Joe to the rescue

Given Apichatpong Weerasethakul's track record for making beautiful films, I am not surprized at reading some of the glowing words and ratings that are pouring out from the screening of his new feature Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives. Here's hoping that his film does pick up an award later tonight at the closing ceremonies.

The pure joy from watching Joe's films is to witness the perfect marriage between beautiful hypnotic images and calm serene (or eerie) sounds. The following two pictures from his short film A Letter to Uncle Boonmee don't have the same impact without listening to the sound of the winds rustling through the trees.

And at night time, when all is quiet and still, does the haunting start.














A sighting of the mysterious creature in the poster of Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives is first seen near the end of the short film A Letter to Uncle Boonmee. The creature is seen slowing making its way through the woods before the camera fades to black.

Yet, the darkness lingers on. The haunting sounds echo far longer than the running time of the 17 minute short film. Will the feature quieten those sounds?

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[Update, May 24, 2010]

Joe does indeed win the Palme d'Or!!!!!!

The rain in Spain falls mainly on English plains

The stories about Cesc refuse to go away. So looking into the crystal ball, here are some notes about future, 2011 and beyond, English and Spanish league title battles.

This Cesc saga is like Cristiano Ronaldo, part II. That means Cesc will leave the Gunners in 2011 after helping Arsenal to an impressive 2nd place finish next season. 2nd place will double the expectations of 4th place, thereby exceeding the Arsenal board's goals significantly. But Cesc won't go alone to Barca. Wenger will follow him there next year allowing Guardiola to move in the other direction to Arsenal. Guardiola will immediately try to target titles but that will not go down well with the Arsenal board who would prefer Pep merely give the illusion of challenging for the title rather than win it.

Man Utd will continue to push Pep's Arsenal and [revolving foreign manager]'s Chelsea for the title despite Man Utd being 3 trillion dollars in debt. Some will eagerly await Man Utd's demise but England will declare Man Utd too big to fail and use government money to prop the team up, ensuring that no matter how much debt Man Utd have, they never go a single season without challenging for a trophy, even if that trophy is the meaningless Tesco Cup (formerly known as the Carling Cup).

Over in Spain...after Jose takes over at Madrid, Wenger would be forced to chase 2nd spot at Barca. Wenger never managed to get the winning goal over the bus parked in front of Jose's Chelsea so the same pattern would repeat when Jose's Madrid takes on Wenger's Barca. Also, in typical Jose fashion, the bus will be designed to look like an airplane. But in Madrid, Jose would need to play free flowing football as the fans there are likely to boo a dull 1-0 win. And if Jose complains about booing fans, well, he would be out the door.

Meanwhile, Rafa Benitez will take over at Valencia again and spend 300 million pounds to build a 3rd place team which will finish 34 points behind the champions. Rafa will then demand another 200 million the following summer to make a title charge. But his expenses will force Valencia into administration thereby allowing Ronald Koeman to come in and finish the job of getting Valencia relegated.

On the other hand, Seville will continue winning the Copa Del Rey and flirting with 3rd and 4th spots while getting atleast a home win over the big 2. Atletico Madrid will again fail to win against their rivals Real Madrid in the derby matches despite holding a 3-0 lead with 5 minutes left in a game.

Beauty and the Beast

There is no doubt that Barcelona plays the most beautiful football in the world. Yet, they also exhibit ugliness on and off the field. If one looks carefully, then each Barcelona game will demonstrate a few moments of playacting which occurs in between their artistic moves and passes. Their on-field ugliness is personified best by Sergio Busquets, a player who will dive when given a chance and do his best to get an opponent sent off. Messi and Bojan are also capable of crying foul when there isn't one. Off-field, they are taking a leaf out of Madrid's book in terms of acquiring players negatively. Starting from the mid 1990's, Real Madrid have been famous for unsettling players contracted to other clubs. Since negotiating with a player is considered illegal without a club's permission, Madrid are kings of using other means to let a player know they want him. Madrid often let out via media outlets (paper, radio and internet) that they are interested in a player, thereby making an indirect yet illegal move for the player. The player then becomes unsettled and demands a move. Madrid then walks into the club's offices and offers to take the troubled player off the club's hands.

Madrid hounded Arsenal for Patrick Vieira's signature for years and only failed to land him because Vieira had a change of heart at the last minute. Ronaldo was chased for a few years before Man Utd were forced to cash in on the Portuguese star. Barcelona adopted the same bullying tactics when it came to getting Henry and Hleb from Arsenal. And for the last few years Barcelona have been after Cesc Fabregas. It is entirely understandble that Cesc would want to return to his birth city and play in front of his family and friends. Arsenal took Cesc from Barca's academy but they did that with Barcelona's permission. Barcelona didn't realize the star they had in their hands and let him go. And since Cesc has established himself as a top notch player, Barcelona have been trying every means to get him. If Cesc wanted to go, then that should be between him and Arsenal. For the last few years, he has expressed his loyalty towards Arsenal time and time again. Yet, that does not stop Barcelona from making advances.

This transfer saga will go on for the entire summer, even after the world cup is over.
Rafael Yuste, one of the Catalan club's vice presidents, said bringing Arsenal captain Fabregas back to Barca, where he was a youth player, was "more complicated because lengthy negotiations with his club lie ahead".

