Euro 2012: Irish Films

Entry #7 of the Euro 2012 Book & Film Spotlight looks at the two Irish films.

The Guard (2011, John Michael McDonagh)

John Michael McDonagh offers a welcome variation on the overdone buddy cop comedy by setting the action in Ireland and having Brendan Gleeson’s politically incorrect character of Gerry Boyle inject some razor sharp humor. Boyle is not afraid to speak his mind and that lands him in some tricky situations. However, Boyle is also honest and willing to fight for certain values which makes him a lone hero in a corrupt world. Don Cheadle’s by-the-book FBI agent character is a worthy foil to Boyle’s unorthodox characteristics.

Kisses (2008, Lance Daly)

A coming of age tale that also doubles as a journey film involving two young kids, Dylan (Shane Curry) and Kylie (Kelly O'Neill), who run away from home to escape domestic violence and abuse. Dylan and Kylie end up spending an eventful night in Dublin where their initial hours offer them a magical world full of possibilities and new delights. However, when night falls they are forced to face the underbelly of Dublin’s street life and have to survive on their own wits. Despite the harsh subject matter on display, Lance Daly has created a tender film lifted by incredible performances from the two young actors.

Euro 2012: French Films

Entry #6 of the Euro 2012 Book & Film Spotlight looks at the two French films.

L’Apollonide (House of Tolerance/House of Pleasures) (2011, Bertrand Bonello)

Films set in a brothel often depict similar stories by incorporating a range of familiar characters from a young to an older prostitute and from a miserable to a romantic person. The clients that visit the brothels also appear to be cut from a similar template such as a young male after his first sexual experience, a rich man who falls in love with a prostitute and wants to rescue her and an older male simply looking for a friend. Therefore, a lot of credit must be given to Bertrand Bonello who manages to craft a unique film despite working in the confined framework of a brothel. Many of the characters shown in Bonello’s film are familiar from previous films set in a brothel but Bonello also adds elements of horror and fantasy while layering everything with a stylistic touch. For example, the recurring images of a panther and the tragic disfiguring of a prostitute’s face (“the woman who laughs”) are not only haunting but linger long in the memory. The films also contains delightful moments, such as the sequence of money being counted which perfectly illustrates the financial side of sexual transactions. Music also plays a key part in L’Apollonide while the visuals evoke sentiments of an underground world of drugs and sex. Even though the film does not depict rich colors, it exudes a bit of the sensuality found in rich supply in Hou Hsiao-hsien’s Flowers of Shanghai. As it turns out, Bonello mentions Hou Hsiao-hsien’s film in an interview with Cinema Scope:

One of my uncertainties was the atmosphere of the brothel in my film. I didn’t want that French, 1900s [makes a fanfare noise]… Moulin Rouge, etc. etc. So I went directly to that opium den mood in Hou Hsiao-hsien’s film, because it keeps the sensuality but is not hysterical. There’s an explicit homage in my film to Flowers of Shanghai: the Chinese violin.

Also, the final scene is a perfect way to end the film as it creates a bridge between brothels of the past and modern day prostitution. That crucial scene also illustrates how a film like L’Apollonide will never age and will always be relevant in our society.

Rapt (2009, Lucas Belvaux)

A rich man gets kidnapped. The kidnappers demand a ransom from the victim’s family. The family want to do whatever is possible to get their beloved back.

At this point, Lucas Belvaux’s Rapt tears up the familiar script found in cinematic kidnapped stories and goes off in a completely different direction with surprisingly powerful results.

The first deviation from conventional kidnapped stories is the realization the kidnapped man Stanislas Graff (Yvan Attal) is not as rich as everyone initially thought. He has a lot of debt and did his utmost to maintain an illusion of an extravagant lifestyle. Investigation into his life reveals his multiple affairs which alienates his wife and daughter. Stanislas’ company and board of directors are not too happy with his lifestyle and are reluctant to part with any funds for his release. As a result, Stanislas is cut adrift from the outside world and the only people who end up caring for him are his kidnappers who still believe they can get some money from his capture. With the exception of a few torture scenes, Rapt does not feature any of the action or heroic scenes often found in kidnapping tales. Words are the weapons of choice in Rapt and character assassinations are the only kinds of attacks that take place.

