A few years ago I came across José Suárez Carreño’s The Final Hours at an antique bookstore. I had never heard anything about Carreño but after flipping through a few pages, I decided to give the book a try. The 1953 hardcover book turned out to be the first American edition of the book and it was in surprizingly good condition, considering that the book was more than 5 decades old. I started reading the book but for whatever reason, I never finished it and put it aside. However, a few days ago I re-discovered the book and started to read through it again. This time around I made a surprizing discovery. Turning through the pages, I came across the following handwritten note buried halfway through the book:
This is the most horribly sordid book I have ever read. It makes one feel indecent & unclean, nearly made me sick! Thought you might like to read it though. Most extraordinary - what a mind Carreño must have! And it won a prize!! Don’t return it - burn it!
Now, I have bought many antique and second hand books in my life but this is the first time I have come across a handwritten note tucked away in any of the books. At most, I have books which have some comments written on a page but this handwritten note is something else entirely. Ofcourse, this means I have to finish the book to see what triggered these comments. Interestingly, whoever borrowed the book clearly did not follow the instructions to burn it. The borrower probably sold the book to a second hand bookstore and from there it must have changed many hands before landing up in my city. But the question is when was the note written? On the inside cover, there is a scribbled mark “Victoria/57” followed by a stamp giving a shop name & address in Victoria, B.C. So that means this book was sold via the Victoria bookstore but the note must have been a recent thing because otherwise someone would have removed the note. Or maybe the note has persisted through subsequent sales because either no one got past page 146 or people decided that the note is part and parcel of this book's life.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Abundant Limited Choices
Sometime in the future....
“What movie do you want to go see?”
“I don’t know. What’s playing?”
“Transformers VI 3D, Shrek 6 3D, Spider Man 5 3D”.
“That’s it?”
“Yup. That’s it. Every multiplex in the city is only playing these three movies”
“Hmm. What do the critics say about these films?”
“What do you mean by critics?”
“You know, those people who review a film and sometimes give a rating. Their reviews are printed in the friday newspapers”
“Oh..You don’t remember, do you?”
“huh?”
“Well..I don’t know where to start. You see, there are no more newspapers and so there are no more film critics.”
“What!! When did this happen?”
“When was the last time you saw a movie or read a newspaper?”
“Oh, I guess it has been a long time now...”
“There have been no newspapers printed in this city for almost a year now and the same is true for all North American cities. Most film critics were laid off two years ago and there have been no film reviews of any film anywhere in North America, atleast not officially.”
“what does officially mean?”
“After the North American film critics were laid off, most of them quickly went off to Europe where they have had a thriving career because films are still appreciated in Europe. The few critics that remained started some underground web sites where they wrote critical analysis of films.”
“Why underground web sites?”
“The thing is most Hollywood studios did not want people to review or judge their films. A few years ago, Hollywood decided to rebrand their films as an entertainment experience and thus were not happy when people wrote negative comments about their films. Hollywood decided audiences should sit in their seats, put on their 3D goggles and just consume whatever they put on screen, be it talking animals or green alien creatures. In order to prevent any chatter about their films, they got the governments (both Canada and the US) to prevent any mention of their films on the internet. The newspapers were already in trouble, so it was easy to get the newspapers to remove the film critics. And then, the biggest coup for Hollywood was to ban all non-Hollywood films from entering North American shores. This was the real clincher. Once Hollywood prevented films from outside North America (such as Europe, Asia, Latin America) to ever be shown in any Canadian or American cinema hall, it became easy to control things. The independent/art house theaters quickly went out of business because they didn’t have any foreign films to show and they could not afford the expensive 3D Hollywood films and then only the multiplexes were left who took whatever film Hollywood provided without question.”
“I don’t remember any of this.”
“In a way, I should not be surprized. You got so busy in your life that you stopped watching any films and no matter how much I tried, you never had time. Eventually, I stopped talking to you about films as I had given up on you ever watching a film again.”
“I am sorry. I never thought this could happen.”
“It’s okay. Even if you had watched the foreign films, this was going to happen anyway.”
“So what now? What films do you watch?”
“I don’t watch too many Hollywood films. There are still a few talented directors working in the Hollywood system who make intelligent and artistic films and I try to catch their works but I have to be on my toes as their films are only shown for a few days before the multiplexes are cleared for the next Transformers or Avatar 3D film.”
“I did see that film, Avatar.”
“Yeah, the 4th film in the series is coming out next week.”
“I only remember seeing the first one. I didn’t know there were more than one”
“You did live under a rock then. The second and third films were almost mandatory viewings.”
“How were they mandatory?”
“Every night on TV, they kept announcing that this is the MUST SEE movie of the century and every human being on the planet must see the film. The ads and announcements worked in a way as lot of people saw the movie.”
“Did you see the movies?”
“I saw the first and second one and that was too much for me.”
“So what other films do you see?”
“Oh I try to go to Europe or Asia 1-2 times a year and get my films from there. Europe and Asia still have film festivals so it is possible to catch some great films there. And then, sometimes if I am feeling brave, I smuggle some foreign films home.”
“Smuggle?”
“Oh yeah. Officially, we are not allowed to bring any films into North America. And if one is caught with a foreign language film, they are then sent to a “cinema rehabilitation camp” for a week.”
“I thought you were going to say jail or something.”
“No, jail would be considered getting off easy. The “cinema rehabilitation camp” ensures that a person’s brain will be purged of any non-Hollywood film images and that one would not want to watch any foreign films ever.”
“Do you know what goes on in a “cinema rehabilitation camp”?”
“I have only heard rumours. Apparently they chain you in a seat and pry your eyes open and force you to watch 8-10 hours of 3D Hollywood films in a day, and then repeat that for a total of 7 days.”
“Are you serious?”
Silence.
Finally, a burst of laughter.
“No I am not serious. We live in a democracy after all and are free to make our choices.”
A sigh of relief.
“Good. So you been making all this up?”
“Well only the “cinema rehabilitation camp” part. We can bring in any foreign DVDs we want. But the rest is true, we can’t watch any non-Hollywood films in a North American theater and there are no newspapers or critics.”
“Oh.”
“Cheer up. We can stay home and watch this great film from Malaysia that I bought last year.”
“Oh. Wow. That sounds great.”
“I am just glad you finally want to watch a film.”
“I can’t wait...”
“Good. And if you like that, then I have some films from Romania, France, India, Thailand that you have to see as well.”
“What movie do you want to go see?”
“I don’t know. What’s playing?”
“Transformers VI 3D, Shrek 6 3D, Spider Man 5 3D”.
“That’s it?”
“Yup. That’s it. Every multiplex in the city is only playing these three movies”
“Hmm. What do the critics say about these films?”
“What do you mean by critics?”
“You know, those people who review a film and sometimes give a rating. Their reviews are printed in the friday newspapers”
“Oh..You don’t remember, do you?”
“huh?”
“Well..I don’t know where to start. You see, there are no more newspapers and so there are no more film critics.”
“What!! When did this happen?”
