The year is only a few months old but it is hard to believe that there will be too many Indian songs this year that will be more soulful than Rahat Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's Dil To Bachcha Hai Ji found on the soundtrack of Ishqiya.
Friday, March 05, 2010
Tuesday, March 02, 2010
Football & Film reading...
The Kicking Culture, part III
Some things are completely predictable. On cue, British players and managers are coming forward to offer support to Ryan Shawcross, the player responsible for breaking the leg of the extremely talented and promising 19 year old Aaron Ramsey. Only in English football can people who commit wrong be seen as victims. On the other hand, nothing is being said of Ramsey, the person whose future seemed so bright. Now, one can only wish that Ramsey recovers as soon as possible.
Thankfully there are a few intelligent and sane voices who are standing up. Martin Samuel of the Times puts things perfectly:
Yet malicious intent - the motivation to actually cause serious injury - is rare in football. One thinks of Roy Keane’s tackle on Alf Inge Haaland in the Manchester derby or the one by Gavin Maguire of Queens Park Rangers that ended the career of England full back Danny Thomas, and resulted in a compensation pay-out of £130,000.
Shawcross did not tackle Ramsey like that. He did however arrive late and with sufficient abandon to lose any chance of controlling the consequences. The greatest sickness in English football is that we do not recognise the wrong in that. 'Spare me about how nice Shawcross is,' Arsene Wenger, the Arsenal manager, said acidly; but the testimonials to his decency were already under construction.
But Martin Samuel's words are rare to find in both English and American media. One has to turn to various Arsenal blogs to find the truth.
DannyT is spot on as usual in his Arsenal Truth blog:
The only way the truly talentless can make a career for themselves in the Premier League is by replacing their lack of skill and technique with aggression and antagonism - anti-football. Why applaud that? What's that got to do with "the beautiful game"? Last time I heard, football was about 22 players kicking a ball around - not 11 players kicking the ball around while various others players try to impede them through intimidation, ferociousness and long throw-ins.
How many more Aaron Ramsey's do we have to witness before the FA grows a spine and drives this scourge out of the game.
And why do pundits applaud these tactics? For the life of me, I've never understood it. There is only one thing to applaud in football, skill! I'm not saying there is no place for the well-timed tackle, high-speed closing down, a shoulder barge or some grappling in the box - but there is never a reason to break a players leg. To break a players leg requires considerable force, the type of force that is never warranted or required to win a small round ball in a tackle - except perhaps in the most freakish of incidents, once every 20 years! Not three times in three years for one club, it's obscene.
Plenty of excellent evidence is gathered by Tim at 7amkickoff & Arseblog which show that Shawcross is a chronic leg breaker and not the nice guy the media is painting him to be. It is sad that the media are not doing the objective journalistic job they are meant to do and are instead so biased.
Tactics
It is extremely rare to find any discussion of football tactics in British papers as most soccer related articles are centered on a player's "commitment", "attitude" and "character". Yet, none of these things would matter if a team is not tactically prepared to handle an opponent. Which is why Jonathan Wilson's articles are so welcome because he breaks a game down in terms of the tactical details. Heck, he ever wrote an insightful book on the history of soccer tactics (Inverting the Pyramid). His newest article sees him outline Egypt's 3-5-2 formation prior to their match against England.
Filmi...
There's a brand spanking new issue of Indian Auteur out. The online magazine format certainly makes for a beautiful reading experience. On the other hand, one can access the articles via individual links. The Notes on Directors and Director's Report Card gives a worthy run down of current Indian directors plying their trade. And just like bad football, the bad directors continue to hog the headlines.
Some things are completely predictable. On cue, British players and managers are coming forward to offer support to Ryan Shawcross, the player responsible for breaking the leg of the extremely talented and promising 19 year old Aaron Ramsey. Only in English football can people who commit wrong be seen as victims. On the other hand, nothing is being said of Ramsey, the person whose future seemed so bright. Now, one can only wish that Ramsey recovers as soon as possible.
