Danger, with or without the sun

Let there be light

"When I was a little kid, my mother told me not to stare into the sun, so when I was six I did" Max, Pi

What does staring too much at the sun do? In the film Sunshine, it convinces one character to conclude that he had a conversation with God. And that God instructed him to stop the human space mission to save the dying sun. If the space crew did not accomplish their mission and blast the sun into a new life, it would ultimately result in mankind perishing in complete frozen cold weather.

No light

In the vampire film, 30 Days of Night, the light is only shown at the film's start and end. Shortly after the film's start, darkness slowly descends. And with that, evil takes over. The vampires in the film do not speak English but there is one instance that the leader of the pack speaks a few words in English. In that scene, a young girl is pleading for her life and utters, "Please, God". To which the vampire leader replies "God? No God".

Science vs Religion

Even though both Sunshine and 30 Days of Night belong to different genres, it is interesting that the mention of God is made in both films. On the surface, it is tempting to assume the excessive light in Sunshine means the presence of God and that the darkness in 30 Days of Night signifies the absence of God. But the mention of God is more tied to the two film's core.

The story in Sunshine is about using scientific principles to alter the fate of mankind which brings up the debate between science and religion. If science can save mankind, then where does religion stand? And the debate about how religion fits in with the crew's mission is uttered by more than one character in Sunshine. So the character in the film wants to follow the natural order of things and believes that life should end as God intended it. Mankind should not interfere.

I only paid attention to the concept of God in vampire films while watching the brilliant Abel Ferrara film Addiction. In Addiction we meet an existentialist vampire who quotes Nietzsche and does not believe in God. In a sense, the vampire's disbelief in God makes sense. A vampire by nature is a walking dead person. If someone cannot die, then why would they believe in religion, whose foundation is centered around the concept of birth, death and life after death. So if a person cannot die, then their existence is validated more by existentialism than by conventional religious beliefs. Appropriately, in Addiction the main character who gets bitten by a vampire only finds salvation when she gives herself over to religion; her belief in God saves her from a lifetime of disbelief. The vampires in 30 Days of Night are more sinister than the ones in Addiction but they still subscribe to the same existentialist belief. They have no need to believe in God as they move from town to town, feeding on the weak religion believing humans.

Euro 2008 Films & Results

Film Festival Rules & Guidelines

Final Standings of all the 4 Groups with the following format:

Country, Film: Rating out of 10

Group A:
Portugal, Bad Blood: 8
Switzerland, The Boat is Full: 8
Czech Republic, Zelary:7.5
Turkey, Harem Suare:7

Both Portugal and Switzerland earned 8 points and as per the tie breaker, Portugal takes first place by a margin of 4 (acting, direction, cinematography and production values) - 3 (acting, direction, story).

Average group rating: 7.6

Group B:
Poland, Edi: 9
Germany, Good bye Lenin: 8.5
Austria, Antares: 8
Croatia, Sorry for Kung Fu: 7

Average group rating: 8.1

Group C:
Romania, 12:08 East of Bucharest: 9
France, Angel-A: 7.5
Holland, Interview: 7
Italy, Summer Night: 5.5

Average group rating: 7.3

Group D:
Spain, Torremolinos 73: 9
Greece, Rouleman: 7
Russia, DayWatch: 6
Sweden, Thriller a Cruel Picture: 6

Both Russia and Sweden earned 6 points. As per the tie-breaker, Russia takes 3rd place over Sweden by a margin of 5-0.

Average group rating: 7

Second Round -- Quarter Finals, Semi's and Final:

As per the Euro 2008 draw, the Quarter-Finals would line up as such:

Quarter Final 1: Winner Group A vs Runner-up Group B
Quarter Final 2: Winner Group B vs Runner-up Group A
Quarter Final 3: Winner Group C vs Runner-up Group D
Quarter Final 4: Winner Group D vs Runner-up Group C

As per the group standings, the following are the film match-ups.
QF 1: Portugal (Bad Blood) vs Germany (Good bye Lenin)
QF 2: Switzerland (The Boat is Full) vs Poland (Edi)
QF 3: Romania (12:08 East of Bucharest) vs Greece (Rouleman)
QF 4: Spain (Torremolinos 73) vs France (Angel-A)

Results:
QF 1: Portugal 2 (Direction, Cinematography) - 4 Germany (Acting, Story, Direction, Cinematography)
QF 2: Switzerland 1 (Acting) - 4 Poland (Acting, Story, Direction, Cinematography)
QF 3: Romania 4 (Acting, Story, Direction, Cinematography) - 0 Greece
QF 4: Spain 4 (Acting, Story, Direction, Cinematography) - 3 France (Story, Cinematography, Production Values)

Semi-Finals:

Winner of QF 1 vs Winner of QF 2: Germany vs Poland
Winner of QF 3 vs Winner of QF4: Romania vs Spain

Results:
SF 1: Germany 2 (Acting, Story) - 4 Poland (Acting, Story, Direction, Cinematography)
SF 2: Romania 3 (Acting, Story, Direction) - 2 Spain (Story, Cinematography)

Final: Poland vs Romania

Score: Poland 3 (Acting, Story, Cinematography) - 3 Romania (Acting, Story, Direction)

This one was a tough choice. The Polish film Edi got me hooked emotionally, whereas 12:08 East of Bucharest made me laugh. In the end by a slight slight margin, I have to give the nod to the Romanian film.

Winner: Romania (12:08 East of Bucharest)

Film Selections & Comments:

With the exception of Portugal and Turkey, I got all my first picks for the films. For Portugal, I really wanted to get a Pedro Costa movie. But Pedro Costa films are hard to come by and I am not sure how much more luck I would have had in the next 2-3 months, so I went for my second pick of Bad Blood. My original Turkish pick was Climates by Nuri Bilge Ceylan but for some bizarre reason that movie is still not available for rent in Canada although it can be bought via the internet. Since I had already seen 15 of the 16 films, I decided to go with my second pick of Harem suare to complete the film festival line-up.

