2010: Film Log

Total number of films seen: 432

This total includes 430 feature length fiction & docs plus the first season of 24 and The IT Crowd.

Features -- includes films (fiction & docs) over a length of 60 minutes.

Katyn (2007, Poland, Andrzej Wajda)
The Legacy (2008, Georgia/France, Géla Babluani/Temur Babluani)
Tum Mile (2009, India, Kunal Deshmukh)
Quantum of Solace (2008, UK/USA, Marc Forster)
Lemon Tree (2008, Israel co-production, Eran Riklis)
Rio Bravo (1959, USA, Howard Hawks)
Four Christmases (2008, USA, Seth Gordon)
Sans Soleil (1983, France, Chris Marker)
Rumba (2008, France/Belgium, D. Abel/F. Gordon/B. Romy)
Adoration (2008, Canada, Atom Egoyan)
Cuba: An African Odyssey (2007, France, Jihan El-Tahri)
The Cove (2009, USA, Louie Psihoyos)
Maradona (2008, France/Spain, Emir Kusturica)
California Dreaming (2007, Romania, Cristian Nemescu)
Adanggaman (2000, Ivory Coast co-production, Roger Gnoan M'Bala)
Sherlock Homes (2009, UK/USA, Guy Ritchie)
Celia (1989, Australia, Ann Turner)
The Secret in Their Eyes (2009, Argentina/Spain, Juan José Campanella)
City of God (2002, Brazil/France, Fernando Meirelles/Kátia Lund)
An Education (2009, UK, Lone Scherfig)
The Hangover (2009, USA/Germany, Todd Phillips)
Amsterdam (2009, Holland, Ivo van Hove)
Sun Spots (2009, China, Heng Yang)
A Tale of a Naughty Girl (2002, India, Buddhadev Dasgupta)
My Name is Khan (2010, India, Karan Johar)
Zombieland (2009, USA, Ruben Fleischer)
The Blind Side (2009, USA, John Lee Hancock)
Transformers 2 (2009, USA, Michael Bay)
The Misfortunates (2009, Belgium/Holland, Felix Van Groeningen)
Departures (2008, Japan, Yôjirô Takita)
Rann (2010, India, Ram Gopal Varma)
Siddharth: The Prisoner (2008, India, Pryas Gupta)
The Man’s Woman and other Stories (2009, India, Amit Dutta)
L’Intrus (2004, France, Claire Denis)
Beautiful (2008, South Korea, Jae-Hong Jeon)
Nollywood Babylon (2008, Canada, Ben & Samir):
Without Shame (2005, Nigeria, Lancelot Oduwa Imasuen)
Hunger (2008, UK, Steve McQueen)
Moon (2009, UK, Duncan Jones)
Julia (2009, USA co-production, Erick Zonca)
Food, Inc (2008, USA, Robert Kenner)
Bright Star (2009, Australia/UK/France, Jane Campion)
Liverpool (2008, Argentina, Lisandro Alonso)
Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge (2010, India, Ashwani Dheer)
Road, Movie (2009, India, Dev Benegal)
Karthik Calling Karthik (2009, India, Vijay Lalwani)
Bluebeard (2009, France, Catherine Breillat)
How I killed a Saint (2006, Macedonia co-production, Teona Strugar Mitevska)
Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler (1922, Germany, Fritz Lang)
Before I Forget (2007, France, Jacques Nolot)
War and Peace (2001, India, Anand Patwardhan)
Eccentrics of a Blond Haired Girl (2009, Portugal, Manuel Oliviera)
A Trip to the Country (2000, Cameroon, Jean-Marie Teno)
Ishqiya (2010, India, Abhishek Chaubey)
Alice in Wonderland (2010, USA, Tim Burton)
Night at the Museum 2 (2009, USA/Canada, Shawn Levy)
G.I Joe (2009, USA, Czech Republic, Stephen Sommers)
The Invention of Lying (2009, USA, Ricky Gervais/Matthew Robinson)
El Porvenir (2008, Honduras, Oscar Estrada)
X Men Origins: Wolverine (2009, USA, Gavin Hood)
9 (2009, USA, Shane Acker)
Ossos (1997, Portugal, Pedro Costa)
In Vanda’s Room (2001, Portugal, Pedro Costa)
Shutter Island (2010, USA, Martin Scorsese)
Ordinary People (2009, Serbia co-production, Vladimir Perisic)
Like you know it All (2009, South Korea, Hong Sang-Soo)
Vaho (2009, Mexico, Alejandro Gerber Bicecci)
Merentau (2009, Indonesia, G.H Evans)
Green Zone (2010, USA, Paul Greengrass)
The Life and Death of a Porno Gang (2009, Serbia, Mladen Djordjevic)
The Window (2009, India, Buddhadev Dasgupta)
Armored (2009, USA, Nimród Antal)
Manuel De Ribera (2010, Chile, Pablo Carrera/Christopher Murray)
Avenida Brasilia Formosa (2009, Brazil, Gabriel Mascaro)
The Man Beyond the Bridge (2009, India, Laxmikant Shetgaonkar)
El Pasante (2010, Argentina, Clara Picasso)
Ocean of an Old Man (2008, India, Rajesh Shera)
El Camino du punto (2010, Argentina, Sebastián Díaz Morales)
Milk of Sorrow (2009, Peru/Spain, Claudia Llosa)
Night and Fog (2009, Hong Kong, Ann Hui)
Pelada (2010, multiple, Boughen/Fergusson/Oxenham/White)
Between Two Worlds (2009, Sri Lanka, Vimukthi Jayasundara)
Cold Water of the Sea (2009, Costa Rica/France, Paz Fabrega)
Bioscope (2008, India, K.M. Madhusudhanan)
Maya Bazaar (2009, India, Joydeep Ghosh)
via Darjeeling (2008, India, Arindam Nandy)
Mama (2010, Russia, Yelena Renard/Nicolay Renard)
Once Upon a Proleterian (2009, China/UK, Xiaolu Guo)
The Burning Plain (2008, USA/Argentina, Guillermo Arriaga)
Mundane History (2009, Thailand, Anocha Suwichakornpong)
Manilla Skies (2009, Philippines/USA,Raymond Red)
Woman without a Piano (2009, Spain, Javier Rebollo)
A Summer Family (2010, Japan, Iwana Masaki)

Football Stories (2002, Chile, Andres Wood)
Summer Hours (2009, France, Oliver Assasyas)
Chance Pe Dance (2010, India, Ken Ghosh)
Avatar (2009, USA, James Cameron)
Broken Embraces (2009, Spain, Pedro Almodovar)
Lorna’s Silence (2009, Belgium co-production, J-P/Luc Dardenne)
Where the Wild Things Are (2009, USA/Germany, Spike Jonze)
Bummer Summer (2010, USA, Zach Weintraub)
Puzzle (2009, Argentina/France, Natalia Smirnoff)
Monogamy (2010, USA, Dana Adam Shapiro)
The Robber (2010, Austria/Germany, Benjamin Heisenberg)
Firefly (2009, Japan, Naomi Kawase)
Paatshala (2010, India, Milind Ukey)
A Crude Awakening (2006, Switzerland/Germany, B.Gelpke/R.McCormack/R.Caduff)
Almost Two Brothers (2004, Brazil co-production, Lúcia Murat)
Iron Man 2 (2010, USA, Jon Favreau)
Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010, USA/UK, Banksy)
Susa (2010, Georgia, Rusudan Pirveli)
Here and There (2009, Serbia/USA/Germany, Darko Lungulov)
50 Dead Men Walking (2008, Canada, UK, Kari Skogland)
She, a Chinese (2009, UK/France/Germany, Xiaolu Guo)
Spirit of the Beehive (1973, Spain, Víctor Erice)
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009, UK/Canada, Terry Gilliam)
Schedazde Tell me a Story (2009, Egypt, Yousry Nasrallah)
Gigante (2009, Uruguay co-production, Adrián Biniez)
Black Sheep (2006, New Zealand, Jonathan King)
Orbis Pictus (1997, Slovakia, Martin Sulík)
Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009, USA, Wes Anderson)
Oxhide (2005, China, Jiayin Liu)
Los Labios (2010, Argentina, Iván Fund/Santiago Loza)
Norberto Arpenas Tarde (2010, Uruguay/Argentina, Daniel Helder)
Louise-Michel (2008, France, Gustave de Kervern/Benoît Delépine)
Brothers (2009, USA, Jim Sheridan)
Without Shame 2 (2005, Nigeria, Lancelot)
Air Doll (2009, Japan, Hirokazu Koreeda)
The Family Tree (2010, France, Olivier Ducastel/Jacques Martineau)
Teen Patti (2010, India, Leena Yadav)
U-Carmen e-Khayelitsha (2005, South Africa, Mark Dornford-May)
The Daughter of Keltoum (2001, Algeria co-production, Mehdi Charef)
Flame & Citron (2008, Denmark co-production, Ole Christian Madsen)
The Perfect Picture (2009, Ghana, Shirley Frimpong-Manso)
Colossal Youth (2006, Portugal, Pedro Costa)
Ballast (2008, USA, Lance Hammer)

