Just a brief mention of some worthy newer films from around the world. Some of these films will surely end up in my year end best list.
Note: films arranged as per country.
El Camino du punto (2010, Argentina, Sebastián Díaz Morales)
The title's translation, The Way Between Two Points, perfectly sums the film which is about a character's journey from point A to point B. There are only a few minutes of dialog at the start and these dialogues are the weakest aspect of the film as the words needlessly try to give the story a higher worldly purpose. After the words are delivered, the film settles into a beautiful journey where we get both an overhead shot of the landscape that is to be covered and the ground level footage of the journey. The singular focus of the journey at all costs reminds a bit about The Limits of Control and Birdsong but El Camino du punto is free from any dramatic or religious baggage of those two other films.
Kill the Referee (2009, Belgium, Y.Hinant/E.Cardot/L.Delphine)
This Belgium soccer documentary does not have any narration or title cards to guide the audience but instead dives right into the action. Like the Zidane film, this documentary gives a completely different perspective to what one experiences when watching a soccer game. One gets to see the game from an on-field angle, but instead of a player's point of view, we see the game from a referee's angle.
This film is essential viewing for anyone who has ever seen a soccer game. And since the film is artistically shot and edited, it offers non-soccer fans plenty to chew on as well. The games shown in the film are from Euro 2008 and if a person is familiar with some of the players, then that enhances the experience. This film does an excellent job in showing us the human side of the refs and also some of the egos that operate in the game.
A Simple Rhythm (2010, Canada, Tess Girard)
A poetic and mesmerizing look at simple day to day rhythms that shape our lives. The film artfully layers images with sounds to create a calming and fascinating experiencing. In between the images are thoughtful interviews on a variety of subjects, ranging from music to mathematics.
Viva Riva! (2010, Congo co-production, Djo Munga)
In the TIFF write-up, Cameron Bailey noted:
Finally! An African feature film that merges the pleasures of Nollywood with sleek camerawork, satisfying genre thrills and a rare look inside the very heart of the continent. Viva Riva! is unprecedented: a story set in contemporary Democratic Republic of the Congo full of intrigue, music and a surprisingly frank approach to sex.
That is a perfect description as Viva Riva! molds elements of oil trafficking, corruption, violence and sex into an enjoyable film. In the fashion of Nollywood films, the villain is sinister and over the top while the hero, Riva, is a charming intelligent man who can have any woman he wants. Ofcourse, Riva falls for the one woman who will lead him into trouble but Nora is too seductive to resist. The camera ensures that Nora's beauty and Kinshasa's buzzing street life are captured nicely.
Valhalla Rising (2010, Denmark/UK, Nicolas Winding Refn)
The film starts off in an ancient time when men settled their disputes face to face in a bloody hand to hand combat. However, as the warrior crew enters a new land, the change in warfare tactics ensures that man will have to learn to adapt in order to survive. In the new land, arrows fired from unseen enemies lead to death meaning one could die at the hands of someone they do not even see.
A savage bloody film that is also one of the year's best.
Scheherazade Tell me a Story (2009, Egypt, Yousry Nasrallah)
The film uses a soap opera/talk show format to probe at deeper issues not only within Egyptian society but the rest of the Middle East especially regarding the treatment of women in households and at workplaces. It helps that the film is well acted and packed with more gorgeous women than one would find even in a Pedro Almodovar movie. Overall, a pleasurable film.
Steam of Life (2010, Finland, Joonas Berghäll/Mika Hotakainen)
A beautifully shot contemplative film that places the viewer in an awkward
position of a voyeur observing Finnish men pour their heart out while sitting in a variety of saunas. The film remarkably shows that any enclosed space can be transformed into a sauna, even a phone booth, and the calming effect of the steam is essential to allow men to tackle life's daily burdens.
Win/Win (2010, Holland, Jaap van Heusden)
This Dutch film about a stock exchange manages to find a calm balanced middle ground in between Ben Younger's Boiler Room and Aronofsky's Pi. In fact, the main character in Win/Win Ivan looks like a more laid back version of Max from Pi. Win/Win artfully shows that it is possible to find zen like moments even in a high octane stock market setting.
Gallants (2009, Hong Kong, Clement Sze-Kit Cheng/Chi-kin Kwok)
A homage to the 1970’s Shaw Brothers films, complete with amazing fight sequences, memorable characters and over the top hilarious situations. Even if one is not familiar with older kung-fu movies, this film stands on its own. Knowing about the Shaw Brothers films will just enhance the experience. There are some moments when the action stalls but the film has many high energy moments. The homage would have been perfect if the film title was something which captured the story’s spirit such as “Gates of Law” or if the title used a variation of the words “Dragon”, “Tiger” or “kick”.
Ocean of an Old Man (2008, India, Rajesh Shera)
Simple. Beautiful. Meditative. Haunting. Tragic.
The old man in the title is played by Tom Alter, easily recognizable to Bollywood fans because he always played an evil villain in Indian films, and was almost always an evil British general in period films. In Rajesh Shera's film, Alter's character plays a school teacher who is devastated by the loss of his wife and daughter in 2004's tsunami. Unfortunately, he can never forget his loss as he has to cross the same ocean everyday to teach his students. To make matters worse, he has to listen to the ocean waves crashing onto the shore and rocks every night while in the day, his students paintings and stories revolve only around the ocean.
There isn’t much dialogue in the film but that does not matter because the beautiful images and fascinating sounds convey the tragedy and gravity of the situation. Also, the sound track is smartly turned off when the sounds of the ocean fill the screen. The minimalist style might frustrate some viewers but patient viewers will be rewarded with an absolute gem of a film.
Peepli Live (2010, India, Anusha Rizvi)
A smart satire that uses the real life story about farmer suicides to poke fun at the mercenary Indian satellite tv channels preoccupied with ratings. However, Peepli Live does feel like two films in one. The film starts off in the village but then lets the media circus take things over. At times, the two stories (farmer suicide, tv ratings circus) compete with each other and eventually the farmer story is brushed aside. Also, there are some moments where the film un-necessarily goes over the top (such as the mention of Saif Ali Khan's grade 8 kiss) when a more subtle approach would have sufficed.
Overall, it does feel like a lost opportunity to make a truly great film. That being said, the ending is perfect when the camera shows us images without any words.
Gorbaciòf (2010, Italy, Stefano Incerti)
The sound of Gorbaciòf's proud walk on the streets and the sound of money stay long in the memory after the film ends. Many films show bundles of money but not many films actually let the sound of crisp notes being counted filter through to the audience. Gorbaciòf counts money everyday both in his day job and at night with his bribe money. The dangerous combination of taking bribes and gambling is never a safe bet for a trouble free life but Gorbaciòf's problems multiply when he falls for a Chinese woman who does not speak any Italian. Gorbaciòf wants to be the woman's knight in shining armour and in order to ensure a better life for her, he needs more money. That need leads him down a slippery yet predictable slope. The love angle is the film's weakest aspect and if it were not for the love story, Incerti's film would be one of the year's best films.
On another note: the male leads in The American, Gorbaciòf and The Robber are all related with their dangerous ways of life. It is not surprizing that the ending of all three films finds these three very different men (an American, Austrian and an Italian) in the exact same situation looking through the glass towards a better future.
The Tiger Factory (2010, Malaysia/Japan, Woo Ming Jin)
The film follows a young girl, Ping, in her attempt to gather money to illegally leave Malaysia for Japan. Ping's life is controlled by her aunt who witholds her passport and pays for men to get Ping pregnant so that the aunt can sell the baby. The story sounds bleak but thanks to the cinematography and lighting, the film does not feel gloomy and instead makes for a fascinating viewing. The style evokes the Dardennes, albeit with a bit of lightness.
Woman on Fire Looks for Water (2009, Malaysia/South Korea, Woo Ming Jin)
This is one of the most visually beautiful films of the year!! The film is about two love tales on opposite ends of the age spectrum. One story shows how a young boy is forced to take his family's fortune into account before deciding upon marriage while the other story shows if love is not truly acknowledged, then even at old age, it continues to torment and bite. In between these two stories, there are many remakarable shots which show the fishing business and every day life, plus there is plenty of humor shown in a subtle manner.
Kinatay (2009, Philippines, Brillante Mendoza)
The first 20-30 min of Kinatay perfectly capture the sights and sounds of the street life. After that, the camera moves inside a van and this is where the negative publicity regarding the film starts. Although it is hard to understand what all the fuss is about because there is nothing graphic or gory that is shown but instead we mostly listen to sounds of the horrible butchering and only see a tiny glimpse of the murder weapon. The briefly lit scenes allows viewers to fill in the horror themselves using the audio cues. Maybe in a theater, these audio cues are magnified thereby causing a claustorphobic effect.
Still, the film is powerful in how it goes about showing what it does and it is hard to be not shook up by the ending. I can see why Mendoza was awarded the best director for this film in Cannes 2009.
Lola (2009, Philippines, Brillante Mendoza)
Lola is a touching film regarding two grandmothers and how they go about dealing with their lives while finding themselves as opponents in a criminal case. One woman is seeking justice for her grandson’s murder, while the other is trying to save her grandson from going to jail for murdering the other woman’s grandson. The film switches perspective from one grandmother to the other and this method highlights many relevant points such as the true price of justice for people who are trying to make ends meet.
Manilla Skies (2009, Philippines/USA, Raymond Red)
The start gives a false impression of being another film depicting the frustration of being jobless in a major Asian city but the story then takes a dramatic turn towards a heist and an even more unexpected turn towards a plane hijacking. The cyclic nature of the ending, when one of the final scenes is neatly tied with the opening shot, depicts a beautiful pattern to the story. The lead performance is amazing and the film grows in strength as it moves along. Also, the dark/grayish visuals perfectly echo the gloomy mood of the character's situation. Amazingly, the film is inspired by a true story.
Essential Killing (2010, Poland co-production, Jerzy Skolimowski)
Like in Valhalla Rising, the male lead in Essential Killing never speaks a single word. Yet, Vincent Gallo's character does not need to talk as his expressions of pain and anguish perfectly convey his inner feelings. Gallo plays a taliban fighter who is captured in Afghanistan but finds himself on the run in a frozen European country side after a series of events lead to his escape. From then on, the film alternates between chase scenarios as the dogs/soldiers close down on Gallo's character and survival scenes where his character does anything just to survive in the brutal cold. It is understandable to see why Gallo won best actor in Venice for this film as his raw performance shows how much can be conveyed without needless dramatic dialogues.
Between Two Worlds (2009, Sri Lanka, Vimukthi Jayasundara)
This Sri Lankan film is a good example of what Bresson mentioned in his book, Notes on the Cinematographer, in the Sight and Hearing section:
”What is for the eye must not duplicate what is for the ear."
”If the eye is entirely won, give nothing or almost nothing to the ear. (And vice versa, if the ear is entirely won, give nothing to the eye.) One cannot be at the same time all eye and all ear.
”If a sound is the obligatory complement of an image, give preponderance either to the sound, or to the image. If equal, they damage or kill each other, as we say of colours.
Between Two Worlds has a beautiful visual and aural language while the story has a nice fable and mythical element to it. There are some scenes which fluidly mesh the imagined and real with a smooth easy manner. The only minor complaint is that some scenes appear staged, drawing attention to themselves and thereby weakening the dramatic effect of the situation. Two such examples are the youthful mob at the film's start and the dance by the river near the end.
Guest (2010, Spain, José Luis Guerín)
Guest is José Luis Guerín's travelogue of his year long film festival circuit tour from September 2007 till September 2008 with his film In the City of Sylvia. Even though Guest starts and ends at the Venice Film Festival, Guest is not a documentary about film festivals. Instead, it is a truly global film that gives a glimpse into everyday life in open public squares in various places such as Bolivia, Columbia, Peru, Brazil, Mexico, Cuba and Hong Kong. Places that do not have open squares are not covered by his film which naturally means that Canada and the US are not shown on the screen. For example, Guerín was in Vancouver in 2007 to premier In the City of Sylvia but Vancouver does not get a single shot in the film. Basically, any place that did not have adequate public space would not have allowed Guerín to interact with the locals and get their views. Guerín freely filmed everything around him and was not shy to keep his camera rolling. As a result, we get to witness some fascinating parallels regarding religion in diverse places such as Brazil and Hong Kong. Guest takes about 20 minutes to spring to life but once it awakens, it has plenty of interesting stories to share.
Woman without a Piano (2009, Spain, Javier Rebollo)
A sublime film that uses a low key treatment in depicting a single night's events. The camera quietly follows Carmen around and the events that unfold around her are hilarious and sad at the same time. The film is set in Madrid and in some alleys we see situations which Pedro Almovodar uses in his films but Woman without a Piano is an art film through and through, with a pinch of comedy.
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010, Thailand co-production, Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
Joe's film is a visual treat like his previous works but instead of the two part structure found in Tropical Malady and Syndromes and a Century, Uncle Boonmee is a single flowing work that manages to blend the two worlds of humans and spirits. This is his most accessible work and also his most openly political. In Blissfully Yours one could faintly hear the tank fire going on in the distance but the soldiers were not shown. However, in Uncle Boonmee we get to see futuristic pictures (really the present) of army actions. As enchanting as the film is, it pales slightly to the hypnotic beauty of Tropical Malady and Syndromes... Still even a Joe lite work is better than most current world cinema.
Four Lions (2010, UK, Christopher Morris)
A well made and acted film from the two writers of the witty In the Loop. Four Lions tries to use the same humour style of In the Loop with mixed results. The humour style of In the Loop made sense because it dealt with the circus like world of politics where a single sentence can be endlessly interpreted and rehashed. However, that style is more difficult to pull off with a topic of terrorism and suicide bombers. In that regard, one can watch Four Lions in a state of shocked horror and find it entirely offensive. The film is also brave in its treatment of the subject, especially since neither of the writers or director is Muslim.
Spoiler note:*****
Credit must go to the film-makers for remarkably maintaining the same consistent tone throughout even after the characters start dying whereas it would have been easier for the film to have taken on a more serious tone after the first accidental death.
Monogamy (2010, USA, Dana Adam Shapiro)
A fascinating modern day treatment of Antonioni’s Blow Up. Blow Up was made during the free love decade where the main character had no problem getting any woman he wanted so solving the murder mystery became a more important challenge for him. But in modern times, free love isn’t that readily available. And the presence of email and text messaging has changed the nature of relationships by limiting face to face hook ups. As a result, Theo’s (Chris Messina) “free love” is reduced to a voyeuristic kick. Things are complicated by the fact that Theo is on the verge of getting married and already he feels the walls closing in on him.
The acting is stellar, especially in the scene where Theo’s fiancée catches him looking at pics of another girl. The ending is not as dramatic as we are led to believe. The true identity of Theo's subject is quite clear but maybe the ending was supposed to emphasize that Theo was so blinded by the little details in the photos he took that he missed the obvious bigger picture.
Top 5 in order of preference:
1) Kill the Referee
2) Ocean of an Old Man
3) Woman on Fire Looks for Water
4) Valhalla Rising
5) Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
I cannot praise Kill the Referee enough. The fact that the film is about soccer is also its biggest handicap because that would mean limited release and certainly no press coverage in North America. I have read rumours that UEFA might have had the final say on what could make the final cut but regardless of the truth, what is presented on screen is fascinating enough. The footage allows the audience to identify some of the egos, heroes and villains that operate in the game.
Tuesday, December 07, 2010
Sunday, December 05, 2010
Recycle, Rob & Report
Waste Land (2010, Brazil/UK, Lucy Walker)
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
That beauty can be a woman or a stunning painting. Or it could be a pile of garbage. Or it could be all of those things put together.
Luck Walker's wonderful documentary follows Vik Muniz on his quest to transform objects from Jardim Gramacho, the world's largest landfill located in Rio de Janeiro, into a work of art. The first images that he encounters in Jardim Gramacho are large piles of garbage but once Vik interacts with some fascinating garbage pickers, then the mountains of garbage fade into the background and the pickers take center stage. Vik's interactions with the garbage pickers enable some of his artistic ideas to take hold. However, Vik's goal is not to do the art on his own but he wants to involve the workers. Also, he plans to donate the money from the art sales to improve the worker's lives. As a result, his artistic collaborations has the potential to transform the lives of some of the garbage pickers. Waste Land is a beautiful touching film that gives voice to people ignored by society and also provides plenty of life changing ideas especially around garbage generation and recycling.
Inside Job (2010, USA, Charles Ferguson)
The art work pictured above in Waste Land ends being sold for 28,000 pounds at an auction where we don't see all the buyers but instead see their proxies following instructions via phone. Considering that there are paintings which are sold in this auction for more than a few million dollars, 28,000 is a drop in the bucket. But who are some of the people who can afford to buy such expensive works?