The average rating of all 16 films comes to 7.5/10. That is not bad considering the random nature of the film selections. I don't want to read too much into some of the low ratings as in most cases, I tried to choose unknown films. For example, the Greek film Rouleman still does not have any entry on imdb.com although the film's director Panos Karkanevatos has a few films listed on the website. As a result of the unknown picks, there were a few pleasant surprises. The Polish film Edi and the Spanish entry Torremolinos 73 were real treats. Although, I knew about about 12:08 East of Bucharest, I was still surprized at how funny it was. It was a simple and delightful film.

Also, I was pleasantly surprized by the quality of the two co-host nations films -- Austria and Switzerland. The Swiss film The Boat is Full was an interesting film and showed the Swiss might not have been 100% neutral during World War II. The Austrian film Antares is best described as a cross between the works of Ulrich Seidl (Dog Days and Import/Export) and Dekalog. In reality, I was hoping to get a film with a more upbeat vision of Austrian life than that shown in Seidl's works but as it turned out Götz Spielmann's Antares is carved from the same block as Seidl's films.

Initially, I had hoped to have completed watching all the movies closer to the start of the soccer tournament, but now I will have a better chance to focus on the games themselves and compare the soccer results with the films performances.

Only 83 days until the tournament kicks off on June 7 with the Swiss taking on Czech Republic and Portugal vs Turkey.

Euro 2008 Film Festival: Group A, Turkey

Film Festival Rules & Guidelines
Film selected (Year, Director): Harem suaré (1999, Ferzan Ozpetek)
Rating: 7/10
Rules compliance: I have seen a previous film by Ferzan Ozpetek, so the selection is not compliant with picking something from a new director.
Relevance to Soccer: Collecting and hoarding people

Through most of the 1980's, European soccer clubs had a foreign player quota and could only feature two players from an international nation. In the late 80's, that rule was loosened slightly and teams could field upto 3 foreign players. AC Milan led the way by fielding the three Dutchmen (Marco Van Basten, Ruud Gullit and Frank Rijkaard) who led them to domestic and European glory. Then in the early 1990's, the rules were changed once again and any European team could have upto 6 foreign players on their books but could only play 3 for a given game (that included the starting 11 players + 5 substitutes). Once again, Milan signed a bunch of talented players such as Boban, Dejan Savićević, Marcel Desailly and Jean Pierre Papin (at that time he was one of Europe's leading goal scorers) . Since Milan could only play 3 of their superstars, the remaining 3 sat in the stands unused. Other teams complained that Milan were hoarding the best players in the world and preventing them from displaying their talents week in and week out.

By the mid 1990's, European soccer changed once again in that teams could sign as many players from within the European Union nations without any quotas(thanks to the Bosman court ruling). The only quota applied to players from outside Europe. As a result, teams from most European leagues started buying the best young talent other European nations. And when the European Cup was modified into the Champions League, the top European teams were playing atleast 2 games a week (one league game on the weekend and a European game in mid-week). These extra games required these teams to buy atleast 2 quality players for each position. Teams such as Real Madrid, Barcelona, Milan started attracting some of the biggest names in the game, only for half of their star players to sit on the bench, waiting for their chance. As it stands in the current game, the top teams from England, Spain, France, Italy and Germany have a galaxy of star players, most of whom only get a game when the regular first team players are injured or suspended. But given that these teams play more than 50 games a season, they need to have a big squad, because injuries could hamper the first team. However, there are plenty of other teams which could benefit from just a few of these star players. Sometimes, the big teams loan out their players to other teams so that they can get regular match practice. But in most cases, the talented players keep waiting for their chance.

One of the definitions of a harem is when a king has multiple wives or lovers. However, the king won't require all the women at any given time. When the king gets tired of his regular lover, he picks another younger woman, until he gets tired of her. Still, the king maintains a collection of women around just in case.


The Turkish film Harem suaré is about such a situation where the Sultan maintains a harem of women. However, only a few lucky women get the honor of becoming the Sultan's regular lover or even spending a night with him. Naturally, the competition among the women is fierce to get into the Sultan's chambers. I found this situation similar to modern soccer teams where multiple talented players are eager to make the first team. Most of these young players train every day, hoping to one day impress the first team boss. Some players only get one chance but fail to impress and find themselves shut out of the club. In Harem suaré, we meet a young woman Safiye (Marie Gillain) who has been patiently waiting her turn to become the Sultan's chosen one. However, as chance would have it, a younger woman arrives threatening her position. Safiye's situation is made difficult due to the changing political climate in the Ottoman Empire, as a young Turkish revolution threatens to break the Sultan's hold on power.


So what can all the young women do while waiting for the Sultan to notice them? Some of them take on side lovers, like Safiye. This is akin to soccer players getting loaned out to other teams, who can appreciate their talents. And as it often happens in soccer, the loaned out player finds himself much happier in his new team and prefers to leave the top European team because he can get a regular game at this new team. Safiye also finds more happiness in the arms of another man, as opposed to waiting for the Sultan to make up his mind.

Final shots:

Harem suaré is structured in terms of two flashback stories. In the inner story when the narrator finishes her tale, she mentions that as per the rules of story telling & God's instructions, one should distribute three apples upon the story's conclusion -- one for the narrator, one for the listener and the final apple for the heroes of the story.

In the film's final shots, the camera zooms in on a table where the narrator and listener sat at the film's start for the principle flashback tale. Both of them have left the table but only 3 apples are left to signify the rules of the story telling. As the camera gets closer to this beautiful shot of the apples, I realized that this final shot of the film is also the final shot of my 16 film Euro 2008 Film Festival.