“When was the last time you saw a movie or read a newspaper?”
“Oh, I guess it has been a long time now...”
“There have been no newspapers printed in this city for almost a year now and the same is true for all North American cities. Most film critics were laid off two years ago and there have been no film reviews of any film anywhere in North America, atleast not officially.”
“what does officially mean?”
“After the North American film critics were laid off, most of them quickly went off to Europe where they have had a thriving career because films are still appreciated in Europe. The few critics that remained started some underground web sites where they wrote critical analysis of films.”
“Why underground web sites?”
“The thing is most Hollywood studios did not want people to review or judge their films. A few years ago, Hollywood decided to rebrand their films as an entertainment experience and thus were not happy when people wrote negative comments about their films. Hollywood decided audiences should sit in their seats, put on their 3D goggles and just consume whatever they put on screen, be it talking animals or green alien creatures. In order to prevent any chatter about their films, they got the governments (both Canada and the US) to prevent any mention of their films on the internet. The newspapers were already in trouble, so it was easy to get the newspapers to remove the film critics. And then, the biggest coup for Hollywood was to ban all non-Hollywood films from entering North American shores. This was the real clincher. Once Hollywood prevented films from outside North America (such as Europe, Asia, Latin America) to ever be shown in any Canadian or American cinema hall, it became easy to control things. The independent/art house theaters quickly went out of business because they didn’t have any foreign films to show and they could not afford the expensive 3D Hollywood films and then only the multiplexes were left who took whatever film Hollywood provided without question.”
“I don’t remember any of this.”
“In a way, I should not be surprized. You got so busy in your life that you stopped watching any films and no matter how much I tried, you never had time. Eventually, I stopped talking to you about films as I had given up on you ever watching a film again.”
“I am sorry. I never thought this could happen.”
“It’s okay. Even if you had watched the foreign films, this was going to happen anyway.”
“So what now? What films do you watch?”
“I don’t watch too many Hollywood films. There are still a few talented directors working in the Hollywood system who make intelligent and artistic films and I try to catch their works but I have to be on my toes as their films are only shown for a few days before the multiplexes are cleared for the next Transformers or Avatar 3D film.”
“I did see that film, Avatar.”
“Yeah, the 4th film in the series is coming out next week.”
“I only remember seeing the first one. I didn’t know there were more than one”
“You did live under a rock then. The second and third films were almost mandatory viewings.”
“How were they mandatory?”
“Every night on TV, they kept announcing that this is the MUST SEE movie of the century and every human being on the planet must see the film. The ads and announcements worked in a way as lot of people saw the movie.”
“Did you see the movies?”
“I saw the first and second one and that was too much for me.”
“So what other films do you see?”
“Oh I try to go to Europe or Asia 1-2 times a year and get my films from there. Europe and Asia still have film festivals so it is possible to catch some great films there. And then, sometimes if I am feeling brave, I smuggle some foreign films home.”
“Smuggle?”
“Oh yeah. Officially, we are not allowed to bring any films into North America. And if one is caught with a foreign language film, they are then sent to a “cinema rehabilitation camp” for a week.”
“I thought you were going to say jail or something.”
“No, jail would be considered getting off easy. The “cinema rehabilitation camp” ensures that a person’s brain will be purged of any non-Hollywood film images and that one would not want to watch any foreign films ever.”
“Do you know what goes on in a “cinema rehabilitation camp”?”
“I have only heard rumours. Apparently they chain you in a seat and pry your eyes open and force you to watch 8-10 hours of 3D Hollywood films in a day, and then repeat that for a total of 7 days.”
“Are you serious?”
Silence.
Finally, a burst of laughter.
“No I am not serious. We live in a democracy after all and are free to make our choices.”
A sigh of relief.
“Good. So you been making all this up?”
“Well only the “cinema rehabilitation camp” part. We can bring in any foreign DVDs we want. But the rest is true, we can’t watch any non-Hollywood films in a North American theater and there are no newspapers or critics.”
“Oh.”
“Cheer up. We can stay home and watch this great film from Malaysia that I bought last year.”
“Oh. Wow. That sounds great.”
“I am just glad you finally want to watch a film.”
“I can’t wait...”
“Good. And if you like that, then I have some films from Romania, France, India, Thailand that you have to see as well.”
Sunday, January 17, 2010
It's Official -- Awards = Popular
Kathryn Bigelow is robbed! The Hurt Locker was the best directed American film of 2009 not Avatar. But as expected, the best director award was given not on merit but on popular choice. The Hurt Locker is a much superior film in 2-D than the 3-D Avatar and if one took away the 3-D, then Avatar is nothing but an average summer Hollywood film. Yes, credit must be given where it is due. James Cameron certainly knows how to make popular films, movies that make a lot of money and appeal to the masses.
Friday, January 15, 2010
2010 Movie World Cup, part 2
[Update, Apr 2] -- Films from all 32 countries taking part in the soccer world cup have been located. Entries from North Korea and Honduras were proving to be a challenge but films from both nations have been identified and viewed recently. So a proper movie world cup can now take place and this total of 32 certainly improves on the 2006 movie world cup edition when films from only 22 of the 32 countries were found.
Notes:
How I Killed a Saint is technically a Macedonian film shot in Macedonia but it sneaks in because Slovenia is listed as a co-producer.
Due to unforseen circumstances the Danish entry of Allegro (2005, Christoffer Boe) is no longer readily available. The film Flame and Citron has to be drafted in as a substitute entry. June 1 is the deadline for the World Cup soccer teams to call on a substitute player in case of an injury, so I am using that same guideline to bring in a replacement film.
