Euro 2024 Film Spotlight

A criteria for previous Euro Film spotlights (Euro 2008, Euro 2012, Euro 2016) was to select previously unseen films or films from unknown directors. This led to some exciting discoveries and many months of viewing or hunting the film down. This time around, I have kept things a bit simpler. The main criteria for this Euro 2024 Film spotlight is to select some of the best films previously seen from each country. As a result, this will allow for a much more richer cinematic head-to-head competition. 9 decades are represented by these films with the earliest from 1949 and the newest from one from 2021.

Here are the 24 Top European films:

Group A
Germany: Aguirre: The Wrath of God (1972, Werner Herzog)
Switzerland: The Boat is Full (1981, Markus Imhoof)
Hungary: Satantango (1994, Béla Tarr)
Scotland: Gregory’s girl (1980, Bill Forsyth)

Group B
Spain: Death of a Cyclist (1955, Juan Antonio Bardem)
Italy: The Battle of Algiers (1966, Gillo Pontecorvo)
Albania: Daybreak (2017, Gentian Koçi)
Croatia: Buick Riviera (2008, Goran Rusinovic)

Group C
Slovenia: Spare Parts (2003, Damjan Kozole)
Denmark: Babette’s Feast (1987, Gabriel Axel)
Serbia: Underground (1995, Emir Kusturica)
England: The Third Man (1949, Carol Reed)

Group D
Poland: Dekalog (1989/90, Krzysztof Kieslowski)
Holland: The Vanishing (1988, George Sluizer)
Austria: Homo Sapiens (2016, Nikolaus Geyrhalter)
France: Pickpocket (1959, Robert Bresson)

Group E
Belgium: Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975, Chantal Akerman)
Slovakia: Orbis Pictus (1997, Martin Sulík)
Romania:  The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (2005, Cristi Puiu)
Ukraine:  My Joy (2010, Sergey Loznitsa)

Group F
Turkey: Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (2011, Nuri Bilge Ceylan)
Georgia: What Do We See When We Look At the Sky? (2021, Aleksandre Koberidze)
Portugal:  Mudar de Vida (Change of Life, 1966, Paulo Rocha)
Czech Republic: Closely Watched Trains (1966, Jirí Menzel)

Results of the Group matches, knockout phases will be posted in a few weeks.

Messi's miss is Portugal's gain

Stats don't always tell the whole story. Sometimes, instinct is a key factor in predicting the outcome of games. When Messi blasted his penalty kick over the crossbar in the Copa America 2016 final, I knew that decided the outcome of three nations. That kick decided the fate of Argentina, Chile and ....Portugal. Because when Messi missed his kick and his chance at a major trophy, I knew Ronaldo would lead Portugal to the Euro 2016 final and would score from the penalty spot in the final. The first part has come true. Now, I await the second. 

Portugal has had a rich footballing history from the genius of Eusebio to the talented golden generation of Luis Figo. But all those talented teams failed to land a major title. Their best chance came in Euro 2004 when they lost the final 1-0 in front of their home fans against a defensive Greek team. It felt unfair that a talented team of attacking players lost to one of the worst teams in the history of the Euros.

Now, as it turns out, Portugal have reached the Euro 2016 final by abandoning their attacking football of the past and gone with a more Greek like approach. That should not be a surprise as their Portuguese coach Fernando Santos spent a few years managing the Greek team until 2014. Portuguese fans don't care how their team wins because their wait for a title has been a lifetime.

Maybe the ultimate irony would be Portugal beating France 1-0 reversing their Greek tragedy. If that happens, Portugal can thank Messi first and then Ronaldo.

Euro 2016 Films

All the 11 films of the Euro 2016 Book + Film Spotlight have now been viewed and the top 3 are selected.

Starting 11

France: Dheepan (2015, Jacques Audiard)

Belgium: Two Days, One Night (2014, Jean-Pierre Dardenne/Luc Dardenne)

Croatia: The High Sun (2015, Dalibor Matanic)

England: The Sky Trembles and the Earth is Afraid and the Two Eyes Are Not Brothers (2015, Ben Rivers)

Germany: Phoenix (2014, Christian Petzold)

Italy: Lost and Beautiful (2015, Pietro Marcello)

Romania: Aferim! (2015, Radu Jude)

Russia: The Fool (2014, Yuriy Bykov)

Slovakia: Koza (2015, Ivan Ostrochovský)

Sweden: A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence (2014, Roy Andersson)

Ukraine: Maidan (2014, Sergey Loznitsa)

Top 3 films

1. The Fool (2014, Russia, Yuriy Bykov)

Yuriy Bykov cleverly uses a building’s collapse to explore larger moral and ethical issues around society. The closed door meetings between city officials show how corruption can take root in a society and impact citizens in their day to day existence. Even though the film is set in Russia, its topic is applicable to any city and shows how easy it is for those in power to cross the morality line.