In Charles Ferguson's engaging Inside Job we get a glimpse of some people who have the luxury to throw millions at a single painting. Such rich people are never satisfied with just one expensive painting. They want to acquire more. For that they need money. Lots of it. And in that greed for generating money for personal benefit, they will go to great lengths, even at times at the expense of others. Such greed certainly contributed to the economic crisis of 2008. Yet, it would be too easy to blame the greed in the 2008 crisis on bankers and financial employees alone. The average person should also be held accountable for wanting to spend beyond their means. What if the average person didn't get a sub-prime mortgage? In the long run that unsigned deal would have meant one less foreclosure. On the other hand, there were cases when the average person was not greedy but just didn't know what they were getting themselves into. Inside Job gives one example of a couple who didn't speak English and signed up for a quick initial low interest mortgage to get their dream house but were then shocked to discover the real monthly payment amounts once the low interest period ended.
Inside Job lays out the step-by-step process by which banks and financial companies committed the ultimate heist. By documenting this robbery, Ferguson's film may be the only sense of justice for some people because the men who committed the financial crimes will get away with their wealth intact. In the film, the people responsible for dismantling the regulations are named yet these people are widely respected in American universities and media. You can be sure in a few years, some of these same people will be hailed as legends. The banks will always be bailed out and bonuses will never go away in the financial sector. And the huge bonuses will continue to be spent on bigger houses, cars, yachts, drugs and prostitutes. Some people are addicted to drugs while others are addicted to bonuses and financial rewards. If there are no laws to keep a check on irregular financial dealings, then financial fraud will continue.
Burma VJ: Reporting From a Closed Country (2008, Denmark co-production, Anders Østergaard)
As documented in Inside Job, the people who questioned the rash financial policies in America were ignored and their words were drowned out by "intelligent" men. If the truth can be plainly ignored in a democracy and financial crimes can still be committed, then one can only imagine how much crime can be committed in a nation where no truth is ever reported. Burma VJ chillingly shows how in a dictatorship reporting images of a peaceful march can be a matter of life and death. Like Inside Job, Burma VJ provides the background story to events that unfolded on television sets around the world. The images of thousands of monks marching on a street were widely seen on tv but the entire process of how those images made it out of Burma was not completely known.
We are supposed to be living in an age of instant information and round the clock news. But the news only seems to report events after they happen. And even then, most media outlets hardly seem to scratch the surface and dig deep to uncover the true story. There are some journalists who have freedom to write the truth but in most cases, one has to wait to read the full story until the journalists publish their books. So in this sense documentaries such as Inside Job and Burma VJ do an excellent job of filling a giant journalistic gap by providing details that often don't get reported via the global media.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
That beauty can be a woman or a stunning painting. Or it could be a pile of garbage. Or it could be all of those things put together.
Luck Walker's wonderful documentary follows Vik Muniz on his quest to transform objects from Jardim Gramacho, the world's largest landfill located in Rio de Janeiro, into a work of art. The first images that he encounters in Jardim Gramacho are large piles of garbage but once Vik interacts with some fascinating garbage pickers, then the mountains of garbage fade into the background and the pickers take center stage. Vik's interactions with the garbage pickers enable some of his artistic ideas to take hold. However, Vik's goal is not to do the art on his own but he wants to involve the workers. Also, he plans to donate the money from the art sales to improve the worker's lives. As a result, his artistic collaborations has the potential to transform the lives of some of the garbage pickers. Waste Land is a beautiful touching film that gives voice to people ignored by society and also provides plenty of life changing ideas especially around garbage generation and recycling.
Inside Job (2010, USA, Charles Ferguson)
The art work pictured above in Waste Land ends being sold for 28,000 pounds at an auction where we don't see all the buyers but instead see their proxies following instructions via phone. Considering that there are paintings which are sold in this auction for more than a few million dollars, 28,000 is a drop in the bucket. But who are some of the people who can afford to buy such expensive works?
In Charles Ferguson's engaging Inside Job we get a glimpse of some people who have the luxury to throw millions at a single painting. Such rich people are never satisfied with just one expensive painting. They want to acquire more. For that they need money. Lots of it. And in that greed for generating money for personal benefit, they will go to great lengths, even at times at the expense of others. Such greed certainly contributed to the economic crisis of 2008. Yet, it would be too easy to blame the greed in the 2008 crisis on bankers and financial employees alone. The average person should also be held accountable for wanting to spend beyond their means. What if the average person didn't get a sub-prime mortgage? In the long run that unsigned deal would have meant one less foreclosure. On the other hand, there were cases when the average person was not greedy but just didn't know what they were getting themselves into. Inside Job gives one example of a couple who didn't speak English and signed up for a quick initial low interest mortgage to get their dream house but were then shocked to discover the real monthly payment amounts once the low interest period ended.
Inside Job lays out the step-by-step process by which banks and financial companies committed the ultimate heist. By documenting this robbery, Ferguson's film may be the only sense of justice for some people because the men who committed the financial crimes will get away with their wealth intact. In the film, the people responsible for dismantling the regulations are named yet these people are widely respected in American universities and media. You can be sure in a few years, some of these same people will be hailed as legends. The banks will always be bailed out and bonuses will never go away in the financial sector. And the huge bonuses will continue to be spent on bigger houses, cars, yachts, drugs and prostitutes. Some people are addicted to drugs while others are addicted to bonuses and financial rewards. If there are no laws to keep a check on irregular financial dealings, then financial fraud will continue.
Burma VJ: Reporting From a Closed Country (2008, Denmark co-production, Anders Østergaard)
As documented in Inside Job, the people who questioned the rash financial policies in America were ignored and their words were drowned out by "intelligent" men. If the truth can be plainly ignored in a democracy and financial crimes can still be committed, then one can only imagine how much crime can be committed in a nation where no truth is ever reported. Burma VJ chillingly shows how in a dictatorship reporting images of a peaceful march can be a matter of life and death. Like Inside Job, Burma VJ provides the background story to events that unfolded on television sets around the world. The images of thousands of monks marching on a street were widely seen on tv but the entire process of how those images made it out of Burma was not completely known.
We are supposed to be living in an age of instant information and round the clock news. But the news only seems to report events after they happen. And even then, most media outlets hardly seem to scratch the surface and dig deep to uncover the true story. There are some journalists who have freedom to write the truth but in most cases, one has to wait to read the full story until the journalists publish their books. So in this sense documentaries such as Inside Job and Burma VJ do an excellent job of filling a giant journalistic gap by providing details that often don't get reported via the global media.
Thursday, December 02, 2010
2018 & 2022 World Cup
Men packed in a room. They shake hands, wink at each other and drop their ballots in the box.
Everyone knows the ballots will go towards the nation that will bring these men more personal wealth and fame. But in a silly sense of delusion, soccer fans still expect that the right footballing decision will be made and that the best nation will get the votes.
But this is not fair democracy. This is FIFA.
And this corruption is nothing new. It happened for the 2002 World Cup, then was repeated for the 2006 World Cup and has now taken place openly on Dec 2, 2010.
David Yallop's excellent book How They Stole the Game traces this history of corruption all the way back to the 1970's to the time of João Havelange and Andrew Jennings uncovers the modern day exploits of Sepp Blatter in his eye-opening Foul! The Secret World of FIFA: Bribes, Vote Rigging and Ticket Scandal. Maybe in the future someone will write another book about this corruption or these authors might update their books to include current events. In the meantime, the on-field game will continue to suffer. Professional players will show up tired to World Cup games and not produce results. Fans will lament about the death of good soccer but seriously can good football be played at 50 deg C? Ofcourse, in the past soccer players were forced to play in such scorching conditions (Mexico 1986 & USA 1994) but that was because FIFA deemed the games had to be played at a time suitable for European audiences. The awful world cup final in 1994 was not down to tactics alone. It was down to the unbearable conditions which caused the players to not exert too much energy lest they collapsed in the heat.
New markets have now opened up for soccer, Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022, but is it really for the good of the game? Time will tell.
On a lighter note, Qatar is the first nation hosting the World Cup that does not have a thriving film industry. Ofcourse, all that might change in 11.5 years, thanks to projects like the Doha Tribeca Film Festival (DTFF).
Everyone knows the ballots will go towards the nation that will bring these men more personal wealth and fame. But in a silly sense of delusion, soccer fans still expect that the right footballing decision will be made and that the best nation will get the votes.
But this is not fair democracy. This is FIFA.
And this corruption is nothing new. It happened for the 2002 World Cup, then was repeated for the 2006 World Cup and has now taken place openly on Dec 2, 2010.
David Yallop's excellent book How They Stole the Game traces this history of corruption all the way back to the 1970's to the time of João Havelange and Andrew Jennings uncovers the modern day exploits of Sepp Blatter in his eye-opening Foul! The Secret World of FIFA: Bribes, Vote Rigging and Ticket Scandal. Maybe in the future someone will write another book about this corruption or these authors might update their books to include current events. In the meantime, the on-field game will continue to suffer. Professional players will show up tired to World Cup games and not produce results. Fans will lament about the death of good soccer but seriously can good football be played at 50 deg C? Ofcourse, in the past soccer players were forced to play in such scorching conditions (Mexico 1986 & USA 1994) but that was because FIFA deemed the games had to be played at a time suitable for European audiences. The awful world cup final in 1994 was not down to tactics alone. It was down to the unbearable conditions which caused the players to not exert too much energy lest they collapsed in the heat.
New markets have now opened up for soccer, Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022, but is it really for the good of the game? Time will tell.
On a lighter note, Qatar is the first nation hosting the World Cup that does not have a thriving film industry. Ofcourse, all that might change in 11.5 years, thanks to projects like the Doha Tribeca Film Festival (DTFF).
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Arrival City
Arrival City: The final migration and our next world by Doug Saunders
The word slum or favela comes with a preconceived notion of overcrowded shacks, garbage pile-ups, crime and poverty mostly because of television/cinematic images and magazine stories. But who are the people living in these locations and where do they come from? How is their average day spent? How much distance do they travel for their everyday jobs? A 10 second clip on a news channel, where the camera merely pans across the landscape, won't give much answers.
Doug Saunders rightly points out that words such as slum and favela do not highlight the true nature of these locations. Instead, he prefers the word arrival city which properly conveys the dynamic nature of such locations where people are constantly arriving from villages or leaving for middle class neighborhoods. Such ‘arrival cities’, which exist mostly on the outskirts of a city or are hidden within a city's core, serve as a transition point for the new migrants in their attempt to carve out a better life. These locations are not the migrants final destination as may be incorrectly inferred by the stagnant image portrayed by the word slum. In fact, people make an arrival city their first stop because it is the easiest way to establish a footprint in a vast metropolis. The migrants share a common dream that once they save up enough money, they can then move to a better neighborhood and own their own apartment or house. Ofcourse, as a certain percentage of migrants leave an arrival city, another group move in to take their place.
Saunders’ Arrival City paints a vibrant picture about some of the people who have taken the brave step of leaving their village behind for starting life in a new city. He also perfectly illustrates the emotional and financial two-way connection between the arrival city and the village. It is safe to assume that an arrival city will always have a relationship with the vast city’s core but in reality, the arrival city is also tied to the rural homes of the migrants. This relationship between a village and arrival city is similar to that between an immigrant's new nation and their homeland. An immigrant or a migrant is more closer to their homeland and village respectively and often send financial help back home to their family while trying their best to save enough money for moving up the hierarchy in their new metropolis setting. However, the migrants everyday lives can either be nurtured or ruined by state/national government policies and attitudes. This is where Saunders’ book really stands out as he does not merely list individual stories but offers examples of where proper government policies ensure that citizens living in an arrival city can be successfully integrated within a city’s/nation’s fabric.
Arrival City covers many individual cities and villages across five continents and constructs a complete picture right from the creation of the early arrival cities to the current global locations. Ofcourse, one would not expect any less from a fine journalist like Doug Saunders. His columns always offer an intelligent balanced perspective on global issues and are a huge reason why I continue to read The Globe and Mail. Three years ago, I wrote him an email which ended with the following words:
I do hope you have a book planned for the future with a collection of your articles or other writing that you have done during your travels.
Thankfully, that book has now arrived and is one of the most relevant books published in the last few years. I can now put Doug Saunders in the same bracket as Ryszard Kapuściński, Robert D. Kaplan and Eduardo Galeano as journalists whose words are a window into the larger world out there.
Interestingly, 3.5 years ago I was inspired by an article on Iranian cinema by Doug Saunders to do my own mini spotlight on Iranian film. So it seems appropriate that his book should form an inspiration for another cinematic spotlight. However, given the breadth and depth of material covered in Arrival City, it will not be a simple 5-6 film spotlight. Even if I picked a single film from each country covered in the book, it would mean a minimum of 15 titles to cover China, India, Bangladesh, Brazil, England, Germany, Turkey, USA, Canada, Kenya, Columbia, Holland, Iran, Poland and Spain. However, a proper arrival city film spotlight would require at least 2-3 titles per country. An easy solution would be to reference films I have already seen pertaining to some of the book material and only watch new films to fill in the gaps.
The word slum or favela comes with a preconceived notion of overcrowded shacks, garbage pile-ups, crime and poverty mostly because of television/cinematic images and magazine stories. But who are the people living in these locations and where do they come from? How is their average day spent? How much distance do they travel for their everyday jobs? A 10 second clip on a news channel, where the camera merely pans across the landscape, won't give much answers.
Doug Saunders rightly points out that words such as slum and favela do not highlight the true nature of these locations. Instead, he prefers the word arrival city which properly conveys the dynamic nature of such locations where people are constantly arriving from villages or leaving for middle class neighborhoods. Such ‘arrival cities’, which exist mostly on the outskirts of a city or are hidden within a city's core, serve as a transition point for the new migrants in their attempt to carve out a better life. These locations are not the migrants final destination as may be incorrectly inferred by the stagnant image portrayed by the word slum. In fact, people make an arrival city their first stop because it is the easiest way to establish a footprint in a vast metropolis. The migrants share a common dream that once they save up enough money, they can then move to a better neighborhood and own their own apartment or house. Ofcourse, as a certain percentage of migrants leave an arrival city, another group move in to take their place.
Saunders’ Arrival City paints a vibrant picture about some of the people who have taken the brave step of leaving their village behind for starting life in a new city. He also perfectly illustrates the emotional and financial two-way connection between the arrival city and the village. It is safe to assume that an arrival city will always have a relationship with the vast city’s core but in reality, the arrival city is also tied to the rural homes of the migrants. This relationship between a village and arrival city is similar to that between an immigrant's new nation and their homeland. An immigrant or a migrant is more closer to their homeland and village respectively and often send financial help back home to their family while trying their best to save enough money for moving up the hierarchy in their new metropolis setting. However, the migrants everyday lives can either be nurtured or ruined by state/national government policies and attitudes. This is where Saunders’ book really stands out as he does not merely list individual stories but offers examples of where proper government policies ensure that citizens living in an arrival city can be successfully integrated within a city’s/nation’s fabric.
Arrival City covers many individual cities and villages across five continents and constructs a complete picture right from the creation of the early arrival cities to the current global locations. Ofcourse, one would not expect any less from a fine journalist like Doug Saunders. His columns always offer an intelligent balanced perspective on global issues and are a huge reason why I continue to read The Globe and Mail. Three years ago, I wrote him an email which ended with the following words:
I do hope you have a book planned for the future with a collection of your articles or other writing that you have done during your travels.
Thankfully, that book has now arrived and is one of the most relevant books published in the last few years. I can now put Doug Saunders in the same bracket as Ryszard Kapuściński, Robert D. Kaplan and Eduardo Galeano as journalists whose words are a window into the larger world out there.
Interestingly, 3.5 years ago I was inspired by an article on Iranian cinema by Doug Saunders to do my own mini spotlight on Iranian film. So it seems appropriate that his book should form an inspiration for another cinematic spotlight. However, given the breadth and depth of material covered in Arrival City, it will not be a simple 5-6 film spotlight. Even if I picked a single film from each country covered in the book, it would mean a minimum of 15 titles to cover China, India, Bangladesh, Brazil, England, Germany, Turkey, USA, Canada, Kenya, Columbia, Holland, Iran, Poland and Spain. However, a proper arrival city film spotlight would require at least 2-3 titles per country. An easy solution would be to reference films I have already seen pertaining to some of the book material and only watch new films to fill in the gaps.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Vintage Monday Night Football
Monday evenings are hardly known for soccer stories but today is a Monday that will go down in soccer history. Everywhere, almost every soccer fan, could be found buzzing only about Barcelona's 5-0 demolition of Real Madrid. The heated derby between these two rivals is always an occasion to savor but today's jaw dropping score-line combined with the beauty of Barcelona's play is going to ensure that this game will live long in the memory.
Sid Lowe's column perfectly manages to capture some of the beauty that was in display at the Nou Camp:
Pep Guardiola's side were imperious, their control breathtaking. Speaking of genuinely special, if this was indeed the game that decided the best player in the world, there can be only one answer. Messi failed to score for the first time in 10 matches but his performance – like those of Andrés Iniesta, Xavi Hernández and Sergio Busquets – was sublime. There were fewer brilliant dribbles, less fantasy but there was a stunning assuredness and impeccable precision in the passing. This was the Messi who controls the game and then decides it.