England: Of Time and the City (2008, Terence Davies)
Mexico: In the Pit (2006, Juan Carlos Rulfo)
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)
Spain: The Spirit of the Beehive (1973, Victor Erice)
Italy: Il Divo (2008, Paolo Sorrentino)
USA: Ballast (2008, Lance Hammer)
Australia: Celia (1989, Ann Turner)
New Zealand: Black Sheep (2006, Jonathan King)
South Africa: U-Carmen e-Khayelitsha (2005, Mark Dornford-May)
Denmark: Flame and Citron (2008, Ole Christian Madsen)
Germany: Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler (1922, Fritz Lang)
Ivory Coast: Adanggaman (2000, Roger Gnoan M'Bala)
Nigeria: Without Shame (2005, Lancelot Oduwa Imasuen)
Cameroon: A Trip to the Country (2000, Jean-Marie Téno)
Argentina: Liverpool (2008, Lisandro Alonso)
Ghana: The Perfect Picture (2009, Shirley Frimpong-Manso)
North Korea: A Day in the Life (2004, Pieter Fleury)
Algeria: Daughter of Keltoum (2001, Mehdi Charef)
Slovakia: Orbis Pictus (1997, Martin Sulík)
Holland: Amsterdam (2009, Ivo van Hove)
Switzerland: A Crude Awakening (2006, Basil Gelpke & Ryan McCormack)
Chile: Historias de fútbol (1997 Andrés Wood)
Slovenia: How I Killed a Saint (2004, Teona Strugar Mitevska)
Brazil: Almost Brothers (2004, Lúcia Murat)
Uruguay: Gigante (2009, Adrián Biniez)
Greece: The Lost Monument (2009, Stefanos Tsivopoulos, 27 min)
Honduras: El Porvenir (2008, Oscar Estrada)
Serbia: The Life and Death of a Porno Gang (2009, Mladen Djordjevic)
South Korea: Like you Know it All (2009, Hong sang-soo)
Mexico: In the Pit (2006, Juan Carlos Rulfo)
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)
Spain: The Spirit of the Beehive (1973, Victor Erice)
Italy: Il Divo (2008, Paolo Sorrentino)
USA: Ballast (2008, Lance Hammer)
Australia: Celia (1989, Ann Turner)
New Zealand: Black Sheep (2006, Jonathan King)
South Africa: U-Carmen e-Khayelitsha (2005, Mark Dornford-May)
Denmark: Flame and Citron (2008, Ole Christian Madsen)
Germany: Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler (1922, Fritz Lang)
Ivory Coast: Adanggaman (2000, Roger Gnoan M'Bala)
Nigeria: Without Shame (2005, Lancelot Oduwa Imasuen)
Cameroon: A Trip to the Country (2000, Jean-Marie Téno)
Argentina: Liverpool (2008, Lisandro Alonso)
Ghana: The Perfect Picture (2009, Shirley Frimpong-Manso)
North Korea: A Day in the Life (2004, Pieter Fleury)
Algeria: Daughter of Keltoum (2001, Mehdi Charef)
Slovakia: Orbis Pictus (1997, Martin Sulík)
Holland: Amsterdam (2009, Ivo van Hove)
Switzerland: A Crude Awakening (2006, Basil Gelpke & Ryan McCormack)
Chile: Historias de fútbol (1997 Andrés Wood)
Slovenia: How I Killed a Saint (2004, Teona Strugar Mitevska)
Brazil: Almost Brothers (2004, Lúcia Murat)
Uruguay: Gigante (2009, Adrián Biniez)
Greece: The Lost Monument (2009, Stefanos Tsivopoulos, 27 min)
Honduras: El Porvenir (2008, Oscar Estrada)
Serbia: The Life and Death of a Porno Gang (2009, Mladen Djordjevic)
South Korea: Like you Know it All (2009, Hong sang-soo)
Notes:
How I Killed a Saint is technically a Macedonian film shot in Macedonia but it sneaks in because Slovenia is listed as a co-producer.
Due to unforseen circumstances the Danish entry of Allegro (2005, Christoffer Boe) is no longer readily available. The film Flame and Citron has to be drafted in as a substitute entry. June 1 is the deadline for the World Cup soccer teams to call on a substitute player in case of an injury, so I am using that same guideline to bring in a replacement film.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Saturday, January 09, 2010
Violence hits Soccer
It is not surprising that Togo have withdrawn from the African Cup of Nations after yesterday's bus attack. The entire episode has been shocking. Yes, such bus attacks have taken place many times before in various countries but this one is different because the bus was packed with soccer player. Soccer has always been an outlet for people to escape the troubles of their daily life but this time around soccer is directly harmed.
The famous Liverpool manager had a quote: "Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I assure you, it's much more serious than that."
Well yesterday's incident should change that perception.
Will the tournament still go on? How will this effect the security question regarding the World Cup in South Africa?
The famous Liverpool manager had a quote: "Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I assure you, it's much more serious than that."
Well yesterday's incident should change that perception.
Will the tournament still go on? How will this effect the security question regarding the World Cup in South Africa?
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Best Films of 2009
I saw plenty of excellent films in 2009 and I cannot restrict my list to 10 or even 20 films. My short list has 57 titles that I enjoyed in varying aspects so I have decided to break things up into three categories to reflect a subjective ordering -- Gold (Favourites), Silver (Honorable Mention), Bronze (Worthy viewing). All the films in each category are listed in order of viewing and are 2009 released films or older films that only saw the light of day in my city this year (such as Zidane and Wendy and Lucy).
Zidane (France, Douglas Gordon/Philippe Parreno)
Wendy and Lucy (USA, Kelly Reichardt)
Birdsong (Spain, Albert Serra)
Call If You Need Me (Malaysia, James Lee)
Buick Riviera (Croatia, Goran Rusinovic)
Be Calm and Count to Seven (Iran, Ramtin Lavafipour)
Border (Armenia/Holland, Harutyun Khachatryan)
Everyone Else (Germany, Maren Ade)
Milk (Turkey, Semih Kaplanoglu)
Karaoke (Malaysia, Chris Chong Chan Fui)
Ain’t No Tomorrows (Japan, Yuki Tanada)
The Storm (Turkey, Kazim Öz)
The Hurt Locker (USA, Kathryn Bigelow)
District 9 (South Africa/New Zealand, Neill Blomkamp)
Katalin Varga (Romania co-production, Peter Strickland)
Police, Adjective (Romania, Corneliu Porumboiu)
The Happiest Girl in the World (Romania co-production, Radu Jude)
I Killed My Mother (Canada, Xavier Dolan)
Breathless (South Korea, Yang Ik-June)
The Prophet (France, Jacques Audiard)
The Class (France, Laurent Cantet)
In the Loop (UK, Armando Iannucci)
The Limits of Control (USA, Jim Jarmusch)
The International (USA/Germany/UK, Tom Tykwer)
Che, part two (USA, Steven Soderbergh)
The Blessing (Denmark, Heidi Maria Faisst)
Can go Through Skin (Holland, Esther Rots)
My Only Sunshine (Turkey co-production, Reha Erdem)
This Longing (Malaysia, Azharr Rudin)
Fujian Blue (China, Weng Shou Ming)
Lulu & Jimi (Germany/France, Oskar Roehler)
Daytime Drinking (Korea, Young-Seok Noh)
Vacation (Japan, Hajime Kadoi)
Independencia (Philippines, Raya Martin)
Mid-August Lunch (Italy, Gianni Di Gregorio)
Still Walking (Japan, Hirokazu Koreeda)
Fish Eyes (Korea/China, Zheng Wei)
Rough Cut (Korea, Hun Jang)
Revache (Austria, Goetz Spielmann)
Wrong Rosary (Turkey, Mahmut Fazil Coskun)
Man on Wire (UK/USA, James Marsh)
Firaaq (India, Nandita Das)
The Damned United (UK/USA, Tom Hooper)
35 Shots of Rum (France, Claire Denis)
Dev D (India, Anurag Kashyup)
Gulaal (India, Anurag Kashyup)
Pontypool (Canada, Bruce McDonald)
Guidance (Sweden, Johan Jonason)
Amreeka (USA/Canada, Cherien Dabis)
Genova (UK, Michael Winterbottom)
Mary and Max (Australia, Adam Elliot)