Things are complicated because Arsenal do not want to sell. Simple as that.

From a footballing standpoint, Barcelona do not need Cesc as the duo of Xavi and Iniesta are more than enough. But Barcelona like Madrid are notorious for signing players for non footballing reasons. Every time there are presidential elections, Barcelona and Madrid's presidential candidates want to sign a big name player as part of their election campaign. Yet, there are many examples of both team's failed signings. Madrid splashed out tons of money on Ronaldo, Kaka and Benzema and failed to land a single trophy. Prior to that Madrid wasted the talents of Sneijder and Robben, two players who have excelled since they left Madrid. Barcelona brought in Zlatan Ibrahimovic and any fan could have predicted that move was not going to work. On top of that, Barcelona failed to make use of Hleb and Henry. Thierry Henry atleast showed his genius in Barcelona's treble winning season but Hleb was a complete flop.

Barcelona and Madrid would be better off concerned with their own team rather than desiring players who are contracted to other teams. Both team's officials spend more time lusting after other team's players than concerned with the ones they have. Once they land in their cherished player, they then move onto a new desire. Two clubs with such a rich history do not need such ugly transfer tactics, yet not a season goes by without reading about Barca and Madrid's desired wishlist.

25 days until kick-off

The sun is shining and the snow has melted. Dare I say it? Winter might finally be over...for a week atleast. Having seen snow storms in every calendar month in Canada, I am never convinced of the disappearance of that fluffy white stuff. Betting on snow in a Canadian summer might be a safer option that betting on this summer's world cup winner. Maybe age does change one's priorities but I approach this summer's tournament with even less enthusiasm than the 2006 edition. Although I had reason to not care for the 2006 World Cup because the 2002 edition was such an awful joke, with all the tired European league based players not able to muster decent performances and the ones that were able to compete for 90 minutes were thwarted by incompetent decisions by refs and linesmen. Only South Korea, Japan, Senegal and Sweden provided some genuine world cup memories in 2002. 2006 was thankfully much better and it featured a rarity in the semi finals when Italy fielded 3 attackers. Watching an Italian team attack and not defend is an occurrence that is seen less frequently than Halley's comet but the attacking habit paid off as Italy overcame the hosts Germany in brilliant fashion.

The 2006 final was a bet of a let-down but then again most world cup finals hardly ever live up to their reputation. One would have to go back to the 1986 final between Germany (then West) and Argentina as being a worthy duel. The Italia 1990 final was decided by an incorrect penalty decision after an otherwise wretched game, USA 1994 was uneventful but that owed more to the extreme heat the game was played in because the organizers wanted to have the game kicked-off in time for the evening European tv market, France 1998 was completely one-sided because Brazil did not show up and the 2002 final was mostly average.

In a way, the 2010 World Cup has an unknown factor around it because the tournament is held in Africa for the first time. Yet, the ultimate outcome will be decided by how fresh and motivated the European based players are after yet another long season. North Korea will be the exception in this regard as they have only one European based soccer player but then again, no one knows what North Korea can bring to the table. Back in 1966, they were able to spring a surpize because they were an unknown entity. So it is remarkable that 44 years later, the North Korean soccer team still remains largely unknown despite increased soccer coverage from around the world. There are no new tactical formations that have to emerge on the global scene so it would be quite the story if North Korea provided a formation along the lines of 2-3-2-3 or 3-1-2-3-1.

On paper, Brazil's squad looks to be the weakest in decades but that owes more to Dunga's decision to have a more efficient and tactical team that is concerned about winning than style. So Brazil might either be boring and win or they will be plain awful, almost as bad the 1990 Brazilian team which had no flair or style.

Technically, the best players in the world are Messi (Argentina), Ronaldo (Portugal), Xavi, Iniesta, Cesc and David Villa (Spain), Wesley Sneijder, Arjen Robben and Robin Van Persie (Holland). These guys exhibit exquisite ball control, precision passing and are capable of beautiful goals. Yet, injury and fatigue will play a part in whether these players can shine. The Dutch trio will once again have that injury question mark over their heads, while Iniesta and Cesc still have to prove their fitness. Ronaldo will be found doing his step overs and dives but it is hard to see him shine in an otherwise average Portuguese side. Messi will be invisible and that will have more to do with Maradona's bizarre selections and formation than anything.

Drogba, Rooney and Torres have proved time and time again that they are the three best strikers in the English league but out of the trio only Drogba is fit and ready to go. Fernando Torres is still injured but if he recovers then he has the ability to show why he is the most complete striker in the world. The extent of Rooney's injury is a mystery. I believe he may be more injured that what is let out but no matter what his situation, he will still take to the field for England. It is impossible to imagine him not playing for the English.

All the 30 member squads for the 32 teams. The squads will have to be trimmed down to 23 come June 1.

Buried in movies...

Back in December I had fully expected to finish watching all my 32 movies from all the world cup countries before the tournament kicked off on June 11. With under a month to go, I still have 10 movies left to watch. I may still be able to meet my target date but it will be close. Thankfully, there are no interesting movies opening in the local cinemas to tempt me away from these world cup films.

Cannes 2010

Almost all the Cannes 2010 films were announced today. And right on cue, the complaining has started. Already I have read the words "disappointing", "predictable" and "boring" describing the lineup.