Barcelona 5 - 0 Real Madrid: Nov 29, 2010, Villa double, Messi show
Here are some other vintage La Liga El Clásico derbies:
Real Madrid 2 - 6 Barcelona : May 2, 2009, a double by Henry
Real Madrid 4 - 1 Barcelona: May 7, 2008
Barcelona 3 - 3 Real Madrid: March 10, 2007, Messi hat-trick
Real Madrid 5 - 0 Barcelona: January 7, 1995, Zamorano hat-trick
Barcelona 5 - 0 Real Madrid: January 8, 1994, Romario hat-trick
Sid Lowe's column perfectly manages to capture some of the beauty that was in display at the Nou Camp:
Pep Guardiola's side were imperious, their control breathtaking. Speaking of genuinely special, if this was indeed the game that decided the best player in the world, there can be only one answer. Messi failed to score for the first time in 10 matches but his performance – like those of Andrés Iniesta, Xavi Hernández and Sergio Busquets – was sublime. There were fewer brilliant dribbles, less fantasy but there was a stunning assuredness and impeccable precision in the passing. This was the Messi who controls the game and then decides it.
Barcelona 5 - 0 Real Madrid: Nov 29, 2010, Villa double, Messi show
Here are some other vintage La Liga El Clásico derbies:
Real Madrid 2 - 6 Barcelona : May 2, 2009, a double by Henry
Real Madrid 4 - 1 Barcelona: May 7, 2008
Barcelona 3 - 3 Real Madrid: March 10, 2007, Messi hat-trick
Real Madrid 5 - 0 Barcelona: January 7, 1995, Zamorano hat-trick
Barcelona 5 - 0 Real Madrid: January 8, 1994, Romario hat-trick
No way, Jose!!!!
I have nothing against Real Madrid football club but their current manager Jose Mourinho is another matter altogether. His arrogance knows no bounds and he is clearly one of the most disrespectful managers working in the game. Sure he has plenty of trophies to his name but he has achieved those on the back of a dismal game plan of playing negative football, fouling opponents and insulting opposing managers. Mourinho was also responsible for forcing an honest ref like Anders Frisk to retire after Mourinho's lies caused Frisk to receive death threats. Last week, even by his negative standards Mourinho hit a new low when he instructed two of his Real Madrid players to get sent off on purpose so that they would have a clean record for the next round of the Champions League. Yes there are cheats who insult the game every week by diving and rolling about on the ground. Yes there are managers who instruct their players to get "stuck in" and take out an opponent out but even the crudest managers don't ask their players to get red cards on purpose.
So it is with great pleasure to read the following score-line in today's El Clásico derby:
Barcelona 5 - 0 Real Madrid
Barca have their revenge, not only from this season, but from last season when Inter Milan led by Jose knocked Barca out of the Champions League. Mourinho's fans, and he has plenty in the media some of whom hailed last week's red card instructions as genius, will point that this is only his first loss this season and his team can still win multiple trophies. I am sure he will win trophies this year with Madrid but for once beautiful football won over arrogance.
The beautiful football of pass, pass and score wins over the negative instructions of sitting back, fouling and red cards.
So it is with great pleasure to read the following score-line in today's El Clásico derby:
Barcelona 5 - 0 Real Madrid
Barca have their revenge, not only from this season, but from last season when Inter Milan led by Jose knocked Barca out of the Champions League. Mourinho's fans, and he has plenty in the media some of whom hailed last week's red card instructions as genius, will point that this is only his first loss this season and his team can still win multiple trophies. I am sure he will win trophies this year with Madrid but for once beautiful football won over arrogance.
The beautiful football of pass, pass and score wins over the negative instructions of sitting back, fouling and red cards.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Global Box Office, part II
As expected, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part One) dominated the past week's global box office. Harry Potter was the #1 film in all countries it opened except in Turkey where it was at #2:
1 Five Minarets in New York 625
2 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part One) 373
Harry Potter opened in 373 Turkish screens earning an average $4,621 per theater whereas The Turkish-American co-production Five Minarets in New York showed in 625 theaters earning an average of $4,590 per theater. On average, Harry Potter earned slightly more so you can be sure that for Part II, Hollywood will try to add a few more screens in Turkey. However, Five Minarets in New York is in its third week and is still putting up strong numbers.
The model that Hollywood clearly follows is to flood as many screens nationally and internationally as possible. In Brazil, Harry Potter.. opened in 1014 screens, more than double the number of screens which played Elite Squad 2 (492 screens).
The same story was found in Japan where the film opened in 872 screens, more than double the screens showing the Japanese film SP: The motion picture yabô hen which in its 4th week still earned a strong $5,853 per theater.
1 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part One) 872
2 SP: The motion picture yabô hen 394
Interestingly, the film didn't open in South Korea yet where the local box office is dominated by two Korean films, in their 2nd and 4th week respectively:
1 Choneungryukja 637
2 Boodang Guhrae 337
3 The Social Network 361
In its 4th week and showing in 337 screens Boodang Guhrae earned an average of $4,002 per screen which was slightly more than the opening average of $3,581 put up by The Social Network despite playing in more screens. Traditionally, South Korea is just one of a few countries that has been able to hold off the big Hollywood films with its local cinema, so the strategy in South Korea appears to be hold off releasing the film until maximum profit has been reaped from other nations.
Many nations yet movie to unite them all. So much for cinematic choices.
1 Five Minarets in New York 625
2 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part One) 373
Harry Potter opened in 373 Turkish screens earning an average $4,621 per theater whereas The Turkish-American co-production Five Minarets in New York showed in 625 theaters earning an average of $4,590 per theater. On average, Harry Potter earned slightly more so you can be sure that for Part II, Hollywood will try to add a few more screens in Turkey. However, Five Minarets in New York is in its third week and is still putting up strong numbers.
The model that Hollywood clearly follows is to flood as many screens nationally and internationally as possible. In Brazil, Harry Potter.. opened in 1014 screens, more than double the number of screens which played Elite Squad 2 (492 screens).
The same story was found in Japan where the film opened in 872 screens, more than double the screens showing the Japanese film SP: The motion picture yabô hen which in its 4th week still earned a strong $5,853 per theater.
1 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part One) 872
2 SP: The motion picture yabô hen 394
Interestingly, the film didn't open in South Korea yet where the local box office is dominated by two Korean films, in their 2nd and 4th week respectively:
1 Choneungryukja 637
2 Boodang Guhrae 337
3 The Social Network 361
In its 4th week and showing in 337 screens Boodang Guhrae earned an average of $4,002 per screen which was slightly more than the opening average of $3,581 put up by The Social Network despite playing in more screens. Traditionally, South Korea is just one of a few countries that has been able to hold off the big Hollywood films with its local cinema, so the strategy in South Korea appears to be hold off releasing the film until maximum profit has been reaped from other nations.
Many nations yet movie to unite them all. So much for cinematic choices.
Friday, November 26, 2010
Film Festivals...
In Richard Porton's TIFF piece, Reginald Harkema provides a key summary:
...Politics are of course (as with everything) a huge part of it. I have become a bit of a drinking buddy with an ex-programmer and he tells me horror stories of films that he absolutely hated and would never program, but because of the stature of the filmmaker (sex, race, celebrity, connection to the festival), they were programmed. I saw this happen this year, too, and one wonders about those many good Canadian films that didn’t get programmed when so many bad films are.
Reginald Harkema is talking about Canadian Cinema but the above statement equally applies to films programmed from any country at a film festival. No film festival can stand up and admit that every single film is selected based on merit alone. The higher the number of sponsors for a film festival, the greater the chance that films will be selected to please some sponsors or board of directors. Ofcourse, the bigger a film festival, the more the number of programmers at that festival. Each programmer has their own cinematic taste so it is impossible that all the films at a festival will suit every programmer, let alone appease every single festival patron.
Porton uses this line to describe the New York Film Festival:
Unlike a “boutique” festival such as the New York Film Festival, which showcases a small number of films that its programmers assert represent the year’s crème de la crème..
New York has a smaller selections of films but even NYFF opened with The Social Network, a Hollywood buzz film. Film Festivals need such buzz films to exist. That is a fact of festival life that cannot be avoided. Based on my programming experiences at local film festivals (CIFF, CPAFF), I have come to believe a film festival needs a certain commercial vs art film ratio in order to succeed. That means, a festival needs to show a certain number of commercially accessible films in order to earn some profit so as to show the truly artistic films which may incur a loss. This is because there may be only a few cities in the world where art films will make a profit so film festivals have to bend their ways to accommodate various other films that will get the crowds in. Also, art films like commercial films don't come cheap. In fact, every year that precious Cannes film will require almost the same programming fee as that new buzz Hollywood film. Back in 2006, I was able to get a worthy art film for free but that was a rare case and I am certain that will never happen again.
A few of us have worked hard to program that ideal film festival but every year, it is frustrating to see cinematic gems go overlooked while crowds pack substandard films. The irony is that if it were not for the substandard films, then the festival would have suffered a financial loss and been unable to get worthy films the following year.
Film festival goers are a curious bunch though. If they don't like a movie at a film festival, they direct extreme hatred at the programmer or even the film festival, because in their view the film programmer committed a grave sin by booking an awful film. Yet, these same film goers will never direct such venom at a multiplex owner for booking garbage, week in, week out. In fact, people will gladly return to the multiplex the following week despite suffering the previous weekend. But if these same people have a bad experience at a film festival, there is a good chance that they will not return to see another movie at the festival.
Cinephiles will rightly complain about movies a film festival does not book but will then go about ignoring new works from unknown directors, as if the only films worth seeing are from "masters" praised in Cannes/Venice or only films from a certain country are meant to be seen. For example, in my city, some cinephiles assume any French film is automatically superior to any Asian film because in their view the French have a history of good film-making. So they ignore works of art that are coming out of Thailand, China or Malaysia but will sit through any French language film, even if the film is from an unknown first time French director.
In addition...
It is a fallacy to believe that film festivals have the ultimate say in every single selection. The reality is that festivals are sometimes at the mercy of distributors and producers when it comes to showing some films. Of course, since very little is written about the inside workings of a film festival, people attribute the presence or absence of a film to the programmers decisions. Sure festival programmers have to answer for their selections but unseen powers behind some festival decisions are able to avoid any justifications.
Film programmers often have a thankless job because they can never satisfy everyone and there is a good chance they will be criticized by some segment of the film going public, no matter what films they select. Sometimes individual programmers are praised because a critic or cinephile might like that programmer's selections. On the other hand, a programmer who might be dismissed by professional critics might be held in high regard by the festival's board of directors because the programmer regularly picks films that draw crowds.
Popular vs art. The never ending film festival struggle.
...Politics are of course (as with everything) a huge part of it. I have become a bit of a drinking buddy with an ex-programmer and he tells me horror stories of films that he absolutely hated and would never program, but because of the stature of the filmmaker (sex, race, celebrity, connection to the festival), they were programmed. I saw this happen this year, too, and one wonders about those many good Canadian films that didn’t get programmed when so many bad films are.
Reginald Harkema is talking about Canadian Cinema but the above statement equally applies to films programmed from any country at a film festival. No film festival can stand up and admit that every single film is selected based on merit alone. The higher the number of sponsors for a film festival, the greater the chance that films will be selected to please some sponsors or board of directors. Ofcourse, the bigger a film festival, the more the number of programmers at that festival. Each programmer has their own cinematic taste so it is impossible that all the films at a festival will suit every programmer, let alone appease every single festival patron.
Porton uses this line to describe the New York Film Festival:
Unlike a “boutique” festival such as the New York Film Festival, which showcases a small number of films that its programmers assert represent the year’s crème de la crème..
New York has a smaller selections of films but even NYFF opened with The Social Network, a Hollywood buzz film. Film Festivals need such buzz films to exist. That is a fact of festival life that cannot be avoided. Based on my programming experiences at local film festivals (CIFF, CPAFF), I have come to believe a film festival needs a certain commercial vs art film ratio in order to succeed. That means, a festival needs to show a certain number of commercially accessible films in order to earn some profit so as to show the truly artistic films which may incur a loss. This is because there may be only a few cities in the world where art films will make a profit so film festivals have to bend their ways to accommodate various other films that will get the crowds in. Also, art films like commercial films don't come cheap. In fact, every year that precious Cannes film will require almost the same programming fee as that new buzz Hollywood film. Back in 2006, I was able to get a worthy art film for free but that was a rare case and I am certain that will never happen again.
A few of us have worked hard to program that ideal film festival but every year, it is frustrating to see cinematic gems go overlooked while crowds pack substandard films. The irony is that if it were not for the substandard films, then the festival would have suffered a financial loss and been unable to get worthy films the following year.
Film festival goers are a curious bunch though. If they don't like a movie at a film festival, they direct extreme hatred at the programmer or even the film festival, because in their view the film programmer committed a grave sin by booking an awful film. Yet, these same film goers will never direct such venom at a multiplex owner for booking garbage, week in, week out. In fact, people will gladly return to the multiplex the following week despite suffering the previous weekend. But if these same people have a bad experience at a film festival, there is a good chance that they will not return to see another movie at the festival.
Cinephiles will rightly complain about movies a film festival does not book but will then go about ignoring new works from unknown directors, as if the only films worth seeing are from "masters" praised in Cannes/Venice or only films from a certain country are meant to be seen. For example, in my city, some cinephiles assume any French film is automatically superior to any Asian film because in their view the French have a history of good film-making. So they ignore works of art that are coming out of Thailand, China or Malaysia but will sit through any French language film, even if the film is from an unknown first time French director.
In addition...
It is a fallacy to believe that film festivals have the ultimate say in every single selection. The reality is that festivals are sometimes at the mercy of distributors and producers when it comes to showing some films. Of course, since very little is written about the inside workings of a film festival, people attribute the presence or absence of a film to the programmers decisions. Sure festival programmers have to answer for their selections but unseen powers behind some festival decisions are able to avoid any justifications.
Film programmers often have a thankless job because they can never satisfy everyone and there is a good chance they will be criticized by some segment of the film going public, no matter what films they select. Sometimes individual programmers are praised because a critic or cinephile might like that programmer's selections. On the other hand, a programmer who might be dismissed by professional critics might be held in high regard by the festival's board of directors because the programmer regularly picks films that draw crowds.
Popular vs art. The never ending film festival struggle.
Saturday, November 20, 2010
The Ways of Wine & Revolucion
The wonderful Argentine film The Ways of Wine is playing for free on mubi.com, until tomorrow Nov 21.
The film is a self-discovery journey with a touch of humor. In the manner of Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist, the film shows that sometimes one may travel the world to search for meaning but the real answer that they are seeking lies closer to home. Ofcourse, the real learning comes from the journey itself.
Also, the Mexican film Revolución is showing for free on mubi only on Saturday (Nov 20) and Sunday (Nov 21).
The film is a self-discovery journey with a touch of humor. In the manner of Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist, the film shows that sometimes one may travel the world to search for meaning but the real answer that they are seeking lies closer to home. Ofcourse, the real learning comes from the journey itself.
Also, the Mexican film Revolución is showing for free on mubi only on Saturday (Nov 20) and Sunday (Nov 21).
Thursday, November 18, 2010
The Global Box Office
This weekend the new Harry Potter movie will clearly dominate most of the global box office ticket sales. There are more than 4000 theaters booked across North America to show The Deathly Hallows: Part 1 and some theaters have a staggering number of shows per day. For example, in Calgary there are a record number of showtimes in most of the multiplexes:
1) Scotiabank Chinook theater has 19 shows per day through the weekend with 15 in the regular theatres and 4 in the IMAX screen. And Chinook also has 4 midnight shows tonight. Previously, a Hollywood film only had one midnight show on Thursday night but anticipating the crowds, Chinook has booked 4 slots.
2) Empire theatre on Country hills has 17 shows per day from Friday through Sunday. After Sunday, they drop down to the low number of 14 per day.
3) Sunridge Spectrum has 15 per day.
4) Empire 10 in the South has 14 shows per day on the weekend and drops down to 11 after the weekend.
5) Westhills has 12 per day.
6) Crowfoot Crossing has 12 per day.
7) Eau Claire only has 2 per day.
So that means on Friday there are a total of 91 shows of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 throughout the city. That number goes up if one includes the nearby towns which are within 30 minutes driving distance from Calgary. These high number of shows are not only specific to Calgary but can be found in other Canadian cities. Multiplexes from Halifax, Montreal, Quebec City, Toronto, Edmonton and Vancouver have more than 10+ shows of Harry Potter a day, although two theaters in Greater Toronto standout. The AMC Courtney Park 16 in Mississauga has a jaw dropping 24 shows per day from Friday-Sunday, with 19 in the regular theaters and 5 IMAX shows. But AMC 24 in Whitby goes even further by having 27 shows in a single day (22 regular + 5 IMAX). Whitby's population is only 112,000 but its close proximity to Toronto means that there will be some out of town people driving down to see the film. Also, in Toronto the theaters are starting their shows at 9:30 am but in Calgary we only have shows starting at 11:30 am.