2. Two Days, One Night (2014, Belgium, Jean-Pierre Dardenne/Luc Dardenne)

Even by the high standard of the Dardenne brothers, TWO DAYS, ONE NIGHT is a staggering achievement. The film depicts moral and ethical questions that are always present when money is involved. And in Marion Cotillard, the brothers have found a perfect face to convey the range of emotions from desperation to despair and even a touch of hope.

3. The Sky Trembles and the Earth is Afraid and the Two Eyes Are Not Brothers (2015, England, Ben Rivers)

This film’s long title, multi-layered structure and core story draws inspiration from Paul Bowles’ writing. The structure of the film is a nod to what Bowles managed in ‘A Hundred Camels in the Courtyard’ where Bowles found a common thread to link 4 completely different stories together. In the SKY TREMBLES, Ben Rivers has constructed a film which links together multiple works including a short story, a short film, some documentary footage and an art installation. All these works are seamlessly stitched together in a linear manner.

Rivers’ has managed this by alternating one aspect of Paul Bowles’ short story ‘A Distant Episode’. In the short story, the main character is a professor. In the film, the main character is a film director. This change allows Ben Rivers to find a common thread to link the different elements. This is because at the start of THE SKY TREMBLES, we see the filmmaker Oliver Laxe, scouting for locations in Morocco and attempting to complete a gruelling film shoot. The scenes we see are actual footage from Laxe's second feature MIMOSAS. And then at some point in THE SKY TREMBLES, Oliver Laxe stops shooting his film and steps into Paul Bowles story. What then follows is a series of remarkable events.

Final verdict on 11 films

Overall, a rich and diverse collection which highlights some of the best European cinema made over the last two years. Unfortunately, due to the timeline of the spotlight, there are no pure 2016 films but many of the 2015 films have had a cinematic release in 2016 or will do so in the upcoming months.

Top 5 Books

The top 5 books were already selected a few months ago.

Euro 2016 Films

As part of the Euro 2016 Book + Film Spotlight, the following 11 films were selected.

France: Dheepan (2015, Jacques Audiard)

Belgium: The Brand New Testament (2015, Jaco Van Dormael)

Croatia: The High Sun (2015, Dalibor Matanic)

England: 45 Years (2015, Andrew Haigh)

Germany: Phoenix (2014, Christian Petzold)

Italy: Lost and Beautiful (2015, Pietro Marcello)

Romania: Aferim! (2015, Radu Jude)

Russia: The Fool (2014, Yuriy Bykov)

Slovakia: Koza (2015, Ivan Ostrochovský)

Sweden: A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence (2014, Roy Andersson)

Ukraine: Maidan (2014, Sergey Loznitsa)

 

It turns out that the films from Belgium and England may not be released prior to the viewing deadline of June 1. Therefore, two substitute films have to be selected as back-ups. In addition, if Loznitsa’s The Event (2015) is available, it will be selected over his 2014 film Maidan.

May 1 is going to be the new deadline for the availability of The Brand New Testament,
45 Years and The Event. If these films are not available by then, then the following 11 film list will be used for the Euro 2016 Film competition.

Projected Starting 11

France: Dheepan (2015, Jacques Audiard)

Belgium: Two Days, One Night (2014, Jean-Pierre Dardenne/Luc Dardenne)

Croatia: The High Sun (2015, Dalibor Matanic)

England: The Sky Trembles and the Earth is Afraid and the Two Eyes Are Not Brothers (2015, Ben Rivers)

Germany: Phoenix (2014, Christian Petzold)

Italy: Lost and Beautiful (2015, Pietro Marcello)

Romania: Aferim! (2015, Radu Jude)

Russia: The Fool (2014, Yuriy Bykov)

Slovakia: Koza (2015, Ivan Ostrochovský)

Sweden: A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence (2014, Roy Andersson)

Ukraine: Maidan (2014, Sergey Loznitsa)

Euro 2016 Spotlight

When the Euro 2016 Book + Film Spotlight kicked off in Dec 2015, the goal was to finish watching all the 11 films and finish reading all 15 books by June 1, 2016. As things stand, there are still 2 films left to view but all 15 books have been read, 2 months ahead of schedule.