I can't think of a more beautiful way for this film and also for my film festival to end. The stories have been told. Everyone has gone. Cinematic food for thought! Fade to Black!!!!

Euro 2008 Film Festival: Group D, Spain

Film Festival Rules & Guidelines

Film selected (Year, Director): Torremolinos 73 (2003, Pablo Berger)
Rating: 9/10
Rules compliance: All rules met
Relevance to Soccer: Changing tactics, sexy football

As the game continues to change, a team must also adapt and change their tactics otherwise they will start losing games and no longer be a force. The same goes for some salesmen as well. Eventually, they reach a point of saturation with their sales and have to resort to different tactics to make new sales and attract different customers.

The Spanish film Torremolinos 73 starts off when an encyclopedia salesman (Alfred played by Javier Cámara) is told that he needs to adapt to the changing economy as consumers are no longer interested in buying door to door encyclopedias.

However, the solution offered by his boss is a little risky and involves the salesmen selling "reproduction encyclopedias" which examine the different reproduction habits of European cultures. The encyclopedias are to accompanied with a Super 8 video of the salesman copulating with his wife/girlfriend.

Whenever a new soccer manager gets hired by a soccer team, he often promises "sexy football". A decade ago, Ruud Gullit promised to bring "sexy football" for Newcastle only to fail in his promises. When Avram Grant took over Chelsea last year, he promised an entertaining brand of football, something more sexier than adopted previously by Chelsea. But so far it has proved that the talk of sexy football was mere talk. In soccer, there are no prizes for playing sexy football and so the harsh realities of winning games mean that Chelsea are still playing the regular boring football which is working for them.

Even though playing sexy won't win prizes in soccer, in real life sex does sell. This is something that Alfredo and his wife Carmen (Candela Peña) find out. Initially, Alfredo is reluctant about the Super 8 videos but the financial benefits are too much to turn down. He relishes his opportunity and turns into a full fledged ace film director and is not shy to different different camera angles to shoot his wife with.


Eventually he writes his first film script and wants to make a film like Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal.


Alfredo's addiction with film reminded me how the main character in the Polish film Camera Buff took to film. In Camera Buff, Filip eventually learns the compromises that one has to make while making movies. In Torremolinos 73, Alfredo also learns how to make some concessions for the sake of art, even if that means suppressing his principles and even putting his feelings for his wife aside. While Camera Buff bordered more on the serious side, Torremolinos 73 is a hilarious film with some great lines and perfect expressive performances from all the characters.

Euro 2008 Film Festival: Group A, Portugal

Film Festival Rules & Guidelines
Film selected (Year, Director): Coisa Ruim (2006, Tiago Guedes/Frederico Serra)
Rating: 8/10
Rules compliance: All rules met
Relevance to Soccer: Physiological horror

The modern game is packed with sinister tackles, challenges which can put the talented players out of the game for extended periods of time. One recent example came on Feb 23, 2008 when Birmingham's Martin Taylor took out one of Europe's best goal-scorers in Arsenal's Eduardo. Taylor had no intent of playing the ball and clearly went out to injure Eduardo. Since the tackle came just a few minutes into the game, it underlined the tactics that Birmingham wanted to adopt against the free flowing football of Arsenal.

It is hard to know when the game turned sinister but one clearly documented incident of violent play took place in the 1962 World Cup in a match between the hosts Chile and Italy. The incident is known as The Battle of Santiago because the game riddled was with kicks. 4 years later in the 1966 World Cup, Portugal and Hungary adopted a policy of kicking Pele at every opportunity in order to stop the talented Brazilian in his tracks. Pele was injured and Brazil, the defending champions, were knocked out early from the World Cup. The incident left a bad taste in Pele's mouth and he almost left the game in disgust but thankfully he returned to lead Brazil to the 1970 World Cup. In those early days, the football authorities had no idea how to respond to this new wave of violent play and players got away with kicks.

After almost a decade of decent football from the mid 1990's to early 2000's, it seems the game has gotten a little bit sinister again in the last few years. And once again, it appears that the footballing authorities are incapable of handling sinister kicks as plenty of talented players have to suffer the opposing players studs on their bodies. Eduardo's injury should have been a wake-up call but the incident has been brushed off in England as part of the game.

The horror tackles not only inflict a physical injury but leave the injured player physiologically affected as well. If an injured player is fortunate to make a full recovery, it will still take some time for him to be able to play freely again. He might change his game to avoid tackles and might even back away from certain physical challenges for fear of the consequences. A player has to rely on their mental strength to overcome their fear of tackles and get back to pre-injury form again.

The horror film genre can be divided into two categories -- physical horror and physiological horror. By physical horror, I mean movies which depict plenty of gore, chopping, hacking and mutilation. Whereas, physiological horror takes place when a film tries to use subtle means to induce fear in the audience by tailoring the background music and the introduction of long shots with plenty of silent moments to soak in the danger. I have elements of the Japanese film Dark Water and The Grudge in mind as two examples. In both movies, shots of an empty apartment hallway become sinister because we know at any moment we might witness a supernatural entity but the waiting only increases the dread. More often, physiological horror films stays longer with a person rather than a mere physical horror film.

Despite what the following poster may seem to indicate,


the Portuguese film Bad Blood falls into the physiological horror category. There are no shots of gore or blood and most of the horror comes from the anticipation of something sinister, which never does arrive.

The story involves a family that inherits an isolated estate home in the countryside. With the aid of some clues we know there are ghosts that linger around the house. The story of ghosts visiting a country estate home is not that original as plenty of past films have shown that the ghosts are present because of unfinished business. However, Bad Blood is still a well made film which attempts to include elements of religion and debates of country life into the mix.