I will tackle "predictable" first. Here's a look at some of the predictable Un Certain Regard films.

Udaan (India, Vikramaditya Motwane) -- yeah this is so predictable. The first Indian film in competition in 199 years and that too from Vikramaditya Motwane, clearly a household name making his directorial debut. Motwane was a writer on DevD which must have been the highest grossing film in the world because every western critic appears to be familiar with that movie and Anurag Kashyap. Yawn. So predictable.

Les amours imaginaires (Canada, Xavier Dolan) -- clearly everyone saw Dolan's brilliant 2009 film I Killed my Mother which is why that movie is on every best of 2009 list. His film was so popular that the Canadian Genies decided not to nominate it because they didn't want to give an award to a popular film.

Qu’est-il arrive a Simon Werner? (France, Fabrice Gobert) -- oh come on, everyone knew that Gobert's debut feature was always going to play at Cannes.

Octubre (Peru, Daniel Vega) -- when a Peruvian film won an award at Berlin in 2009 and was nominated for this year's Oscars, then everyone knew a Peruvian film would be selected at Cannes. And it is getting so tiring to see North American multiplexes playing one Peruvian film every week.

Then there is the new Godard, Hong sang-soo and Cristi Pulu. Expected.

In the Competition category:

Loong Boonmee Raleuk Chaat (Apichatpong Weerasethakul) -- just because Joe has never made a bad film does not mean his new film should be automatically selected!!! So predictable!

And then there are new films by Abbas Kiarostami, Takeshi Kitano, Lee Chang-dong and Mike Leigh. Oh no.

Then there's "boring".

Normally I need to see a movie to decide if it is boring but I guess some all knowing critics know that a movie is boring just by the title. Nice gift to be able to judge a film by a title.

And then there's "disappointing".

Why is the new [insert director of choice]'s film not there? Oh my gawd. That is terrible.

hmmm, what if the director's film is not completed? Should an unfinished film be in the lineup? Apparently so because it is by a big name director. How dare the festival programmers leave out a film by a big name director!!! Shame.

And finally:

In Cannes 2009, there were plenty of auteur's films in competition. Was that not predictable? And look at how many knives were thrown at the films last year. So is the rule that Cannes should only select films from certain directors? Is the rest of the world not allowed to make films worthy of selection?

Once the festival starts, it won't be long before tweets will appear on how this year's Cannes is "average" or "terrible". And then before the year is over, someone will complain about how there are no good films being made and that since 1990 every film has been bad.

Uh-huh. Sure.

Personally, I can't wait for the disappointing, predictable and boring films to make their way to my part of the world. I need boring to balance out the pulsating cinematic excellence that is normally provided in my city's multiplexes courtesy of 3D green ogres and 2D autobots.

:)

The Barcelona Way -- Pass, Press and Score

Repeat words over and over again -- Barcelona are the best footballing side on the planet playing the game like no other team!

Last week, they dismantled Arsenal with remarkable ease and this past Saturday they brushed off their bitter rivals Real Madrid without much difficulty. Messi scored another goal against Madrid but it has been his 4 brilliant goals against Arsenal that have taken the Messi debate to another level. Words cannot describe Messi anymore. Sid Lowe's previous column mentioned that the Spanish press have run out of words to describe him. In fact, they had run out of words even before the Arsenal game. But for whatever reason, the English media remained silent on Messi until after the 4-1 Arsenal win. And as Lowe mentions, it should not have taken this long:

They said he didn't do it in big games - although goodness knows how they had the cheek to say that; did the clasico and the cup final not count? - so he did it in the Champions League final. They said he had never scored against an English team, and after a game in Santander it had been noted that he could not head a ball. Guardiola replied: "I advise you not to question Leo. One day, he's going to score a great header and shut you all up." Everyone laughed. He scored with a towering header, outjumping Rio Ferdinand.

But still they wanted more, and more, and more. There seemed to be a strange, bloody-minded determination not to recognise him. So Messi provided it. He started racking up goal after goal but they said that anyone could score goals in Spain. So last night he became top scorer in the Champions League. For the second successive season. And, for those who had forgotten Rome, he obliterated Arsenal into the bargain. Now they're saying Messi is the best player in the world. It shouldn't have taken last night to realise it.

A Portrait of the Passer as an Artist

In modern football, it is mostly goal-scorers that get all the attention. But the goals have to be created by someone and it is puzzling why media and most fans treat this creator with indifference. There are exceptions of course, such as Zidane, who was a player that could not be ignored. Nor can one ignore Barcelona's Xavi. Sid Lowe has some stats to back up Xavi's achievements, although watching him in any Barcelona game is ample proof of his genius.

Last season, Xavi completed almost 100 passes at the Bernabéu. Last week, he completed more than all of Arsenal's midfielders put together. This season he has made over 400 passes more than any player in Spain; in the Champions League, he is 400 passes ahead of anyone from any other club. Even his own team-mates are 300 behind.

"I need team-mates, people to combine with," Xavi says. "Without team-mates football has no meaning. I am no one if they don't make themselves available." But it is not just that he sees the movement first, it is that he often sees the movement before it has happened, that rather than passing to the movement, he passes in such a way as to oblige the movement. He makes players' runs for them. "Xavi plays in the future," says Dani Alves. Coaches at Barcelona privately admit that sometimes he moves into areas that he should not – but that his technique is so good, his passing so precise, that ultimately it ends up looking like the right thing to do.

