 in Exorcist

never saw it except a few minutes in a bar; looks like shit

I have a friend who worked on Hawaii ('66, w/ Julie Andrews after MVS did Greatest Story) who suggested the tagline "Mary Poppins is back and Jesus Christ has got her!"

Just read Kael's review of Hawaii for the first time; she also enjoyed von Sydow.

for the curious (tot forgot Hackman is in it):

https://letterboxd.com/notpaulinekael/film/hawaii/

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

good thing the winner produced a famous still

diverse