Notes:

In this scene while the younger son is out of the house playing soccer, he witnesses the ghosts that visit him often.



When I first saw the following picture, I was reminded of the creature from Pan's Labyrinth.


The camera then pulls back to reveal back that the creature is an octopus. Horror depicted as art!

Euro 2008 Film Festival: Group C, Italy

Film Festival Rules & Guidelines

Film selected (Year, Director): Summer Night (1986, Lina Wertmüller)
Rating: 5.5/10
Rules compliance: All rules met
Relevance to Soccer: Spying vs Scouting out players/teams

scout: To spy on or explore carefully in order to obtain information

It is a common sight to see soccer managers in opposing team's soccer stadiums watching their rivals in action. Usually one finds a soccer manager in attendance a week or two before his team will play their opponents. The opposing team are usually aware of the rival manager's presence and there are no secrets regarding his attending the game. Such acts are put under 'scouting' an opponent out and are an excepted part of the game. Regardless of the definition of 'scouting', I believe there is a fine line between 'scouting' and 'spying'. I would consider 'spying' as attempting to extract information without the rivals knowledge. But given how some teams manage to sign young players from under their rivals nose, I think this dividing line between 'scouting' and 'spying' is getting blurred each season. And with the huge amounts of money available in the modern game, the ruthless need to find talent is only going to eventually turn 'scouting' fully into 'spying'.

The Italian film Summer Night deals firmly with spies. In the story, a rich woman hires a network of spies to kidnap a gangster and keep him hostage. She wants to teach the gangster a lesson and through torture plans to extract some information & retrieve all the money he has stolen from her friends.


Although the gangster is a hostage, his treatment gets better as the film moves along. Gradually his chains are loosened to a point where he can derive sexual pleasure while feasting on gourmet meals.

Liverpool Icons

Two of Liverpool's most famous icons are The Beatles and Anfield. So it was nice to see that in a film (Across the Universe) containing the Beatles music, there is an attempt to show an Anfield poster in Jude's (Jim Sturgess) room.



But Jude has more important issues to worry about other than soccer. In his life love, war and politics take priority over soccer. And in turn, these other aspects provide him with more misery. If Jude were still around, then he certainly would have been happy with events that took place in Milan today.

Tuesday, March 11:
Liverpool FC booked their place into the Quarter-finals of the Champions league with a 1-0 win away to Inter Milan, winning the tie 3-0 on aggregate.

pic: Getty Images, Soccernet

There will now be 4 English teams in the final 8 of Europe's top competition.

After Euros, back to Asian Cinema

I am almost done watching the 16 films for my Euro 2008 Film Festival. After that, I want to tackle Asian Cinema again as it has been almost a year since I last focused exclusively on Asian films. Ideally, one day I would like to pair the Asian soccer tournament with a matching film festival but it would be very difficult for me to find all the films of the nations taking part. For example, these were the 16 teams that took part in 2007's Asian Cup, which was won by Iraq:

Group A: Iraq, Australia, Thailand, Oman
Group B: Japan, Vietnam, United Arab Emirates, Qatar
Group C: Iran, Uzbekistan, China, Malaysia
Group D: Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Indonesia, Bahrain

I would have no luck in getting films from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar or UAE. Until a few years ago, there were no films being made in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and some of the other Middle East nations. But that is changing now. In the last 2 years, a film from Saudi Arabia and even Kuwait have been made. So far these films have only have been confined to a handful of screenings in the Middle East and have not traveled outside the region (although there was a report of a Cannes screening for the Saudi film).

When it comes to Asian cinema, it is easier to find films from India, Hong Kong, Japan, Iran, China, South Korea and Taiwan. Although there are plenty of other Asian countries who produce quality films, their films are unfortunately harder to track down. In recent years, thanks to film festivals, I have been fortunate to have viewed films from Philippines, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and even Iraq (just one film, Ehlaam). But I would like to sample more films from these other Asian countries.

So the Asian Cinema spotlight would be an attempt to find films from as many Asian countries as possible, while also tracking down some newer films from the more established Asian film nations.

Second time no longer a charm

When I saw Grindhouse last year in the theater, I admired Tarantino's Death Proof a whole lot more than Planet Terror. Even though I got tired by some of the over-smart blah blah in Death Proof, I liked it enough to give it a rating of 9/10.

So I wanted to see how the addition of the missing reels and some extra scenes would change Death Proof. But I think some films are best seen only once. It was not fun to sit through this movie a second time because I could not move past the blah blah and over-smart dialogues. Definitely not a fun experience. So my rating for the film after a second viewing would drop down to 7/10.

Friendship & Human nature in Arriaga's world

The Films:

Like most people, I first heard of Guillermo Arriaga after the film Amores Perros came out in 2001. Even though most of my memories about the film are around the powerful images of the angry dogs, the horrific car crash and the breakdown of the beautiful model, I admired the well written story by Arriaga. Normally, when a film does well the director gets all the credit. But every so often, a film's story and screenplay leave such a resonating mark that the film's writer also ends up getting attention. And that is the case with Arriaga who has shared the limelight with his collaborations with director Alejandro González Iñárritu. Their partnership has become legendary as the two went onto more acclaim with 21 Grams and Babel. Which is why it is unfortunate to hear that the two will not be working together again and Babel was their last collaboration.

After the strong images of Amores Perros, my memories about the duo's next film 21 Grams centered on the story itself. I do remember the intimate motel scenes quite a bit but I remember the characters misery more. Also, the film's title referring to the apparent weight of the human soul was also something that stayed with me. For me, Babel was the weakest film out of the three works. Although there was plenty to enjoy in the film, the film didn't feel as smooth as the previous two works.