The Barcelona Press

Barcelona have won everything under the sun not only because of their pretty football but because they have married their passing game with some ruthless tactics. Jonathan Wilson illustrates their pressing game which reduced Arsenal to an amateur team in the two team's first leg meeting:

After 20 minutes last Wednesday, Barcelona had had 72% of the possession, a barely fathomable figure against anybody, never mind against a side so noted for their passing ability as Arsenal. Their domination in that area came not so much because they are better technically – although they probably are – but because they are better at pressing. In that opening spell, Barça snapped into tackles, swirled around Arsenal, pressured them even deep in their own half. It was a remorseless, bewildering assault; there was no respite anywhere on the pitch, not even when the ball was rolled by the goalkeeper to a full-back just outside the box.
.................

For pressing to be effective the team must remain compact, which is why Rafael Benítez is so often to be seen on the touchline pushing his hands towards each other as though he were playing an invisible accordion. Arrigo Sacchi said the preferred distance from centre-forward to centre-back when out of possession was 25m, but the liberalisation of the offside trap (of which more next week) has made the calculation rather more complicated.

Again and again, Arsenal's forwards would press, and a huge gap would open up between that line and the line of the midfield. Or the midfield would press, and a gap would open in front of the back four. What that means is that the player in possession can simply step round the challenger into space, or play a simple pass to a player moving into the space; the purpose of the pressing is negated. Or, if you prefer, it was as though Arsenal were false-pressing, without having achieved the first stage of the hustle which is to persuade the opposition you are good at pressing.

lleig, Feo, Ugly

And a final word about the not so beautiful side of Barcelona. They do have some players who are capable of fouling an opponent or diving to gain an advantage. Sergio Busquets provided examples of both these points in the second leg. First he kicked out at Theo Walcott because Busquets could not match Walcott's pace; second, he took the biggest dive of this season's Champions league when he somersaulted over the slightest touch. And in both cases, Busquets got the benefit of the call and got away without even a booking. Now, Busquets isn't the only Barca known to exaggerate a push or a touch. Messi used to do it a lot more in the past but in recent years he has let his feet do more of the talking. Unfortunately last Tuesday he did resort to his old ways against Arsenal on one occasion. Around the 30 minute mark, Denilson went sliding in and clearly won the ball but caught Messi after the ball was pushed away. So Messi rolled around on the ground thereby fooling the ref into booking Denilson and awarding Barcelona a free-kick. And young Bojan clearly seems to be inspired by Messi as on three separate occasions he cried foul when there was none. Thankfully, Barcelona's beautiful football covers over these ugly bits, but it does raise the point that if the most beautiful football team in the world can demonstrate unsporting activities, what can one expect from teams with limited technical abilities?

Searching for Honduran Cinema

Last year, when I decided to track down a film from all the 32 countries taking part in this summer’s soccer world cup, I had not realized that searching for a Honduran film would prove to be such a difficult task. I always expected that an entry from North Korea would be a tough find but ultimately a Honduran film was the last found title of the 32 candidates. Five possible candidates were identified early on:

Spirit of My Mother (1999, Ali Allie)

No hay tierra sin dueño (The Land of the Ogres) (2002, Sami Kafati)

Amor y frijoles (2009, Mathew Kodath/Hernan Pereira)

Corazon Abierto (2005, Katia Lara)

El porvenir (2008, Oscar Estrada)

Amor y frijoles had a limited release in the US last year but all the trailers indicated a print existed without English subtitles. Spirit of My Mother and The Lang of the Ogres were not found on DVD although prints of Sami Kafati’s feature appear to be available for film festival purposes. Sami Kafati’s name came up quite a bit in searching for Honduran cinema as he is credited with making the first ever Honduran film in 1962 -- a 31 minute short film called Mi Amigo Angel. However, none of his short films appeared to be available.

The last two entries in the list, Corazon Abierto and El porvenir, were found for viewing thanks to DocsOnline, the documentary film library. Interestingly, Corazon Abierto is a documentary about how Kafati’s No hay tierra sin dueño finally saw the light of day as Kafati died before he could finish the film. The documentary includes footage from the film and interviews with some of the actors and Kafati's family. Corazon Abierto is probably the closest I can get to seeing anything by or about Kafati.

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DocsOnline

DocsOnline has some films available for free viewing but all films require creation of an account. And I only found two ways to create an account -- by buying a monthly subscription (around 9 euros a month) or by purchasing a pay per minute plan. I opted for the latter and the minimum available minutes for purchase are 100 minutes for a total of 3 Euros, which depending on the day of the week might end up being anywhere from 4-5 Canadian dollars. It turned out the running time of both Corazon Abierto and El porvenir was 98 minutes so 3 Euros were more than enough to end my quest for finding not one but two Honduran films. DocsOnline has interesting documentaries from all over the world and is also a very good resource for finding films from countries with limited cinematic output such as Nicaragua, Guatemala and Bolivia (to give three examples besides Honduras). Some of the listed films have no entries in imdb.com and might be co-productions but they are the closest to finding films from certain countries.