A sampling of some cities across the United States show the same high number of bookings per day, with AMC River East 21 in Chicago showing 27 shows per day and many others from L.A to New York having 10+ shows per day. A theater with a single screen is only able to show 4-5 shows per day due to the film's running time of 2.5 hours. On the other hand, the more the number of screens in a multiplex, the larger the number of shows that multiplex will have.
The film series have a huge following around the world so safe to say, the new film will be deployed on a large scale across the Globe. Also, this is just Part I of the movie. The second part would probably follow a similar booking model and thereby generate more revenue. In this sense, it makes sense for Part I of film to be released in mid-November, before the Christmas season films start getting released so that as many screens can be dedicated to just this one film. At this rate, I am certain that Hollywood and the multiplex theater owners probably never want this franchise to end.
Recent Global Box Office
A quick look at some countries & regional box offices show the reach of Hollywood. As per Boxofficemojo.com, the same few Hollywood titles show up in multiple countries and in some countries/regions, Hollywood easily dominates the top 5. It will be interesting to revisit these charts in a few weeks when a common title will dominate almost all the regions.
note: besides the film title, the number of screens the film showed in is also listed.
Argentina
1 Paranormal Activity 2, 57
2 Saw 3D, 57
3 Due Date, 47
4 The Switch, 36
5 Jackass 3-D, 47
Australia
1 Jackass 3-D, 198
2 The Social Network, 291
3 Skyline, 181
4 Red, 244
5 Life as We Know It, 242
Bahrain
1 Unstoppable, 1
2 The Social Network, 1
3 Eat Pray Love, 1
4 Takers, 1
5 Marmaduke, 1
Bolivia
1 Paranormal Activity 2, 7
2 Due Date, 7
3 Furry Vengeance, 5
4 Garfield's Pet Force, 3
5 Eat Pray Love, 7
Brazil
1 Tropa de Elite 2, 597
2 Red, 207
3 Muita Calma Nessa Hora, 184
4 Saw 3D, 253
5 Due Date, 188
Two Brazilian films show up in the top 5 with Elite Squad 2 managing to show in 597 screens, double the number of screens for the Hollywood films on the list.
China
1 Unstoppable
2 Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole
3 Wind Blast
4 Ai chu se (Color Me Love)
5 My Sassy Girl 2
After the top 2 spots are a Hong Kong, Chinese and a Korean-Chinese co-production (My Sassy Girl 2).
East Africa
1 Unstoppable, 8
2 Despicable Me, 3
3 The Social Network, 3
4 Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, 3
5 Charlie St. Cloud, 2
France
1 Potiche, 440
2 Les petits mouchoirs, 629
3 Due Date, 385
4 Saw 3D, 181
5 Unstoppable, 430
It is not surprizing to see French films in the top 2 spots but Hollywood is certainly making up some ground in France.
The Indian box office, obtained from IBOSNetwork.com.
1 Golmaal 3
2 Action Replayy
3 Endhiran - The Robot
4 Due Date
5 Jhootha Hi Sahi
The two Diwali releases Golmaal 3 and Action Replayy still dominate the charts but Due Date has managed to make the top 5. In Northern India, Bollywood films regularly dominate the box-office and despite its best efforts, Hollywood has not been able to make much dent.
Japan
1 SP: The motion picture yabô hen, 394
2 Ghost: In Your Arms Again, 305
3 Despicable Me, 229
4 Eiga Hâto kyacchi Purikyua! Hana no miyako de fasshon shô... desuka!? 163
5 The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, 264
A Japanese film is at #1 and there are only 2 Hollywood films in the top 5. Interestingly, the #2 film Ghost: In Your Arms Again is a Korean-Japanese co-production remake of the American film Ghost.
South Korea
1 Boodang Guhrae (Conflict of Interest) 523
2 Red, 331
3 Bad Couple, 366
4 Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole, 240
5 Devil, 188
Along with India and Japan, South Korea is another country where the local cinema manages to hold off Hollywood on a regular basis. Although this week, 2 Hollywood films and the American/Australian co-production Legend of the Guardians are in the top 5.
Lebanon
1 Red, 8
2 Megamind, 8
3 Saw 3D, 5
4 Unstoppable, 7
5 Due Date, 7
Malaysia
1 Unstoppable, 85
2 Skyline, 85
3 Megamind, 82
4 The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec, 50
5 Takers, 52
The only non-Hollywood film is Luc Besson's French film The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec at #4 which is playing in 50 screens.
Nigeria
1 Unstoppable, 3
2 Takers, 8
3 Machete, 6
4 Golmaal 3, 1
5 Despicable Me, 4
The absence of Nigerian films is not surprizing as the local Nollywood films are sold only as DVDs (pirated and legal). Also, Bollywood films are pretty popular in Nigeria so that explains why Golmaal 3 is at #4.
Peru
1 Paranormal Activity 2, 40
2 Hachiko: A Dog's Story, 22
3 Avatar: Special Edition, 7
4 Jackass 3-D, 10
5 Life as We Know It, 26
Russia
1 Skyline, 891
2 Megamind, 711
3 Due Date, 543
4 Easy A, 272
5 Brestskaya krepost, 542
The Russian war drama Brestskaya krepost is in its second week and still hanging in the top 5. Also, it is showing on 542 screens, just one screen short of Due Date. But Skyline and Megamind clearly have the upper hand on the number of screens in Russia. The end of the cold war is proving to be a good thing for Hollywood.
Singapore
1 Megamind, 57
2 Unstoppable, 29
3 Red, 25
4 Due Date, 27
5 The Social Network, 20
It is not surprizing to see Hollywood rule here as well because the array of shopping malls around Singapore also contain shiny multiplexes.
Thailand
1 Skyline, 171
2 Nam Phee Nong Sayong Kwan, 66
3 Sammy's Adventures: The Secret Passage, 25
4 Due Date, 45
5 Fan Mai, 55
While Skyline dominates the screens, it is nice to see two Thai films in the top 5. The biggest surprize is to see Sammy's Adventure, a Belgian animated film at #3. This film won't probably open in UK and the US until early 2011.
Supply/Demand & the Hollywood/Multiplex model
There is a large demand for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, going by the advance tickets sold already. In Calgary, almost all the Thursday midnight shows are already sold out and most of the Friday evening shows are gone too. So if there are millions of people who want to see this film around the world, then the theaters are merely catering to the masses.
On the other hand, only large Hollywood studios have the deep pockets to create enough prints for the large number of multiplex screens around the world. In the last decade, a huge number of multiplexes have opened up around the world, including North America. These multiplexes need films to pack the people in and large Hollywood studios are able to provide the necessary product. Plus, since a studio can distribute multiple prints, it makes it easier for a theater owner to deal with a single representative from a large studio and co-ordinate the mass deployment of a film.
In India, Bollywood replaces Hollywood as that large studio entity. Key Bollywood films flood the multiplex screens throughout the year. The two recent Diwali films being an example and back in Feburary, it was My Name is Khan that dominated the multiplex. There were hourly shows of My Name is Khan at almost every multiplex in New Delhi and it was a struggle to see anything but Karan Johar's new film. For example, I wanted to see Ishqiya but there was only a single show of the film in two multiplexes in South Delhi -- one show was at 10:25 am and the other show at 9:40 pm. The mass flooding of the multiplex market allowed My Name is Khan to be deemed a success after the opening weekend but one could find empty theaters around New Delhi just a few days after the film opened. In a sense, it was a waste to have the same movie playing everywhere when there wasn't a demand.
In some cases, the demand for a film may exist but in other cases, the big studios try to manufacture demand by having multiple shows of their films. The studios believe if there are few options given to the public, then there is a good chance that people will walk into one of their movies. But I do believe that at the end of the day, multiplex theater owners will show whatever they believe will make them the most money. For example, in December 2008 only one multiplex (Eau Claire) in Calgary showed Slumdog Millionaire. The film put up amazing attendance numbers and as the film continued to gather awards, other multiplexes in the city started showing the film. By the end of January 2009, all the 7 multiplexes in the city where showing the film.
While majority of the multiplexes in North America follow the herd by booking whatever Hollywood dishes out, there are some examples of multiplexes that take the initiative and show atleast 1-2 different titles away from the regular Hollywood pack. The Eau Claire Cineplex in Calgary being such a multiplex. It regularly reserves one screen for an indie/documentary/alternate title on most weeks. Currently, it is showing Inside Job on a single screen, the same as the new Harry Potter film. Last year, Eau Claire was the only multiplex in the city to show both parts of Steven Soderbergh's Che. Also, for the last few years the Calgary International Film Festival has been able to use two of the theater's six screens for the entire 10 day festival duration.
Pop = want now, Art = wait forever
Popular films by its nature have to be seen right away. So if people don't get to see the advance screening or midnight show of the newest studio film, they will try to watch it on the first day or the first weekend. Everyone wants to see the film right now.
On the other hand, cinephiles are used to waiting a few years to see foreign/indie films. The difference in the distribution model clearly makes the wait seem painful. But foreign/indie films have to follow the festival circuit first to gather some attention before the theatres will come calling. Slumdog Millionaire is such an example. If the film had not won the audience award at The Toronto International Film Festival, then I don't think it would have gotten the momentum that it did. That award and word of mouth suddenly made it a must see film, just like a regular Hollywood film.
I know about the popular vs cinephile difference quite well because more than a decade ago I belonged to the popular cinema crowd. I used to line up every friday evening to see the newest Hollywood or Bollywood film. But I eventually crossed over to the cinephile line. I still visit the popular lines every now and then, but not as regularly as I used to. I would really like the "want now" model to be applied to some foreign films but as it turns out, there aren't enough cinephiles standing in my city's lines to warrant the local theaters to book those foreign films. Thankfully, the three art house theaters in the city have not given up and are still doing their best to carry on. The Uptown is showing the fully restored Metropolis tonight and The Plaza has a new Spanish Cinema Film Festival running from tonight until Monday. Also, Fair Game finally opens in the city, naturally in Eau Claire along with at Chinook. So there are some diverse cinematic options this weekend as opposed to only Harry.. but don’t tell that to Hollywood otherwise they might eliminate the limited non-studio options left to people.
1) Scotiabank Chinook theater has 19 shows per day through the weekend with 15 in the regular theatres and 4 in the IMAX screen. And Chinook also has 4 midnight shows tonight. Previously, a Hollywood film only had one midnight show on Thursday night but anticipating the crowds, Chinook has booked 4 slots.
2) Empire theatre on Country hills has 17 shows per day from Friday through Sunday. After Sunday, they drop down to the low number of 14 per day.
3) Sunridge Spectrum has 15 per day.
4) Empire 10 in the South has 14 shows per day on the weekend and drops down to 11 after the weekend.
5) Westhills has 12 per day.
6) Crowfoot Crossing has 12 per day.
7) Eau Claire only has 2 per day.
So that means on Friday there are a total of 91 shows of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 throughout the city. That number goes up if one includes the nearby towns which are within 30 minutes driving distance from Calgary. These high number of shows are not only specific to Calgary but can be found in other Canadian cities. Multiplexes from Halifax, Montreal, Quebec City, Toronto, Edmonton and Vancouver have more than 10+ shows of Harry Potter a day, although two theaters in Greater Toronto standout. The AMC Courtney Park 16 in Mississauga has a jaw dropping 24 shows per day from Friday-Sunday, with 19 in the regular theaters and 5 IMAX shows. But AMC 24 in Whitby goes even further by having 27 shows in a single day (22 regular + 5 IMAX). Whitby's population is only 112,000 but its close proximity to Toronto means that there will be some out of town people driving down to see the film. Also, in Toronto the theaters are starting their shows at 9:30 am but in Calgary we only have shows starting at 11:30 am.
A sampling of some cities across the United States show the same high number of bookings per day, with AMC River East 21 in Chicago showing 27 shows per day and many others from L.A to New York having 10+ shows per day. A theater with a single screen is only able to show 4-5 shows per day due to the film's running time of 2.5 hours. On the other hand, the more the number of screens in a multiplex, the larger the number of shows that multiplex will have.
The film series have a huge following around the world so safe to say, the new film will be deployed on a large scale across the Globe. Also, this is just Part I of the movie. The second part would probably follow a similar booking model and thereby generate more revenue. In this sense, it makes sense for Part I of film to be released in mid-November, before the Christmas season films start getting released so that as many screens can be dedicated to just this one film. At this rate, I am certain that Hollywood and the multiplex theater owners probably never want this franchise to end.
Recent Global Box Office
A quick look at some countries & regional box offices show the reach of Hollywood. As per Boxofficemojo.com, the same few Hollywood titles show up in multiple countries and in some countries/regions, Hollywood easily dominates the top 5. It will be interesting to revisit these charts in a few weeks when a common title will dominate almost all the regions.
note: besides the film title, the number of screens the film showed in is also listed.
Argentina
1 Paranormal Activity 2, 57
2 Saw 3D, 57
3 Due Date, 47
4 The Switch, 36
5 Jackass 3-D, 47
Australia
1 Jackass 3-D, 198
2 The Social Network, 291
3 Skyline, 181
4 Red, 244
5 Life as We Know It, 242
Bahrain
1 Unstoppable, 1
2 The Social Network, 1
3 Eat Pray Love, 1
4 Takers, 1
5 Marmaduke, 1
Bolivia
1 Paranormal Activity 2, 7
2 Due Date, 7
3 Furry Vengeance, 5
4 Garfield's Pet Force, 3
5 Eat Pray Love, 7
Brazil
1 Tropa de Elite 2, 597
2 Red, 207
3 Muita Calma Nessa Hora, 184
4 Saw 3D, 253
5 Due Date, 188
Two Brazilian films show up in the top 5 with Elite Squad 2 managing to show in 597 screens, double the number of screens for the Hollywood films on the list.
China
1 Unstoppable
2 Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole
3 Wind Blast
4 Ai chu se (Color Me Love)
5 My Sassy Girl 2
After the top 2 spots are a Hong Kong, Chinese and a Korean-Chinese co-production (My Sassy Girl 2).
East Africa
1 Unstoppable, 8
2 Despicable Me, 3
3 The Social Network, 3
4 Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, 3
5 Charlie St. Cloud, 2
France
1 Potiche, 440
2 Les petits mouchoirs, 629
3 Due Date, 385
4 Saw 3D, 181
5 Unstoppable, 430
It is not surprizing to see French films in the top 2 spots but Hollywood is certainly making up some ground in France.
The Indian box office, obtained from IBOSNetwork.com.
1 Golmaal 3
2 Action Replayy
3 Endhiran - The Robot
4 Due Date
5 Jhootha Hi Sahi
The two Diwali releases Golmaal 3 and Action Replayy still dominate the charts but Due Date has managed to make the top 5. In Northern India, Bollywood films regularly dominate the box-office and despite its best efforts, Hollywood has not been able to make much dent.
Japan
1 SP: The motion picture yabô hen, 394
2 Ghost: In Your Arms Again, 305
3 Despicable Me, 229
4 Eiga Hâto kyacchi Purikyua! Hana no miyako de fasshon shô... desuka!? 163
5 The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, 264
A Japanese film is at #1 and there are only 2 Hollywood films in the top 5. Interestingly, the #2 film Ghost: In Your Arms Again is a Korean-Japanese co-production remake of the American film Ghost.
South Korea
1 Boodang Guhrae (Conflict of Interest) 523
2 Red, 331
3 Bad Couple, 366
4 Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole, 240
5 Devil, 188
Along with India and Japan, South Korea is another country where the local cinema manages to hold off Hollywood on a regular basis. Although this week, 2 Hollywood films and the American/Australian co-production Legend of the Guardians are in the top 5.
Lebanon
1 Red, 8
2 Megamind, 8
3 Saw 3D, 5
4 Unstoppable, 7
5 Due Date, 7
Malaysia
1 Unstoppable, 85
2 Skyline, 85
3 Megamind, 82
4 The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec, 50
5 Takers, 52
The only non-Hollywood film is Luc Besson's French film The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec at #4 which is playing in 50 screens.
Nigeria
1 Unstoppable, 3
2 Takers, 8
3 Machete, 6
4 Golmaal 3, 1
5 Despicable Me, 4
The absence of Nigerian films is not surprizing as the local Nollywood films are sold only as DVDs (pirated and legal). Also, Bollywood films are pretty popular in Nigeria so that explains why Golmaal 3 is at #4.