Bruno (2009, USA, Larry Charles)
Let Each One go Where He May (2009, USA/Suriname, Ben Russell)
Sebbe (2010, Sweden, Babak Najafi)
Hunting & Zn (2010, Holland, Sander Burger)
R (2010, Denmark, Tobias Lindholm/Michael Noer)
Crab Trap (2009, Colombia/France, Oscar Ruiz Navia)
Kosmos (2010, Turkey/Bulgaria, Reha Erdem)
Kill the referee (2009, Belgium, Y.Hinant/E.Cardot/L.Delphine)
Four Lions (2010, UK, Christopher Morris)
The Bad Lieutenant (2009, USA, Werner Herzog)
Fame (2009, USA, Kevin Tancharoen)
Putty Hill (2010, USA, Matthew Porterfield)
Buried Land (2010, USA/Bosnia/UK, S.Eastwood/G.Alan Rhodes)
The Road (2009, USA, John Hillcoat)
Cold Souls (2009, USA/France, Sophie Barthes)
Open (2010, USA, Jake Yuzna)
Empire of Silver (2009, China/Taiwan/Hong Kong, Christina Yao)
Every Day (2010, USA, Richard Levine)
American Grindhouse (2010, USA, Elijah Drenner)
In the Pit (2006, Mexico, Juan Carlos Rulfo)
Goal-II Living the Dream (2007, UK, Jaume Collet-Serra)
Kurbaan (2009, India, Renzil D'Silva)
The Yes Men Fix the World (2009, UK/USA/France, Andy B./Mike B./Kurt E.)
La France (2007, France, Serge Bozon)
The Corrupted (2010, Canada, John Klappstein/Knighten Richman)
Lucky Life (2010, USA, Lee Isaac Chung)
Win/Win (2010, Holland, Jaap van Heusden)
Little Baby Jesus of Flandr (2010, Belgium, Gust Van Den Berghe)
Fish Story (2009, Japan, Yoshihiro Nakamura)
Raavan (2010, India, Mani Ratnam)
A Useful Life (2010, Uruguay, Federico Veiroj)
Predators (2010, USA, Nimrod Antal)
Kinatay (2009, Philippines, Brillante Mendoza)
When We Leave (2010, Germany/Turkey, Feo Aladag)
Taylor’s Way (2009, Canada, Rene Barr)
From Paris with Love (2010, France, Pierre Morel)
The Messenger (2009, USA, Oren Moverman)
Rubber (2010, France, Quentin Dupieux)
Inception (2010, USA/UK, Christopher Nolan)
Woman on Fire Looks for Water (2009, Malaysia/South Korea, Woo Ming Jin)
The Tiger Factory (2010, Malaysia/Japan, Woo Ming Jin)
The Men who Stare at Goats (2009, USA/UK, Grant Heslov)
Invictus (2009, USA, Clint Eastwood)
Rajneeti (2010, India, Prakash Jha)
Run FatBoy Run (2007, UK, David Schwimmer)
Edge of Darkness (2010, UK/USA, Martin Campbell)
HaHaHa (2010, South Korea, Hong Sang-soo)
Paris (2008, France, Cédric Klapisch)
Lola (2009, Philippines, Brillante Mendoza)
October (2010, Peru, Daniel Vega/Diego Vega)
At World’s End (2009, Denmark, Tomas Villum Jensen)
Gallants (2009, Hong Kong, Clement Sze-Kit Cheng/Chi-kin Kwok)
You are all captains (2010, Spain, Oliver Laxe)
C'est déjà l'été (2010, Holland/Belgium, Martijn Maria Smits)
The Great Indian Butterfly (2010, India, Sarthak Dasgupta)
Road to Sangam (2010, India, Amit Rai)
Beeswax (2009, USA, Andrew Bujalski)
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009, Denmark co-production, Niels Arden Oplev)
Hot Tub Time Machine (2010, USA, Steve Pink)
The Bounty Hunter (2010, USA, Andy Tennant)
The Informant! (2009, USA, Steven Soderbergh)

In the Realm of the Senses (1976, Japan, Nagisa Ôshima)
Samurai Rebellion (1967, Japan, Masaki Kobayashi)
Tokyo Olympiad (1965, Japan, Kon Ichikawa)
Drag me to Hell (2009, USA, Sam Raimi)
Sukiyaki Western Django (2007, Japan, Takashi Miike)
The Last House on the Left (2009, USA, Dennis Iliadis)
Natarang (2010, India,Ravi Jadhav)
Salt (2010, USA, Phillip Noyce)
Good Morning(1959, Japan, Yasujirô Ozu)
Walkabout (1971, UK, Nicolas Roeg)
The Only Son (1936, Japan, Yasujirô Ozu)
The Ghost Writer (2010, France/Germany/UK,Roman Polanski)
How to Train Your Dragon (2010, USA, Dean DeBlois/Chris Sanders)
Cop Out (2010, USA, Kevin Smith)
The Losers (2010, USA, Sylvain White)
The Last Station (2009, Germany/Russia/UK, Michael Hoffman)
Bakumatsu Taiyoden (1957, Japan, Yuzo Kawashima)
Harishchandrachi Factory (2009, India, Paresh Mokashi)
Me Shivajiraje Bhosale Boltoy (2009, India, Santosh Manjrekar)
Cure (1997, Japan, Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
Capitalism: A love Story (2009, USA, Michael Moore)
It’s Complicated (2009, USA, Nancy Meyers)
Ajami (2009, Israel/Germany, Scandar Copti/Yaron Shani)
There was a Father (1942, Japan, Yasujirô Ozu)
The American (2010, USA, Anton Corbijn)
Love in the City (1953, Italy, various)
Splice (2010, Canada co-production, Vincenzo Natali)
Madagascar (2005, USA, Eric Darnell/Tom McGrath)
Finding Nemo (2006, USA, Andrew Stanton/Lee Unkrich)
The Expendables (2010, USA, Sylvester Stallone)
The Lineup (1958, USA, Don Siegel)
The Big Heat (1953, USA, Fritz Lang)
Restrepo (2010, USA, Tim Hetherington/Sebastian Junger)
Sex and the City 2 (2010, USA, Michael Patrick King)
The Sniper (1952, USA, Edward Dmytryk)
Machete (2010, USA, Ethan Maniquis/Robert Rodriguez)
Tales of Ugetsu (1953, Japan, Kenji Mizoguchi)
Murder by Contract (1958, USA, Irving Lerner)
A Single Man (2009, USA, Tom Ford)
24 Season One (2001, USA, multiple)
Peepli Live (2010, India, Anusha Rizvi)
5 Against the House (1955, USA, Phil Karlson)
Thanks Maa (2010, India, Irfan Kamal)
Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010, UK/USA/Germany, Paul W.S. Anderson)
The Killer Inside Me (2010, USA/UK/Canada/Sweden, Michael Winterbottom)
The Disappearance of Alice Creed (2009, UK, J Blakeson)
Jennifer’s Body (2009, USA, Karyn Kusama)
Garam Hawa (1973, M.S. Sathyu)
The A-Team (2010, USA, Joe Carnahan)
Nine (2009, USA/Italy, Rob Marshall)
Fish Tank (2009, UK/Holland, Andrea Arnold)
Gorbaciòf (2010, Italy, Stefano Incerti)
Guest (2010, Spain, José Luis Guerín)
Red Nights (2009, Hong Kong/France, Julien Carbon/Laurent Courtiaud)
The Butcher, the Chef and the Swordsman (2010, China co-production, Wuershan)
Essential Killing (2010, Poland co-production, Jerzy Skolimowski)
Viva Riva! (2010, Congo co-production, Djo Munga)
Block-C (1994, Turkey, Zeki Demirkubuz)
Oki’s Movie (2010, South Korea, Hong Sang-soo)
Udaan (2010, India, Vikramaditya Motwane)
Red Alert (2009, India, Anant Mahadevan)
Score: A Hockey Musical (2010, Canada, Michael McGowan)
The Illusionist (2010, UK/France, Sylvain Chomet)
Freetime Machos (2009, Finland/Germany, Mika Ronkainen)
Armadillo (2010, Denmark, Janus Metz Pedersen)
Secret Reunion (2010, South Korea, Jang Hun)
Heartbeats (2010, Canada, Xavier Dolan)
The Happy Poet (2010, USA, Paul Gordon)
A Screaming Man (2010, Chad/Belgium/France, Mahamat-Saleh Haroun)
Steam of Life (2010, Finland, Joonas Berghäll/Mika Hotakainen)
Nora's Will (2008, Mexico, Mariana Chenillo)
The Sentimental Engine Slayer (2010, Mexico/USA, Omar Rodriguez Lopez)
The House of Suh (2010, USA, Iris Shim)
Small Town Murder Songs (2010, Canada, Ed Gass-Donnelly)
Certified Copy (2010, France/Iran/Italy, Abbas Kiarostami)
Curling (2010, Canada, Denis Côté)
Incendies (2010, Canada, Denis Villeneuve)
A Simple Rhythm (2010, Canada, Tess Girard)
Rec 2 (2009, Spain, Jaume Balagueró/Paco Plaza)
Faith, Fraud & Minimum Wage (2010, Canada, George Mihalka)
A Film Unfinished (2010, Israel/Germany, Yael Hersonski)
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010, Thailand co-production, Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
I Spit on Your Grave (2010, USA, Steven R. Monroe)
Red White & Blue (2010, USA, Simon Rumley)
A Place Called Los Pereyra (2009, Canada/Argentina, Andrés Livov-Macklin)
Journey’s End (2010, Canada, Jean-François Caissy)
Valhalla Rising (2010, Denmark/UK, Nicolas Winding Refn)
The Last Rites of Ransom Pride (2010, Canada, Tiller Russell)
Mutant Girls Squad (2010, Japan, Noboru Iguchi/Yoshihiro Nishimura/Tak Sakaguchi)