Public Enemies (USA, Michael Mann)
The White Ribbon (Germany co-production, Michael Haneke)
The Last Lullaby (USA, Jeffrey Goodman)
Cooking History (Slovakia co-production, Peter Kerekes)
Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis (France, Dany Boon)
Tulpan (Kazakhstan co-production,Sergei Dvortsevoy)
Gold -- 23 titles
Zidane (France, Douglas Gordon/Philippe Parreno)
Wendy and Lucy (USA, Kelly Reichardt)
Birdsong (Spain, Albert Serra)
Call If You Need Me (Malaysia, James Lee)
Buick Riviera (Croatia, Goran Rusinovic)
Be Calm and Count to Seven (Iran, Ramtin Lavafipour)
Border (Armenia/Holland, Harutyun Khachatryan)
Everyone Else (Germany, Maren Ade)
Milk (Turkey, Semih Kaplanoglu)
Karaoke (Malaysia, Chris Chong Chan Fui)
Ain’t No Tomorrows (Japan, Yuki Tanada)
The Storm (Turkey, Kazim Öz)
The Hurt Locker (USA, Kathryn Bigelow)
District 9 (South Africa/New Zealand, Neill Blomkamp)
Katalin Varga (Romania co-production, Peter Strickland)
Police, Adjective (Romania, Corneliu Porumboiu)
The Happiest Girl in the World (Romania co-production, Radu Jude)
I Killed My Mother (Canada, Xavier Dolan)
Breathless (South Korea, Yang Ik-June)
The Prophet (France, Jacques Audiard)
The Class (France, Laurent Cantet)
In the Loop (UK, Armando Iannucci)
The Limits of Control (USA, Jim Jarmusch)
Silver -- 21 titles
The International (USA/Germany/UK, Tom Tykwer)
Che, part two (USA, Steven Soderbergh)
The Blessing (Denmark, Heidi Maria Faisst)
Can go Through Skin (Holland, Esther Rots)
My Only Sunshine (Turkey co-production, Reha Erdem)
This Longing (Malaysia, Azharr Rudin)
Fujian Blue (China, Weng Shou Ming)
Lulu & Jimi (Germany/France, Oskar Roehler)
Daytime Drinking (Korea, Young-Seok Noh)
Vacation (Japan, Hajime Kadoi)
Independencia (Philippines, Raya Martin)
Mid-August Lunch (Italy, Gianni Di Gregorio)
Still Walking (Japan, Hirokazu Koreeda)
Fish Eyes (Korea/China, Zheng Wei)
Rough Cut (Korea, Hun Jang)
Revache (Austria, Goetz Spielmann)
Wrong Rosary (Turkey, Mahmut Fazil Coskun)
Man on Wire (UK/USA, James Marsh)
Firaaq (India, Nandita Das)
The Damned United (UK/USA, Tom Hooper)
35 Shots of Rum (France, Claire Denis)
Bronze -- 13 titles
Dev D (India, Anurag Kashyup)
Gulaal (India, Anurag Kashyup)
Pontypool (Canada, Bruce McDonald)
Guidance (Sweden, Johan Jonason)
Amreeka (USA/Canada, Cherien Dabis)
Genova (UK, Michael Winterbottom)
Mary and Max (Australia, Adam Elliot)
Public Enemies (USA, Michael Mann)
The White Ribbon (Germany co-production, Michael Haneke)
The Last Lullaby (USA, Jeffrey Goodman)
Cooking History (Slovakia co-production, Peter Kerekes)
Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis (France, Dany Boon)
Tulpan (Kazakhstan co-production,Sergei Dvortsevoy)
2009: Overview
Another film watching year is in the books! My final total of 338 films seen in 2009 is lower than the 445 films seen in 2008 and 385 in 2007. However, the quality of films I saw in 2009 was much higher than that of the previous two years. With the exception of a few films (soon to be outlined in a best of 2009 post), a majority of the best films I saw in 2009 came courtesy of the film festival circuit, routed via Sundance, Rotterdam, Cannes and eventually landing in CIFF. For me, the importance of Film Festivals cannot be emphasized enough and going into a new decade film festivals continue to be the only venue for most of the cinephiles around the world to peer into the existing beautiful cinematic universe. This is because the multiplexes are dominated with the usual gimmicky Hollywood [insert Bollywood or other local commercial offering] works and as a result, non-commercial films struggle to be seen. The number of art house venues cannot possibly show every worthy foreign/independent work and distributors only have a limited budget to grab a majority of these titles for DVD releases. Thankfully there are plenty of online/print film magazines/blogs which shed a light on the relevant cinema that exists but their film write-ups are still limited to a few titles from a select few film festivals. The onus is still on the cinephile to chase down titles on their own and try to discover works that others have missed. The good think is that there is plenty of potential to find new cinematic gems. For example, I was alerted to the lineup of films at The International Film Festival of Kerala thanks to Brown Country. Not only have I not seen any of the 14 competition films, I have not heard/read about them anywhere. So there remains a huge chance to find real gems in that list. How many of these 14 films will make the rounds around the world, via film festivals or DVD? Very few. What about the rest? They will sadly disappear as it often happens every year where sometimes worthy works go unnoticed because an important distributor/critic/film programmer did not get a chance to see the film. The fate of the Indian films in the IFFK list is even more bleak. Atleast Harishchandra’s Factory will get a wider release by UTV in January 2010 but the others might be inaccessible not only to international audiences but even to the people of India.
The Real Game Changer -- availability, not format
There has been a lot of talk this year about the new possibilities regarding 3D cinema. The buzz words around 3D now even apply to TV as 3D-TV should be available sometime in 2010 (very pricey though) and in 2009, one could have seen some 3D episodes of some TV series (one episode of the amazing Chuck comes to mind). Sure the experience of watching a film in rich 3D is rewarding but that experience only applies to a limited Hollywood selection and those films would have been easily available anyway in 2D and DVD anyway. On the other hand, I think something that allows cinephiles access to films from around the world is the real game changer. The current film festival calendar is broken and the film distribution network is not adequate enough to get films shown to people. For example, Cannes takes place in May and people in North America have to wait until TIFF premiers a select few Cannes titles in September before other film festivals can then start to show those films over the next few months (or a year as the case maybe). Then it is a further 6-8 months before a few of those titles would make it out to the art house/independent screens the following summer. And then the DVD release of those films could take another 6-8 months, meaning almost 2 years could have passed since a film’s Cannes premier before the film makes it to DVD in North America. This timeline applies to the few select award winning/big name Cannes films whereas the DVD release of other Cannes films could take even longer or never happen in some cases. That is not acceptable, especially when in an age where people talk about the speed and efficiency of data.
There has to be a major rethink about how fast film festival titles are made accessible to people. Here are my two cents to speed the process up:
1) The major film festivals with a distribution network (such as Sundance, Rotterdam, Cannes) should also broadcast films over the internet on a pay per view basis.
2) The festivals should provide a method to upload films via satellite to designated film theaters around the world.