Thankfully there are a few intelligent and sane voices who are standing up. Martin Samuel of the Times puts things perfectly:
Yet malicious intent - the motivation to actually cause serious injury - is rare in football. One thinks of Roy Keane’s tackle on Alf Inge Haaland in the Manchester derby or the one by Gavin Maguire of Queens Park Rangers that ended the career of England full back Danny Thomas, and resulted in a compensation pay-out of £130,000.
Shawcross did not tackle Ramsey like that. He did however arrive late and with sufficient abandon to lose any chance of controlling the consequences. The greatest sickness in English football is that we do not recognise the wrong in that. 'Spare me about how nice Shawcross is,' Arsene Wenger, the Arsenal manager, said acidly; but the testimonials to his decency were already under construction.
But Martin Samuel's words are rare to find in both English and American media. One has to turn to various Arsenal blogs to find the truth.
DannyT is spot on as usual in his Arsenal Truth blog:
The only way the truly talentless can make a career for themselves in the Premier League is by replacing their lack of skill and technique with aggression and antagonism - anti-football. Why applaud that? What's that got to do with "the beautiful game"? Last time I heard, football was about 22 players kicking a ball around - not 11 players kicking the ball around while various others players try to impede them through intimidation, ferociousness and long throw-ins.
How many more Aaron Ramsey's do we have to witness before the FA grows a spine and drives this scourge out of the game.
And why do pundits applaud these tactics? For the life of me, I've never understood it. There is only one thing to applaud in football, skill! I'm not saying there is no place for the well-timed tackle, high-speed closing down, a shoulder barge or some grappling in the box - but there is never a reason to break a players leg. To break a players leg requires considerable force, the type of force that is never warranted or required to win a small round ball in a tackle - except perhaps in the most freakish of incidents, once every 20 years! Not three times in three years for one club, it's obscene.
Plenty of excellent evidence is gathered by Tim at 7amkickoff & Arseblog which show that Shawcross is a chronic leg breaker and not the nice guy the media is painting him to be. It is sad that the media are not doing the objective journalistic job they are meant to do and are instead so biased.
Tactics
It is extremely rare to find any discussion of football tactics in British papers as most soccer related articles are centered on a player's "commitment", "attitude" and "character". Yet, none of these things would matter if a team is not tactically prepared to handle an opponent. Which is why Jonathan Wilson's articles are so welcome because he breaks a game down in terms of the tactical details. Heck, he ever wrote an insightful book on the history of soccer tactics (Inverting the Pyramid). His newest article sees him outline Egypt's 3-5-2 formation prior to their match against England.
Filmi...
There's a brand spanking new issue of Indian Auteur out. The online magazine format certainly makes for a beautiful reading experience. On the other hand, one can access the articles via individual links. The Notes on Directors and Director's Report Card gives a worthy run down of current Indian directors plying their trade. And just like bad football, the bad directors continue to hog the headlines.
Monday, March 01, 2010
The Secret Society
English Football's Secret Society:
There is a secret footballing society that exists in England and whose members trace their lineage back to the old days when the game first caught on in England. Currently, the members meet once a month just on the skirts of Stonehenge when the sun goes down. Some of the current Premier League managers sit on the member’s board. Most of the conversations revolve around the current nature of the game and how the game has gone ’soft’. The members long for the old days of the game when players never shied away from a tackle, when players were willing to shed blood for their team. The meetings always end when all the members quietly look at Argentina’s goal against Serbia from the 2006 World Cup where Argentina strung together 24 passes to put the ball into the net. The members are always horrified to look at this goal and vow that their English Premier League will never become like this. They vow that they will never allow one team to manage more than a few passes before a player gets taken out. They want to preserve a 'strong' league where players can take it like a man, where players can freely break other players legs and where players always get "stuck in".
The only thorn in this member’s sight is Arsenal, the only team that defies this society's beliefs. Diaby, Eduardo and Ramsey have been victims of this society’s puppet pulls in 2006, 2008 and 2010 respectively. Other Arsenal players are constantly on the agenda as well. If Arsenal win in the face of such ugliness, then the society’s beliefs will be challenged and football in England might be saved. Otherwise if Arsenal continue to fall victim to these teams, then darkness will set in completely and English football will once again be nothing but long balls, fouling and leg breaking tackles.