A Brand New Life (2009, France/South Korea, Ounie Lecomte)
I Am Not Your Friend (2009, Hungary, György Pálfi)
The Light Thief (2010, Kyrgyzstan co-production, Aktan Abdykalykov)
New Low (2010, USA, Adam Bowers)
Komal Gandhar (1961, India, Ritwik Ghatak)
Subarnarekha (1965, India, Ritwik Ghatak)
Nagarik (1952, India, Ritwik Ghatak)
Fengming: A Chinese Memoir (2007, China, Wang Bing)
Aisha (2010, India, Rajshree Ojha)
West of the Tracks: part I Rust (2003, China, Wang Bing)
Alpha and Omega (2010, USA/India, Anthony Bell/Ben Gluck)
Tokyo Gore Police (2008, Japan, Yoshihiro Nishimura)
The Machine Girl (2008, Japan, Noboru Iguchi)
West of the Tracks: part II Remnants (2003, China, Wang Bing)
Crime and Punishment (2007, China, Zhao Liang)
West of the Tracks: part III Rail (2003, China, Wang Bing)
Harry Brown (2010, UK, Daniel Barber)
Date Night (2010, USA, Shawn Levy)
Gunless (2010, Canada, William Phillips)
The Maid (2009, Chile/Mexico, Sebastián Silva)
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010, USA, Oliver Stone)
Secret of the Grain (2007, France, Abdellatif Kechiche)
Solitary Man (2009, USA, Brian Koppelman/David Levien )
La Chinoise (1967, France, Jean-Luc Godard)
Greenberg (2010, USA, Noah Baumbach)
Prince of Persia (2010, USA, Mike Newell)
Kick-Ass (2010, USA, Matthew Vaughn)
Le Petit Soldat (1963, France, Jean-Luc Godard)
Uski Roti (1970, India, Mani Kaul)
Striker (2010, India, Chandan Arora)
Sivaji (2007, India, S. Shankar)
Detective (1985, France, Jean-Luc Godard)
Love, Sex Aur Dhoka (2010, India, Dibakar Banerjee)
Un Femme di Femme (1961, France, Jean-Luc Godard)
My Life to Live (1962, France, Jean-Luc Godard)
The Social Network (2010, USA, David Fincher)
Once Upon a Time in Mumbai (2010, India, Milan Luthria)
The Book of Eli (2010, USA, the Hughes brothers)
Couples Retreat (2009, USA, Peter Billingsley)

Sweetgrass (2009, USA/UK/France, Ilisa Barbash/Lucien Castaing-Taylor)
Pierrot Le Fou (1965, France, Jean-Luc Godard)
Following (1998, UK, Christopher Nolan)
Fubar II (2010, Canada, Michael Dowse)
Topkapi (1964, USA, Jules Dassin)
You Think You're the Prettiest, But You Are the Sluttiest (2008, Chile, José Manuel Sandoval)

Megamind (2010, USA, Tom McGrath)
Rabia (2006, Chile, Oscar Cárdenas)
The Naked City (1948, USA, Jules Dassin)
Phaedra (1962, France/Greece/USA, Jules Dassin)
Agora (2009, Spain, Alejandro Amenábar)
This Movie is Broken (2009, Canada, Bruce McDonald)
Tales From the Golden Age (2009, Romania/France, multiple)
Curious George (2006, USA, Matthew O'Callaghan)
The Law (1959, Italy/France, Jules Dassin)
Bob The Gambler (1962, France, Jean-Pierre Melville)
Get Him to the Greek (2010, USA, Nicholas Stoller)
Endhiran -- Robot (2010, India, S. Shankar)
Lafangey Parindey (2010, India, Pradeep Sarkar)
Léon Morin, prêtre (1961, France, Jean-Pierre Melville)
Le doulos (1962, France, Jean-Pierre Melville)
The Skin Game (1931, UK, Alfred Hitchcock)
Dabangg (2010, India, Abhinav Kashyap)
Irma Vep (1996, France, Olivier Assayas)
The Ways of Wine (2010, Argentina, Nicolas Carreras)
Revolucion (2010, Mexico, multiple)
Carlos (2010, France, Olivier Assayas)
Father of My Children (2009, France/Germany, Mia Hansen-Løve)
Un Flic (1962, France, Jean-Pierre Melville)
Unstoppable (2010, USA, Tony Scott)
Shrek (2001, USA, Andrew Adamson/Vicky Jenson)
Le deuxième souffle (1966, France, Jean-Pierre Melville)
Babies (2010, France, Thomas Balmès)
Burma VJ (2009, Denmark co-production, Anders Østergaard)
Action Replayy (2010, India, Vipul Amrutlal Shah)
Le samouraï (1967, France, Jean-Pierre Melville)
Toy Story 2 (1999, USA, John Lasseter/Ash Brannon/Lee Unkrich)
O Sangue (1989, Portugal, Pedro Costa)
Inside Job (2010, USA, Charles Ferguson)
Waste Land (2010, Brazil/USA, Luck Walker)
Madagascar 2 (2008, USA, Eric Darnell/Tom McGrath)
I Hate Luv Storys (2010, India, Punit Malhotra)
Rakht Charitra (2010, India, Ram Gopal Varma)
Tony Manero (2008, Chile/Brazil, Pablo Larraín)
Videocracy (2009, Sweden/Denmark/UK/Finland, Erik Gandini)
The Town (2010, USA, Ben Affleck)
Exam (2009, UK, Stuart Hazeldine)
Guzaarish (2010, India, Sanjay Leela Bhansali)
Blackmail (1929, UK, Alfred Hitchcock)
The IT Crowd: Season One (2006, UK, Graham Linehan)
Emotional Atyachar (2010, India, Akshay Shere)
Horton Hears a Who! (2008, USA, Jimmy Hayward/Steve Martino)
Winter’s Bone (2010, USA, Debra Granik)
Band Baaja Baaraat (2010, India, Maneesh Sharma)
Mother (2009, South Korea, Joon-ho Bong)
Beer Wars (2009, USA, Anat Baron)
Scott Pilgrim vs the World (2010, USA/UK/Canada, Edgar Wright)
Tahaan (2008, India, Santosh Sivan)
Aakarosh (2010, India, Priyadarshan)
Vincere (2009, Italy/France, Marco Bellocchio)
Black Swan (2010, USA, Darren Aronofsky)
127 Hours (2010, UK/USA, Danny Boyle)
Fair Game (2010, USA/UAE, Doug Liman)
Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2010, Finland co-production, Jalmari Helander)
Eat Pray Love (2010, USA, Ryan Murphy)
The Kids Are All Right (2010, USA, Lisa Cholodenko)
The Fighter (2010, USA, David O. Russell)
Champagne (1928, UK, Alfred Hitchcock)
Despicable Me (2010, USA, Pierre Coffin/Chris Renaud)
The Manxman (1929, UK, Alfred Hitchcock)
Juno and the Paycock (1930, UK, Alfred Hitchcock)
True Grit (2010, USA, Coen brothers)
Toy Story 3 (2010, USA, Lee Unkrich)
Pusher (1996, Denmark, Nicolas Winding Refn)
Pusher II (2004, Denmark, Nicolas Winding Refn)
Pusher III (2005, Denmark, Nicolas Winding Refn)
Barah Aana (2009, India, Raja Menon)
Mesrine I: Killer Instinct (2008, France/Canada/Italy, Jean-François Richet)
TRON: Legacy (2010, USA, Joseph Kosinski)
Shahrukh Bola Khoobsurat Hai Tu (2010, India, Makrand Deshpande)
Phas Gaye Re Obama (2010, India, Subhash Kapoor)
Shrek Forever After (2010, USA, Mike Mitchell)
Mesrine 2: Public Enemy #1 (2008, France/Canada, Jean-François Richet)
Benny and Babloo (2010, India, Yunus Sajawal)
Art & Copy (2009, USA, Doug Pray)
The Last Airbender (2010, USA, M. Night Shyamalan)
Aashayein (2010, India, Nagesh Kukunoor)
Metropolis (1927, Germany, Fritz Lang): restored version
Daratt (2006, Chad co-production, Mahamat-Saleh Haroun)

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Shorts -- films (fiction & docs) under 60 minutes running time

North Korea: A Day in the Life (2004, Holland, Pieter Fleury, 48 min)
Packing (2009, Iran/Germany, Behrooz Karamizade)
Lost Monument (2009, Greece, Stefanos Tsivopoulos, 27 min)
Yellow Dogs (2009, Switzerland, Marianne Thivillier/Mathias Montavon)
The Chicken Rice Mystery (2008, Malaysia, Edmund Yeo, 18 min)
Love Suicides (2009, Malaysia, Edmund Yeo, 13 min)
Junko’s Shamisen (2010, Canada, Sol Friedman, 10 min)
Kingyo (2009, Japan, Edmund Yeo, 25 min)
A Letter to Uncle Boonmee (2009, Thailand co-production, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 17 min)
Petropolis (2009, Canada, Peter Mettler, 43 min)
Patriotism (1966, Japan, Yukio Mishima, 30 min)
Land Without Bread (1933, Spain, Luis Buñuel)
The Time Machine (2010, USA, Mark Kendall, 12 min)
Allons-y ! Alonzo ! (2009, France, Camille Moulin-Dupré, 8 min)
I Will Not Be Your Friend (2009, Hungary, György Pálfi, 13 min)
Phantoms of Nabua (2009, Thailand co-production, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 11 min)
Tarrafal (2007, Portugal, Pedro Costa)
Rabbit Hunters (2007, South Korea/France, Pedro Costa)

Calgary International Film Festival 2010, preview II

Taylor's Way

A quite incredible film that effortlessly switches gears between three different genres with considerable ease. The opening 15 minutes appear to be familiar territory (girl in a bad relationship is picked up by a guy at a bar) but then the film transforms into a road journey/self-discovery story which navigates the beautiful British Columbia countryside. Yet, amid the beauty and tranquility signs of darkness start to slowly filter through. However, the meaning of these signs is only revealed in the film's final moments. A must see film!