Peru
1 Paranormal Activity 2, 40
2 Hachiko: A Dog's Story, 22
3 Avatar: Special Edition, 7
4 Jackass 3-D, 10
5 Life as We Know It, 26
Russia
1 Skyline, 891
2 Megamind, 711
3 Due Date, 543
4 Easy A, 272
5 Brestskaya krepost, 542
The Russian war drama Brestskaya krepost is in its second week and still hanging in the top 5. Also, it is showing on 542 screens, just one screen short of Due Date. But Skyline and Megamind clearly have the upper hand on the number of screens in Russia. The end of the cold war is proving to be a good thing for Hollywood.
Singapore
1 Megamind, 57
2 Unstoppable, 29
3 Red, 25
4 Due Date, 27
5 The Social Network, 20
It is not surprizing to see Hollywood rule here as well because the array of shopping malls around Singapore also contain shiny multiplexes.
Thailand
1 Skyline, 171
2 Nam Phee Nong Sayong Kwan, 66
3 Sammy's Adventures: The Secret Passage, 25
4 Due Date, 45
5 Fan Mai, 55
While Skyline dominates the screens, it is nice to see two Thai films in the top 5. The biggest surprize is to see Sammy's Adventure, a Belgian animated film at #3. This film won't probably open in UK and the US until early 2011.
Supply/Demand & the Hollywood/Multiplex model
There is a large demand for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, going by the advance tickets sold already. In Calgary, almost all the Thursday midnight shows are already sold out and most of the Friday evening shows are gone too. So if there are millions of people who want to see this film around the world, then the theaters are merely catering to the masses.
On the other hand, only large Hollywood studios have the deep pockets to create enough prints for the large number of multiplex screens around the world. In the last decade, a huge number of multiplexes have opened up around the world, including North America. These multiplexes need films to pack the people in and large Hollywood studios are able to provide the necessary product. Plus, since a studio can distribute multiple prints, it makes it easier for a theater owner to deal with a single representative from a large studio and co-ordinate the mass deployment of a film.
In India, Bollywood replaces Hollywood as that large studio entity. Key Bollywood films flood the multiplex screens throughout the year. The two recent Diwali films being an example and back in Feburary, it was My Name is Khan that dominated the multiplex. There were hourly shows of My Name is Khan at almost every multiplex in New Delhi and it was a struggle to see anything but Karan Johar's new film. For example, I wanted to see Ishqiya but there was only a single show of the film in two multiplexes in South Delhi -- one show was at 10:25 am and the other show at 9:40 pm. The mass flooding of the multiplex market allowed My Name is Khan to be deemed a success after the opening weekend but one could find empty theaters around New Delhi just a few days after the film opened. In a sense, it was a waste to have the same movie playing everywhere when there wasn't a demand.
In some cases, the demand for a film may exist but in other cases, the big studios try to manufacture demand by having multiple shows of their films. The studios believe if there are few options given to the public, then there is a good chance that people will walk into one of their movies. But I do believe that at the end of the day, multiplex theater owners will show whatever they believe will make them the most money. For example, in December 2008 only one multiplex (Eau Claire) in Calgary showed Slumdog Millionaire. The film put up amazing attendance numbers and as the film continued to gather awards, other multiplexes in the city started showing the film. By the end of January 2009, all the 7 multiplexes in the city where showing the film.
While majority of the multiplexes in North America follow the herd by booking whatever Hollywood dishes out, there are some examples of multiplexes that take the initiative and show atleast 1-2 different titles away from the regular Hollywood pack. The Eau Claire Cineplex in Calgary being such a multiplex. It regularly reserves one screen for an indie/documentary/alternate title on most weeks. Currently, it is showing Inside Job on a single screen, the same as the new Harry Potter film. Last year, Eau Claire was the only multiplex in the city to show both parts of Steven Soderbergh's Che. Also, for the last few years the Calgary International Film Festival has been able to use two of the theater's six screens for the entire 10 day festival duration.
Pop = want now, Art = wait forever
Popular films by its nature have to be seen right away. So if people don't get to see the advance screening or midnight show of the newest studio film, they will try to watch it on the first day or the first weekend. Everyone wants to see the film right now.
On the other hand, cinephiles are used to waiting a few years to see foreign/indie films. The difference in the distribution model clearly makes the wait seem painful. But foreign/indie films have to follow the festival circuit first to gather some attention before the theatres will come calling. Slumdog Millionaire is such an example. If the film had not won the audience award at The Toronto International Film Festival, then I don't think it would have gotten the momentum that it did. That award and word of mouth suddenly made it a must see film, just like a regular Hollywood film.
I know about the popular vs cinephile difference quite well because more than a decade ago I belonged to the popular cinema crowd. I used to line up every friday evening to see the newest Hollywood or Bollywood film. But I eventually crossed over to the cinephile line. I still visit the popular lines every now and then, but not as regularly as I used to. I would really like the "want now" model to be applied to some foreign films but as it turns out, there aren't enough cinephiles standing in my city's lines to warrant the local theaters to book those foreign films. Thankfully, the three art house theaters in the city have not given up and are still doing their best to carry on. The Uptown is showing the fully restored Metropolis tonight and The Plaza has a new Spanish Cinema Film Festival running from tonight until Monday. Also, Fair Game finally opens in the city, naturally in Eau Claire along with at Chinook. So there are some diverse cinematic options this weekend as opposed to only Harry.. but don’t tell that to Hollywood otherwise they might eliminate the limited non-studio options left to people.
Monday, November 15, 2010
2011 Copa America Film & Book Festival
An updated summary of the books and films selected for the 2011 Copa America Spotlight in lieu of the recently made draw for the South American soccer tournament:
Group A: Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, Bolivia
Group B: Brazil, Paraguay, Ecuador, Venezuela
Group C: Uruguay, Chile, Mexico, Peru
** Note: Costa Rica have officially replaced Japan at the Copa. However, I will still have a book and film representing Japan.
Books
Argentina: Hopscotch by Julio Cortázar
Brazil: Zero by Ignácio de Loyola Brandão
Bolivia: Aurora by Giancarla de Quiroga
Chile: The Secret Holy War of Santiago De Chile by Marco Antonio de la Parra
Colombia: The Armies by Evelio Rosero
Costa Rica: Cocori by Joaquin Guteierrez
Ecuador: The Ecuador Reader, edited by Carlos De La Torre, ***
Japan: Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
Mexico: The Underdogs by Mariano Azuela
Paraguay: I, The Supreme by Augusto Roa Bastos
Peru: Conversations in the Cathedral by Mario Vargas Llosa
Uruguay: Body Snatcher by Juan Carlos Onetti, ***
Venezuela: Chronicles of a Nomad by A.A. Alvarez
*** Note (May 9, 2011): these two were new replacement entries after English translated copies of the following two original choices were not readily available.
Ecuador: Huasipungo by Jorge Icaza
Uruguay: The Shipyard by Juan Carlos Onetti
Films
Argentina: Crane World (1999, Pablo Trapero)
Bolivia: Cocalero (2007, Alejandro Landes)
Brazil: Black God White Devil (1964, Glauber Rocha)
Chile: Tony Manero (2008, Pablo Larraín)
Colombia: Crab Trap (2009, Oscar Ruiz Navia)
Costa Rica: Cold Water of the Sea (2010, Paz Fabrega)
Ecuador: Cronicas (2004, Sebastián Cordero)
Japan: Tokyo Sonata (2008, Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
Mexico: Duck Season (2004, Fernando Eimbcke)
Paraguay: Noche Adentro (2009, Pablo Lamar, 17 min)
Peru: Milk of Sorrow (2009, Claudia Llosa)
Uruguay: A Useful Life (2010, Federico Veiroj)
Venezuela: El Don (2006, José Ramón Novoa)
[Update May 9, 2011]
Substitute / Bonus Films
I will be watching an additional number of South American films to compliment some of the above titles. This will mean at most one title from each country.
Argentina: Lion's Den (2008, Pablo Trapero)
Colombia: The Wind Journeys (2009, Ciro Guerra)
Ecuador: Ratas, ratones, rateros (1999, Sebastián Cordero)
Paraguay: I Hear Your Scream (2008, Pablo Lamar, 11 min)
Peru: Madeinusa (2006, Claudia Llosa)
Venezuela: Araya (1959, Margot Benacerraf)
Two films for Ecuador have been added courtesy of Michael C. and Pacze Moj.
The three countries missing films are Ecuador, Paraguay and Japan. There are no shortage of Japanese titles but it is the Paraguayan entry that will most likely be the last title to be picked. The one readily available Paraguayan film is Paraguayan Hammock but I already used that for the 2010 World Cup Movie Festival so I want to pick a new Paraguayan film but currently nothing appears to be on the horizon. If I am still stuck for a title come June 2011, then I will go with Paraguayan Hammock.
All entries should be judged prior to the soccer tournament's kick-off on July 1, 2011. So that means all books have to be read and all films have to be seen by June 30, 2011.
Group A: Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, Bolivia
Group B: Brazil, Paraguay, Ecuador, Venezuela
Group C: Uruguay, Chile, Mexico, Peru
** Note: Costa Rica have officially replaced Japan at the Copa. However, I will still have a book and film representing Japan.
Books
Argentina: Hopscotch by Julio Cortázar
Brazil: Zero by Ignácio de Loyola Brandão
Bolivia: Aurora by Giancarla de Quiroga
Chile: The Secret Holy War of Santiago De Chile by Marco Antonio de la Parra
Colombia: The Armies by Evelio Rosero
Costa Rica: Cocori by Joaquin Guteierrez
Ecuador: The Ecuador Reader, edited by Carlos De La Torre, ***
Japan: Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
Mexico: The Underdogs by Mariano Azuela
Paraguay: I, The Supreme by Augusto Roa Bastos
Peru: Conversations in the Cathedral by Mario Vargas Llosa
Uruguay: Body Snatcher by Juan Carlos Onetti, ***
Venezuela: Chronicles of a Nomad by A.A. Alvarez
*** Note (May 9, 2011): these two were new replacement entries after English translated copies of the following two original choices were not readily available.
Ecuador: Huasipungo by Jorge Icaza
Uruguay: The Shipyard by Juan Carlos Onetti
Films
Argentina: Crane World (1999, Pablo Trapero)
Bolivia: Cocalero (2007, Alejandro Landes)
Brazil: Black God White Devil (1964, Glauber Rocha)
Chile: Tony Manero (2008, Pablo Larraín)
Colombia: Crab Trap (2009, Oscar Ruiz Navia)
Costa Rica: Cold Water of the Sea (2010, Paz Fabrega)
Ecuador: Cronicas (2004, Sebastián Cordero)
Japan: Tokyo Sonata (2008, Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
Mexico: Duck Season (2004, Fernando Eimbcke)
Paraguay: Noche Adentro (2009, Pablo Lamar, 17 min)
Peru: Milk of Sorrow (2009, Claudia Llosa)
Uruguay: A Useful Life (2010, Federico Veiroj)
Venezuela: El Don (2006, José Ramón Novoa)
[Update May 9, 2011]
Substitute / Bonus Films
I will be watching an additional number of South American films to compliment some of the above titles. This will mean at most one title from each country.
Argentina: Lion's Den (2008, Pablo Trapero)
Colombia: The Wind Journeys (2009, Ciro Guerra)
Ecuador: Ratas, ratones, rateros (1999, Sebastián Cordero)
Paraguay: I Hear Your Scream (2008, Pablo Lamar, 11 min)
Peru: Madeinusa (2006, Claudia Llosa)
Venezuela: Araya (1959, Margot Benacerraf)
Two films for Ecuador have been added courtesy of Michael C. and Pacze Moj.
The three countries missing films are Ecuador, Paraguay and Japan. There are no shortage of Japanese titles but it is the Paraguayan entry that will most likely be the last title to be picked. The one readily available Paraguayan film is Paraguayan Hammock but I already used that for the 2010 World Cup Movie Festival so I want to pick a new Paraguayan film but currently nothing appears to be on the horizon. If I am still stuck for a title come June 2011, then I will go with Paraguayan Hammock.
All entries should be judged prior to the soccer tournament's kick-off on July 1, 2011. So that means all books have to be read and all films have to be seen by June 30, 2011.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Spotlight on Dassin
After I encountered Jules Dassin’s magnificent heist film Rififi a few years ago, I was puzzled as to why I had not heard about him previously. Surely, a director capable of making such a fine film deserved to be held in high regard. But why the silence regarding his name?
Maybe one reason why I didn't hear much of Dassin was because there was a time when he was blacklisted in the United States. On the other hand, the positive comments found in a 2008 retrospective indicate that he was appreciated by quite a few critics, so maybe I somehow was looking in the wrong places when praises of his films were handed out.
Regardless of the reasons, I wanted to do a mini spotlight and pay tribute to a director who crafted a film like Rififi. So a few featured films:
Brute Force (1947)
The Naked City (1948)
The Law (1959)
Phaedra (1962)
Topkapi (1964)
The 5 films cover a range of topics and show Dassin's versatility. Brute Force is an engaging and detailed look at prison life, The Naked City is a noirish film about a murder investigation, The Law is a fascinating look at the way of life in a small Italian town, Phaedra is a Greek tragedy about a passionate affair and Topkapi is a playful heist film.
Heist but with some humour
Topkapi sets itself apart from Rififi with its humour and overall playful tone. Yet, it still manages to spend a good amount of time depicting the robbery planning. At the film's start, the heist planner lays out the 3 cardinal rules of theft:
"Plan meticulously, execute cleanly and don't get caught before, during or after."
Another requirement for the heist is that it should only involve amateurs with no criminal record so that after the robbery, when the police round up the usual suspects or criminals on their watch list, no one will come looking for the amateurs.
Topkapi was made almost 4 decades before Steven Soderbergh's Ocean's Eleven yet the two films share a bond regarding the planning and execution:
1) Just like Ocean’s Eleven, there are no guns used in Topkapi. The initial plan in Topkapi did require a gun and ammunition but once the Turkish border security and police discover the gun, then the plan is altered to be carried out without any arms.
2) Both films go about assembling a team with defined roles for each member, including an acrobat. The team in Topkapi consists of only 6 people but each person knows their role.
3) In both films, the team is lead by a duo. In Topkapi it is a male-female combination whereas in Ocean's Eleven Danny Ocean and Rusty lead the pack.
Also, Topkapi features an engaging hanging rope robbery sequence presented with no background music, thereby increasing the crime’s tension. This scene clearly appears to have inspired the Ethan Hunt rope scene in Mission Impossible.
The city..oh the city
New York City is a key character of The Naked City and the film starts and ends with overhead shots of the city. There is a narrator to guide the audience and inform us that the film’s story is just one of the 8 million tales that exist in the city.
Dassin's film focuses on the policemen who try to solve a murder. There are detailed discussions about the suspects and eventually a series of clues allow a valid trail to be chased down. But it is not easy to find a suspect in a city with many possible leads. As one policeman tells another that their suspect could be any one of the half million males that match the description. The story certainly benefits from being set in a time when neighbours knew each other and could therefore assist in solving a crime. For example, in one scene a policeman goes to a neighbourhood and asks the children if they know a boxer who plays the harmonica. They are able to point the inspector towards the right building. Such a quick identification would not be possible in a modern day North American city because of the isolation that exists in downtown condos/apartments and even in the suburbs.
Pacze Moj has an excellent write-up about The Naked City.
Overview
While I relished watching all 5 films, The Law is probably my favourite because of the attention to detail regarding the small Italian town setting. In a sense, the closeness of the characters who live across from each other and know about other's affairs is an extension of The Naked City in which people were known by their name and occupation and were not just statistics. The Law also benefits from having Gina Lollobrigida play the sensuous Marietta, a female that is the object of desire of every male in town. The film also has Marcello Mastroianni playing a quiet, shy man and Yves Montand playing the opposite character of Matteo Brigante, a man who wants to rule the town and have his way with any woman, Marietta included ofcourse.
Dassin managed to turn his exile into a positive aspect by expanding his directorial skills to incorporate European art house and popular ingredients into his films. As a result, he could comfortably make a film in France, Greece, Italy or Turkey and still manage to capture the essence of each city or town as if he was still back in the US.
Incidentally, Hollywood too might be rediscovering Dassin as a remake of Rififi is on the cards.
By the numbers
Two of the 5 films seen in this spotlight were made before Dassin's exile from the US in 1953.
Three films are with the Greek actress Melina Mercouri who married Dassin in 1966.
Topkapi is the only color film out of the 5.
The Law is the only non-English film out of the selections.
Tuesday, November 09, 2010
Watching Carlos in Canada
So do you want to see the new Olivier Assayas film Carlos?
Do you live in Toronto or Vancouver?
If your answer is no, then you are not privileged enough to see this film in movie theatres. The rest of Canada does not matter as currently only Toronto & Vancouver have had the benefit of showcasing this movie outside of their film festivals.
If the film does open in a few more select Canadian cities, it will more likely be spring or summer of 2011, closer to a year since the film first made headlines when it premiered at Cannes in May 2010.