Neither idea seems far fetched but the internet option might be more doable and recently The Auteurs tried something out with the Sao Paulo film festival where people from around Brazil could watch a selection of works shown at the Sao Paulo festival. I just think this model should be extended to allow international audiences to view films from the major film festivals. One argument why such a model cannot be opened up for people around the world has to do with a film’s international rights. But if a film does not have an international distributor, then I think it is better if the film is seen rather than wait 2-3 years for a future release or worse have the film never see life outside of the festival circuit. Overall, both options would benefit everyone -- the festival could get some extra revenue, the filmmakers can get a bigger audience for their works, cinephiles can finally have choices of what they watch, various film programmers can quickly decide what films they want to book for their festivals or cinematheque and prospective distributors can assess films without flying around the world to the various film festivals.
Will anything change in 2010? I don’t think so but I do hope that things will be better so that people can access quality cinema a bit more easily.
Here’s wishing to a Happy New Year and more film watching :)
The Real Game Changer -- availability, not format
There has been a lot of talk this year about the new possibilities regarding 3D cinema. The buzz words around 3D now even apply to TV as 3D-TV should be available sometime in 2010 (very pricey though) and in 2009, one could have seen some 3D episodes of some TV series (one episode of the amazing Chuck comes to mind). Sure the experience of watching a film in rich 3D is rewarding but that experience only applies to a limited Hollywood selection and those films would have been easily available anyway in 2D and DVD anyway. On the other hand, I think something that allows cinephiles access to films from around the world is the real game changer. The current film festival calendar is broken and the film distribution network is not adequate enough to get films shown to people. For example, Cannes takes place in May and people in North America have to wait until TIFF premiers a select few Cannes titles in September before other film festivals can then start to show those films over the next few months (or a year as the case maybe). Then it is a further 6-8 months before a few of those titles would make it out to the art house/independent screens the following summer. And then the DVD release of those films could take another 6-8 months, meaning almost 2 years could have passed since a film’s Cannes premier before the film makes it to DVD in North America. This timeline applies to the few select award winning/big name Cannes films whereas the DVD release of other Cannes films could take even longer or never happen in some cases. That is not acceptable, especially when in an age where people talk about the speed and efficiency of data.
There has to be a major rethink about how fast film festival titles are made accessible to people. Here are my two cents to speed the process up:
1) The major film festivals with a distribution network (such as Sundance, Rotterdam, Cannes) should also broadcast films over the internet on a pay per view basis.
2) The festivals should provide a method to upload films via satellite to designated film theaters around the world.
Neither idea seems far fetched but the internet option might be more doable and recently The Auteurs tried something out with the Sao Paulo film festival where people from around Brazil could watch a selection of works shown at the Sao Paulo festival. I just think this model should be extended to allow international audiences to view films from the major film festivals. One argument why such a model cannot be opened up for people around the world has to do with a film’s international rights. But if a film does not have an international distributor, then I think it is better if the film is seen rather than wait 2-3 years for a future release or worse have the film never see life outside of the festival circuit. Overall, both options would benefit everyone -- the festival could get some extra revenue, the filmmakers can get a bigger audience for their works, cinephiles can finally have choices of what they watch, various film programmers can quickly decide what films they want to book for their festivals or cinematheque and prospective distributors can assess films without flying around the world to the various film festivals.
Will anything change in 2010? I don’t think so but I do hope that things will be better so that people can access quality cinema a bit more easily.
Here’s wishing to a Happy New Year and more film watching :)
Sunday, December 27, 2009
The Ethical Red Button
The Box (2009, USA, Richard Kelly): 8/10
When I was a young kid, I remember staying up late to watch episodes of the Twilight Zone. I have forgotten most of the episodes but the episode based on the "Button, Button" short story stayed with me. The episode ended on a chilling note and I can still remember the ethical dilemma the couple faced while sitting in front of a simple box with a button in the center. When I first heard about Richard Kelly’s film adaptation, I was intrigued about how this short story could be extended into a feature. Given Richard Kelly’s previous two features, I had a feeling that The Box would certainly be fresh and innovative. Sure enough, I was not let down as The Box is indeed one of the most though provoking films to come out of the normally stale and cliched Hollywood film industry.
**** Some spoilers ****
The short story ended with the idea that the young couple could die next when the box would be given to someone the couple didn’t know. The feature picks on up this idea and shows that the box follows a closed loop where death will next take place in the household that last pressed the button. Since there are multiple such boxes doing the rounds in America, a scenario is setup where various paths of life/death will be made. On a macro level, the boxes also seem to serve as an elaborate game theory model where pressing a button also triggers codes for a possible global game of destruction. The game theory angle is never mentioned but can be inferred at the continuously changing world map listing the various US combat command centers around the world. Does the map change everytime someone presses the button? Possibly, because in one instance the deliverer of the box, Arlington Steward (Frank Langella), mentions the game will stop when enough people decide to not press the button. The game theory angle could have been the perfect explanation for the film had there not been the additional layers of an alien invasion, government conspiracy and religious implications thrown in the mix. Not to mention the mind control element and portals used to give people a glimpse of the after life or to transfer them from one location to another. I am unable to find a unified theory to explain everything in the movie but that did not diminish my enjoyment of the film. Two other films came to mind while watching The Box -- David Twohy’s 1996 feature The Arrival regarding the radio communication with aliens and the ending of John Carpenter’s 1987 feature Prince of Darkness. The ending of Prince of Darkness showed that someone from the future was sending messages at a frequency which was picked up by the people in the church only in their dreams, meaning only when the people fell asleep were they able to get the same dream, which turned out to be an encoded message. In The Box, people’s mind is controlled via a frequency which renders them into zombies and in turn transmits the images they see back to a central source.
The Box requires an investment from the audience to think ahead and to piece things together. Given the poor reviews the film has received, it is clear that most people were not willing to invest their time in this film and slammed it. The same reaction was given to Cameron Crowe’s Vanilla Sky, a film which was much less complicated than The Box and even to Anurag Kashyap’s No Smoking, a film which was jam packed with intelligent ideas. If The Box was instead an animated film, then some people might have accepted what they saw on screen. I can’t remember many people complaining too much about how an elderly man could spend a single night to blow up enough helium filled balloons to uproot his house in Up. No one seemed to further question how a young boy could then navigate this flying house in the movie correctly to South America with just a compass? A cartoon allows one to easily digest any deviation from reality whereas a flesh and blood feature allows very little room for imagination. Richard Kelly’s Donnie Darko became a cult hit on video and DVD and I certainly hope The Box does find an audience on DVD. While the film may not be on the same level as Donnie Darko, The Box certainly needs to be seen and not dismissed lightly.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Champions League, Round of 16
A fascinating round of 16 draw for the Champions League was made on Friday, Dec 18:
The words emotional rivalry come to mind regarding the Inter vs Chelsea match-up. Jose Mourinho was a favourite of the Chelsea players and fans and it was because of Jose that Chelsea finally won the league title after a gap of 50 years. So his return to Stamford Bridge will certainly be an interesting event and another fascinating element to this tie is that Jose's opponent will be Carlo Ancelotti, the once successful player and manager of AC Milan, Inter's bitter rivals.