Pelada

Soccer is called the beautiful game. Now, that beauty may be hard to find on a professional or international game pitch but it does exist. Proof of that genuine beauty is provided courtesy of an American college duo who hit the road to play pick-up games in various countries. Their journey takes them to unlikely destinations such as a Bolivian prison, a slum in Kenya, a roof-top in Japan, a playing field in Iran and the streets of China. The end result is a magnificent documentary that highlights why the world loves this game and how the real passion of the game exists on the streets amid everyday people. Professional soccer players, their managers and FIFA should be forced to watch this film and lower their heads in shame. Because the ugliness of the World Cup and its negative play (4-5-1/5-5-0 tactics, dives, fouls) is ruining the game yet uglier the game gets, the more money these professional players make.

Bioscope

An engaging Indian film that demonstrates the hypnotic effect that cinema has on people. Some of the film’s strongest scenes are those where there is no dialogue and the beautiful haunting images (such as the recurring dream of a dead body washed ashore) flood the screen. The film is set in 1921 India when cinema was largely unknown in the country. So we witness villagers seeing cinema for the first time and observe how their views are shaped – some consider the device as ungodly while others are entranced by the images. And we even get to meet a character (Diwakaran) whose love for the new medium leads him to neglect everything around him and only focus on cinema. In fact, Diwakaran probably depicts the actions of the first cinephile in Indian history.

Cinema is such an integral part of modern Indian life that it is hard to imagine Indian society without movies. So it is fascinating to watch a film which shows how love for cinema started to make its way through Indian life.

At World's End

This humorous Danish film is a throwback to the 1980’s style of action/adventure comedies. In a way, it is refreshing to see an old fashioned film about adventure in an exotic land told with humor and a bit of political incorrectness. The actress Birgitte Sorensen steals the show and it wouldn't be a surprize to see her land bigger profile roles in the future.

Norberto's Deadline

Norberto is drifting aimlessly in life until he finds his true love in theater. However, if it was not for theater, then it is likely possible that Norberto would morph into either a Travis Bickle (Taxi Driver) or a Raúl Peralta (Tony Manero). It is to Daniel Hendler's credit that he allows us to closely observe Norberto in his moments of despair and misery so that we can better understand Norberto and comprehend how someone who is just one or two steps away from a complete breakdown can still find the courage to salvage their life.

Mundane History

Winner of a Tiger Award at Rotterdam, Mundane History is cut from the same cloth as one of Apichatpong Weerasethakul's films. Yet, Anocha Suwichakornpong is able to carve out an individual identity and demonstrate true talent in two mesmerizing sequences which break away from the 'mundane' everyday life scenes. The first sequence charts a journey all the way to the origins of the universe. And the second sequence charts events following the big bang towards a human birth and lands firmly in the main characters hospital room location, thereby putting the whole story into perspective. Patient viewers will be rewarded with a truly cinematic treasure.

Kosmos

Reha Erdem is certainly an intriguing filmmaker but at times he can be frustrating as well. While each of his last three films have improved their visual beauty, each successive work has had a slight dip in the story and character depiction. Times and Winds was a satisfying film where the cinematography was perfectly in sync with the coming of age tale while in My Only Sunshine the on-screen beauty overpowered the bleak tale. Now with his latest offering Kosmos, Reha Erdem has given us a delicious visual treat but the story is not as dark as the cinematography points to. There are hints of distrust about the magical healing powers of the outsider and a bit of cosmic interference (UFO) but the innocent love tale slightly halts the film's mesmerizing rhythm. Still, it deserves to be seen because it is one of the best shot films of the year.

The Famous and the Dead

Every now and then there appears a film that reminds everyone that there is more to Brazil than soccer, beaches, samba, favelas, poverty and crime. A few years ago, it was Heitor Dhalia's wonderfully bizarre Drained set in a warehouse that showed a Brazil devoid of these common symbols and now it is Esmir Filho's chance with The Famous and the Dead. There are no beaches to be seen in The Famous and the Dead and the film's depiction of suburban isolation and loneliness is more familiar material for American Indie cinema. Yet the setting of such themes in Brazil highlights how similar issues can take place in any part of the world, especially in a modern globally connected world where various social networking sites and blogs allow people to hide their true identities and assume another.

The film's chilly mood and atmosphere goes perfectly with the theme of death and suicide. In fact, in almost all scenes one can detect the presence of death hovering above the main character. The film also does a great job of integrating social networking sites, blogs, online videos within the story to highlight the main character's sense of isolation. Also, the transition from the web videos to regular footage is seamless. The end result is a work that is very much in tune with modern times, aspects that most current cinema seems to sidestep.

Note: The film's look and mood evokes the chilly winter conditions of Canada or Northern Europe. So in a way, the film is a perfect companion to the fall weather that greets CIFF every year:)

Family Tree

There have been quite a few films that have used a family gathering as a starting point to uncover a dark past about one of the family members (such as Celebration, Monsoon Wedding). So directors Olivier Duscastel and Jacques Martineau deserve a lot of praise for using this familiar template to make an intelligent and delicate film which manages to deliver an emotional punch. A son's funeral is the starting point for unwrapping a family secret that provides quite a shock when all is said and done. An incredibly moving film!

Calgary International Film Festival 2010, preview 1

The 2010 Calgary International Film Festival (CIFF) kicks off in less than 2 weeks time. The film selections continue to grow in technical and artistic strength each year and this year the festival has some amazing films on display, with the Mavericks competition category showcasing some of the best films of the year. Last year, Mavericks contained some worthy films such as Karaoke (2009 Maverick winner), Be Calm and Count to Seven, Everyone Else and Fish Eyes but this year's selection is much stronger than the 2009 list.

Manuel di Ribera

This visually stunning film is a fascinating mix of Lisandro Alonso and Bela Tarr yet is completely original. The lonely journeys of Manuel, conducted with the aid of boats, has touches of Alonso (from both Los Muertos & Liverpool) while the mostly grayish/dark environment and the drunken locals' distrust of Manuel feels similar to Tarr's The Outsider and Satantango. Also, the film brilliantly plays with the concept of reality by having two almost similar scenes of an event incorporated into the film -- one real and one imagined. The audience is left to figure out what the reality is.

Note: The isolated Chilean island seems to echo the island in the third short of Andrés Wood's Historias de fútbol.

The Intern

Clara Picasso's sublime film cleverly uses a Buenos Aires hotel setting as a springboard to examine wider issues, such as male-female power games and the thin boundary that exists between private and public life. Not a single minute is wasted in the film's brisk 64 minutes. Almost at each 20 minute segment, the viewer has to track back to the previous segment to get a clue as to mystery or relationship tussle taking place on screen. The end result is an engaging film.

R

Stand by for the one of the most brutal and dark films of the year!! The tag 'dark film' is easily thrown around but in the case of R, the tag is entirely justified. The film makes last year's wonderful Un prophète look like a feel good happy film. Besides being completely savage, R is intelligent and that is demonstrated by a clever perspective shift two-thirds into the film which shows the similar hierarchies of two rival gangs.

The Robber

A highly entertaining yet intelligent film. This film is an example that an accessible film can be made without clichés or spoon feeding the audience. The two highs of running and robbing give Johann’s life meaning and it is clear these habits will eventually take a toll on his life. The entire film is defined by fast movement, shown by Johann's marathon runs or his perfectly timed car getaways. Remarkably, the story is not fiction and based on a real life character.

Hunting & Zn

This powerful Dutch film shows how a complicated relationship can be strained when lies and a pregnancy enters the equation. Like last year's brilliant Everyone Else, this film is bold enough to look at the nasty side that exists in all relationships and thereby causes the audience to get deeply involved with the film. As a warning, pregnant women or couples expecting a child might want to brace themselves for an emotionally challenging film.

You All Are Captains

This fascinating award winning black and white film demonstrates that even an improvised film needs a structure to make the work engaging. The film's first 20 minutes feature a filmmaker teaching school kids how to use a camera. The filmmaker has no script or goal in mind and a result, frustrates his students who are puzzled by the filmmaker's motives. After the kids complain, the filmmaker is replaced with another director who gives a structure thereby letting the film's brilliance shine through. The ending of the film in color puts the whole work into perspective including the first 20 minutes. A film and filmmaker to watch out for.

Lucky Life

Lee Isaac Chung deserves a lot of credit for making a poetic film that deals with cancer in such a tender manner that one never gets the sense of impending death that will take over one of the characters. The film is more concerned with mood than specific details as most of the conversations appear to be improvised and not scripted cinema, which adds to the film's fluid flow. The film has a very cool mood around it and when the characters meet each other, there are smiles and tender moments throughout reflecting the strong friendship that exists.