But Arriaga also worked on other films besides the three with Iñárritu. 2005's The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada was one such movie where Arriaga's script was directed by Tommy Lee Jones. I only recently saw this movie and absolutely feel in love with the tender story of friendship and dreams. The friendship shown in the movie is about principles and honor while the characters attempt to dream of a better life (especially Melquiades) to help cope with their daily struggles. Tommy Lee Jones has perfectly captured all the sensibilities that Arriaga's story was meant to convey and directs a balanced film. I could not help think about No Country for Old Men while watching The Three Burials... The stories of both films are quite different but the presence of Tommy Lee Jones and the fact that both movies filmed were filmed in Texas with a touch of Mexican elements made me think of No Country... It would be unfair to compare the two movies but if I had to, I much prefer the compassionate poetry of The Three Burials.. over the precise polished coldness of the Coen Brothers work.

The Novel:

In late 2005, while browsing through a bookstore in London, I came across a book by Arriaga: The Sweet Smell of Death. At that point, I had no idea that Arriaga wrote novels. The book's cover confirmed that the novel was indeed by the screenwriter of Amores Perros and 21 Grams. I bought the book immediately because my past experience in traveling through London has shown that plenty of books available in England were not to be found in North America. This was confirmed after I returned home where none of the three books by Arriaga were available in North America yet in late 2005.

Even though The Sweet Smell of Death is a quick read at 160 pages, it is a well written story that stays long after one has finished it. The core of the novel is around a murder that takes place in a small Mexican town. The novel does not attempt to solve the murder but instead shows how this one action polarizes events in the town. Different people deal with death in their own manner. Some are introspective and attempt to understand the meaning of a murder while others thirst for blood. The book shows events regarding the latter and depicts how people's quest for revenge blinds out reason and logic. And given how in this day and age where revenge is the driving force between international politics, the book's simple story struck a powerful chord.

I recently finished reading another of Arriaga's novels -- The Night Buffalo. The book is slightly longer than The Sweet Smell of Death at 228 pages and deals with death in a different manner. While The Sweet Smell.. showed the outward reactions that occurred after a murder took place, The Night Buffalo is more concerned with the inward behaviour of its character. And it is this flawed inward behavior by an individual that triggers the internal breakdown in other people around him, further resulting in a chain of external reactions. While the books deals with suicide and its after effects, it is also concerned with the values of friendship and human relationships. Even though The Night Buffalo is a quick read, it leaves plenty think about. While reading the novel, I could not help think of William Friedkin's powerful film Bug which also took place mostly in a motel like The Night Buffalo and also shares a thread dealing with paranoia. Plus The Night Buffalo invites the reader to understand the main character on their own terms. The novel's narrator Manuel leads us through the story in a matter of fact manner but we can't agree with all his decisions and actions. So while following Manuel commit strange acts, we can't help think that we are being taken for a ride or maybe there is something wrong with Manuel, something that he is not even aware of himself.

If one had to try to examine a common theme in Arriaga's works, friendship would be something that stands out along with his attempts to understand the complex human psyche. His two novels are rich works that are rendered in a simple easy to follow manner that make it accessible to everyone.

The Interview:

I knew of The Night Buffalo before I came across this excellent and insightful interview with Arriaga at the Evening Post. The interview between Michael Guillen and Arriaga is so alive and buzzing with such energy that I was inspired to read my second Arriaga novel. In the end, I am glad I read The Night Buffalo, a work that I have not been able to stop thinking about long after I finished reading it.

Also, Michael's interview does a great job in looking beyond the theme of the novel and is able to capture the essence behind Arriaga's works.

Thriller in Milan

AC Milan 0-2 Arsenal


Arsenal completely outplayed and dominated the defending European Champions in the San Siro. A truly deserved win!!!

Cesc with the first goal, evoking shades of the wonder goal he scored against Juventus in 2006:
©Getty Images @ Uefa

and Adebayor with the second, after great work from Theo Walcott.


pic from Arsenal.com

Off to the Quarter-Finals now, which will start on April 1/2.

Humor amid chiseled abs

300 (2007, USA, Director Zack Snyder)

I avoided watching 300 when it was released in 2007 because I didn't expect much from the film. The trailers gave a sampling of the rich computer generated visuals while I figured the rest of the movie would be more slicing, dicing and chopping. Well, I finally decided to forgo my low expectations and give the film a viewing. In a way I am glad I saw the film because otherwise I would have missed the following:

Freaks and more freaks:

300 does a great job of collecting more freaks than found in some alien movies. And although the 'bad' guys contained more freaks, it was good to see the film-makers ensure that the 'good' guys also contained some abnormal characters.

Plenty of humour:

I had no idea that 300 was such a hilarious watch. Right from the first frame, the film provided as much humour as a B grade movie with plenty of bad acting, comical dialogues and more bad acting. I don't believe Frank Miller's graphic novel was meant to be this funny. But Zack Snyder ensured that 300 felt like a spoof film. I suppose given how many cold hearted dark films came out in 2007, Snyder felt that his film should provide some light hearted humor despite its darkish tones.

Great Character study:

It was fascinating to watch the powerful well built men strut around but bogged down by insecurity. The insecure feelings were best personified by King Leonidas (Gerard Butler) who needed to utter "SPARTA" every chance he got lest he forget who he was or where his roots lay. Also, it was interesting to observe the sheer arrogance of the SPARTANS. Even the Spartan narrator could not resist making fun of the Acadians who were risking their life to help their fellow Spartans. That is because the Spartans considered all other men weak and puny. I suppose only real men do not have any chest hair.

Degrading the enemy:

Had I not seen the film, I would have missed the humiliating extent to which the 'enemy' was depicted. I would have missed how the powerful king Xerxes was shown as a transvestite, further ensuring that Leonidas would never give up to such an unmanly person.