Same Same but different

Both L’Apollonide and Rapt show that in the hands of a talented director, a familiar setup can yield a completely different end product. Therefore even though one day stories may dry up, cinema will always continue to surprize as long as creative personalities stand behind a camera.

Euro 2012: Danish Films

Entry #5 of the Euro 2012 Book & Film Spotlight looks at the two Danish films.

Applause (2009, Martin Zandvliet)

Thea (Paprika Steen) is a woman clinging on the last threads of normality while her life is on the verge of collapsing. She is a supreme theatrical artist, confident and fiery, but is the complete opposite outside the stage, venerable and tame. Thea desperately wants to stay in touch with her two sons, who are in sole custody of their father, and tries to prove that she is a worthy mother. However, one step forward for her results in two backwards steps as her emotional pitfalls are never far away. The film splices scenes in between her plays and her non-professional life thereby gradually erasing the line between her theatrical persona and real personality. This style makes for an engaging character study with Paprika Steen putting in a career defining performance. The intense focus on her character and theatrical setting reminds a bit of John Cassavetes’s Opening Night.

Terribly Happy (2008, Henrik Ruben Genz)

The story and setting of the Danish film Terribly Happy, including the town and the bar, could comfortably exist in any of the Coen brothers’ films. Full credit to Henrik Ruben Genz for crafting a fine noir film, packed with a steamy affair and a murder, that maintains a tight tension until the end. Also, the film features a remarkable drinking stand-off sequence meant to literally determine the last man standing.

Euro 2012: Spanish Films

Entry #4 of the Euro 2012 Book & Film Spotlight looks at the two Spanish films.

The Last Circus (2010, Álex de la Iglesia)

An alternate film title for The Last Circus could easily be “The Beauty & The Two Beasts” as Natalia (Carolina Bang) finds herself in a tug of war between Javier (Carlos Areces) and Sergio (Antonio de la Torre), two men who transform into monsters as the film progresses. Javier, the ‘sad clown’, and Sergio exhibit shades of jealousy and violence to begin with but those emotions are partially masked. However, their facial disfiguration allows them to unleash their inner demons thereby liberating them from shackles of shame and humanity. As a result, Natalia finds herself having to choose between the lesser of two evil monsters. The love triangle story is an allegory for the Spanish political state and how love for one’s nation causes a person to resort to extreme measures. In that regard, Natalia represents a beautiful Spain forced to choose between different political ideologies, with each ideal being equally oppressive and evil.

Manuel Yáñez-Murillo’s Film Comment review excellently sums the film up.

Map of the Sounds of Tokyo (2009, Isabel Coixet)

The story of a female Japanese assassin falling for the Spanish man she is hired to kill sounds promising but unfortunately Isabel Coixet’s film fails to deliver beyond a few tantalizing moments. The chemistry between Ryu (Rinko Kikuchi) and David (Sergi López) lights up the screen but unfortunately those seductive pleasures are limited. The real star of the film has to be Tokyo, a city that almost steals every moment when the camera is not focused on the actors.

Euro 2012: Polish Films

Entry #3 of the Euro 2012 Book & Film Spotlight looks at the two Polish films.

The Mill and the Cross (2011, Lech Majewski)

The Mill and the Cross is literally a living breathing work of art. Lech Majewski’s camera dives into Pieter Bruegel’s 1564 painting The Procession to Calvary and expands on some of the painting’s tiny details. The film also depicts Bruegel (Rutger Hauer) and some of his inspirations in crafting such a complex work. It is easy to miss some of the details by quickly scanning the painting but Majewski’s technique of mixing live action and special effects ensures that the viewer is able to properly appreciate the beauty and sometimes brutality depicted in "The Procession to Calvary". The film’s initial moments shows a blown up version of the painting which brings the figures to life while the finale shows a static painting hung on a museum wall. As the camera moves away, the painting diminishes in size in a similar manner to how the planet diminishes at the end of Andrey Tarkovskiy’s Solaris.

Even though the painting starts to disappear from view, Majewski’s film ensures that the painting and ordeal of its subjects will remain long in memory.