Cold Water of the Sea

This Tiger Award winning film (Rotterdam) adds an artistic layer on top of an accessible coming of age tale. The parallels between a young girl and woman is interestingly shown as the two characters form reflections of each other. The beautiful landscape of Costa Rica contrasts the internal struggles of the characters.

Putty Hill

A unique and interactive film that blurs the line between documentary and fiction. The interactive aspect is executed by having the actors in the frame stop what they are doing and look towards the camera to answer questions by an unseen interviewer. And once they are done answering the questions, the camera steps back and films the action.

And finally, this year there is a Canadian entry in competition -- Snow and Ashes. It is a film that I am looking forward and is the only one that I have not previewed from the 10.

Indian Cinema Spotlight

In international waters Indian cinema’s flag is flown by Bollywood but that is an unfortunate situation because Bollywood is not representative of the rich Indian cinematic culture that exists outside the dream factories of Mumbai. Ofcourse, the problem is that one has to dig deep to uncover those precious Indian films that have been lovingly made away from Bollywood’s shadows. So my goal on a recent trip to India was to come back with some worthy finds. I am quite happy with my loot but I owe a great deal of thanks to my good friends Nitesh at Indian Auteur and Deepa at Film Impressions for helping me track down some of these films. Delhi and Mumbai are packed with many great spots to find Indian films but the trick is knowing someone to navigate the streets to get at these places. Both Nitesh and Deepa led me to places not listed on any website or a map and if weren’t for them, I would have easily walked by these places without giving it a second thought.

Master and Pupil

Uski Roti (1970, Mani Kaul)
Aadmi Ki Aurat Aur Anya Kahaniya (2009, Amit Dutta)

Mani Kaul is easily one of India’s shining auteurs yet his name is absent from most discussions about Indian cinema in North American cinephile circles. So I was delighted to come across his first feature Uski Roti and finally plug a gap in my viewing filmography.

Most people in India had not heard of Amit Dutta when his 2009 feature debut Aadmi Ki Aurat Aur Anya Kahaniya was selected at the Venice Film Festival. Almost a year later, his visually stunning feature is still largely unknown. His new film Nainsukh played at Venice this year and it will be interesting to see if either his new film or the 2009 feature will get a wider audience aside from a small cinephile circle in India or a select few film festivals.

A Marathi Double

Natarang (2010, Ravi Jadhav)
Harishchandrachi Factory (2009, Paresh Mokashi)

Atul Kulkarni is a versatile actor but unfortunately he has not had enough quality roles in recent Bollywood films. So it was interesting to hear the buzz for his role in a local hit Marathi film where he played the two diverse roles of a muscular hunk and an eunuch. The film sounded too good to pass up.

I have had my eye on Harishchandrachi Factory ever since it started making waves in Mumbai in the summer of 2009. Unfortunately, the film never got a proper release in Indian cities or North America for that matter until January/February of this year. The film’s release outside of Maharashtra was certainly aided after the film was selected as India’s official submission for the 2010 Academy Awards.

Two eye opening docs

Final Solution (2003, Rakesh Sharma)
War and Peace (2001, Anand Patwardhan)

I was bowled over by Rakesh Sharma’s insightful 4 hour documentary Final Solution when I first saw it almost 6 years ago. Sharma bravely uncovers the truth about the hatred that led to the Hindu-Muslim clashes in Gujarat 2002. It is a film that has stayed with me over the years and is something I always wanted to revisit.

Anand Patwardhan is also known for bravely taking his camera to locales where the Indian media rarely goes in search of the truth. Yet I had never been able to see any of his docs so I am glad to finally see one of his films.

Looking back, looking ahead

Garam Hawa (1973, M.S. Sathyu)
Road, Movie (2009, Dev Benegal)

2 Auteurs x 3

The Visitor (1991, Satyajit Ray)
Ganashatru (1990, Satyajit Ray)
Ghare-Baire (1984, Satyajit Ray)

Subarnarekha (1965, Ritwik Ghatak)
Komal Gandhar (1961, Ritwik Ghatak)
Nagarik (1952, Ritwik Ghatak)

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Future Indian spotlights

I had no intention of having a regional spotlight but instead wanted to focus on some directors. As it turned out, South Indian cinema was absent from this list. So a future spotlight will focus exclusively on South Indian cinema and contain a blend of artistic and genre films.

Another future spotlight will only tackle the growing B-grade cinema that is once again making inroads in India. One could argue that B-grade Indian cinema never really went away but instead has now managed to attract more attention. Still, I am curious to visit this cinema to find out if any of the plots have changed over the course of the last few decades.

Buon Americano

The American (2010, USA, Anton Corbijn): 10/10

Over the years, I have seen some wonderful film posters in New Delhi, Mumbai, Madrid, Rotterdam, Paris & London but the only posters that I have come across in Canada have been run of the mill dull copies promoting the next commercial venture. Which is why I stopped in my tracks when I laid my eyes on The American's poster.

This stunning poster etched out a 1960's-70's time period with George Clooney appearing to be a James Bond like figure. A lone man, a hero?, dashing away with a gun in his hand away from the watchful eye of a woman (femme fatale?) in the background.

That was it. For the first time in my life, I made up my mind to watch a film based on a poster. The only other information I bothered to look up was the director's name. I avoided reading the story or seeing the trailer.

A gamble of sorts.

And remarkably, the gamble paid off nicely because The American is a beautiful, rewarding artful film. It is a film that allows us to calmly admire the Italian landscape and quietly observe Jack/Edward (Clooney) at work or during his moments of lovemaking to a beautiful Italian woman named Clara (Violante Placido). There is no needless dialogue to take us away from the events filling the frame and the expressions of the characters give enough clues as to their motives. No time is wasted in explaining Jack's background but there are enough clues presented to allow viewers to fill in their own version of a back story. Also, the film cleverly creates moments of tension with simple situations and a rich soundtrack.

Now, Jack is not a stranger to the cinematic screen after all. Variations of his lonely assassin for hire have graced cinema for decades be it in the form of a spy, an outlaw (say in a Sergio Leone film) or a criminal but the big difference that Anton Corbijn and writer Rowan Joffe have made is to remove bloodshed and explosive action sequences from the equation. As a result, the film is a polished and thoughtful work of art that is completely engaging.

Lonely men in Europe sitting in a cafe

The closest association to The American in my mind is Jim Jarmusch's wonderful The Limits of Control as the main characters in both films are assassins who travel across Europe, spend time enjoying a cup of coffee in a cafe and cross paths with interesting enticing women. The one big difference is that The Limits of Control has an element of humour around it whereas The American is a bit more serious although it does contain brief moments of lightness. Also, The Limits of Control presents the story in abstract clues that have to be put together whereas most details in The American are presented clearly as the story moves along.

Surpizingly both The Limits of Control and The American have been savaged by North American critics for being "pretentious art house films". Hmmm. Both films have long takes, little dialogue and no loud explosions. So are those enough reasons to dismiss these films? Hardly. And even the nudity in The American has gotten some complaints as it has been used as an excuse to further the film's European art-house label.

For me The American is one of the best films of the year. Yet, I have a feeling this film will be quietly ignored by most even though it can be found playing in a multiplex. But this is a film that deserves to be seen.

Bankploitation, anyone?

Sam Raimi’s wonderful Drag Me to Hell has been rightly praised for a return to the director’s horror roots. But the film is more than just a horror film. It may be the first film of a new genre -- bankploitation. The genre, which surprizingly has not yet taken off, would feature stories about revenge against the evil banks. As hard as it is to believe, there was a time not too long ago in 2008, long before oil companies were re-instated as villains, that the banks and financial markets were considered evil. The bankers freely gambled away people’s futures thereby leading to a serious financial crisis. People’s anger grew but there was nothing the common person could do. Even governments bend over backwards to give the banks more money (sounds improbable but seriously true) thereby allowing the banks to return to their profit making ways in less than no time. So the common man/woman were left helpless with no one willing to provide an outlet for their anger and frustration. That outlet finally arrived in 2009, when Sam Raimi came to the rescue with his film.

Christine Brown plays an innocent, honest and hard working woman, who is hoping to get the position of assistant manager at her bank.

But she is worried that her hard work and time with the company won’t be enough as a recent hire Stu is determined to suck up to the boss to get the position. When an opportunity to prove her assistant manager credentials literally comes knocking on her desk, Christine decides to ditch her good hearted ways.

Mrs Ganush has failed to meet her mortgage payments despite getting 2 bank extensions but she does not want to lose her familial home and asks Christine for a 3rd extension.

Christine goes to her boss to consult the case. Her boss explains that the bank would stand to make money by rejecting Mrs Ganush but still leaves the final decision in Christine’s hands. So Christine decides that the only way she can move up the bank ladder is to do what all the other male bankers before her did and reject Mrs Ganush, thereby making a decision to profit the bank and seal her progress into the assistant managerial chair.

Mrs Ganush begs Christine, gets down on her knees, and kisses Christine’s skirt, but Christine panics and calls the security guards.

Mrs Ganush feels shamed by Christine’s reaction and tries to strangle Christine.

Christine manages to escape unharmed but spends the rest of the film trying to avoid getting dragged into hell after a curse is put on her head by Mrs Ganush.