Milan lock horns with Man Utd again and it will be interesting to see if David Beckham will lineup against Man Utd. If everyone at Man Utd is fit, then they should progress against Milan but if Milan spend wisely in the January transfer window, then they might provide Man Utd a challenge.
It seems no Champions League season would be complete if Porto didn't face either Chelsea or Arsenal. This time since Porto already met Chelsea in the group stages, it is appropriate that they face Arsenal in the two legged affair. Arsenal will struggle as usual in their away trip to Portugal similar to their last two visits to Porto (a 2-0 loss and a 0-0 tie). However, Arsenal's last two home results against Porto were 4-0 and 2-0 wins. Given Arsenal's injury problems, it is hard to know what shape the Arsenal team will be in February. If Arsenal are to progress, then they will need an away goal in Portugal and have to keep a clean sheet at home. For Porto, a 1-0 win at home will be more than enough as they are capable of grinding out a 0-0 or 1-1 result in London.
What to make of Lyon vs Madrid? Once upon a time, Lyon thrashed Madrid 3-0 and 2-0 in back to back seasons (2006, 2007) and managed 1-1, 2-2 ties in their away results. Ofcourse, those were seasons that Lyon should have won the Champions League but for one reason or another, Lyon always struggled in the knock out round. Along with Arsenal, Lyon are the other European team that has had enough talent to merit a Champions League title but the European Cup is not won on the strength of a squad on a piece of paper. Lyon's best years in the Champions League appear to be a distant memory and it is hard to see this squad avoid getting brushed aside by Madrid.
Barca should be able to see off Stuttgart comfortably while the CSKA Moscow vs Sevilla game should be an open tie that sees two former UEFA Cup Champions lock horns. Bayern should progress against Fiorentina but sometimes with the German side it is better to flip a coin instead as it is hard to know which team will show up. Also, it is uncertain if Luca Toni will get to face his former team. Olympiacos vs Bordeaux gives the French Champions an excellent chance to progress while Zico's team have to win their home leg in Greece if they are to have any chance of upsetting Bordeaux.
The two big game changing variables between now and February would be if any of the 16 teams strengthen their squads in January and whether any of the team's African stars come back injured from the African Cup of Nations.
Still, some mouth-watering ties await.
Lyon vs Real Madrid
AC Milan vs Manchester United
FC Porto vs Arsenal
Bayern Munich vs Fiorentina
VfB Stuttgart vs FC Barcelona
Olympiacos vs Bordeaux
Inter Milan vs Chelsea
CSKA Moscow vs Sevilla
The words emotional rivalry come to mind regarding the Inter vs Chelsea match-up. Jose Mourinho was a favourite of the Chelsea players and fans and it was because of Jose that Chelsea finally won the league title after a gap of 50 years. So his return to Stamford Bridge will certainly be an interesting event and another fascinating element to this tie is that Jose's opponent will be Carlo Ancelotti, the once successful player and manager of AC Milan, Inter's bitter rivals.
Milan lock horns with Man Utd again and it will be interesting to see if David Beckham will lineup against Man Utd. If everyone at Man Utd is fit, then they should progress against Milan but if Milan spend wisely in the January transfer window, then they might provide Man Utd a challenge.
It seems no Champions League season would be complete if Porto didn't face either Chelsea or Arsenal. This time since Porto already met Chelsea in the group stages, it is appropriate that they face Arsenal in the two legged affair. Arsenal will struggle as usual in their away trip to Portugal similar to their last two visits to Porto (a 2-0 loss and a 0-0 tie). However, Arsenal's last two home results against Porto were 4-0 and 2-0 wins. Given Arsenal's injury problems, it is hard to know what shape the Arsenal team will be in February. If Arsenal are to progress, then they will need an away goal in Portugal and have to keep a clean sheet at home. For Porto, a 1-0 win at home will be more than enough as they are capable of grinding out a 0-0 or 1-1 result in London.
What to make of Lyon vs Madrid? Once upon a time, Lyon thrashed Madrid 3-0 and 2-0 in back to back seasons (2006, 2007) and managed 1-1, 2-2 ties in their away results. Ofcourse, those were seasons that Lyon should have won the Champions League but for one reason or another, Lyon always struggled in the knock out round. Along with Arsenal, Lyon are the other European team that has had enough talent to merit a Champions League title but the European Cup is not won on the strength of a squad on a piece of paper. Lyon's best years in the Champions League appear to be a distant memory and it is hard to see this squad avoid getting brushed aside by Madrid.
Barca should be able to see off Stuttgart comfortably while the CSKA Moscow vs Sevilla game should be an open tie that sees two former UEFA Cup Champions lock horns. Bayern should progress against Fiorentina but sometimes with the German side it is better to flip a coin instead as it is hard to know which team will show up. Also, it is uncertain if Luca Toni will get to face his former team. Olympiacos vs Bordeaux gives the French Champions an excellent chance to progress while Zico's team have to win their home leg in Greece if they are to have any chance of upsetting Bordeaux.
The two big game changing variables between now and February would be if any of the 16 teams strengthen their squads in January and whether any of the team's African stars come back injured from the African Cup of Nations.
Still, some mouth-watering ties await.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Pedro Costa, finally....
Criterion has finally announced the date for the Pedro Costa Box Set: March 30, 2010.
So that means my 3.5+ year search for Costa's films can finally end.
2006: The search started around the same time that Mark Peranson asked his Cinema Scope readers to "Vote for Pedro", Costa that is.
2007: The Pedro Costa film series traveled through North America but only touched down in two Canadian Cities (Toronto & Vancouver). I had planned on going to the Vancouver one but the plan fell through.
2008: Cinema Scope announced that they would give away copies of Costa's Colossal Youth for new and existing subscribers. Unfortunately, nothing come of that.
2009: Rumours of Criterion releasing Costa's films began to surface. Then a glimmer of hope arrived courtesy of Second Run DVD in the UK who released Costa's first feature O Sangue in the fall. Shortly after, Criterion announced that Costa's Fontainhas trilogy would be released in "Early 2010".
And now, there is a date. Finally!!!!!!!
This also means that I can finally choose a Costa film to represent Portugal in my 2010 Movie World Cup. Although, if I had this information a few weeks ago, I surely would have had a more involved dialogue with my mystery caller, whose identity still lurks in the shadows.
So that means my 3.5+ year search for Costa's films can finally end.
2006: The search started around the same time that Mark Peranson asked his Cinema Scope readers to "Vote for Pedro", Costa that is.
2007: The Pedro Costa film series traveled through North America but only touched down in two Canadian Cities (Toronto & Vancouver). I had planned on going to the Vancouver one but the plan fell through.
2008: Cinema Scope announced that they would give away copies of Costa's Colossal Youth for new and existing subscribers. Unfortunately, nothing come of that.
2009: Rumours of Criterion releasing Costa's films began to surface. Then a glimmer of hope arrived courtesy of Second Run DVD in the UK who released Costa's first feature O Sangue in the fall. Shortly after, Criterion announced that Costa's Fontainhas trilogy would be released in "Early 2010".