Overall, I would have missed such a great example of B grade cinema.

Rating: 4/10

Note: Having watched 300, I am dreading what Zack Snyder will do to the intelligent graphic novel Watchmen. Alan Moore's Watchmen is a fascinating story which is packed with multiple complicated layers of politics & relationships. However, I am afraid that Snyder might only extract a tiny portion of the story and film that for the 2009 film version.

The return of the Champions League

The wait is finally over. Champions League football finally returns this week as 16 teams can briefly put their league worries on hold and focus on the glittering European prize. The original European Cup always had a strong appeal right from its inception in 1956. But in recent years, the quest for this trophy has certainly reached obsessive heights. In fact, quite a few teams have made the Champions League the most important quest of their season while letting their league form dip since winning the league title is no longer a requirement to take part in the competition like in the old days of the European Cup. For example last year even if AC Milan had not won the trophy, they would still have been in the Champions League this season as they finished in the final 4th spot required for the Champs League with 61 points, a staggering 36 points behind the league champions Inter Milan (this includes Milan's 8 point point deduction, without which they would have been still 28 points behind).

The Champions League is once again the only trophy that Milan will be playing for this year as they are currently 21 points adrift of Inter Milan and were dumped out of the Italian Cup in January. In fact they have been in cruise mode in the league for a few weeks now, while Arsenal have been involved in a tight league championship race. Ofcourse, not withstanding this previous weekend's game, Arsenal should return fully motived for this Wednesday's game as they once again bid to go one better than their 2006 runner's up spot.

Arsenal vs AC Milan


This is the first meeting between Arsenal and AC Milan in European competition. Even though both teams have a proud history, this encounter has been atleast two decades in the making.

A new start in 1986

After winning the 1979 Italian league title, AC Milan went through a bad phase in the early 1980's when they got relegated. The team's history was forever changed when Silvio Berlusconi bought the team in 1986. His main master stroke was hiring Arrigo Sacchi from lowly Parma. Sacchi transformed the team by ushering in a new exciting playing style and leading Milan to the league title in 1988, followed by two European Cups in 1989 & 1990. The current Milan team's origins can be traced back to that Sacchi team as Paolo Maldini evolved under Sacchi and Milan's current coach Carlo Ancelotti was part of the European Cup winning squads in 89 & 90 (including scoring a goal in a 5-0 rout of Real Madrid in the 1989 European Cup).

The years 1979 and 1986 also stand out in Arsenal's history. After a famous 3-2 victory over Man Utd in the 1979 F.A Cup final, Arsenal went trough a period of indifferent results and no trophies in the early 1980's. Their success only started after former player George Graham was hired in 1986. A league Cup victory followed in 1987 before a famous league title in 1989. Arsenal went onto win another league title in 1991 (losing only one game), won both domestic cups in 1993 and championed a gritty 1-0 win in the 1994 Cup Winner's Cup final. Arsene Wenger inherited the tough defense that George Graham created and if not for that solid backbone, then it is hard to believe Wenger would have fashioned a championship winning team so quickly in 1998.

So if there was ever a chance that two different playing styles and cultures would have clashed, it should have been in 1990 when a defensive Arsenal could have met an attack minded Milan team in the European Cup. But because of the European ban on English clubs, that meeting was not to be.

1994: Arsenal's defense overcame a skilful Parma team packed with Zola, Asprilla and Thomas Brolin to win the Cup Winner's Cup. Also, in 1994 AC Milan thrashed Barcelona 4-0 to win the European Cup. Prior to the game, Johan Cruyff and a few Barcelona players ridiculed Milan and said that Barcelona's attack would easily overcome Milan's defense. But like that night and many more nights after that, Milan have proved their critics wrong.

Playing styles reversed:

On Feb 20, 2008, as Arsenal prepare to take on AC Milan, both teams playing style has reversed from those under George Graham and Sacchi. Arsenal are not known for their defense like under George Graham and even though Milan possess a talented attacking streak in Kaka, they are not know for their attacking potential like under Sacchi. In a recent interview, Kaka was full of praise for Arsenal and said: "They play football the way we like it to see it in Brazil, with style, changing position all the time, moving the ball among themselves so quickly,". Praise indeed. But as past Champions League games have shown, a team can possess as much talent as possible but it amounts to nothing if the opponent is tactically able to negate their opponents strengths.

While Arsenal vs Milan is easily one of the most eye catching fixtures, there are 7 other games which should provide enough drama.

The European Quest:

Safe to say, all the 16 teams have their own reason for doing well in Europe. In Olympiacos' case, a good European performance will help ease the constant taunts they get in league football. Even though Olympiacos are completely dominant in Greek league football with 35 league titles (including 10 of the last 11 league titles) compared to Panathinaikos's 14 titles, Panathinaikos fans often joke that only their team has true "European pedigree" because of their solitary runner's up spot in the European Cup in 1971 and two semi-final appearances (1985 & 1996). Whereas Olympiacos only have a quarter-final berth in 1998 to show for their European Cup exploits. This taunt is similar to one that the English media often use against Arsenal, thanks to Manchester United & Ferguson. Manchester's solitary European Cup under Ferguson in 1999 is often used to imply their greatness over the Gunners. Even though with each passing year's failure in Europe, Manchester's win in 1999 appears to be more of a fluke than something earned through true quality. But the Champions League failure is used a sword over Wenger and Arsenal.

Lyon are another team that feels the pressure of European glory every year. Last season, their 6th straight league title felt like a consolation prize after another failure in Europe. Real Madrid always have tremendous expectations on their shoulders in the Champions League despite their 9 Cup victories. But considering their last Cup was in 2002, the almost 6 year gap must feel like a drought to the team's owners and fans. And Liverpool have been able to use the Champions League to mask their poor domestic form. It is hard to believe that Rafa Benitez would have earned so much respect from Liverpool fans had Liverpool not conjured up six minutes of magic to erase a 3-0 deficit against a stylish Milan team in 2005.