In Darkness (2011, Agnieszka Holland)

In Agnieszka Holland’s In Darkness the camera dives underground to depict the true life story of how a few Polish Jews avoided being captured by the Nazis. Some of the Jews manage to hide in the sewers where they encounter Leopold Socha (Robert Wieckiewicz), a man who knows the sewer system better than anyone else. Initially, Socha agrees to help the Jews in exchange for money but eventually helps them out of humanity. Holland's film, aided by Jolanta Dylewska’s remarkable cinematography, highlights some of the challenges the survivors faced living in tight and dark quarters.

Euro 2012: Dutch Films

Entry #2 of the Euro 2012 Book & Film Spotlight looks at two Dutch films.

C'est déjà l'été (2010, Martijn Maria Smits)

The Dardennes style of filmmaking is often used to describe films that evoke the Belgian brothers' cinematic techniques. That technique usually involves an intense focus on a character struggling to make ends meet while stuck in a bleak urban landscape. However, in the case of C'est déjà l'été, the Dardennes style is a bit close to home because Martijn Maria Smits’ film is completely shot in Seraing, the industrial city that is home to the Dardennes and their films. Yet Martijn Maria Smits manages to stamp a unique imprint on his film because unlike the films of the Dardennes, C'est déjà l'été does not focus on a single character but instead features three generations in need of help and guidance. Jean (Patrick Descamps) is an unemployed father who isolates himself from his family and prefers to leave his two kids, a teenage son and elder daughter, on their own. The daughter also has a baby who she leaves with her younger brother when she goes on her screwing/drinking escapes. The multiple focus adds depth to the story and allows one to see the cyclical nature of the character's lives as each generation will inevitably fall into the same trap as the previous one leading to empty, unhappy and wasteful lives.

There is misery written all over the film but thankfully the worst imagined things don't occur, such as a death when a gun enters the story. Also, the bleakness does not become too overbearing mostly because the film is shot with a HD camera which renders the dirty surroundings of the industrial city with a poetic beauty.

Winter in Wartime (2008, Martin Koolhoven)

The setting of a coming of age story in World War II manages to throw up plenty of ethical and moral hurdles for its young protagonist Michiel (Martijn Lakemeier). When Michiel finds a wounded British soldier, he providers shelter and food for the soldier. Helping the soldier feels like a right decision for Michiel but since he is surrounded by Germans, his kind gesture puts his life in danger, especially since he is unsure about who to trust. As per the title, there are plenty of sequences in the snow and some of these snowy shots offer the best moments of the film. A bridge crossing near the end is one such sequence where equal amounts of tension take place in both the foreground and background of the frame.

Summer to Winter

The title C'est déjà l'été, which translates to "It’s Always Summer", is clearly ironic given the lack of joy in the character’s lives. Of course, if summer means misery for the characters, then one dreads what winter would bring. As it turns out, the answers are provided when the dreaded snow arrives in Winter in Wartime.

Euro 2012: Croatian Films

Entry #1 of the Euro 2012 Book & Film Spotlight looks at the two Croatian films.

Buick Riviera (2008, Goran Rusinovic)

Buick Riviera starts off in the snowy American mid-west when Hasan’s (Slavko Stimac) car breaks down in the middle of a deserted road. He is fortunate to get a lift from Vuko (Leon Lucev). The two exchange jokes and things are quite pleasant especially after they discover they are both from the former Yugoslavia. However, Vuko’s constants remarks about Muslim behavior anger Hasan and he counters with observations regarding Vuko’s Serb identity. Immediately, hatred and distrust flare up. Hasan heads home and things appear to have ended. But Vuko shows up at Hasan’s door, determined to buy Hasan’s beloved car, the Buick Riviera. The car then becomes a battleground as the two men try to assert control over the other. Hasan needs to preserve his car while Vuko wants it at all costs. Watching the duo’s confrontation with confusion is Hasan’s American wife, Angela (Aimee Klein), who does not understand the historical context of the men’s argument. Still, her character is essential because she serves as a moderator who oversees a critical scene in Hasan’s and Vuko’s verbal battle at the dinner table. In this scene, Angela is seated at the head of the table, equidistant from Hasan and Vuko who are across from each other. However, the camera’s perspective is nicely altered in certain moments to make it look like Angela is sitting closer to Vuko thereby portraying Hasan’s inner feelings where he feels he is on the verge of losing both his car and his wife. But just as he feels things slipping from his hands, memories of bloodshed in his former land come to Hasan’s mind and he is determined to fight back harder.