Drag Me to Hell shows that if a bank employee merely treats their customer as a means to advance their career via beefing up the bank’s profits, then there could be serious consequences such as an evil demon could be summoned to drag the employee down to hell. Ofcourse, the revenge against the bank is depicted under the guise of a horror film as the story strictly adheres to the horror film template of having an innocent female in distress. It does seem unfair to inflict a death curse on Christine after her first male-induced cold hearted decision but horror films rarely show mercy to female characters. In this sense, Drag Me to Hell merely conforms to the standards of throwing female characters under the bus (or train). Maybe in the future some other director might do go the full Bankploitation path and call their film ”Wall Street: Money Drags You to Hell”.

On another note, Drag Me to Hell does one thing rarely seen in horror films -- it includes a scene where the evil demon attacks Christine in broad daylight, breaking away from the convention of depicting horror only at night time.

While the film manages to be funny and packs some scares it is ofcourse pure fiction. Because if there were real gypsies capable of cursing bankers, then maybe some of the financial men might have thought twice about their reckless decisions.

Japanese Cinema Spotlight

Now that the World Cup is over, the backlog of the various film spotlights can start. The Japanese spotlight is first with the following assorted titles on tap:

The Only Son (1936, Yasujirô Ozu)
There was a Father (1942, Yasujirô Ozu)
Tales of Ugetsu (1953, Kenji Mizoguchi)
Bakumatsu Taiyoden (1957, Yuzo Kawashima)
Good Morning (1959, Yasujirô Ozu)
Tokyo Olympiad (1965, Kon Ichikawa)
Patriotism (1966, Yukio Mishima)
Samurai Rebellion (1967, Masaki Kobayashi)
Cure (1997, Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
Fish Story (2009, Yoshihiro Nakamura)

The original intent was to find titles spread across a few decades but somehow the selection is more tilted towards the 1950's - late 1960's, with 3 titles from each decade. Also, Ozu has three titles but I had my eye on these three films for a while. Cure is the only 90's title and Fish Story is the only new selection which screened last week at Fantasia in Montreal.

The one big unknown is Bakumatsu Taiyoden, a title helmed by a director I have never read about. So I am quite excited to see if this is a rare discovery.

Soccer DNA

Form is temporary, class is permanent.

This time, Thierry Henry provided another working example of the old cricket proverb.

On Thursday, July 22, Henry made his debut for the New York Red Bulls against Arsenal's bitter rivals Spurs and as expected, Henry duly scored a goal. No matter where Henry goes, he will always have Arsenal DNA in his blood. The same can't be said about Arsenal's current captain.

Inception

Dream within a dream within a dream

Inception (2010, USA/UK, Christopher Nolan)

Alejandro Amenábar beautifully explored the complex world of dreams and reality in Open Your Eyes, later remade into Vanilla Sky. However, the story of both films only explored one level of a dream world. Christopher Nolan has taken that core concept of dreams vs reality and gone two/three levels deeper, thereby creating a hyperlink dream maze that requires multiple hops to exit. Even though Inception traverses multiple dream levels and is bursting with fascinating ideas, it is a remarkably accessible film that manages to explains its ideas in a fluid manner without halting the plot progression. Ofcourse, since it is also a summer film, it contains the mandatory action sequences and explosions, without which the film might not have gotten booked in a multiplex in the first place. Thankfully, a majority of the explosive scenes shot in the Canadian snow-capped mountains arrive in the finale and don't derail the film too much.

Rating: 9/10

note: The story presented in Inception would certainly have made Jorge Luis Borges smile, given that Borges was a master of labyrinths and dreams within dreams.

Ugly tactics & antics close off a good tournament

The Dutch are destined not to win the World Cup. Their total football failed to win the World Cup in 1974 and 1978 and on Sunday, their ugly brutal football failed to land the 2010 trophy. Yet, the Dutch ironically contributed to their own downfall. The architects of their total football Rinus Michels and Johan Cryuff found their way to Barcelona in the 1970's and laid the first seeds of Dutch footballing ideas in Catalunya. Louis Van Gaal and Frank Rijkaard nurtured those attacking philosophies further and contributed to Barcelona becoming an attacking force. And those Barcelona players were a huge reason why Spain won their first World Cup on July 11. In a way, Dutch footballing ideas taken from the Ajax academy and planted in Barcelona over a course of three decades led to a Dutch defeat. Although the Spanish added their own key ingredient of play-acting, cheating and diving to ensure the Dutch would have no chance. Sure Holland's tactics were brutal but the Spanish attempts to con the referee were no less ugly. Iniesta was especially guilty of such antics and his most clear cut dive was to get Van Der Wiel booked. Busquets complained to the ref about Dutch diving yet it is Busquets who took the biggest dive of the 2009/10 Champions League season when he performed a somersault at the hint of a slightest touch against Arsenal's Denilson. Oddly, the one Dutch player known for his diving chose the wrong time to become honest. Robben was through on goal for a 2nd time, after missing his first clear cut break away chance in the 62nd minute, and was clearly held back by Puyol yet Robben decided to stay on his feet for a change. Had Robben gone down, then Puyol would surely have gotten a red card.

If Spanish players can't take the kicks, then why must Arsenal put up with it?

Plenty of neutrals are praising Spain for their beautiful football but in reality, Spain were nothing special. They controlled the ball but that was because Holland opted to unsettle Spain by fouling them off the ball and disrupt their play. The Germans also decided to sit back and let Spain have all the possession but the Germans failed to pull off a Swiss result and created no counter opportunity.

It is funny to see the Dutch getting criticized for their negative play by English writers, especially since this is the tactic adopted week in week out by Blackburn, Stoke and Bolton when they play Arsenal. Yet, Arsenal are told to get on with it and are said to not like the physical aspect of the game. But the Spanish are treated as victims when Holland went all Blackburn on Spain. Arseblog sums it up perfectly:

When professional footballers speak before a game about how you have to kick Arsenal, literally, to compete in a game they have a little titter, complain about Arsene Wenger moaning and accuse us of being weak, needing to man-up. Yet they couldn't condemn the Dutch fast enough. And leaving aside van Bommel and de Jong there wasn't another dirty player on the pitch. Bookings are part and parcel of the game, Spain picked up a few too. There's another thing - why do they ignore the cynical side of the Spaniards? If you're going to have a go at dirty/foul play why not criticise the Spanish for the way they constantly crowded the referee waving imaginary cards?

Interestingly, Howard Webb freely gave out yellow cards during the final yet on many occasions in the English league, he has kept the card in his pocket for similar or worse tackles thereby allowing the English players to freely get stuck in against the opposition.

Tricks

A year ago I used to admire the Spanish ball movement but over the last few months it has become very hard to appreciate Spain because their Barcelona players have transformed into an ugly propaganda machine in their effort to bring Cesc back to Barcelona. Cesc has a legal contract with Arsenal yet Barcelona have tried every single disgusting trick to pressure Arsenal into selling their key player. Now it seems the dirty tricks of the Barca players have extended even to Pepe Reina who is a Liverpool player. I cannot understand why Reina, Puyol & Pique resorted to this trick of putting a Barca shirt on Cesc during the Spanish post world cup celebrations. Disgusting!

Nothing at stake = lots of goals

Before the tournament, I would have liked either Spain or Holland to have won the trophy on the basis of the amazing technical players they had. But after watching a terrible final, I rather the trophy was given to one of Germany or Uruguay who put on quite a show in the 3rd place game.

I have wanted the 3rd place game to be eliminated for a while now but the one positive thing about the fixture is that it traditionally provides plenty of goals. One would have to go back to 1978 to when the final had more goals than the 3rd place game (in France 98, both the 3rd place game and final had a total of 3 goals.) And so it was again on Saturday when the meaningless game provided 5 goals and plenty of excitement. Germany won the game 3-2 but Forlan came within inches of taking the game into extra-time when his last second free kick rebounded off the bar. The game also gave Muller & Forlan a chance to notch up their 5th goals of the tournament, a result which meant that Muller took home the golden ball. Back in 1998, Suker also took home the golden ball after scoring a 6th goal in a 2-1 win over the Dutch. Ofcourse, Just Fontaine made the most of this fixture when he grabbed 4 goals in France's 6-3 win over West Germany in 1958 taking his goal tally to 13, a record that will never be broken.

Regional overview

32 teams is too much for the World Cup, especially since many teams are there just to make up the numbers. Ideally, I would like to see the number trimmed back to 24 and a coefficient system used to determine how many teams from each confederation will be allowed for future tournaments. Such a coefficient system is currently used in the Champions League and ensures that club teams from the various countries try to perform well otherwise their nations risk losing key spots.

1) Europe

13 spots is too much for Europe, especially since Denmark, England, France, Italy, Greece, Slovenia, Portugal, Switzerland and Serbia were plain awful. Slovakia provided a thrilling finale against Italy but were unadventurous against Paraguay. In the end, European teams took the top 3 spots in the tournament but only Germany and Spain can hold their heads up given the football they played.

2) Africa

Only Ghana did Africa proud whereas Nigeria, Ivory Coast & Cameroon look to have taken a few steps backwards in the last few years. Africa's 5 spots seems too generous given the poor football on display in 2010.

note: South Africa got the 6th African spot as hosts.

3) South America

Considering that there are only 10 countries in the confederation, 5 South American spots seems too much but in fairness all 5 teams did full justice to their World Cup places. Still, one spot can be trimmed, most likely the play-off spot between the 5th place South American team and the 4th place North & Central American team.