Final note:

There Will be Brazilians:

15 of the 16 European teams have atleast one registered Brazilian player on their squad. The only exception is Celtic. While some teams revolve around their Brazilian players, other teams such as Arsenal have only been using their Brazilian players when the first team players have been injured.

You own the night? Nah. You Own the Year!!

We Own the Night (2007, USA, Director James Gray): Rating 10/10

Curiosity first drew me towards We Own the Night. But I was hooked after the film's first scene appeared following the opening black and white shots depicting a city's drug war. Captivated and intrigued completely. In fact, I hardly moved during the film's almost 2 hour running time. There was no reason to look elsewhere, be distracted or even wander away. Watching a simple story, in fact a story often tackled by Hollywood, bathed in cool and soothing 80's music was a real pleasure.

Although looking back the opening scene was probably my least favourite, yet the background music put me at ease. While there is no harm in watching Eva Mendes (playing Amada) pleasure herself, I found the scene needless. For me, the movie truly began after Amada's boyfriend Bobby (Joaquin Phoenix) indulges her for a few moments before she reminds him of the more important tasks of running a nightclub and the need to attend a meeting with his family. When Bobby leaves Amada and steps out to look down upon his pulsating lively club, the film truly began. Images of Michael Mann's Miami Vice flashed through my head, another film which began in a night club. In We Own the Night the nightclub is Bobby's world, where he is king. People shake his hand and are happy to be in his presence. But when Bobby goes to meet his family, it is a different environment. No one rushes to offer him food like what he gets at his bosses house (the Russian Buzhayev) or even a drink. In fact, no sooner does Bobby's family see him, they want to talk business. And that is where the problems begin.

Bobby runs a nightclub owned by Buzhayev (Moni Moshonov). The Russian owner has some shady relatives (Vadim Nezhinski played by Alex Veadov) who traffic drugs. Bobby's family, including his father (Bert played by Robert Duvall) and brother (Joe played by Mark Wahlberg) are police officers in pursuit of the Russian drug ring. They want Bobby's help in nabbing Vadim but Bobby wants nothing to do with it. He wants to live in his isolated happy world. Unfortunately, Joe is restless and believes in using force to knock things down. After a un-necessary show of force towards Vadim, Joe is a target for the Russians revenge. When things get ugly, Bobby decides to help his family. And then things get even more messy and complicated.

What made this such a fascinating viewing was how Gray puts the story of family & relationships in the film's nucleus while showing the cop/drug elements as hovering particles. Sometimes the cop/drug elements crash into the characters lives and alter their future (examples: the brilliant car chase scene and the tension packed drug hide-out scene). But overall, the relationships take most of the key scenes. There are some well done moments in the film which highlight the relationship between Bobby and Amada. Amada is very close to her mother while Bobby wants nothing to do with Amada's mom. This tension is highlighted well in a scene when he uses his security as an excuse to not visit Amada's mother while visiting his own family. Bobby and his brother's relationship (or lack of it) are also covered nicely. Very early on, it is obvious that Joe is jealous of Bobby's lifestyle. When Joe is angry at Bobby, the first insult that leaves his mouth is against Bobby's Puerto Rican girlfriend. To which Bobby replies that atleast he has a Puerto Rican. Even though Joe has the respect of his father and colleagues, he seeks a bit of Bobby's freedom and is clearly jealous of his luscious girlfriend. On the other hand, Bobby seeks a bit more of his father's love and admires his brother. So he tries to do his best to help his family even if it means putting his life in risk.

The F.A Cup tie

Saturday's 5th round F.A Cup tie at Old Trafford brings together not only the current league's #1 and #2 teams but also the two best teams in the history of the F.A Cup.

The two titans:
Man Utd have the most F.A Cup wins with 11, followed closely by Arsenal's 10 victories. Both have also have finished runner's up on 7 occasions each, with Man Utd finishing second best to Chelsea in last year's final.

Ever since Arsene Wenger took over Arsenal, they have been THE dominant team in the F.A Cup. In the 11+ years under Wenger, Arsenal have reached the F.A Cup final 5 times out of the last 11 years, winning 4 titles. No team can match this result in the F.A Cup over the last decade. Man Utd on the other hand have reached 4 F.A Cup finals since 1997 and won on two occasions. Under Ferguson's 21+ years, Man Utd have reached a total of 8 finals and have won 5 trophies.

Arsenal's Freddie Ljungberg also holds the joint record of scoring in two successive finals with goals in the 2001 and 2002 finals. Freddie's goal in the 2-0 win over Chelsea (in 2002's double year) was an absolutely beautiful curling shot.

Arsenal and Manchester United have also been the two best teams in the 15 year history of the Premier League. So needless to say, there have been plenty of fiery encounters between the two and numerous stars who have delighted their supporters while frustrating the opponents. The league and F.A Cup ties have featured plenty of debating points ranging from kicks, shoves, punches, red cards, penalties, dives, beautiful goals and even a pizza toss. But the rivalry would not be what it is today if not for the two managers.

You talking to me?

For two managers to develop a rivalry, they have to be employed long enough for their respective teams. In that regards Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger have had plenty of time to get acquainted with each other. Currently, the two are not only the longest serving managers of a team in England but also in Europe. This was not the case three years ago when Guy Roux was easily the longest serving manager of any European team. But after leading Auxerre for a remarkable 44 years, Roux finally stepped down in 2005.