Goran Rusinovic’s brilliant film illustrates how hatred can persist through generations and lay dormant until one day it is unleashed in a full fledged war. On the surface, the film appears to be about two strangers whose chance encounter leads to volatile consequences but it is clear that the film is about more than just two people. The two characters’ situation gives us one example of how hatred can suddenly flare up out of a seemingly harmless situation and result in bloody revenge. In this regard, the film provides an answer to the question of why fighting broke out in the former Yugoslavia or why most cultures/tribes are in a race to destroy each other. A simple answer can be that people just don’t like each other. However, when this answer is probed further, then one uncovers that sometimes causal gestures results in people’s dislike towards. For example, an unreturned smile can immediately label someone as an enemy. And sometimes, a nice smile can cause distrust. Add all these little things up and you build a catalogue of distrust and hatred, which if left to brew and ferment over centuries can eventually lead to horrific consequences.

Buick Riviera is essential viewing and one of the most relevant films to have emerged in the last few years. Unfortunately, it is also a film that is hardly known outside of a tiny film festival circuit.

The Blacks (2009, Goran Devic, Zvonimir Juric)

The Blacks opens with a shot of a cat quietly feeding its young one while ominous music hints at the plunge into darkness that awaits. The significance of the opening shot is hinted at later on in the film when the cat is seen wandering the hall alone but not before some blood has been shed. After the opening shot, we observe men sitting in the back of a truck silently holding their guns. The men are headed for a secret mission but they need to stop for some food and supplies. When their leader encounters closed shops, he smashes a shop window and grabs some bananas. The leader is not a thief and duly leaves some money just inside the smashed window. The men eventually reach a forest where their mission begins. However, Ivo (Ivo Gregurevic) leads his men in circles and after 2 hours, they end up back at the same spot where they started from. The men are frustrated at the lack of instructions or information about the mission. Tensions flare up and twenty minutes into the film, 3 men are dead, with 2 shot and one committing suicide. The rest of the film examines how and why the men were assembled and what their mission was.

The directors, Goran Devic and Zvonimir Juric, have made an excellent decision to squeeze out as much color as possible from each frame. The end result is a grey/darkish palette which befits the men’s mission that is not authorized and falls in a grey area between right and wrong. Information about the mission is provided to audience in snippets of overheard conversation or phone calls but it is clear that the men’s mission is not authorized at the highest level. The men’s mission appears to take place in a tense moment right after war when technically a ceasefire should have put a stop to all covert operations. However, in reality, as the film shows for some people the war machine cannot come to an abrupt halt. As a result, some operations continue to be carried out in the shadows and then subsequent operations are needed to perform cleanup and retrieve evidence of those initial unauthorized operations.

The Blacks manages to use silence effectively to depict the internal struggle the men are facing and only uses violence when the men reach a breaking point and cannot carry their burden anymore. The film covers a lot of ground in its brisk 75 minute length that still leaves some room for audience to fill in their own interpretation of events.

Euro 2012 Book & Film Spotlight

Back in 2006, I held my first soccer film spotlight to compliment the Soccer World Cup. The film spotlight proved a far more rewarding experience than I had expected as the spotlight forced me to spend hours digging up films from around the world. Each successive soccer film spotlight expanded my film viewing experience as I was able to see my first ever films from nations such as Paraguay, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, North Korea and Honduras. I tweaked the rules and criteria for each spotlight so as to incorporate a mix of film genres thereby ensuring I saw a diverse set of films. Last year, I added books to the mix in the Copa America 2011 Spotlight and that was even more enriching as the South American books dwarfed the films. So books are once again included in this Euro 2012 spotlight and the number of films has been increased to a maximum of two entries for each nation. The total of 16 books and a maximum of 31 films makes this by far the most comprehensive spotlight I am undertaking. The rules, outlined after the book and film selections, are even more complex than before as well.

Books

Selection Criteria -- The author must have some ties to the competing European country, either by citizenship (birth or immigration) or familial. The latter applies in situations when the book is written by a foreign born author but whose roots can be traced back to the selected nation.