I am not sure if there is a possibility of 6 South American in 2014 since Brazil are the hosts. 6 would be too much for South America.

4) North & Central America

Mexico and USA carried the region's flag proudly although Honduras went home with no goals. Still, 3 spots seems to be a minimum for this region.

5) Asia

South Korea & Japan did amazingly well, especially when it came to free-kicks, scoring 3 goals from set-pieces. North Korea had a decent 55 minutes against Brazil but were clearly out of their depth in the other 2 games. Australia came in through the Asian qualifying path and should only improve as they have managed to establish some rivalries, especially with Japan, from playing in Asia. I would leave Asia's 4 spots untouched, although I would remove the option for a 5th team in a play-off with Oceania.

6) Oceania

New Zealand had the easiest path to the tournament and managed to leave as the only unbeaten team. That is quite a remarkable achievement but I still want to see Oceania merged completely with Asia, thereby providing New Zealand the same chance as Australia to frequently play better opposition.

Balancing the numbers

If 32 teams are to be reduced to 24, then I think this is how the 8 spots can be eliminated:

Europe should lose 4 automatic spots.
Africa should lose 2 automatic spots.
The additional play-off spot between Asia and Oceania should be eliminated.
The additional play-off spot between South America and North & Central America should be eliminated.

This would give a total of 23 automatic spots with Europe (9), South America (4), Africa (3), Asia & Oceania (4), North and Central America (3). The 24th spot can go to the host nation and have no bearing on the regional quota.

These numbers should not be fixed permanently and instead should change with every World Cup depending on how the various regional teams perform.

Also, an additional option could be to have more inter-regional play-offs such as between Europe & Africa, Europe & Asia, South America & North America to ensure teams that reach the World Cup are there on merit rather than making up the regional numbers.

Change is required

I can safely assume FIFA will not do anything with the regional numbers. Too much lobbying effort is spent by each federation to ensure their numbers are kept intact. Also, the FIFA president requires votes from each of the federations so one can assume any decision against one federation could endanger those votes.

However, as a minimum, FIFA must introduce goal-line technology to ensure that the games are not ruined by horrible decisions. Also, FIFA must have the power to ban divers after reviewing each game and reverse incorrect yellow card decisions in a game. Muller's yellow card seemed harsh in the Quarter-Final and caused him to miss the game with Spain where he might have made a difference. Laurent Blanc famously missed the 1998 World Cup final after Bilic dove in the semi-final earning Blanc a ridiculous red card.

Also, the number of games played by the top players in the world has to be reduced. FIFA has to eliminate the useless Confederation Cup, along with trimming some of the World Cup qualifying games. UEFA also needs to do their part by reducing the qualifying games for the European Championships especially since 24 teams will be allowed in future tournaments. 24 is almost half of the 53 teams that play in UEFA, so why should European teams have to play in a group of 5-6 teams to qualify for the European Cup?

2010 Movie World Cup, Recap

A film spotlight based on the 2010 Soccer World Cup

The Rules and selection criteria were drafted back in November 2009, with the first film viewed back in Dec 2009 and the final film seen only days before the soccer World Cup kicked off on June 11, 2010. From the 32 film list there were many entries that looked as potential finalists:

England: Of Time and the City (2008, Terence Davies)
Japan: The Human Condition, part I (1959, Masaki Kobayashi)
Portugal: Colossal Youth (2006, Pedro Costa)
Paraguay: Paraguayan Hammock (2006, Paz Encina)
France: Sans soleil (1983, Chris Marker)
Brazil: Almost Brothers (2004, Lúcia Murat)
Spain: The Spirit of the Beehive (1973, Victor Erice)
Germany: Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler (1922, Fritz Lang)
Italy: Il Divo (2008, Paolo Sorrentino)
Argentina: Liverpool (2008, Lisandro Alonso)
South Korea: Like you Know it All (2009, Hong sang-soo)
USA: Ballast (2008, Lance Hammer)
Chile: Historias de fútbol (1997 Andrés Wood)

Of these, the English, Italian and Brazilian titles were hugely disappointing. Only the Argentine feature exceeded expectations and very early on it was evident that it was a potential winner. The following were a few pleasurable discoveries:

Mexico: In the Pit (2006, Juan Carlos Rulfo)
Honduras: El Porvenir (2008, Oscar Estrada)
Serbia: The Life and Death of a Porno Gang (2009, Mladen Djordjevic)

I wish I had spent more time digging up a Dutch title but I took a gamble with the 2009 feature Amsterdam (Ivo van Hove) and unfortunately, it didn't pay off.

Below is a more complete recap.

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First Round

Following are the films listed in the order they finished in the group, with total points out of 9.

Group A -- Mexico (In the Pit, 8), Uruguay (Gigante, 8), France (Sans Soleil, 7), South Africa (U-Carmen e-Khayelitsha, 6)

Group B -- Argentina (Liverpool, 9), Greece (The Lost Monument, 8), South Korea (Like You Know it All, 8), Nigeria (Without Shame, 4)

Group C -- USA (Ballast, 9), Algeria (Daugther of Keltoum, 7), Slovenia (How I Killed a Saint, 6), England (Of Time and the City, 5)

Group D -- Serbia (The Life and Death of a Porno Gang, 9), Germany (Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler, 8), Australia (Celia, 6), Ghana (The Perfect Picture, 5)

Group E -- Japan (The Human Condition, part I, 9), Denmark (Flame and Citron, 8), Cameroon (A Trip to the Country, 7), Holland (Amsterdam, 5)

Group F -- Paraguay (Paraguayan Hammock, 8), Italy (Il Divo, 6), Slovakia (Orbis Pictus, 6), New Zealand (Black Sheep, 4)

Group G -- Portugal (Colossal Youth, 9), North Korea (North Korea: A Day in the Life, 7), Brazil (Almost Brothers, 6), Ivory Coast (Adanggaman, 5)

Group H -- Honduras (El Porvenir, 8), Spain (The Spirit of the Beehive, 7), Chile (Historias de fútbol, 6), Switzerland (A Crude Awakening, 5)

The top 2 films from each group advanced to the second round or the round of 16.

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Second Round

1) Mexico (In the Pit) 3-1 Greece (The Lost Monument)

2) USA (Ballast) 3-2 Germany (Dr. Mabuse The Gambler)

3) Japan (The Human Condition, part I) 3-0 Italy (Il Divo)

4) Portugal (Colossal Youth) 2-1 Spain (The Spirit of the Beehive)

5) Argentina (Liverpool) 3-1 Uruguay (Gigante)

6) Serbia (The Life and Death of a Porno Gang) 3-0 Algeria (Daughter of Keltoum)

7) Paraguay (Paraguayan Hammock) 2-3 Denmark (Flame and Citron)

8) Honduras (El Porvenir) 3-0 North Korea (North Korea: A Day in the Life)

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Quarter-Finals

1) Mexico (In the Pit) 3-3 USA (Ballast)
2) Japan (The Human Condition, part I) 2-2 Portugal (Colossal Youth)
3) Argentina (Liverpool) 3-2 Serbia (The Life and Death of a Porno Gang)
4) Denmark (Flame and Citron) 2-2 Honduras (El Porvenir)

The Mexican, Japanese and Honduran films all advanced to the Semi-Finals on the basis of subjective penalty shoot-out wins.

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Semi-Finals, 3rd Place & Final

Semi-Finals

Mexico (In the Pit) 3 - 2 Japan (The Human Condition, part I)
Argentina (Liverpool) 3-2 Honduras (El Porvenir)

3rd Place

Japan (The Human Condition, part I) 2-2 Honduras (El Porvenir)

The Honduran film takes 3rd place on penalties.

Final

Mexico (In the Pit) 2-3 Argentina (Liverpool)

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Overall, a very enjoyable festival with plenty of rich cinematic offerings. I especially relished the challenge of tracking down films from all 32 countries and such a task required a good investment of time and money. Some films were obviously a lot harder to find, such as the entries from Honduras, Cameroon, Ghana and Nigeria but in the end it was worth it as the presence of a full set of 32 films made for a worthy competition.

2010 Movie World Cup, Semi-Finals, 3rd Place & Final

Semi-Final #1

Mexico (In the Pit) 3 - 2 Japan (The Human Condition, part I)

In the Pit

Freeway construction site. A concrete cross ready to bear the burden of human's technological advances. Forgive us concrete, for we humans have sinned.

The end sequence of In the Pit is quite beautiful and gives an overview of the enormous construction site and hovers over some of the hundreds of workers involved. We only get to meet a few of the site workers in the film but there are many more stories waiting to be told.

The Human Condition

An intelligent and fascinating case study of human egos, greed and power.

Kaji has the difficult task of trying to implement his ideals across two parties, masters and slaves, who hate and distrust the other. Just three snapshots of his complex discussions:

1) Telling the labor bosses to steal less makes Kaji an instant enemy.

2) Kaji's ideas about fair labor conditions and practices are immediately dismissed by his supervisors as impractical.

3) Breaking the bad news to the prisoners -- Kaji almost always has bad news for the prisoners because his humane methods are either not recognized or undermined.

The Human Condition is a timeless film that will always be relevant because humans will never be able to treat others with respect and dignity. Egos, greed and lust for power will never go out of fashion.