While Ferguson and Wenger have not been reduced to physical blows yet, they have exchanged plenty of memorable verbal battles. It all started in early 1997 when Wenger uttered the following words: "It's wrong the programme is extended so Man Utd can rest and win everything".

But Ferguson decided he needed to make his usual 'intelligent' reply:"He's a novice and should keep his opinions to Japanese football"

Ferguson was always annoyed that Wenger never stayed for a post-game drink with him and that Wenger never gave Man Utd the respect Ferguson thought they deserved. So it is not a surprize he said this about Arsenal's 2002 double winning team:
"They are scrappers who rely on belligerence - we are the better team"

Wenger's perfect weighted reply was truly memorable: "Everyone thinks they have the prettiest wife at home".

And then there was that infamous Old Trafford match in 2003 when a little shoving took place after the final whistle. Even a year after the incident, Ferguson talked about the game: "They got away with murder. What the Arsenal players did was the worst I have witnessed in sport"

Wenger summed up Ferguson's intentions perfectly: "Maybe it would be better if you have put us up against a wall and shot us all. I hope that he will calm down".
Yes that would certainly have made Fergie happy.

No wonder the Oct 24, 2004 game was such a high octane kick and cheat fest. But not according to Fergie: "In the tunnel Wenger was criticising my players, calling them cheats. Arsenal are the worst losers of all time"

Wenger's reply: "I will never answer any questions any more about this man. In England you have a good phrase. It is 'bringing the game into disrepute'"

In the last few years, there have been some other remarks by Wenger. For example, Wenger did confirm that when he runs into Ferguson at the airport, atleast they don't tear the place apart: "When we meet in airports we don't fight. Those meetings are even funny"

The following Wenger remark was directed towards Fergie: "I'm ready to take the blame for all the problems of English football if that is what he wants"

Maybe Ferguson will say in the future that since Arsenal sign so many non-English players, the team's scouts spend so much time flying about and are destroying the environment. Climate Change might be Arsenal's fault!

Recap of those old games:
The last F.A Cup meeting between Arsenal and Man Utd was in the 2005 F.A Cup final when Arsenal somehow managed a win. Despite being dominated for the entire game, Arsenal survived until the penalty shoot-out when Jens Lehmann saved a kick from Scholes and captain Patrick Vieira scored with his final kick for Arsenal (sniff sniff) for the 5-4 shoot-out win. The game was also the first F.A Cup final to have been decided on kicks. The footballing gods were kind to Arsenal that day feeling they had to make things right after Arsenal were hard done by earlier in the season when a fake penalty gave Man Utd a win and halted Arsenal's 49 game unbeaten run.

In 2004, Arsenal lost 1-0 to Man Utd in a F.A Cup semi in one of the toughest fixture week for the Gunners. A week before the semi, Arsenal were held to a 1-1 tie with Man Utd. And a few days after the 1-0 loss, Arsenal met Chelsea in the Champions league 2nd league tie before a title deciding match against Liverpool at Highbury. Seriously, who came up with that fixture week? A computer corrupted with a Man Utd program? Unfortunately, Ferguson could not be reached for comments regarding this manner.

Then there was the Old Trafford tie 5 years ago on Sat, Feb 15 2003 when once again the soccer gods aided Arsenal when a deflected Edu free-kick and a Wiltord goal gave Arsenal a 2-0 win. Giggs missed a gapping net that day and that win meant that Arsenal made up for an earlier 2-0 league loss at Old Trafford, in a game which ended Arsenal's 55 game scoring streak. Ofcourse, had Pires’ lob not gone a few inches wide earlier in that 2-0 league loss, it might have been a different game.

Giggs miss in that 2003 F.A Cup tie balanced the books so to speak because in 1999, he scored a super goal to beat Arsenal in a hard fought F.A Cup semi-tie. A penalty save that day in the 90th minute proved to be a turning point for a Man Utd win.

So...on to Sat

A packed crowd at Old Trafford would not care that Wenger believes the F.A Cup is third priority this season for Arsenal as the Man Utd fans cheer their team on. And given how the Man Utd players have wildly celebrated their wins over Arsenal in recent years (especially 2004's F.A Cup semi win & the league game in Oct 2004), beating Arsenal means a lot to them. Every time a newspaper or a commentator mentions 'beautiful football' and 'Arsenal' in the same sentence, certain Manchester players must get irked because the first comments made by some ManU players after the 2-2 league draw earlier this season was regarding Arsenal's 'so called beautiful football'.

Arsenal's growing injury list will mean many players will be unable to partake in Sat's game such as Djourou, van Persie, Diaby, Almunia, Denilson, Rosicky, Walcott (unsure?), Clichy, Sagna and Senderos. Besides the injuries, the team selection might also be altered keeping in mind next week's Champions league game. On Man Utd's side, you can be sure that Rooney will play as he loves scoring against Arsenal. He has found the net 3 times as a Man Utd player and 2 further times as an Everton player against Arsenal. Ofcourse, he scored his first league goal against Arsenal as well, ending Arsenal's 29 game unbeaten run. In recent years, Ronaldo and Scholes have also found the net three times each against Arsenal.

Thierry Heny looooved scoring against Manchester. He scored 8 times against them (all in the league), including a bullet of a goal in the unbeaten season, a fantastic looping goal in 2001 and ofcourse that winning goal in a 2-1 league win last season. That 90th minute goal was the second last goal Henry scored in an Arsenal shirt and the last time he scored a winning goal for the Gunners. With recent reports that Henry has been in touch with Adebayor and giving him advice might hopefully mean that one day Ade takes up Henry's goal-scoring record against Manchester. Ofcourse, Ade already has a winning goal against Manchester in a 1-0 win last season. But it is unsure if he will start on Sat.

No matter who starts, it will be an electric atmosphere. Not one for the faint hearted and that even includes fans following the game via tv or the internet!