So what is a Canadian film lover to do?
Simple. Order the film from Amazon.co.uk
The film is in PAL but most Canadian/North American film lovers need to have a PAL DVD player anyway as that is an essential requirement to be able to legally watch most foreign films.
A lot of time and energy is wasted on whether film criticism is dead, whether film viewing is only relevant if seen in a movie theater or whether online film bloggers are putting critics out of a job. No one seems to be paying attention to the bigger issue that the current North American film distribution model is broken. There are great films being made in the world yet most people in North America won't get to see most of them. Certain foreign films will show only once or twice at a local North American film festival and some might play at an art house/indie theatre or at a cinematheque before disappearing for good. Some might not even see a North American DVD release. One way to see a good number of these foreign films is to fly around the world to various film festivals. But that is just not a feasible option.
I truly believe if more quality films are regularly shown in North American movie theatres, then film criticism would be even more alive than ever before. But in the current situation, multiplexes across Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver are showing mostly the same films. As a result, film criticism is restricted to just a few titles. Do we need 30+ writers analyzing The Social Network? No!
Incredibly this same film in multiple venue model dominates the US and parts of UK. It is baffling that in this day and age when there are more choices of films than ever before, the selection at a regular movie theatre is quite limited. But thankfully, the DVD and the online world provides a very useful option.
[Update, Nov 13, 2010]
The Regina Public Library Film Theatre is showing Carlos On Nov 27 & 28. The shorter film version is showing as opposed to the longer 5.5 hour version but still it is incredible to see another Canadian city get this film.
Do you live in Toronto or Vancouver?
If your answer is no, then you are not privileged enough to see this film in movie theatres. The rest of Canada does not matter as currently only Toronto & Vancouver have had the benefit of showcasing this movie outside of their film festivals.
If the film does open in a few more select Canadian cities, it will more likely be spring or summer of 2011, closer to a year since the film first made headlines when it premiered at Cannes in May 2010.
So what is a Canadian film lover to do?
Simple. Order the film from Amazon.co.uk
The film is in PAL but most Canadian/North American film lovers need to have a PAL DVD player anyway as that is an essential requirement to be able to legally watch most foreign films.
A lot of time and energy is wasted on whether film criticism is dead, whether film viewing is only relevant if seen in a movie theater or whether online film bloggers are putting critics out of a job. No one seems to be paying attention to the bigger issue that the current North American film distribution model is broken. There are great films being made in the world yet most people in North America won't get to see most of them. Certain foreign films will show only once or twice at a local North American film festival and some might play at an art house/indie theatre or at a cinematheque before disappearing for good. Some might not even see a North American DVD release. One way to see a good number of these foreign films is to fly around the world to various film festivals. But that is just not a feasible option.
I truly believe if more quality films are regularly shown in North American movie theatres, then film criticism would be even more alive than ever before. But in the current situation, multiplexes across Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver are showing mostly the same films. As a result, film criticism is restricted to just a few titles. Do we need 30+ writers analyzing The Social Network? No!
Incredibly this same film in multiple venue model dominates the US and parts of UK. It is baffling that in this day and age when there are more choices of films than ever before, the selection at a regular movie theatre is quite limited. But thankfully, the DVD and the online world provides a very useful option.
[Update, Nov 13, 2010]
The Regina Public Library Film Theatre is showing Carlos On Nov 27 & 28. The shorter film version is showing as opposed to the longer 5.5 hour version but still it is incredible to see another Canadian city get this film.
Tuesday, November 02, 2010
Spotlight on Godard
Every cinephile crosses paths with a Godard film sooner rather than later in their cinematic journey. The only difference is that some follow a more linear journey through Godard's films than others. This variant is not always down to choice as cinephiles who have lived through the 1960's had the unique ability to soak in fresh Godard reels as they arrived but those joining the cinephilia belt in the 1990's had to make do with whatever films they could find. For example, my Godard journey followed the unusual path of first seeing his 1965 film Alphaville followed by Ro.Go.Pa.G (1963) before finally hitting Breathless (1960) and then jumping all the way to In Praise of Love (2001) before working backwards through Contempt (1963), Band of Outsiders (1964) and Week End (1967).
There is so much written material about Godard's films that one can sometimes have the mistaken belief of being familiar with his films even though they have not seen the work. I was surprized to discover that I had only seen 7 of his films even though I could name atleast 20 of his films off the top of my head. Also, the few titles I had seen were very early in my film viewing days as I saw most of the films on VHS tapes. So it was time for me to treat myself to some Godard as a means of catch-up. Also, I hoped that seeing some of his older films might come in handy before I tackled his latest work Film socialisme.
Un Femme di Femme (1961)
My Life to Live (1962)
Le Petit Soldat (1963)
Pierrot Le Fou (1965)
La Chinoise (1967)
Detective (1985)
Of the six films, my favourite would be My Life to Live, a devastating yet beautiful work with a mesmerizing pool hall sequence.
La Chinoise, Le Petit Soldat and Pierrot Le Fou make an interesting political triple bill.
Even though Le Petit Soldat and Detective are separated by more than two decades, they share a common thread about a mistaken killing related to a character reading a hotel room number upside down. In Le Petit Soldat, it is a two digit number but in Detective it is a three digit room number as 666 & 999 are mistaken.
There is so much written material about Godard's films that one can sometimes have the mistaken belief of being familiar with his films even though they have not seen the work. I was surprized to discover that I had only seen 7 of his films even though I could name atleast 20 of his films off the top of my head. Also, the few titles I had seen were very early in my film viewing days as I saw most of the films on VHS tapes. So it was time for me to treat myself to some Godard as a means of catch-up. Also, I hoped that seeing some of his older films might come in handy before I tackled his latest work Film socialisme.
Un Femme di Femme (1961)
My Life to Live (1962)
Le Petit Soldat (1963)
Pierrot Le Fou (1965)
La Chinoise (1967)
Detective (1985)
Of the six films, my favourite would be My Life to Live, a devastating yet beautiful work with a mesmerizing pool hall sequence.
La Chinoise, Le Petit Soldat and Pierrot Le Fou make an interesting political triple bill.
Even though Le Petit Soldat and Detective are separated by more than two decades, they share a common thread about a mistaken killing related to a character reading a hotel room number upside down. In Le Petit Soldat, it is a two digit number but in Detective it is a three digit room number as 666 & 999 are mistaken.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
A remarkable hat-trick
Denis Villeneuve's Incendies has completed an amazing hat-trick of best film awards on the film festival circuit. After winning best Canadian feature at Toronto (TIFF) and Calgary (CIFF), the film has now been crowned as top Canadian film at the Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF).
It is indeed a worthy honor as Incendies is a well crafted film that packs a wicked emotional kick. The film is best seen without knowing the story before hand thereby letting the work reveal itself in small doses. Hopefully, the awards make it easier for Canadians to see this film in cinemas throughout the country and also paves the path for foreign distribution.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Chinese Cinema
The only requirement for a spotlight on recent Chinese cinema was that the selections should be mostly documentaries. With that in mind, I put down Wang Bing immediately as I had wanted to see his works for almost 2 years now. I slowly opened the gates to allow 2 non documentaries to flow through but one of these films, Oxhide, blurs the line between documentary and fiction. The only true narrative film Sun Spots has minimal dialogue and plenty of long takes so it felt right at home with the other films which offered plenty of contemplative moments.
Film List
Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks (2003, Wang Bing)
Oxhide (2005, Jiayin Liu)
He Fengming: A Chinese Memoir (2007, Wang Bing)
Crime and Punishment (2007, Zhao Liang)
Sun Spots (2009, Heng Yang)
Wang Bing
I was first alerted to Wang Bing's potential via a magnificent article by Robert Koehler in Cinema Scope. Koehler asks of Wang Bing's first film West of the Tracks: "is there a more sublime debut in recent history?"
I cannot answer that question as I still have many recent debut features to go through but I can assert that his 2003 film is indeed a "sublime debut". The film, divided in three parts, is shot in North Eastern China and requires an investment of 9 hours from its viewers but it rewards those patient viewers with plenty of riches. I like to label his film as a pure documentary where the camera patiently records everything in sight and allows viewers to listen in to all the daily noises while leaving plenty of room for them to draw their own conclusions.
The first part (Rust) is almost 4 hours long and is the pick of the bunch. The camera moves freely and shows the workers in their everyday factory surrounding and captures them as they go about their daily tasks or takes a peak into the workers break area and locker room. As a result, the film allows us to get to know each person a bit better thereby adding depth to each person's personality. We understand their views a bit better and are not surprized to see them behave the way they do. Also, Wang Bing smartly places his camera either at table height or at eye level, thereby giving the impression that the viewer is either seated at the worker’s table or is standing in one corner of the room looking at the different people walking in and out.
Part II: Remnants moves the camera away from the factories into the worker's residential quarters. Since the factories are in the process of going bankrupt and shutting down, the workers will have to be relocated as their factory provided houses will be torn down. Watching a neighbourhood in the process of destruction feels similar to Costa's In Vanda's Room which captured the demolition of the Fontainhas slums. The one difference between In Vanda’s Room and West of the Tracks is that while Costa confined himself mostly to just one room, Wang Bing wanders through multiple alleys and homes giving us a more complete picture and impact of the destruction. We also get to see the laid off worker's kids and observe how their lives will be altered by the factory shutdowns. Part III: Rail perfectly ties the film together with its comparatively brief 2 hour running time. We get to board the railcars and are introduced to the workers that drive the trains to and from the factories. This final segment allows us to piece together all the lives that are dependent on the factories existence giving us a full sense of impact the plant shutdowns will have on the nearby surroundings.
A truly impressive debut film that works hard to give a complete picture of the factories and workers that once kept an economy moving!!
Wang Bing completely switches gears with Fengming. The film’s opening shot follows He Fengming up to her apartment through a snowy pathway. The initial sequence feels like a shot straight out of West of the Tracks. However, once the camera enters the apartment, it stays stationary for almost the next 3 hours and does not leave the apartment. There are almost no close-ups for at least the first hour of the film and the camera only slightly moves back and forth a few times during the film's duration. The stationary camera might have been a handicap but He Fengming's story is so powerful and engaging that one soon forgets the boundary between the screen and He Fengming. The viewer is like a guest seated in her apartment listening to her tragic story in complete detail. This guest perspective is emphasized by two examples -- bathroom break and the sunset. When He Fengming has to take a bathroom break, the camera stays stationary giving the impression that the seated viewer is indeed patiently waiting for her to return. During the first hour, the sun slowly sets and darkness gradually starts to make its way into the apartment, only for He Fengming to get up and turn on the light before proceeding with the story. These two examples appear to take place in real time and only add to the illusion that the viewer is listening to the story in one continuous evening.
The Spotlight almost turned into a one man show with 12+ hours of film by Wang Bing and a further two films (Coal Mine and the short film Brutality Factory) up for inclusion but I decided to put off a separate spotlight on the director until I viewed his first fictional film The Ditch which premiered at Venice and TIFF and is currently playing in Montreal. Ofcourse, I would like to see his 14 hour documentary A Journey of Crude Oil but a DVD release is surely out of question, or is it? Over to IFFR to see if their Tiger Release DVD label will oblige.
Still staying in North Eastern China..snow and law
Police enforce laws. Citizens break laws.
Sounds simple enough. But what if the laws aren't fair? What if the laws impede people's everyday lives? These are some of the questions that pop up in Crime and Punishment as Zhao Liang's camera observes the everyday routines of the border police as they try to enforce laws, arrest and question thieves/criminals/law violators. Sometimes the criminals do not cooperate and that leads to usage of force by the officers. On two occasions, the camera was asked to be turned off after a beating started and the audience can easily guess what happened next. The camera spends enough time observing each arrested individual and that method allows one to question if the arrested person is guilty or innocent. In one case, we get an example of a person, Old man Wang, who clearly knows that he has violated the law but is trying his level best to find any wiggle room that he can.
The movie has shades of the fascinating documentary Checkpoint which showed that sometimes the job of enforcing laws isn't that clear cut. Checkpoint showed that if there are laws which disrupt people's lives and make it difficult for individuals to move about, then surely there will be situations where people will either break the law or not respect the law altogether. Crime and Punishment picks up on this idea and shows that if the law is not going to be respected, then there will be cases where police officers enforcing the law will be abused. Abusing police seems to be the first and most accessible step in defying the law. Yet, those abusing the police can end up making lives difficult for themselves especially if the police officers retaliate thereby leading the troubled citizens down a horrible cycle of crime and punishment.
At the end of the credits in Crime and Punishment one of the people thanked is Wang Bing. It wouldn't be surprizing if two directors exchanged notes as both of them shot their first films in the North Eastern part of China.
Restricting space vs opening up space / darkness vs bright light
Oxhide
Jiayin Liu's remarkable tactic of shooting in a darkened confined space perfectly illustrates the living conditions in her parent’s apartment. The restricted camera angles depict the tiny size of the apartment while the lack of lighting indicate that her parents don’t have enough money for electricity or that they don’t get running power for long durations. It is a fascinating experiment to illustrate lack of physical space by squeezing out space in front of the camera thereby invoking a disorienting claustrophobic effect in the viewer.
After a while, the family’s situation is apparent and we learn enough about the dynamics in the household. Oxhide shares a cinematic space with Pedro Costa’s In Vanda’s Room. In both cases, the directors form a solo crew and carefully control their environment and only feed us information in pieces (be it is visual or audio) as per their choices. However, Costa was restricted in his choices because he only had a few hours to shoot in the slum every day. Whereas, Jiayin Liu was not as restricted yet chose to be. Also, Costa had no choice but to shoot in a darkened and restricted space but he was able to get some light for his shots by using broken mirrors and other objects as reflectors because he wanted his character’s faces to be visible. On the other hand, Jiayin Liu wants us to get a sense of her parents living situation and does not want much light to filter in the frame.
Oxhide gives out bits of information to the viewer in tiny increments and that makes for a satisfying conclusion when all the pieces are put together after carefully listening in to all conversations.
Sun Spots
In a complete contrast to Oxhide, Heng Yang opens up space in front of the camera in his second feature Sun Spots. His camera stays still and absorbs everything in front of the brightly lit settings. Slowly, objects and humans enter the frame and gradually leave but the camera stays still. There are no pans and no cuts during each fixed shot.
In Sun Spots, the breathtaking background of mountains/rivers provides a peaceful, calm setting while the characters saunter into the frame. The gangster and love triangle story is also a fascinating experiment about how a lot can be conveyed with as little as possible. The dialogues are sparse yet the character's body language depicts enough of their behavior to follow the chain of events. Finally, the decision to shoot in HD gives the film a beautiful richer than life quality.
Final Thoughts
Overall, this was an immensely enjoyable spotlight with all 5 works falling neatly into the contemplative cinema category. Each work requires an investment from the viewer and also leaves plenty of fodder for the viewer to draw their own conclusions.
Film List
Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks (2003, Wang Bing)
Oxhide (2005, Jiayin Liu)
He Fengming: A Chinese Memoir (2007, Wang Bing)
Crime and Punishment (2007, Zhao Liang)
Sun Spots (2009, Heng Yang)
Wang Bing
I was first alerted to Wang Bing's potential via a magnificent article by Robert Koehler in Cinema Scope. Koehler asks of Wang Bing's first film West of the Tracks: "is there a more sublime debut in recent history?"
I cannot answer that question as I still have many recent debut features to go through but I can assert that his 2003 film is indeed a "sublime debut". The film, divided in three parts, is shot in North Eastern China and requires an investment of 9 hours from its viewers but it rewards those patient viewers with plenty of riches. I like to label his film as a pure documentary where the camera patiently records everything in sight and allows viewers to listen in to all the daily noises while leaving plenty of room for them to draw their own conclusions.
The first part (Rust) is almost 4 hours long and is the pick of the bunch. The camera moves freely and shows the workers in their everyday factory surrounding and captures them as they go about their daily tasks or takes a peak into the workers break area and locker room. As a result, the film allows us to get to know each person a bit better thereby adding depth to each person's personality. We understand their views a bit better and are not surprized to see them behave the way they do. Also, Wang Bing smartly places his camera either at table height or at eye level, thereby giving the impression that the viewer is either seated at the worker’s table or is standing in one corner of the room looking at the different people walking in and out.
Part II: Remnants moves the camera away from the factories into the worker's residential quarters. Since the factories are in the process of going bankrupt and shutting down, the workers will have to be relocated as their factory provided houses will be torn down. Watching a neighbourhood in the process of destruction feels similar to Costa's In Vanda's Room which captured the demolition of the Fontainhas slums. The one difference between In Vanda’s Room and West of the Tracks is that while Costa confined himself mostly to just one room, Wang Bing wanders through multiple alleys and homes giving us a more complete picture and impact of the destruction. We also get to see the laid off worker's kids and observe how their lives will be altered by the factory shutdowns. Part III: Rail perfectly ties the film together with its comparatively brief 2 hour running time. We get to board the railcars and are introduced to the workers that drive the trains to and from the factories. This final segment allows us to piece together all the lives that are dependent on the factories existence giving us a full sense of impact the plant shutdowns will have on the nearby surroundings.