Group A

Poland: House of Day, House of Night, Olga Tokarczuk
Russia: A Hero of our Time, Mikhail Lermontov
Czech Republic: The Joke, Milan Kundera
Greece: Z, Vassilis Vassilikos

Group B

Holland: A Posthumous Confession, Marcellus Emants
Germany: The Appointment, Herta Müller
Portugal: Knowledge of Hell, António Lobo Antunes
Denmark: The History of Danish Dreams, Peter Høeg

Group C

Spain: Quarantine, Juan Goytisolo
Italy: The Porthole, Adriano Spatola
Ireland: Kepler, John Banville
Croatia: The Ministry of Pain, Dubravka Ugresic

Group D

Ukraine: The UnSimple, Taras Prokhasko
England: GB84, David Peace
France: The Giants, J.M.G Le Clezio
Sweden: The Dwarf, Par Lagerkvist

Films

There are abundant choices for films in most cases so here are some criteria to help narrow the selections:

1) Production Source: Ideally, the selected film should only be produced by a single European country. However, a co-production is acceptable as long as the European nation is represented either by the story or the director’s nationality.

2) Release Year: The film should have a release date between 2008 - 2012 to coincide with the 4 year gap in between the two European Championships. This also applies to the film’s production meaning a film made a decade ago but only released between 2008-2012 does not count. This criteria ensures a fair competition as all nations would have films within a few years of each other.

3) Film Festival selection: Ideally, the selected film should have played at a few international film festivals. This rule is in place to ensure that each nation has the best chance to do well in the competition and that there are no heavy defeats like in previous competitions. Of course, there is no guarantee of a film’s quality just because it played at a few festivals but atleast the film would have undergone a prior screening process.

Each nation can have a maximum of two films in the competition, a primary film and a backup film. In case the primary film cannot be seen by June 8, the backup film will step in and compete throughout the competition. If both primary and backup films are available, each can take part in a separate group match as outlined by the rules.

The primary film is mentioned first followed by the backup film.

Group A

Poland: The Mill and the Cross (2011, Lech Majewski), In Darkness (2011, Agnieszka Holland)
Russia: Silent Souls (2010, Aleksei Fedorchenko), How I Ended This Summer (2010, Aleksey Popogrebskiy)
Czech Reoublic: Surviving Life (2010, Jan Svankmajer), The Country Teacher (2008, Bohdan Sláma) Protektor (2009, Marek Najbrt) ***
Greece: Homeland (2010, Syllas Tzoumerkas), ALPS (2011, Giorgos Lanthimos)

Group B

Holland: C'est déjà l'été (2010, Martijn Maria Smits), Winter in Wartime (2008, Martin Koolhoven)
Germany: Sleeping Sickness (2011, Ulrich Köhler), Storm (2009, Hans-Christian Schmid)
Portugal: Mysteries of Lisbon (2010, Raoul Ruiz), The Strange Case of Angelica (2010, Manoel de Oliveira)
Denmark: Applause (2009, Martin Zandvliet), Terribly Happy (2008, Henrik Ruben Genz)

Group C

Spain: The Last Circus (2010, Álex de la Iglesia), Map of the Sounds of Tokyo (2009, Isabel Coixet)
Italy: The Salt of Life (2011, Gianni Di Gregorio), Terraferma (2011, Emanuele Crialese)
Croatia: Buick Riviera (2008, Goran Rusinovic), The Blacks (2009, Goran Devic, Zvonimir Juric)
Ireland: The Guard (2011, John Michael McDonagh), Kisses (2008, Lance Daly)

Group D

England: Shame (2011, Steve McQueen), Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011, Tomas Alfredson)
Sweden: Play (2011, Ruben Östlund), Everlasting Moments (2008, Jan Troell)
France: House of Tolerance (2011, Bertrand Bonello), Rapt (2009, Lucas Belvaux)
Ukraine: My Joy (2010, Sergei Loznitsa)

A minor concern is that there is no backup film for Ukraine. Ultimately, I don’t think that will matter too much as My Joy is slated for a mid-March release so Ukraine should have its primary film in competition.