And now, there is a date. Finally!!!!!!!
This also means that I can finally choose a Costa film to represent Portugal in my 2010 Movie World Cup. Although, if I had this information a few weeks ago, I surely would have had a more involved dialogue with my mystery caller, whose identity still lurks in the shadows.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Follow the silence...
Back in 1999, on a rainy sunday night, I got my first text message on a cellphone. The cellphones back then were a lot bulkier than the current models and on this particular night, that large cellphone stood motionless on my coffee table until the arrival of that text message. The sudden vibration of the cellphone disturbed the quietness in the room and the words of that first ever text message simply read:
“Follow the white rabbit”.
Ha. It was obviously a joke by a friend who knew I had recently seen The Matrix. Since there was no phone number associated with the message, I had to resort to a guessing game of sorts. As the days went by, I could not find any trace of this mystery person. Eventually, a few weeks later it turned out to be someone unexpected who sent the message from the cellphone company’s internet page.
Now almost a decade later, another mysterious person got in touch with me. The phone number was unlisted when I picked up the phone.
Silence.
“Hello”
Silence.
I said hello once again and was about to hang up when I heard some static on the other end of the line. Then finally a voice.
“I have what you want.”
“Hello..who is this?”
“It does not matter. I have the Costa.”
“Sorry, I am not sure what you mean. Who are you?”
“You wanted to see the Pedro Costa films? Well I have them, all of them.”
By now, I was going through the short list of people who knew about my desire to trace down Pedro Costa’s films.
“Yes. I want to see them,”
“Good. Meet me at.....”
“How will I recognize you?”
“You don’t have to. I will approach you.”
I was certain this was a new prank from of my friends. So I went along.
However, I could not make it out to the location on the specified date & time. I tried but the icy roads coupled with the snow storm in the city made it almost impossible for me to make it. I was stuck in traffic for 1.5 hours and after seeing a dozen accidents on the roads, I decided it would be safer for me to head back home. The next day, after making a few inquiries, I could not get any verification about this mystery person.
Two weeks have now gone by. The weather is still brutally cold and more importantly, I have still not heard back from this mysterious person again.
For the record, I have already seen three Pedro Costa films -- Casa de Lava, Where Does your Hidden Smile Lie? & O Sangue. I am waiting for Criterion’s Fontainhas Trilogy due in 2010 which will check off three more Costa features off my list. So I am not that worried about missing that date with the mysterious person.
On the other hand, mystery person, if you are reading this, I would really appreciate it if you could dig up a film from North Korea, Honduras, Slovakia (Czech Republic will not do), Slovenia (besides Spare Parts which I have seen and love), Ghana and Nigeria.
“Follow the white rabbit”.
Ha. It was obviously a joke by a friend who knew I had recently seen The Matrix. Since there was no phone number associated with the message, I had to resort to a guessing game of sorts. As the days went by, I could not find any trace of this mystery person. Eventually, a few weeks later it turned out to be someone unexpected who sent the message from the cellphone company’s internet page.
Now almost a decade later, another mysterious person got in touch with me. The phone number was unlisted when I picked up the phone.
Silence.
“Hello”
Silence.
I said hello once again and was about to hang up when I heard some static on the other end of the line. Then finally a voice.
“I have what you want.”
“Hello..who is this?”
“It does not matter. I have the Costa.”
“Sorry, I am not sure what you mean. Who are you?”
“You wanted to see the Pedro Costa films? Well I have them, all of them.”
By now, I was going through the short list of people who knew about my desire to trace down Pedro Costa’s films.
“Yes. I want to see them,”
“Good. Meet me at.....”
“How will I recognize you?”
“You don’t have to. I will approach you.”
I was certain this was a new prank from of my friends. So I went along.
However, I could not make it out to the location on the specified date & time. I tried but the icy roads coupled with the snow storm in the city made it almost impossible for me to make it. I was stuck in traffic for 1.5 hours and after seeing a dozen accidents on the roads, I decided it would be safer for me to head back home. The next day, after making a few inquiries, I could not get any verification about this mystery person.
Two weeks have now gone by. The weather is still brutally cold and more importantly, I have still not heard back from this mysterious person again.
For the record, I have already seen three Pedro Costa films -- Casa de Lava, Where Does your Hidden Smile Lie? & O Sangue. I am waiting for Criterion’s Fontainhas Trilogy due in 2010 which will check off three more Costa features off my list. So I am not that worried about missing that date with the mysterious person.
On the other hand, mystery person, if you are reading this, I would really appreciate it if you could dig up a film from North Korea, Honduras, Slovakia (Czech Republic will not do), Slovenia (besides Spare Parts which I have seen and love), Ghana and Nigeria.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Spotlight on Iran
When it comes to Iranian cinema, the names of Abbas Kiarostami and Mohsen Makhmalbaf loom large. However, there are many more names which have captured the attention of festival audiences over the last decade such as Jafar Panahi, Majid Majidi and Bahman Ghobadi. I recently realized that all the Iranian films I had seen were post 1990, even though there are many worthy cinematic works available pre-1990. This was a similar situation to the one I found myself in last year with regards to South Korean cinema when I had not seen anything from South Korea prior to 1990. I was able to rectify the pre-1990 South Korean cinema gap this year thanks to the Auteurs availability of Kim Ki-young’s Housemaid. So it was time to throw the net out and grab some pre-1990 Iranian films along with other works. In that regard, I came up with the following list of 10 films for a spotlight:
The Cow (1969, Dariush Mehrjui)
The Cyclist (1987, Mohsen Makhmalbaf)
The Suitors (1989, Ghasem Ebrahimian)
Close-up (1990, Abbas Kiarostami)
Gabbeh (1996, Mohsen Makhmalbaf)
The Mirror (1997, Jafar Panahi)
The Pear Tree (1998, Dariush Mehrjui)
Delbaran (2001, Abolfazl Jalili)
The Fish Fall in Love (2005, Ali Raffi)
It’s Winter (2006, Rafi Pitts)
All the films were engaging but if I had to pick out one favourite, it would have to be Rafi Pitts beautiful It’s Winter. The shots of a character against the snowy background in It’s Winter did not remind me of any Iranian film I had seen but made me think of Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s fascinating Distant.
One interesting aspect about The Fish Fall in Love is that the camera lovingly lingers a big longer on the food, be it stuffed fish, rice or kebabs. I cannot remember seeing food being the focus in any other Iranian film so it was nice to see how the restaurant scenes were incorporated around the framework of two love stories.
The Cow (1969, Dariush Mehrjui)
The Cyclist (1987, Mohsen Makhmalbaf)
The Suitors (1989, Ghasem Ebrahimian)
Close-up (1990, Abbas Kiarostami)
Gabbeh (1996, Mohsen Makhmalbaf)
The Mirror (1997, Jafar Panahi)
The Pear Tree (1998, Dariush Mehrjui)
Delbaran (2001, Abolfazl Jalili)
The Fish Fall in Love (2005, Ali Raffi)
It’s Winter (2006, Rafi Pitts)
All the films were engaging but if I had to pick out one favourite, it would have to be Rafi Pitts beautiful It’s Winter. The shots of a character against the snowy background in It’s Winter did not remind me of any Iranian film I had seen but made me think of Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s fascinating Distant.