This is a rare thing where all the books for a spotlight have been read this far ahead of the end date. But unlike the past, this time around I planned a schedule for the book reading and tried to follow it strictly. Since there were some heavyweight book titles, my goal was to leave these 4 books last as I felt these were the ones that required ample time to finish:

Hungary: Sátántangó (László Krasznahorkai, 272 pages)

France: Life A User’s Manual (Georges Perec, 500 pages)

Austria: The Man Without Qualities (Robert Musil, 1130 pages)

Ireland: Ulysses (James Joyce, 704 pages)

It proved to the right call as reading these 4 books took up the most collective time.

To recap, all the 15 books as per country:

Albania: The General of the Dead Army (Ismail Kadare)

Austria: The Man Without Qualities (Robert Musil)

Czech Republic: The Other City (Michal Ajvaz)

France: Life A User’s Manual (Georges Perec), The Prone Gunman (Jean-Patrick Manchette)

Hungary: Sátántangó (László Krasznahorkai)

Iceland: The Blue Fox (Sjón)

Ireland: Ulysses (James Joyce)

Northern Ireland: The International (Glenn Patterson)

Poland: The Elephant (Slawomir Mrozek)

Portugal: The Book of Disquiet (Fernando Pessoa)

Spain: Mazurka for Two Dead Men (Camilo José Cela)

Switzerland: The End of All Men (C.F. Ramuz)

Turkey: The Black Book (Orhan Pamuk)

Wales: A Book of Wales, an Anthology (selected by Meic Stephens)

Top 5 books

It proved to be a rewarding experience to read all 15 books and I truly cherished these titles. The only disappointment ended up being Pamuk's The Black Book and that is likely because I read this book after having read a few of his other titles.

For now, here are my top 5 books, without any comments. Notes and thoughts on the books will be included once the film viewing is complete.

1. Sátántangó (Hungary, László Krasznahorkai)

2. The General of the Dead Army (Albania, Ismail Kadare)

3. The Book of Disquiet (Portugal, Fernando Pessoa)

4. The Man Without Qualities (Austria, Robert Musil)

5. Life A User’s Manual (France, Georges Perec)

Honorable mention: The Other City (Czech Republic, Michal Ajvaz)

Euro 2016

The tradition continues of having a book + film spotlight for a major soccer tournament. The expansion of the European Championship to 24 teams certainly posed a challenge regarding the selection process for this spotlight. Having to watch 24 films for each of the 24 countries in 6 months would have been an easy proposition but having to read 24 books in 6 months would have been a stretch. Therefore, the total number of book and film selections is divided, although not in an even manner. 23 nations have either one film or book in the spotlight. That means if a nation has a film in the spotlight, there is no book representing it. The same is true for books as well which means if a country has a book in the spotlight, then that country will have no film selected. The only exception is France, the Euro 2016 hosts. France gets two books and one film in the spotlight.

There are a total of 11 films and 15 books selected with the requirement to have more books than films in the spotlight. The film selections are contemporary with only 2014-2015 titles. However, for the books, the goal was to have a match-up between some heavyweights. As a result, many well known older titles are selected. On the other hand, there are some titles from newer worthy authors thrown into the mix.

All of the films have to be viewed and all the books read by June 1, 2016.

Films:

France: Dheepan (2015, Jacques Audiard)

Belgium: The Brand New Testament (2015, Jaco Van Dormael)

Croatia: The High Sun (2015, Dalibor Matanic)

England: 45 Years (2015, Andrew Haigh)

Germany: Phoenix (2014, Christian Petzold)

Italy: Lost and Beautiful (2015, Pietro Marcello)

Romania: Aferim! (2015, Radu Jude)

Russia: The Fool (2014, Yuriy Bykov)

Slovakia: Koza (2015, Ivan Ostrochovský)

Sweden: A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence (2014, Roy Andersson)

Ukraine: Maidan (2014, Sergey Loznitsa)

Note: If Loznitsa’s The Event (2015) is available, it will be selected over his 2014 film Maidan.

Books:

France: Life A User’s Manual (Georges Perec), The Prone Gunman (Jean-Patrick Manchette)

Albania: The General of the Dead Army (Ismail Kadare)

Austria: The Man Without Qualities (Robert Musil)

Czech Republic: The Other City (Michal Ajvaz)

Hungary: Sátántangó (László Krasznahorkai)

Iceland: The Blue Fox (Sjón)

Ireland: Ulysses (James Joyce)

Northern Ireland: The International (Glenn Patterson)

Poland: The Elephant (Slawomir Mrozek)

Portugal: The Book of Disquiet (Fernando Pessoa)

Spain: Mazurka for Two Dead Men (Camilo José Cela)

Switzerland: The End of All Men (C.F. Ramuz)

Turkey: The Black Book (Orhan Pamuk)

Wales: A Book of Wales, an Anthology (selected by Meic Stephens)