4 Goals 3 Injuries 2 Reunions

Arsenal 2 - 2 Barcelona

Barcelona did not waste any time in establishing their superiority and from the first minute they played Arsenal off the field. It should have been 3-0 early on but Almunia, Arsenal's much despised goalie, bravely kept Arsenal in the game. It wasn't until the 22nd minute that Arsenal had their first meaningful shot on Barca's net, when a wicked curving effort by Nasri just went wide of the net. Before half-time, Arsenal lost Arshavin and Gallas through injury and then Cesc got a yellow card thereby suspending him from the return leg at the Nou Camp. He was visibly heartbroken as he was looking forward for the chance to play in his front of his friends and family.  All said and done, Arsenal were lucky to go into the break at 0-0 and not 0-5 down.

22 seconds into the second half, a long ball found Arsenal's defense sleeping and Zlatan coolly lobbed Almunia who was needlessly out of his goal. All of Almunia's good work in the first half was undone by yet another misjudged moment of error, something that he has shown consistently over his Arsenal career. The long ball tactic worked so well that Barca tried it again 13 minutes later with the same end result of Zlatan scoring a goal. With Arsenal 0-2 at home, the tie looked over. However, the introduction of Theo Walcott changed things. His pace and wonderful goal just before the 70th minute mark sparked an Arsenal revival as the last 20 minutes were dominated by the home team.

There was a brief respite around the 77th minute mark when Zlatan went off and ex-Arsenal legend Thierry Henry stepped onto the pitch. Henry's appearance did not change Arsenal's momentum and 5 minutes from time, Arsenal amazingly tied the game up. After Cesc was judged to be blocked by Puyol, the Barca defender got a straight red card and Arsenal a penalty. Cesc smashed the kick home but appeared to hobble after the goal. With Arsenal having used all their three substitutes it seemed the game would be 10 vs 10 players but Cesc returned to the field and continued to limp until the finale.

For an hour, Barca showed why they are the best football side on the planet as their passes and movement was beautiful.  Barcelona are clearly the favourites in the return leg however they will be without their key defenders Puyol and Gerard Piqué both of whom are suspended. Arsenal on the other hand will be without Cesc, Gallas and Arshavin, three injuries which will have a huge impact not only on their European future but also their dreams of landing the league title . Both Cesc and Gallas are out for the rest of the season and it remains to be seen whether Cesc's brave heroics of playing with a broken leg and scoring that crucial penalty amount to anything for Arsenal's 2010 season.

The second leg should be equally entertaining and if Arsenal have any chance of pulling off an unlikely triumph they will need Samir Nasri to be in top form as he is the one remaining fit player who has a chance to provide a moment of genius to lift Arsenal.  On the other hand, Barcelona will be hoping that Messi, the world's best player, might finally make his presence felt as his impact in the first leg was minimal.

Rotterdam -- Cinematic Bliss

It was about four years ago that I started paying closer attention to Rotterdam’s International Film Festival lineups and since 2006, I have been constantly impressed by their programming and longed to make a trip to the festival. So this year I finally made my journey to Rotterdam, albeit for a very short stay. I ordered my film tickets online and picked them up at the De Doelen where the box office is located along with an amazing cafe where one can grab some delicious food and much needed drinks. During the festival the hall with its spacious seating area is normally buzzing with the sound of constant conversations in multiple languages and allows one to rub shoulders with festival goers, filmmakers and critics. The hall also has a merchandise store where one can buy t-shirts, catalogs and DVDs of films showcased in past Rotterdam festivals. Most of the DVDs (in PAL format) are films that are not yet available in Canada, so it is worth picking some of the titles up, although one has to make sure that the DVD contains English subtitles as not every DVD has that feature.

There are 6 primary theatre venues to choose from and two of the venues (Pathe and Cinerama) have 7 screens each which means in a particular time slot one can have a choice of anywhere from 10 - 16 films. One can begin each day as early as 9:30 am and see about 5-6 films a day with the final screenings starting as late as 10:45 pm. Most of the films are repeated more than once so one can plan accordingly. My time constraints prevented me from going to multiple venues so I confined myself to the Pathe across from De Doelen. In a way, that was more than enough since the Pathe is a spacious multiplex with comfortable seating that makes it a treat to watch foreign films. For me, the giant screen of the Pathe perfectly enhanced the experience of watching Heng Yang's fascinating Sun Spots, a film shot on HD video. The large screen ensured every image looked breathtaking and crisp. Sun Spots consists of 31 long single take scenes with no camera movements, meaning no pans or zooms. This style makes the film a challenging one to watch but it is also a rewarding experience because one can soak in the on-screen atmosphere and freely observe all the details present in each frame.

The remarkable aspect of Rotterdam 2010 was that even on the festival’s last day there was a breathtaking lineup of films available. On the final day, it was possible to start a cinematic journey in Suriname (Let Each One Go Where He May), hop over to Costa Rica (Agua fría de mar) or Mexico (Alamar), jump to Brazil (Avenida Brasilia formosa) or India (Sailor of Hearts, The Well), spend an evening in Africa (the several features that were part of the Where is Africa series) and end the night in Thailand (Mundane History) or the Philippines (two short features by Pepe Diokno & Lav Diaz). Or one could have confined themselves entirely to Europe and taken in the new Pedro Costa or Bruno Dumont along the way. Also, all the three Tiger Award Winners, Agua fría de mar, Alamar & Mundane History, were available for viewing on the final day along with the audience favourite winner, Yo, también (Spain). 10 days of such a wide array of films is enough to satisfy any cinephile's appetite.