There is a secret footballing society that exists in England and whose members trace their lineage back to the old days when the game first caught on in England. Currently, the members meet once a month just on the skirts of Stonehenge when the sun goes down. Some of the current Premier League managers sit on the member’s board. Most of the conversations revolve around the current nature of the game and how the game has gone ’soft’. The members long for the old days of the game when players never shied away from a tackle, when players were willing to shed blood for their team. The meetings always end when all the members quietly look at Argentina’s goal against Serbia from the 2006 World Cup where Argentina strung together 24 passes to put the ball into the net. The members are always horrified to look at this goal and vow that their English Premier League will never become like this. They vow that they will never allow one team to manage more than a few passes before a player gets taken out. They want to preserve a 'strong' league where players can take it like a man, where players can freely break other players legs and where players always get "stuck in".
The only thorn in this member’s sight is Arsenal, the only team that defies this society's beliefs. Diaby, Eduardo and Ramsey have been victims of this society’s puppet pulls in 2006, 2008 and 2010 respectively. Other Arsenal players are constantly on the agenda as well. If Arsenal win in the face of such ugliness, then the society’s beliefs will be challenged and football in England might be saved. Otherwise if Arsenal continue to fall victim to these teams, then darkness will set in completely and English football will once again be nothing but long balls, fouling and leg breaking tackles.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Deja vu, Fate, Kicking culture
Feb 23, 2008: Birmingham 2-2 Arsenal -- Eduardo leg broken, a last minute penalty
Feb 27, 2010: Stoke 1-3 Arsenal -- Ramsey leg broken, a last minute penalty
History repeated itself in cruel fashion on Saturday Feb 27 when yet another Arsenal player's leg was broken recklessly in an away fixture. And just like the previous two occasions (Eduardo in 2008, Diaby vs Sunderland in 2006), the opposing player is labeled as a nice guy by the British media who have quickly tried to forget this incident as soon as possible. Yet, one has to ask why do Arsenal players keep getting injured in such fashion over and over? And this is not even including the rash years of fouling that Bolton (under Big Sam), Blackburn and even Man Utd (October 2004) dished out to Arsenal.
Part of the answers lie in an insightful book by Gianluca Vialli called The Italian Job which examines the differences in Italian and English footballing cultures and the different management styles that exist (the book includes some worthy interviews with Wenger). Vialli mentions how in England fans applaud a player attempting to run after a lost ball (meaning lost cause) and consider that attribute as part of a player's commitment because the fans believe the player is giving it his all and he cares for the game. Whereas, in Italy fans might consider that player as wasting his energy. Those words reflect how some players in England play with a false sense of commitment. One can imagine imagine the following words in the Birmingham dressing room before the Eduardo leg breaking game or in yesterday's Stoke game. Alex McLeish (or Tony Pulis) probably told his players to "give it their all", to "get stuck in", etc. Now, each player will interpret those instructions as per their ability. Martin Taylor and Ryan Shawcross are not in the same mould as Paolo Maldini, a player who could win the ball by not making sinister tackles. Maldini did not need to lunge because his understanding of the game was genius. Whereas from the tackle that Taylor made just two minutes into the Birmingham game, one can easily infer that he falls under an inept mould of a player. The smirk on his face after the tackle indicated that he had no consequences for his actions. His first thoughts were “that will teach ya” or “you are not getting past me” or he even thought that he had just shown the commitment his manager talked about, that sense of “getting stuck-in”, not backing away from a tackle. Shawcross on the other hand was distraught after he saw how serious the injury to Ramsey was, but the damage had already being done. And the fact that this is not the first time that Shawcross made such a dangerous tackle (Adebayor was put out by Shawcross) refutes the claim that Ryan is an innocent player.
Easier to destruct than to create
Unfortunately, the league is full of players like Taylor and Shawcross. Players who sense of tackling is off, players who are not technically competent. So who gets punished? The player or the system that believes it is manly to take an opponent down, a system that encourages players that there is no shame in being physical to stop an opponent?
Question: How do you stop a skillful player?