One interesting aspect about The Fish Fall in Love is that the camera lovingly lingers a big longer on the food, be it stuffed fish, rice or kebabs. I cannot remember seeing food being the focus in any other Iranian film so it was nice to see how the restaurant scenes were incorporated around the framework of two love stories.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Clean Hands
So this week, the British government announced a tax on bankers bonuses. The bankers are not happy, ofcourse. After all, the bankers have worked hard to play with other people’s money and get rich. Why should the bankers be punished for others mistakes? It is not the bankers problem that the government lent billions of dollars to banks to bail them out. As far as the bankers are concerned, their hands are clean.
The entire financial problem is not the bankers fault but caused by the general public. Yup, it is the general public that have ruined things. How? By two ways:
1) Giving banks their money
2) Borrowing too much from banks
The public duly give their money to banks. Why? Because it is “better” than keeping it under a mattress. The banks turn around and give the people close to 0% interest on their deposited money (sorry, 0.01% is as good as zero). On top of that, banks charge people fees for accessing their own money. So what do the people do in return? Nothing!!! They still keep their money in the banks. Stupid people. The banks then have no choice but to take reckless risks with the people’s money. When the banks run into trouble, they do not have to worry because the government will rush in to save the day and use taxpayers money to keep the banks on their feet. Hooray!!
People are supposed to be smart about their money. If they go to a bank for a $100,000 loan and the bank in turn approves them for a $500,000 loan, the people should know better than to accept the money. Who is to blame here? These people for accepting the money or the banks for approving their loans? The people ofcourse!! The banks seriously do not have time to do proper checks on each person’s financial history and only lend the correct money to each person. If the banks did that, then they would be crushing these people’s “American dream”. The banks don’t want to be the bad guys but want to be liked by the people. Moreover, how can the bankers ever have time to treat each customer like an individual. For that, the bankers would have to..gasp...work atleast 8 hours a day. Seriously! How can bankers be expected to work 8 hours like those average miserable non-banker public. Yuck! Bankers should not have to come into work before 10 am and they have to leave by 4 pm.
The bankers hands are clean.
Yup.
They do not have to get their hands dirty by building a bridge or operating on a patient. No sir! A few clicks of the keyboard and playing with other people’s money is not a dirty job. It is the cleanest job there is.
Moreover, since when was it bad to make money? I mean, even Hollywood heaps praises on characters who are greedy such as Gordon Gekko (Wall Street) and Daniel Plainview (There Will be Blood). Does Hollywood ever give a trophy to a character who plays a slacker? Nope. Modern society has been built using loans and human progress has been fueled by money. So why is being greedy bad all of a sudden?
In a year or two, this “greed is bad” phase will pass. The banks are not going anywhere after all. Where else will people put their money? The bankers will always be rich and their hands will always be clean.
Noe: image from Francesco Rosi's brilliant film Le Mani sulla città (Hands on the City)
The entire financial problem is not the bankers fault but caused by the general public. Yup, it is the general public that have ruined things. How? By two ways:
1) Giving banks their money
2) Borrowing too much from banks
The public duly give their money to banks. Why? Because it is “better” than keeping it under a mattress. The banks turn around and give the people close to 0% interest on their deposited money (sorry, 0.01% is as good as zero). On top of that, banks charge people fees for accessing their own money. So what do the people do in return? Nothing!!! They still keep their money in the banks. Stupid people. The banks then have no choice but to take reckless risks with the people’s money. When the banks run into trouble, they do not have to worry because the government will rush in to save the day and use taxpayers money to keep the banks on their feet. Hooray!!
People are supposed to be smart about their money. If they go to a bank for a $100,000 loan and the bank in turn approves them for a $500,000 loan, the people should know better than to accept the money. Who is to blame here? These people for accepting the money or the banks for approving their loans? The people ofcourse!! The banks seriously do not have time to do proper checks on each person’s financial history and only lend the correct money to each person. If the banks did that, then they would be crushing these people’s “American dream”. The banks don’t want to be the bad guys but want to be liked by the people. Moreover, how can the bankers ever have time to treat each customer like an individual. For that, the bankers would have to..gasp...work atleast 8 hours a day. Seriously! How can bankers be expected to work 8 hours like those average miserable non-banker public. Yuck! Bankers should not have to come into work before 10 am and they have to leave by 4 pm.
The bankers hands are clean.
Yup.
They do not have to get their hands dirty by building a bridge or operating on a patient. No sir! A few clicks of the keyboard and playing with other people’s money is not a dirty job. It is the cleanest job there is.
Moreover, since when was it bad to make money? I mean, even Hollywood heaps praises on characters who are greedy such as Gordon Gekko (Wall Street) and Daniel Plainview (There Will be Blood). Does Hollywood ever give a trophy to a character who plays a slacker? Nope. Modern society has been built using loans and human progress has been fueled by money. So why is being greedy bad all of a sudden?
In a year or two, this “greed is bad” phase will pass. The banks are not going anywhere after all. Where else will people put their money? The bankers will always be rich and their hands will always be clean.
Noe: image from Francesco Rosi's brilliant film Le Mani sulla città (Hands on the City)
Friday, December 11, 2009
The Damned Job
The Damned United (2009, UK/USA, Tom Hooper): 9/10
Just a few of the things a modern soccer manager has to satisfy:
And even if all the above are met, there is still no guarantee that a soccer manager would be able to keep his job.
Case 1: A manager wins all the trophies by playing 1-0 negative football and the owners/board of directors are happy with all the trophies.
However, if some sections of the fans and media are not happy with the negative football and they have a huge say in the club’s operations, then the manager would not be in the job too long.
Case 2: A manager ensures his team plays the most beautiful football but fails to win many trophies.
Some fans would be happy but others would want the manager to be fired. However, if the board of directors are satisfied, then the manager would survive.
Case 3: A manager wins trophies by playing beautiful football but does not get along with the board of directors.
In this case, the manager would not last long in the job. The example of Real Madrid comes to mind because at Madrid, the board of directors are never shy to fire a manager days after he had landed a major trophy. Heck, at Madrid, they are known to fire managers even when the team is top of the league and in an excellent position to win the title (example, the 1991-92 season).
Until this year, if one had to understand a soccer manager’s tough position, then one could only piece things together by reading multiple books, newspaper/magazine articles and watching the odd tv interview. But with the release of The Damned United fans of the game finally have a film that gives a glimpse into the multiple pulls that a soccer manager has to withstand in his day to day job. Even if one is not a soccer fan, then there is still plenty to enjoy in this accessible and polished film that mixes the real life case of Brian Clough’s turbulent 44 days of employment at Leeds United with a sprinkling of fiction.
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