Over the years, Rotterdam has become a great source for discovering fascinating foreign film titles, especially Asian ones, and is not shy to show longer works, such as Wang Bing’s documentaries The Journey of Crude Oil (a running time of 14 hours), West of the Tracks (9 hours) or Lav Diaz's Death in the Land of Encantos (9 hours) and Melancholia (7.5 hours). At Rotterdam, one can find artistic films easily rubbing shoulders with some commercial offerings and since the festival is not concerned with only showing premieres, one can catch some great titles which graced the festival circuit the previous year while trying to discover new gems. And there are plenty of gems to discover. Since 2007, a few of those gems from Rotterdam have ended up at CIFF, first thanks to Angela Kempf and last year thanks to Trevor Smith, both of whom made a journey to the famous port city. Three of the best films that featured at CIFF 2009, Be Calm and Count to Seven (Iran), Breathless (South Korea) and Wrong Rosary (Turkey), were all Tiger Award winners at Rotterdam. While the Cannes Film Festival in May gets the most attention with regards to new foreign film titles, in reality, the foreign film calendar is kicked off as early as January when Rotterdam announces its lineup.

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Note: originally published on CIFF's website

Liberating the Prisoner

A prisoner. Unshaven, haggard and released from a physical prison. Beat up apartment. Old typewriter. Click, click. Novel. Money. Maya. Liberation.

Siddharth: The Prisoner (2008, India, Pryas Gupta)

After Siddarth is released from prison, he goes about unburdening his soul by feverishly typing away his novel on an old typewriter using scribbled notes from his prison term. When he has finished the book, he heads to an internet cafe to send an email to his publisher. After he pays the internet cafe manager, Mohan, he picks up a wrong briefcase and leaves the briefcase with his novel behind. The incorrect bag, that Mohan was looking after for a gangster, is full of money. Sid is delighted to come across this fortune, especially since the money can assist in his plan. We learn later on in the film that the purpose of his book is to regain some of the fame and money that he had prior to his prison term so that he can have a chance to win the custody of his son in a divorce battle with his wife. Now with money in front of him, Sid thinks he can bypass a step in his process. Naturally, Mohan gets in trouble over losing the money and goes about trying to locate Sid in order to save his own life. It turns out that the money will not be enough for Sid so he needs to locate his novel. As both men try to rectify their mistakes, their desperation and methods parallel each other’s. At one stage in the film, both men photocopy items they need to return (the novel in Mohan's case, money in Sid's case) because they want to cover up losses they have encountered along the way – Mohan accidentally ends up burning some pages of the novel and Sid spends some of the money.

The simple story is filmed so beautifully and poetically by Pryas Gupta that one hardly notices the lack of dialogue spoken by Rajat Kapoor in his role as Sid. The pacing of the scenes is leisurely, the action is not rushed and the camera allows us to observe all relevant details without trying to spoon feed anything. The Buddhist ending of Siddharth.. shares a sentiment with Pan Nalin's wonderful Samsara and is perfectly in keeping with the tone and nature shown in the film. In Siddharth.., we see Sid slowly realize that money, the longing for his son, the need to get his book published are weights that are dragging his soul down and are preventing him from observing the illusionary nature of his life. Gradually, Sid starts to shed all his worldly chains and is completely liberated in the end. The final shot also echoes what Lisandro Alonso established with Farrel's walk towards the snowy landscape in Liverpool.

Gupta's first film marks one of the best debuts by an Indian director in the last few years. It is clear that Gupta has not compromised anything as the filming style represents a clear vision that he had for this treatment, something that is rare to find in a majority of Indian films where directors are forced to bow down to producer interference. When Siddharth.. was released in Indian theaters in 2009 hardly anyone saw the movie and the few critics that did slammed it. Thankfully, the film is now available on DVD in most Indian stores and hopefully through word of mouth this film will finally get the audience that it deserves. This is a movie that needs to be seen and is one of the best Indian movies to have been made in recent years and Pryas Gupta keeps the hope alive that there are cinephiles in India who are capable of making intelligent and thoughtful films.

Rating: 9/10

Alonso vs Martel, 2nd Leg

The 1st leg between these two film-makers was summarized back in summer 2009 where Alonso's Los Muertos was the clear winner over Martel's La ciénaga.

The second leg was to feature Alonso's Liverpool vs Martel's The Headless Woman. The Martel feature was first out of the gate and found it much better than La ciénaga. Still, I felt that if Alonso's Liverpool was as good as Los Muertos, then he would easily be the winner.

It turns out that Alonso's Liverpool is much better than Los Muertos and as a result, his film easily wins the second leg over the Martel feature.

Space, Environment and Freedom

While both Martel and Alonso are very good directors, liking one over the other depends on personal choice. The reason I prefer Alonso is because his films allow one to breathe in the environment because his camera is very flexible in capturing space around his characters whereas Martel restricts space because she wants to get in close with not so nice rich characters, people who are not meant to be liked in the first place. Alonso’s characters are probably not nice either. The character, Vargas, in Los Muertos is released from Jail for murder while Farrel in Liverpool ran away from home committing a possible rape but since Alonso places a distance between audience and his characters, we can observe freely and objectively. Plus Alonso takes the audience on a ride through an Argentine country side we hardly see on screen whereas Martel's features are rooted in cities -- all three of Martel's features are filmed in Salta.