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Semi-Final #2

Argentina (Liverpool) 3-2 Honduras (El Porvenir)

Liverpool is about a solitary man's journey while El Porvenir looks at the reasons why young men abandon isolation in favor of gangs. Death is implied yet never seen in Liverpool whereas El Porvenir examines the brutal killing that took place in April 2003 at the El Porvenir penal farm.

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3rd Place Match

Japan (The Human Condition, part I) 2-2 Honduras (El Porvenir)

Penalty shoot-out! The Honduran film narrowly sneaks out third place on penalties.

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Movie World Cup Final

Mexico (In the Pit,2006, Juan Carlos Rulfo) 2-3 Argentina (Liverpool, 2008, Lisandro Alonso)

Lisandro Alonso's beautiful film ends up as the best overall film when compared to the other 31 entries. The Brazilian film, In the Middle of the World, won the 2006 Movie World Cup and now another South American film takes the 2010 Movie World Cup. Unfortunately, no South American team will win the 2010 soccer World Cup despite a strong showing from all 5 South American teams in the opening rounds.

Fate, High Drama, Penalty Kicks & Heroes/Villains

Uruguay vs Ghana, Extra Time, Quarter-Finals

Revisiting the now historic & dramatic final seconds of extra time during Uruguay's 1-1 tie with Ghana.

1) Free-kick is awarded to Ghana with less than 30 seconds on the clock.

2) Ghana's goal bound attempt is legally cleared off the line.

3) Ghana's second attempt is illegally punched off the line by Suarez.

4) A penalty is awarded to Ghana and a red card shown to Suarez.

5) Gyan steps up for a historic kick. The fate of a nation and an entire continent rests on his shoulders.

6) Incredibly the ball rings off the crossbar.

Gyan is shattered and the camera cuts to Suarez, the villain of this episode, who is now shown to be celebrating.

7) The match ends at 1-1 and heads to a penalty shoot-out.

Gyan shows tremendous mental strength and courage in being Ghana's first penalty taker. He once again goes for a high corner but this time successfully converts his kick.

Gyan's brave effort proves to be not enough as two of his teammates see their tame penalties saved allowing Abreu to chip Uruguay into the final four.

Ironic Penalties

Ironies are part and parcel of this game, especially those associated with penalties. People blame Roberto Baggio's penalty miss for costing Italy the 1994 World Cup but without Roberto Baggio's wonderful goals, including an extra time penalty kick against Nigeria in the second round, Italy would never have been in the final to begin with. Similarly, without Gyan, Ghana would not have been in the Quarter-Finals. Ghana failed to score a single goal from open play in the first round and the only reason that Ghana got to the second round was thanks to two successful penalty conversions from Gyan against Serbia and Australia. In both cases, it was a handball that gave Gyan the chance to score his vital goals. Gyan's penalty kicks enabled Ghana to be the only African team to make the second round at this World Cup so it is ironic that his miss dented Ghana's chances of making further history by becoming the first African country to make the semi-finals. Even though Gyan redeemed himself in the shoot-out, his failed attempt was the closest an African team has gotten to making the semi-finals of the World Cup.

Besides Ghana, in the last two decades, Cameroon and Senegal were the other two African teams who were within touching distance of the Semi-Finals but both Cameroon and Senegal lost in extra-time of Italia 1990 & Korea/Japan 2002 respectively. Although, penalties played a cruel part in Cameroon's elimination 20 years ago. Cameroon were leading 2-1 over England in regulation and were within 7 minutes of the Semi-finals but they gave away a penalty allowing England to tie the game up 2-2 and in extra time, they gave away another penalty to bow out of Italia 1990.

2010 Movie World Cup, Quarter-Finals

The head-to-head rules for the Quarter-Finals are the same as the second round, meaning three categories are used to decide a winner -- Direction, Structure (story and editing) & Cinematography.

1) Mexico (In the Pit) 3-3 USA (Ballast)

Both films perfectly soak up the mood and noise of their locales with In the Pit focusing on a freeway construction site in Mexico City and Ballast observing a family's plight in the Mississippi Delta. However, Juan Carlos Rulfo has also created a film that explains a nation's economic and social situation and offers a meditative look at the mess that humans have created for themselves with their never ending car packed roads. The more roads that humans build, the faster they will be filled with cars so in a way, construction for easing car congestion will inevitably lead to more congestion. The Myth of Sisyphus is well and truly a reality.

2) Japan (The Human Condition, part I) 2-2 Portugal (Colossal Youth)

Two completely different styles at play here with The Human Condition being a narrative driven exercise and Colossal Youth a mesmerizing painting. In the end, the Japanese film wins out because of its rich and fascinating template of intriguing characters who provide an understanding into the political problems facing our world. Now, there is no denying the pleasure that exists in observing Ventura in Colossal Youth but in order to enjoy moments with Ventura we are forced to spend time with Vanda, whose conversations did not suit my cinematic palate. In a way, Colossal Youth demonstrated both the beauty and frustrations demonstrated by the Portuguese national team at this World Cup. On one hand, Portugal played some champagne football in their 7 goal classic against North Korea but on the other hand they were also guilty of mind numbing dullness in two 0-0 draws against Ivory Coast and Brazil. Portugal vs North Korea = Ventura, while Portugal vs Ivory Coast = Vanda. If only Cape Verde were present in this group instead of Ivory Coast, then maybe, just maybe a dream of a lava house would have been truly realized.

3) Argentina (Liverpool) 3-2 Serbia (The Life and Death of a Porno Gang)

Death is a common bond between these films but with a slight difference -- in the case of Liverpool death is indirectly implied outside the frame but in The Life and Death of a Porno Gang death is found brutally and explicitly at every turn. Liverpool also signifies nirvana where the main character is able to shed off his worldly worries and attain pure liberation. On the other hand, The Life and Death of a Porno Gang demonstrates multiple lives cruelly cut short with none of the characters ever coming close to living out their wishes.

4) Denmark (Flame and Citron) 2-2 Honduras (El Porvenir)

The Danish film shows the emotional wear and tear of characters trained to kill for their cause while the Honduran feature examines a social system which allows killing to easily take place. Flame and Citron is set during WWII at a time when resistance groups fought for freedom but as El Porvenir shows even when a nation gets freedom, its citizens cannot freely etch out a living.

Movie Quarter-Final Results

Mexico, Japan and Honduras advance on the back of subjective penalty shoot-out wins while the Argentine feature advances with yet another strong result.

All the films at this stage are quality works as demonstrated by the first round ratings -- 5 of the 8 films scored 9/9 and the remaining 3 netted 8/9. So this made for some very close decisions and interestingly, three of the quarter finals ended up being decided by a subjective penalty shoot-out after the head-to-head match-up ended in a tie.

Soccer World Cup Quarter-Finals

My prediction for 4 possible South American teams in the Semi-Finals came to a crashing end this past weekend. But thankfully, the 4 matches were all classics in their own right and provided plenty of drama and intriguing stories.

Holland 2-1 Brazil

I did not see this one coming, especially after the first half when Holland were absolutely poor. How can one explain Brazil's implosion in the second half, especially Felipe Melo's moment of madness? Melo lost his mind and so did Brazil. Robinho and Fabiano are imposters who should spend their energy playing the game and not complaining. Dunga's decision to take extra defensive players to the World Cup backfired and when Brazil needed a goal, they had no creative force to call upon. Hopefully none of the existing Brazilians will ever play for the national team again and the 2014 Brazilian squad returns to its beautiful football roots.

Holland are in the semis for the first time since 1998 but this Dutch team is a world away from the 1974, 1978, 1988 Dutch squads known for beautiful football. Still, if there is a nation that deserves to win the World Cup based on the game's history, then it is Holland. But if the Dutch are to succeed, then they need Van Persie to stop getting injured and start scoring goals.

Uruguay 1-1 Ghana, Uruguay wins 4-2 on penalties

The hand of Suarez, a last minute penalty miss and a penalty shoot-out drama!! The end result is that Africa misses out on a historic semi-final berth while Uruguay is back in the semi-finals for the first time since 1970 when they lost 3-1 to Brazil.

Germany 4-0 Argentina

Prior to the game, my mind expected Germany to win but my heart wanted Argentina to win. Yet, I didn't expect such a one sided demolition job. Wow! Maradona went the opposite way of Dunga in that he left out much needed defensive cover in the form of Cambiasso & Zanetti and opted for more offensive players. The end result was that Germany had enough freedom to find space in Argentina's hollow defense.

Spain 1-0 Paraguay

What would Spain do without David Villa? Once again, Villa comes to the rescue after both team's captains, Casillas & Villar, made vital penalty saves although Villar got 2 tries to save one kick.

Brazil's defensive setup vs Argentina's attacking lineup

Dunga opted for 8 defenders, 8 midfielders and only 4 forward whereas Maradona took 7 defenders, 7 midfielders and 6 attackers. On top of that, Argentina's midfield was far more adventurous and attack minded than Brazil's defensive midfield which featured more holding players such as Gilberto and Melo. A Brazil vs Argentina final would have been a great opportunity to observe the contrasting styles but both team's weakness did them in. Brazil had almost no creativity to pry open the Dutch team and were as ineffective as they were in the 1-0 loss to France in the last World Cup whereas Argentina lacked any defensive cover to stop the German runs.

So back to the drawing board for Brazil and Argentina.

South America 1 - Europe 3

South America's bright start has faded away and only Uruguay remain waving the continent's flag while the presence of Holland, Germany and Spain in the semi's means there is a strong possibility of a European team finally winning the World Cup outside of Europe.