A truly impressive debut film that works hard to give a complete picture of the factories and workers that once kept an economy moving!!
Wang Bing completely switches gears with Fengming. The film’s opening shot follows He Fengming up to her apartment through a snowy pathway. The initial sequence feels like a shot straight out of West of the Tracks. However, once the camera enters the apartment, it stays stationary for almost the next 3 hours and does not leave the apartment. There are almost no close-ups for at least the first hour of the film and the camera only slightly moves back and forth a few times during the film's duration. The stationary camera might have been a handicap but He Fengming's story is so powerful and engaging that one soon forgets the boundary between the screen and He Fengming. The viewer is like a guest seated in her apartment listening to her tragic story in complete detail. This guest perspective is emphasized by two examples -- bathroom break and the sunset. When He Fengming has to take a bathroom break, the camera stays stationary giving the impression that the seated viewer is indeed patiently waiting for her to return. During the first hour, the sun slowly sets and darkness gradually starts to make its way into the apartment, only for He Fengming to get up and turn on the light before proceeding with the story. These two examples appear to take place in real time and only add to the illusion that the viewer is listening to the story in one continuous evening.
The Spotlight almost turned into a one man show with 12+ hours of film by Wang Bing and a further two films (Coal Mine and the short film Brutality Factory) up for inclusion but I decided to put off a separate spotlight on the director until I viewed his first fictional film The Ditch which premiered at Venice and TIFF and is currently playing in Montreal. Ofcourse, I would like to see his 14 hour documentary A Journey of Crude Oil but a DVD release is surely out of question, or is it? Over to IFFR to see if their Tiger Release DVD label will oblige.
Still staying in North Eastern China..snow and law
Police enforce laws. Citizens break laws.
Sounds simple enough. But what if the laws aren't fair? What if the laws impede people's everyday lives? These are some of the questions that pop up in Crime and Punishment as Zhao Liang's camera observes the everyday routines of the border police as they try to enforce laws, arrest and question thieves/criminals/law violators. Sometimes the criminals do not cooperate and that leads to usage of force by the officers. On two occasions, the camera was asked to be turned off after a beating started and the audience can easily guess what happened next. The camera spends enough time observing each arrested individual and that method allows one to question if the arrested person is guilty or innocent. In one case, we get an example of a person, Old man Wang, who clearly knows that he has violated the law but is trying his level best to find any wiggle room that he can.
The movie has shades of the fascinating documentary Checkpoint which showed that sometimes the job of enforcing laws isn't that clear cut. Checkpoint showed that if there are laws which disrupt people's lives and make it difficult for individuals to move about, then surely there will be situations where people will either break the law or not respect the law altogether. Crime and Punishment picks up on this idea and shows that if the law is not going to be respected, then there will be cases where police officers enforcing the law will be abused. Abusing police seems to be the first and most accessible step in defying the law. Yet, those abusing the police can end up making lives difficult for themselves especially if the police officers retaliate thereby leading the troubled citizens down a horrible cycle of crime and punishment.
At the end of the credits in Crime and Punishment one of the people thanked is Wang Bing. It wouldn't be surprizing if two directors exchanged notes as both of them shot their first films in the North Eastern part of China.
Restricting space vs opening up space / darkness vs bright light
Oxhide
Jiayin Liu's remarkable tactic of shooting in a darkened confined space perfectly illustrates the living conditions in her parent’s apartment. The restricted camera angles depict the tiny size of the apartment while the lack of lighting indicate that her parents don’t have enough money for electricity or that they don’t get running power for long durations. It is a fascinating experiment to illustrate lack of physical space by squeezing out space in front of the camera thereby invoking a disorienting claustrophobic effect in the viewer.
After a while, the family’s situation is apparent and we learn enough about the dynamics in the household. Oxhide shares a cinematic space with Pedro Costa’s In Vanda’s Room. In both cases, the directors form a solo crew and carefully control their environment and only feed us information in pieces (be it is visual or audio) as per their choices. However, Costa was restricted in his choices because he only had a few hours to shoot in the slum every day. Whereas, Jiayin Liu was not as restricted yet chose to be. Also, Costa had no choice but to shoot in a darkened and restricted space but he was able to get some light for his shots by using broken mirrors and other objects as reflectors because he wanted his character’s faces to be visible. On the other hand, Jiayin Liu wants us to get a sense of her parents living situation and does not want much light to filter in the frame.
Oxhide gives out bits of information to the viewer in tiny increments and that makes for a satisfying conclusion when all the pieces are put together after carefully listening in to all conversations.
Sun Spots
In a complete contrast to Oxhide, Heng Yang opens up space in front of the camera in his second feature Sun Spots. His camera stays still and absorbs everything in front of the brightly lit settings. Slowly, objects and humans enter the frame and gradually leave but the camera stays still. There are no pans and no cuts during each fixed shot.
In Sun Spots, the breathtaking background of mountains/rivers provides a peaceful, calm setting while the characters saunter into the frame. The gangster and love triangle story is also a fascinating experiment about how a lot can be conveyed with as little as possible. The dialogues are sparse yet the character's body language depicts enough of their behavior to follow the chain of events. Finally, the decision to shoot in HD gives the film a beautiful richer than life quality.
Final Thoughts
Overall, this was an immensely enjoyable spotlight with all 5 works falling neatly into the contemplative cinema category. Each work requires an investment from the viewer and also leaves plenty of fodder for the viewer to draw their own conclusions.
Tuesday, October 05, 2010
CIFF 2010, Sept 23-Oct 3
Another wonderful film festival edition comes to an end!! I am very happy with the quality of films shown and even more delighted that I managed to achieve a few personal targets at this year's festival.
1) Gala duck broken
Previously, I always missed out on attending any of the gala films. But this time around, I attended 3 gala films -- the opening gala (Score: A Hockey Musical), black carpet gala (I Spit on Your Grave) and the closing gala (The Last Rites of Ransom Pride).
2) Everyday is film day
Finally I managed to watch at least one film on all the festival days. That is 11 straight days of film watching including the Gala premier on Sept 23.
3) Striking 30
I had wanted to reach the target of seeing 30 films for a few years now but for a variety of reasons, I was never able to come close. Thankfully this year I was able to meet the target of 30 and then promptly went home after the 30th film ended and skipped out on #31 because I was plain exhausted. The tally of 30 easily surpasses my previous feeble total of 22 set in both 2006 & 2009.
4) The plan stays strong
As soon as the lineup was announced, my shortlist featured 19 titles that I wanted to see. As it turned out, it was only possible for me to see 18 of those titles due to a timing clash with two films (The Light Thief vs Snow and Ashes). But in the end, I managed to see all the 18 titles from that list.
30 Films
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)
Nora's Will (2008, Mexico, Mariana Chenillo)
The Sentimental Engine Slayer (2010, Mexico/USA, Omar Rodriguez Lopez)
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)
Words on pause
A lot of the films deserve longer write-ups but those comments will have to wait for another day as I am still trying to cope with return to normalcy post film festival. The films that really stood out from the last 4 days were Uncle Boonmee.., I Spit on Your Grave, Valhalla Rising and The Light Thief. Three of these films will most likely join Certified Copy, The Illusionist, Incendies, A Screaming Man, Heartbeats, Curling and Nora's Will as the 10 best films seen during the festival.
Overall, these 10 quality films still fall short when compared to the amazing quartet of this year’s Maverick films Manuel di Ribera, The Intern, R and The Robber. It may be hard to believe but I found Manuel di Ribera superior to Uncle Boonmee even though most likely no one will hear or even see Manuel di Ribera.
Number crunching
I saw 16 films during the first 7 days and 14 films over the last 4. That is just way too many films considering that I didn't take any days off from work during the festival. Reaching 30+ films at CIFF is much harder to do than at TIFF, VIFF or Rotterdam because on average CIFF only has 2-3 films on weekdays unlike the 5-7 films that show ever day at TIFF, VIFF and IFFR. CIFF only has 2 evening shows on Monday/Tuesday and 3 shows from Wed-Friday as the midnight feature slot is added. On weekends, one can watch 5-7 movies at CIFF. So that means, one has to watch a healthy dose of 4-5 films on the weekends along with at least 2 films on weekdays to make their target of 30 films at CIFF. That leaves very few free slots and requires a proper discipline. Whereas one can easily make 30 at TIFF, VIFF and Rotterdam in under a week. For example, I saw 24 films in just 5 days at VIFF 2007.
A few years ago, CIFF experimented with some afternoon shows (4 pm) but those extra shows have not happened for the last 2 editions. This year, CIFF did add 1-2 free afternoon screenings (12 pm & 2 pm) on weekdays plus there was an additional 4:45 pm show of A Film Unfinished on the final Friday. So in theory if someone was bold enough to see everything that CIFF showed, then they could have easily crossed 40. I don’t know anyone who has crossed that threshold. I know a few cinephiles who average 36-37 films at CIFF every year. This year, a regular festivalgoer was finally about to shatter 40 but in the end got tired and settled back on 37. Another long time CIFF attendee claims that no one will break his record of 39.
My target of 30 was a long time goal but after getting a pounding headache and exhausted eyes, I won't ever try to reach this number again. Like the 7 films-in-a-day in 2009, this 30 film number was a one-time target. Also, seeing these many films in a movie theatre makes me appreciate watching movies in the comfort of my home even more. Sure watching films in a cinema is a great experience but if only done in moderation, just like everything else. For the rest of the year, I am more than happy to soak in cinematic works in front of a tv or even on a laptop (gasp, the sacrilege...). Theaters can try as many gimmicks to attract audience but they will never be able to achieve the comfort that one has in their home.
Festival diary/notes
Days 1-7
Post Festival
My backlog of regional & directorial film spotlights are still waiting for me but I need atleast one film free week before I return to them. I have to finish my Spotlight on India and then start my Spotlight on China after that.
1) Gala duck broken
Previously, I always missed out on attending any of the gala films. But this time around, I attended 3 gala films -- the opening gala (Score: A Hockey Musical), black carpet gala (I Spit on Your Grave) and the closing gala (The Last Rites of Ransom Pride).
2) Everyday is film day
Finally I managed to watch at least one film on all the festival days. That is 11 straight days of film watching including the Gala premier on Sept 23.
3) Striking 30
I had wanted to reach the target of seeing 30 films for a few years now but for a variety of reasons, I was never able to come close. Thankfully this year I was able to meet the target of 30 and then promptly went home after the 30th film ended and skipped out on #31 because I was plain exhausted. The tally of 30 easily surpasses my previous feeble total of 22 set in both 2006 & 2009.
4) The plan stays strong
As soon as the lineup was announced, my shortlist featured 19 titles that I wanted to see. As it turned out, it was only possible for me to see 18 of those titles due to a timing clash with two films (The Light Thief vs Snow and Ashes). But in the end, I managed to see all the 18 titles from that list.
30 Films
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)
Nora's Will (2008, Mexico, Mariana Chenillo)
The Sentimental Engine Slayer (2010, Mexico/USA, Omar Rodriguez Lopez)
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)
Words on pause
A lot of the films deserve longer write-ups but those comments will have to wait for another day as I am still trying to cope with return to normalcy post film festival. The films that really stood out from the last 4 days were Uncle Boonmee.., I Spit on Your Grave, Valhalla Rising and The Light Thief. Three of these films will most likely join Certified Copy, The Illusionist, Incendies, A Screaming Man, Heartbeats, Curling and Nora's Will as the 10 best films seen during the festival.
Overall, these 10 quality films still fall short when compared to the amazing quartet of this year’s Maverick films Manuel di Ribera, The Intern, R and The Robber. It may be hard to believe but I found Manuel di Ribera superior to Uncle Boonmee even though most likely no one will hear or even see Manuel di Ribera.
Number crunching
I saw 16 films during the first 7 days and 14 films over the last 4. That is just way too many films considering that I didn't take any days off from work during the festival. Reaching 30+ films at CIFF is much harder to do than at TIFF, VIFF or Rotterdam because on average CIFF only has 2-3 films on weekdays unlike the 5-7 films that show ever day at TIFF, VIFF and IFFR. CIFF only has 2 evening shows on Monday/Tuesday and 3 shows from Wed-Friday as the midnight feature slot is added. On weekends, one can watch 5-7 movies at CIFF. So that means, one has to watch a healthy dose of 4-5 films on the weekends along with at least 2 films on weekdays to make their target of 30 films at CIFF. That leaves very few free slots and requires a proper discipline. Whereas one can easily make 30 at TIFF, VIFF and Rotterdam in under a week. For example, I saw 24 films in just 5 days at VIFF 2007.
A few years ago, CIFF experimented with some afternoon shows (4 pm) but those extra shows have not happened for the last 2 editions. This year, CIFF did add 1-2 free afternoon screenings (12 pm & 2 pm) on weekdays plus there was an additional 4:45 pm show of A Film Unfinished on the final Friday. So in theory if someone was bold enough to see everything that CIFF showed, then they could have easily crossed 40. I don’t know anyone who has crossed that threshold. I know a few cinephiles who average 36-37 films at CIFF every year. This year, a regular festivalgoer was finally about to shatter 40 but in the end got tired and settled back on 37. Another long time CIFF attendee claims that no one will break his record of 39.
My target of 30 was a long time goal but after getting a pounding headache and exhausted eyes, I won't ever try to reach this number again. Like the 7 films-in-a-day in 2009, this 30 film number was a one-time target. Also, seeing these many films in a movie theatre makes me appreciate watching movies in the comfort of my home even more. Sure watching films in a cinema is a great experience but if only done in moderation, just like everything else. For the rest of the year, I am more than happy to soak in cinematic works in front of a tv or even on a laptop (gasp, the sacrilege...). Theaters can try as many gimmicks to attract audience but they will never be able to achieve the comfort that one has in their home.
Festival diary/notes
Days 1-7
Post Festival
My backlog of regional & directorial film spotlights are still waiting for me but I need atleast one film free week before I return to them. I have to finish my Spotlight on India and then start my Spotlight on China after that.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
CIFF 2010, Days 1-7
Oh the sunlight. Beautiful sunlight. All summer long instead of a clear blue sky & sunshine, my lovely city got nothing but dark gloomy rain packed cloudy skies. So finally after a 3 month delay, summer has arrived. And she has decided to oust the traditional chilly winds that greet CIFF every year. As a result, the good weather has certainly made it fun to watch films and made for a pleasant stroll in between the different venues.
The films at the 11th Calgary International Film Festival have been very very good. 7 days and 16 films later, I have only seen one misfire. That's a pretty good rate.
Filmi list so far
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)
Nora's Will (2008, Mexico, Mariana Chenillo)
The Sentimental Engine Slayer (2010, Mexico/USA, Omar Rodriguez Lopez)
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)
Oh Canada!
Denis Villeneuve's Incendies is a beautifully crafted film that packs a mighty emotional punch. The film unfolds in multiple chapters, with each chapter profiling the principle characters and uncovering a smaller piece of the puzzle. As a result, the viewer arrives at the final destination more or less the same time as the two main characters in the film. The film starts and ends in Canada but the rest of the film dives deep into the Middle East and is the kind of cinema that Canada needs more of, films that use second generation Canadian characters as a launching pad to explore their complex cultural background.
Xavier Dolan's second feature Heartbeats is playful, funny and manages to neatly tuck in cute cinematic homages especially to the French New Wave. It is remarkable that someone so young can make such good films but Dolan is a national treasure.
Denis Côté has gone with the bold choice to give Curling a cold chilly look. As a result, it takes a while to warm up to the material but once one gets past the cold exterior, then one can admire the film's tale of a father's resolve to raise his daugther away from society. In a way, Curling is a cousin of the Greek film Dogtooth in showing how incorrect parental decisions can alter a child’s life. The father in Curling makes the decision to not send his daughter to school because he fears that she would be corrupted by other kids. As a result, his 12 year old girl is out of touch with everyday reality and a bit weak in basic math. The girl’s need for human contact is highlighted in one key sequence where she comes across a pair of frozen dead bodies in the wilderness. The daughter does not tell her father about the bodies but goes to visit the corpses day after day as it is the only contact she has with someone other than her father. Like his daughter, the father himself is lonely and needs human contact. Eventually the father realizes his mistake of isolating both himself and his child but he goes about making changes in small fragments. The snowy visuals are a constant in the film but as the movie progresses, rays of sunshine start to filter in, highlighting that even in an isolated Canadian town, winter will eventually come to an end.
Small Town Murder Songs uses the power of music to elevate a simple story into a grander tale about redemption and rebirth. The opening gala film Score: A Hockey Music is pure fun, packed with a few surprizing but welcome Canadian cameos.