Parallels -- Land & Water

Both Los Muertos and Liverpool start with two lonely men leaving a confined space and heading off into a vast open land. Their modes of transportation vary a little as Los Muertos starts on land and then moves onto water (via a boat) while Liverpool starts on a ship and then moves onto land. Both films contain men trying to search for their past in order to find a closure. The ending of Liverpool signifies liberation as one can see all the weight from Farrel's shoulders drop off and he walks away lighter into the snowy landscape.

The lonely nature of Farrel's journey in Liverpool also reminds of the main character in Carlos Reygadas’ Japon. The two characters are almost mirrors of each other but with a different past and journey purpose. In Japon, the character wants to end his life whereas in Liverpool Farrel seeks closure so as to live the rest of his life in peace.

Essential Alonso Reading

Michael Guillen's excellent interview with Alonso at the Evening Class.

James Quandt's brilliant essay in Art Forum which overlooks all of Alonso’s works.

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The 2010 Movie World Cup

Argentina, in the form of Lisandro Alonso's Liverpool, is so far a leading contender for winning my movie world cup. Although there should be strong competition from Portugal (via Pedro Costa), Brazil, Germany, Spain and France. Interestingly, all these teams will be among the favourites in the summer soccer tournament as well.

The Best Cinema

The two best films of 2010 might be not be seen at Sundance, Rotterdam, Berlin, Cannes, Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver, New York or Mumbai. Instead, they might be discovered in 90 minute segments shown only for a single night in both Barcelona & North London. It is hard to imagine how scripted cinema can possibly compete with the technical genius, skill and talent that will be on display when Barcelona play Arsenal over two mouth watering Champions League ties. It would have been pleasure enough to watch the two best football playing sides on the planet go against each other but what makes things fascinating are the other stories that will be found just besides the football.

Arsenal legend Thierry Henry will return back to North London in front of his adoring fans. Plus, Henry will go against players who emerged from his shadow.

Arsenal captain Cesc Fàbregas will return to his home city to the club he joined at the tender age of 10. Arsenal signed Cesc when he turned 16 but there have always been rumours as to when Cesc would resign for Barcelona.

Cesc vs Messi -- both were childhood friends who trained together at Barca's youth team. Now, the two are not only the biggest stars of their respective teams but also the best players in the world.

Wenger vs Guardiola -- Wenger's genius & achievements are well documented along with his flaws & failures, but the young Guardiola has managed to outdo Wenger in winning all club trophies possible in his short managerial career. And it wouldn't be far fetched to imagine that one day Guardiola could replace Wenger at Arsenal because both managers believe in playing good football, involving slick passing and imaginative space creation.

There are plenty of other intriguing match-ups, especially those involving Barca's genius duo of Xavi (provided he recovers from his injury) & Iniesta, who are responsible for pulling all the strings, vs Nasri & Song.

While Arsenal's beautiful football was only formed when Wenger took over the club in 1996, Barcelona's legacy for good football goes all the way back to 1973 when the Dutch Master and co-creator of total football Johan Cruyff stepped foot in the Nou Camp. Both sets of fans have been spoiled for good football over the decades and so one can be sure the two legged affair will not resort to the boring dull 'tactical' football that is played in some other parts of Europe. That being said, the games might not feature a lot of goals, but atleast the technical level of the game will be top notch.

Douglas Gordon & Philippe Parreno used 17 cameras to capture every moment of Zidane in their film but even 170 cameras will not be enough for these two games as there are plenty of worthy players whose every move deserves to be recorded.

Those other games..

It is easy to forget that there are 3 other quarter-final ties and two of them should be quite interesting.

Lyon vs Bordeaux -- The all French affair is eye catching for many reasons. After Barcelona and Arsenal, it is Lyon who have produced some of the best football in the Champions League over the years but unfortunately for Lyon, their good football normally ends prior to the Quarter Final stages. Domestically, Lyon won 7 straight league titles until Bordeaux ended that run last season and currently, Bordeaux are narrowly sitting atop Ligue 1. So if Lyon are to progress and reach their first ever Champions League Semi-Final then it makes sense they overcome their current domestic rivals. Meanwhile Bordeaux can challenge Lyon's European credentials if they reach the semi's of the CL before Lyon. Plus, the current Bordeaux manager Laurent Blanc is highly sought after so this tie gives him a chance to further enhance his reputation as one of Europe's brightest new managers.

Bayern Munich vs Man Utd -- It all goes back to 1999 on an incredible night in the Nou Camp when Man Utd stole the European Cup away from Bayern Munich with two goals in the final minutes. The two have met a few times since then, but that 1999 game should be plenty of incentive for the Germans. And for Manchester, well something about an English vs German rivalry that is hard to miss.

Inter Milan vs CSKA Moscow -- Inter & Jose have been all over the news after their well deserved & phenomenal win over Chelsea. CSKA will not be an easy opponent but it is hard to see how the Russians can stop Inter, especially if Inter are brave enough to continue with three forwards and let Wesley Sneijder do his magic.