***Update, Mar 15 2012: Film Movement confirmed in an email that they don't have legal rights to sell The Country Teacher in Canada. So that means neither Amazon.com or Film Movement will ship the film to a Canadian address. The film is therefore ineligible and thus removed.

Rules

The rules will be different for the group and knock-out phases. As in previous soccer film spotlights, the match-ups will be determined by the soccer tournament draw.

Group Phase

There is a potential for each group match to have three unique titles competing. However, each match will still result in a maximum of 3 points so that at the end of the group phase, a nation can earn a maximum total of 9 points, similar to the soccer tournament.

Group Phase, Match 1:

Primary Film vs Primary Film or
Backup Film vs Primary Film or
Primary Film vs Backup Film or
Backup Film vs Backup Film

The first match will see the two films compete against each other in five categories which will count as goals scored by a nation.

Five Categories: Acting, Story, Direction, Cinematography & Production values

a) If one film is superior to another film in a category, then the superior film will get one goal while the other film will get 0.
b) If both films match each other in a category, they will score one goal each.
c) If both films fail in a category, they will get 0 goals each.

Each film’s respective goals will be totaled up and compared to the other film’s.

The film with the greater total will get 3 points while the goals will serve as goal-difference. Meaning, if Nation A has 5 goals while Nation B has 3, then Nation A will get 3 points and have a goal-difference of 5-3, while Nation B will get 0 points and have a goal-difference of 3-5.

If both films are tied, then each of them will get one point.

Group Phase, Match 2: Book vs Book

If one book is superior to the other nation’s book, then the winning book gets 3 points with a score-line of 1-0.

If both books are equally good, then each nation gets one point with a score of 1-1.

Group Phase, Match 3:

Backup Film vs Backup Film or
Primary Film vs Backup Film or
Backup Film vs Primary Film or
Primary Film vs Primary Film

If one nation does not have a backup film, then it can use the primary film in its place. The judging rules here will be a straight forward 1-0 win to the more superior film. The winning film will also get 3 points. In case of a tie, then both films get 1 point and a goal-difference of 1-1.

Group Phase, points total

The top two nations with the most points in all 4 groups advance to the knock-out stage. In case, multiple nations earn the same points in the group phase, the tie-breaker will be in the following order:

a) goal-difference
b) head-to-head match-up results

Books will only compete in the group phase and will be out of contention in the knock-out phase. At the conclusion of the group phase, a decision can be made to replace a nation’s primary film with its backup film only if the backup film proves itself superior to the primary film.

Knock-out phase

The quarter-finals, semi-finals and final will be governed by the following rules:

The films will compete against each other in 5 categories -- Acting, Story, Direction, Cinematography & Production values.

a) If one film is superior to another film in a category, then it will get one point, while the other film will get 0.
b) If both films match each other in a category, they will score one point each.
c) If both films fail in a category, they will get 0 points each.
d) In case of a tie after these 5 categories, then a subjective vote tie-breaker will be used. This means that the film which sways me emotionally advances. I feel this is similar to the emotional penalty kicks used to settle soccer games when two teams are tied after extra time.

Note: It is possible to have scores such as 3-2 or 5-5 (if both films score maximum on all 5 counts) in this scheme.

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Restricting films to be between 2008-2012 ensures that this spotlight will be a catch-up of some worthy titles that I missed over the last few years. The staggered nature of film releases means that it takes me sometimes almost 2 years to finally view a new release. As a result, a lot of films slip through the cracks and never end up in any end of year list. So this spotlight will serve as a correction in that regard.

Interestingly, restricting the films to be between the Euro Championships gives a glimpse into how things have changed with certain countries when it comes to films. Back in 2008, I struggled to find a worthy entry from Portugal as none of Pedro Costa's films were available on DVD. This time around, I had plenty of Portuguese titles to choose from and had to keep out Pedro Costa's Ne Change Rien & João Pedro Rodrigues' To Die Like a Man. On paper, Portugal appears to be quite strong in the film category. However, as previous soccer tournaments have shown, Portugal has never been able to translate its rich soccer talent into success. So it will be interesting to see if the films from Portugal can reverse that trend.

Overall, it promises to be a fun six months. Let the reading and film viewing begin...