There are still a few other worthy Canadian titles that I have yet to see and I have already praised the wonderful Taylor's Way which has 2 upcoming shows in the festival.
Overall, the Canadian film category has been very strong this year.
Best films
Picking one best film is a tough choice from the plenty of great titles seen but so far, Kiarostami's Certified Copy and Chomet's The Illusionist are front runners with Incendies not too far behind.
Kiarostami is on top of his game in the witty dialogue driven Certified Copy. Aptly descibed as "a Tuscan Before Sunset" in the film's write-up, the movie is also a beautiful variation on Guerín's In the City of Sylvia. In Guerín's film, there is no dialogue between the male and female leads and a distance is maintained between the two as the male follows the female. There are some scenes in Certified Copy where the two characters maintain their distance but most of the film is about the two walking side by side engaged in passionate discussion about relationships and marriage. One can imagine the dialogue in Kiarostami's film would be exactly what would have taken place had the characters in In the City of Sylvia talked to each other. Certified Copy is brilliantly acted and the direction is perfect in showing us either the Tuscan beauty or Juliette Binoche's charming face at the right moments.
A Screaming Man is a quiet powerful film that highlights the tough emotional decisions that occur in a state of constant war. Nora's Will is a wonderful film that manages to generate plenty of laughs despite starting with an act of suicide. Armadillo is a no holds barred film that literally gets in the line of fire to bring us an unfiltered look at the day to day dangers that greet Danish soldiers on their Afghan mission.
Worst film
No contest for this category. The worst film so far, clearly by 100 miles, is Rec 2. This horrible sequel undoes all the good work that went into the first film Rec which was a smart and edgy film. Rec 2 is covered from the perspective of three cameras. The first camera heads into the apartment building moments after the first film ends. Yet this first camera provides nothing but video game like shots of bullets and possessed demons running around trying to bite anyone in site. Yawn. The second camera tries to provide footage from a different angle but is clearly present to extend the wafer thin story. After the second camera's battery dies, we get the crucial third camera, which requires the necessary night vision feature to generate some final moments of tension. When all is said and done, this mess of a story is still not concluded which leaves the door open (ha ha) for a possible third film.
More films...
The last few days have some great films on tap. Of course, top of my list is Uncle Boonmee. The big question will be how many more films I can eat up. Thanks to a few additional screenings, there is the possibility of watching 7 movies again on the final Saturday. But this time around, I am not keen to take up the challenge. After watching 7 films in 2009, I decided that experiment was just a once in a lifetime attempt. Although this time around, the running time of the 7 films is shorter than the 2009 bunch, meaning, a person would end up spending 10.5 hours watching 7 films, and not the 12+ hours I spent last year.
The films at the 11th Calgary International Film Festival have been very very good. 7 days and 16 films later, I have only seen one misfire. That's a pretty good rate.
Filmi list so far
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)
Nora's Will (2008, Mexico, Mariana Chenillo)
The Sentimental Engine Slayer (2010, Mexico/USA, Omar Rodriguez Lopez)
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)
Oh Canada!
Denis Villeneuve's Incendies is a beautifully crafted film that packs a mighty emotional punch. The film unfolds in multiple chapters, with each chapter profiling the principle characters and uncovering a smaller piece of the puzzle. As a result, the viewer arrives at the final destination more or less the same time as the two main characters in the film. The film starts and ends in Canada but the rest of the film dives deep into the Middle East and is the kind of cinema that Canada needs more of, films that use second generation Canadian characters as a launching pad to explore their complex cultural background.
Xavier Dolan's second feature Heartbeats is playful, funny and manages to neatly tuck in cute cinematic homages especially to the French New Wave. It is remarkable that someone so young can make such good films but Dolan is a national treasure.
Denis Côté has gone with the bold choice to give Curling a cold chilly look. As a result, it takes a while to warm up to the material but once one gets past the cold exterior, then one can admire the film's tale of a father's resolve to raise his daugther away from society. In a way, Curling is a cousin of the Greek film Dogtooth in showing how incorrect parental decisions can alter a child’s life. The father in Curling makes the decision to not send his daughter to school because he fears that she would be corrupted by other kids. As a result, his 12 year old girl is out of touch with everyday reality and a bit weak in basic math. The girl’s need for human contact is highlighted in one key sequence where she comes across a pair of frozen dead bodies in the wilderness. The daughter does not tell her father about the bodies but goes to visit the corpses day after day as it is the only contact she has with someone other than her father. Like his daughter, the father himself is lonely and needs human contact. Eventually the father realizes his mistake of isolating both himself and his child but he goes about making changes in small fragments. The snowy visuals are a constant in the film but as the movie progresses, rays of sunshine start to filter in, highlighting that even in an isolated Canadian town, winter will eventually come to an end.
Small Town Murder Songs uses the power of music to elevate a simple story into a grander tale about redemption and rebirth. The opening gala film Score: A Hockey Music is pure fun, packed with a few surprizing but welcome Canadian cameos.
There are still a few other worthy Canadian titles that I have yet to see and I have already praised the wonderful Taylor's Way which has 2 upcoming shows in the festival.
Overall, the Canadian film category has been very strong this year.
Best films
Picking one best film is a tough choice from the plenty of great titles seen but so far, Kiarostami's Certified Copy and Chomet's The Illusionist are front runners with Incendies not too far behind.
Kiarostami is on top of his game in the witty dialogue driven Certified Copy. Aptly descibed as "a Tuscan Before Sunset" in the film's write-up, the movie is also a beautiful variation on Guerín's In the City of Sylvia. In Guerín's film, there is no dialogue between the male and female leads and a distance is maintained between the two as the male follows the female. There are some scenes in Certified Copy where the two characters maintain their distance but most of the film is about the two walking side by side engaged in passionate discussion about relationships and marriage. One can imagine the dialogue in Kiarostami's film would be exactly what would have taken place had the characters in In the City of Sylvia talked to each other. Certified Copy is brilliantly acted and the direction is perfect in showing us either the Tuscan beauty or Juliette Binoche's charming face at the right moments.
A Screaming Man is a quiet powerful film that highlights the tough emotional decisions that occur in a state of constant war. Nora's Will is a wonderful film that manages to generate plenty of laughs despite starting with an act of suicide. Armadillo is a no holds barred film that literally gets in the line of fire to bring us an unfiltered look at the day to day dangers that greet Danish soldiers on their Afghan mission.
Worst film
No contest for this category. The worst film so far, clearly by 100 miles, is Rec 2. This horrible sequel undoes all the good work that went into the first film Rec which was a smart and edgy film. Rec 2 is covered from the perspective of three cameras. The first camera heads into the apartment building moments after the first film ends. Yet this first camera provides nothing but video game like shots of bullets and possessed demons running around trying to bite anyone in site. Yawn. The second camera tries to provide footage from a different angle but is clearly present to extend the wafer thin story. After the second camera's battery dies, we get the crucial third camera, which requires the necessary night vision feature to generate some final moments of tension. When all is said and done, this mess of a story is still not concluded which leaves the door open (ha ha) for a possible third film.
More films...
The last few days have some great films on tap. Of course, top of my list is Uncle Boonmee. The big question will be how many more films I can eat up. Thanks to a few additional screenings, there is the possibility of watching 7 movies again on the final Saturday. But this time around, I am not keen to take up the challenge. After watching 7 films in 2009, I decided that experiment was just a once in a lifetime attempt. Although this time around, the running time of the 7 films is shorter than the 2009 bunch, meaning, a person would end up spending 10.5 hours watching 7 films, and not the 12+ hours I spent last year.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
CIFF 2010, viewing list
Every year at CIFF, I have failed to catch all the films that I had originally planned to see. The reasons have been usually one of the following:
-- The film was sold out.
-- The print did not arrive (although this has not happened for the last 4 years).
-- A friend gave a recommendation for another film leading me to switch titles.
-- Exhaustion.
The fatigue factor comes into play quite a bit because I attend the weekday evening shows after putting in a full 8-9 hour workday. So watching 2-3 films after a busy workday usually means I end up skipping at least one day in the middle of the festival to recover.
So this time around I have decided to have a two tier list to ensure I can at least catch my top titles (Liga 1) and attend other films depending on my level of sanity.
Liga 1 -- 9 titles
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010, Thailand, Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
Valhalla Rising (2009, Denmark, Nicolas Winding Refn)
Rec 2 (2009, Spain, Jaume Balagueró/Paco Plaza)
Certified Copy (2010, France/Iran/Italy, Abbas Kiarostami)
Heartbeats (2010, Canada, Xavier Dolan)
The Light Thief (2010, Kyrgyzstan co-production, Aktan Abdykalykov)
Snow and Ashes (2010, Canada, Charles-Olivier Michaud)
The Illusionist (2010, United Kingdom, Sylvain Chomet)
Armadillo (2010, Denmark, Janus Metz)
Although already I know I won't make all the above films as The Light Thief will play at the same time as Snow and Ashes, meaning I will have to choose between one of these features. But seeing Uncle Boonmee.. is an absolute necessity!!!
Liga 2 -- 10 titles
A Screaming Man (2010, France, Mahamat-Saleh Haroun)
I Am Not Your Friend (2009, Hungary, György Pálfi)
Secret Reunion (2010, South Korea, Jang Hun)
Curling (2010, Canada, Denis Côté)
Incendies (2010, Canada, Denis Villeneuve)
A Film Unfinished (2009, Germany/Israel, Yael Hersonski)
Freetime Machos (2009, Finland/Germany, Mika Ronkainen)
The Happy Poet (2010, United States, Paul Gordon)
A Place Called Los Pereyra (2009, Canada, Andrés Livov-Macklin)
Nora's Will (2008, Mexico, Mariana Chenillo)
Another goal this year is to ensure I see one film on all the 10 days, something I have never been able to accomplish.
-- The film was sold out.
-- The print did not arrive (although this has not happened for the last 4 years).
-- A friend gave a recommendation for another film leading me to switch titles.
-- Exhaustion.
The fatigue factor comes into play quite a bit because I attend the weekday evening shows after putting in a full 8-9 hour workday. So watching 2-3 films after a busy workday usually means I end up skipping at least one day in the middle of the festival to recover.
So this time around I have decided to have a two tier list to ensure I can at least catch my top titles (Liga 1) and attend other films depending on my level of sanity.
Liga 1 -- 9 titles
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010, Thailand, Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
Valhalla Rising (2009, Denmark, Nicolas Winding Refn)
Rec 2 (2009, Spain, Jaume Balagueró/Paco Plaza)
Certified Copy (2010, France/Iran/Italy, Abbas Kiarostami)
Heartbeats (2010, Canada, Xavier Dolan)
The Light Thief (2010, Kyrgyzstan co-production, Aktan Abdykalykov)
Snow and Ashes (2010, Canada, Charles-Olivier Michaud)
The Illusionist (2010, United Kingdom, Sylvain Chomet)
Armadillo (2010, Denmark, Janus Metz)
Although already I know I won't make all the above films as The Light Thief will play at the same time as Snow and Ashes, meaning I will have to choose between one of these features. But seeing Uncle Boonmee.. is an absolute necessity!!!
Liga 2 -- 10 titles
A Screaming Man (2010, France, Mahamat-Saleh Haroun)
I Am Not Your Friend (2009, Hungary, György Pálfi)
Secret Reunion (2010, South Korea, Jang Hun)
Curling (2010, Canada, Denis Côté)
Incendies (2010, Canada, Denis Villeneuve)
A Film Unfinished (2009, Germany/Israel, Yael Hersonski)
Freetime Machos (2009, Finland/Germany, Mika Ronkainen)
The Happy Poet (2010, United States, Paul Gordon)
A Place Called Los Pereyra (2009, Canada, Andrés Livov-Macklin)
Nora's Will (2008, Mexico, Mariana Chenillo)
Another goal this year is to ensure I see one film on all the 10 days, something I have never been able to accomplish.
Monday, September 20, 2010
TIFF 2010
My first ever visit to tiff was a completely enjoyable experience. Even though the trip was only for 4 days, I managed to view a respectable number of films and caught up with friends and family while enjoying Toronto's many wonderful cafes, bookstores and food joints.
Film x 8
Gorbaciòf: The Cashier who Liked Gambling (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)
Fatigue was a big reason in why I had to halt my tally at only 8 films.
I arrived in Toronto on Thursday afternoon with no sleep after an early morning flight. I still managed to make my first film, the 3 pm showing of Gorbaciòf, less than 2 hours after landing at the airport. The day only got longer after that as I managed to see 3 more films, including the midnight feature The Butcher, the Chef and the Swordsman. I got back to the hotel around 2:30 am Friday but was awake at 7:30 am in order to make my 9 am show of Essential Killing. I only saw 3 films on Friday as I had plans to meet with family for dinner on Friday night.
However, I was drained after seeing 7 films with less than 6 hours sleep over a 2 day period. So I decided to skip seeing any films on Saturday and only saw one more show on Sunday morning.
Cafes
The Seattle based coffee chain that dominates downtown Vancouver and Calgary is also omnipresent in downtown Toronto, especially near all the film festival venues. But with a little bit of effort, I managed to find some excellent cafes and avoid the big chain altogether.
Dark Horse Espresso
Green Beanery
Coffee Culture
Books, Comics
Another goal on this trip was to finally visit all the bookstores on my shortlist.
Of Swallows, their deeds and the Winter below
Book City
World's Biggest Bookstore -- I was not aware that this was owned by Chapters/Indigo but the diverse selection of books/DVD set it apart from the regular Chapters/Indigo stores.
BMV
The Beguiling -- Girish describes this comic book store perfectly:
"If you're an indie comics aficionado, leave your credit card at home and take a budgeted amount of cash. You've been warned. "
It is indeed quite easy to spend money here. I came across some amazing stuff such as an anthology of Swedish comics, Independent Canadian & American titles, Italian comics and some Japanese titles that I have wanted for a while. I had to force myself to leave the store before I spent too much money.
Food & Beer
One of my fondest memories from a previous trip to Toronto almost a decade ago was going to Marche in downtown for some amazing food. So I was quite eager to visit it again. I am absolutely delighted to say that the food is still quite incredible.
Beer Markt came highly recommended because of the huge number of beers they serve (100+). The selection is indeed very impressive and I came across a very good stout (Dragon Stout from Jamaica) that I had never heard of previously.
More films? Sure
There is no time for film withdrawal to set in because CIFF starts in a few days. Atleast the prospect of seeing some great films slightly offsets the negative sentiment of constant rain and a bit of snow that is already gathering on the city streets.
Film x 8
Gorbaciòf: The Cashier who Liked Gambling (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)
Fatigue was a big reason in why I had to halt my tally at only 8 films.
I arrived in Toronto on Thursday afternoon with no sleep after an early morning flight. I still managed to make my first film, the 3 pm showing of Gorbaciòf, less than 2 hours after landing at the airport. The day only got longer after that as I managed to see 3 more films, including the midnight feature The Butcher, the Chef and the Swordsman. I got back to the hotel around 2:30 am Friday but was awake at 7:30 am in order to make my 9 am show of Essential Killing. I only saw 3 films on Friday as I had plans to meet with family for dinner on Friday night.
However, I was drained after seeing 7 films with less than 6 hours sleep over a 2 day period. So I decided to skip seeing any films on Saturday and only saw one more show on Sunday morning.
Cafes
The Seattle based coffee chain that dominates downtown Vancouver and Calgary is also omnipresent in downtown Toronto, especially near all the film festival venues. But with a little bit of effort, I managed to find some excellent cafes and avoid the big chain altogether.
Dark Horse Espresso
Green Beanery
Coffee Culture
Books, Comics
Another goal on this trip was to finally visit all the bookstores on my shortlist.
Of Swallows, their deeds and the Winter below
Book City
World's Biggest Bookstore -- I was not aware that this was owned by Chapters/Indigo but the diverse selection of books/DVD set it apart from the regular Chapters/Indigo stores.
BMV
The Beguiling -- Girish describes this comic book store perfectly:
"If you're an indie comics aficionado, leave your credit card at home and take a budgeted amount of cash. You've been warned. "
It is indeed quite easy to spend money here. I came across some amazing stuff such as an anthology of Swedish comics, Independent Canadian & American titles, Italian comics and some Japanese titles that I have wanted for a while. I had to force myself to leave the store before I spent too much money.
Food & Beer
One of my fondest memories from a previous trip to Toronto almost a decade ago was going to Marche in downtown for some amazing food. So I was quite eager to visit it again. I am absolutely delighted to say that the food is still quite incredible.
Beer Markt came highly recommended because of the huge number of beers they serve (100+). The selection is indeed very impressive and I came across a very good stout (Dragon Stout from Jamaica) that I had never heard of previously.
More films? Sure
There is no time for film withdrawal to set in because CIFF starts in a few days. Atleast the prospect of seeing some great films slightly offsets the negative sentiment of constant rain and a bit of snow that is already gathering on the city streets.
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