Memory + Image

Back in 2005, I came across an intriguing Mexican film called Sangre by Amat Escalante. Even though there were plenty of wonderful moments and memorable images in the film, I had mixed overall feelings because I found a few segments frustrating. Still, I could never forget the images I saw in Sangre and one of my favourite sequences in the film takes place when the main character Diego finds his small car against a giant mound of garbage. As the camera draws back, the full scale of the mountain of garbage is made apparent. But Diego is not concerned with the mountain of garbage to his left. Instead his eyes are further ahead because he needs to search for something in another mountain of garbage. The difficulty of his task is made apparent while one can't help but think of the sheer wastage that humans are leaving behind, as the garbage dump is only one of millions that exist throughout the planet.

When I had seen Sangre I had not seen anything by Carlos Reygadas. Now having seen all of the three features Reygadas has directed, I have a better appreciation of what Escalante attempted with Sangre. Escalante was an assistant director on Reygadas' Battle in Heaven and Reygadas was a producer on Sangre. As a result, there are plenty of similarities between Sangre & Battle in Heaven, like the usage of unprofessional actors to depict the everyday mundane lives of ordinary characters and awkward sex scenes featuring people with non-model like bodies, aspects which one rarely finds in films. In fact, Sangre makes for a worthy double bill along with Battle in Heaven because the two films compliment each other so well.

I still have not seen Escalante's second feature Los bastardos but it is high on my list of films to watch. And both Escalante & Reygadas have short features in Revolución, a film that recently showed at the Berlin Film Festival. The other directors who contributed segments in Revolución are Gael García Bernal, Diego Luna, Rodrigo García, Mariana Chenillo, Fernando Eimbcke, Gerardo Naranjo, Rodrigo Plá and Patricia Riggen. Definitely, Revolución is one film to look out for.

Song but no dance

The year is only a few months old but it is hard to believe that there will be too many Indian songs this year that will be more soulful than Rahat Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's Dil To Bachcha Hai Ji found on the soundtrack of Ishqiya.

Football & Film reading...

The Kicking Culture, part III

Some things are completely predictable. On cue, British players and managers are coming forward to offer support to Ryan Shawcross, the player responsible for breaking the leg of the extremely talented and promising 19 year old Aaron Ramsey. Only in English football can people who commit wrong be seen as victims. On the other hand, nothing is being said of Ramsey, the person whose future seemed so bright. Now, one can only wish that Ramsey recovers as soon as possible.

Thankfully there are a few intelligent and sane voices who are standing up. Martin Samuel of the Times puts things perfectly:
Yet malicious intent - the motivation to actually cause serious injury - is rare in football. One thinks of Roy Keane’s tackle on Alf Inge Haaland in the Manchester derby or the one by Gavin Maguire of Queens Park Rangers that ended the career of England full back Danny Thomas, and resulted in a compensation pay-out of £130,000.

Shawcross did not tackle Ramsey like that. He did however arrive late and with sufficient abandon to lose any chance of controlling the consequences. The greatest sickness in English football is that we do not recognise the wrong in that. 'Spare me about how nice Shawcross is,' Arsene Wenger, the Arsenal manager, said acidly; but the testimonials to his decency were already under construction.

But Martin Samuel's words are rare to find in both English and American media. One has to turn to various Arsenal blogs to find the truth.

DannyT is spot on as usual in his Arsenal Truth blog:
The only way the truly talentless can make a career for themselves in the Premier League is by replacing their lack of skill and technique with aggression and antagonism - anti-football. Why applaud that? What's that got to do with "the beautiful game"? Last time I heard, football was about 22 players kicking a ball around - not 11 players kicking the ball around while various others players try to impede them through intimidation, ferociousness and long throw-ins.

How many more Aaron Ramsey's do we have to witness before the FA grows a spine and drives this scourge out of the game.

And why do pundits applaud these tactics? For the life of me, I've never understood it. There is only one thing to applaud in football, skill! I'm not saying there is no place for the well-timed tackle, high-speed closing down, a shoulder barge or some grappling in the box - but there is never a reason to break a players leg. To break a players leg requires considerable force, the type of force that is never warranted or required to win a small round ball in a tackle - except perhaps in the most freakish of incidents, once every 20 years! Not three times in three years for one club, it's obscene.

Plenty of excellent evidence is gathered by Tim at 7amkickoff & Arseblog which show that Shawcross is a chronic leg breaker and not the nice guy the media is painting him to be. It is sad that the media are not doing the objective journalistic job they are meant to do and are instead so biased.

Tactics

It is extremely rare to find any discussion of football tactics in British papers as most soccer related articles are centered on a player's "commitment", "attitude" and "character". Yet, none of these things would matter if a team is not tactically prepared to handle an opponent. Which is why Jonathan Wilson's articles are so welcome because he breaks a game down in terms of the tactical details. Heck, he ever wrote an insightful book on the history of soccer tactics (Inverting the Pyramid). His newest article sees him outline Egypt's 3-5-2 formation prior to their match against England.

Filmi...

There's a brand spanking new issue of Indian Auteur out. The online magazine format certainly makes for a beautiful reading experience. On the other hand, one can access the articles via individual links. The Notes on Directors and Director's Report Card gives a worthy run down of current Indian directors plying their trade. And just like bad football, the bad directors continue to hog the headlines.