In 1966, Portugal and Hungry answered this question by kicking the hell out of Pele. The players did not hide their vicious fouls and openly went after the Brazilian superstar.
Well, for the last few years plenty of teams have also answered this question by going after Arsenal in a physical manner (Manchester Utd in 2004, Bolton, Blackburn come to mind). What’s worse is that nothing is seen wrong in that. The excessive fouls are just put down to "physical part of the game". Yup, the physical part of the game that has always existed, exists and will always exist. Players have to be men enough to take the kicks, get up and carry on. And if a player complains about getting kicked too much? Well he is not a man! He is considered weak. A perception that existed in the English game long before the 1990’s was that foreign players were considered too weak to withstand the physical part of the game. Vialli makes a reference to this as well in his book. Ofcourse, the reverse is also true when quite a few English players could not make it in the Italian league because they did not possess the technical skills required to avoid defenders who would breathe on an attacker’s neck constantly. Thankfully those narrow views changed slightly in the last decade when an influx of talented foreigners came into the English league and the overall style of play changed to accommodate skillful passing. Yet one can still find commentators refer to some players as having a "silky touch" but not being physical enough. And there are plenty of teams who continue to spend time on getting their players ready to kick opponents.
The league will never take any serious actions against a player who makes a reckless tackle and ends an opponent's season or career. That is just not the English way. So the only way to fight this is for Arsenal to win against teams who have leg breaking players in their squad. If Arsenal and other teams win games against negative or anti-football, then that might mean that teams might be forced to improve technically and not resort to kicking to win games.
Fate signals
In 2008, Arsenal were leading 2-1 but a last minute mistake from Clichy gave Birmingham a penalty from which they tied the game up. Gallas, the then Arsenal captain, was in tears and sat in the center circle by himself. The players, who were rattled from the Eduardo injury, never recovered after the game and threw the title away. History books will show that Man Utd won the 2008 title but the truth is Man Utd didn't win the title but Arsenal instead lost the title.
Yesterday, with the game tied 1-1, Eduardo came on as a late sub. Fate gave him a chance to win the game but he put the ball wide. Then fate decided that a penalty must reverse Arsenal's fortunes from 2 years and so after Arsenal got a last minute penalty, their captain, Cesc Fabregas, stepped up and just managed to convert his penalty. Cue celebrations. And to emphasize their new found belief, Arsenal added a third goal via a Thomas Vermaelen tap-in. Vermaelen and Cesc were in shock after the Ramsey injury but both of them managed to score crucial goals. After the final whistle, the players huddled in a circle and showed their team spirit, something missing 2 years ago.
So does that mean that Arsenal will turn the tide and win the title this year? Fate has certainly given them a chance. A promising third act lies in store.
Feb 27, 2010: Stoke 1-3 Arsenal -- Ramsey leg broken, a last minute penalty
History repeated itself in cruel fashion on Saturday Feb 27 when yet another Arsenal player's leg was broken recklessly in an away fixture. And just like the previous two occasions (Eduardo in 2008, Diaby vs Sunderland in 2006), the opposing player is labeled as a nice guy by the British media who have quickly tried to forget this incident as soon as possible. Yet, one has to ask why do Arsenal players keep getting injured in such fashion over and over? And this is not even including the rash years of fouling that Bolton (under Big Sam), Blackburn and even Man Utd (October 2004) dished out to Arsenal.
Part of the answers lie in an insightful book by Gianluca Vialli called The Italian Job which examines the differences in Italian and English footballing cultures and the different management styles that exist (the book includes some worthy interviews with Wenger). Vialli mentions how in England fans applaud a player attempting to run after a lost ball (meaning lost cause) and consider that attribute as part of a player's commitment because the fans believe the player is giving it his all and he cares for the game. Whereas, in Italy fans might consider that player as wasting his energy. Those words reflect how some players in England play with a false sense of commitment. One can imagine imagine the following words in the Birmingham dressing room before the Eduardo leg breaking game or in yesterday's Stoke game. Alex McLeish (or Tony Pulis) probably told his players to "give it their all", to "get stuck in", etc. Now, each player will interpret those instructions as per their ability. Martin Taylor and Ryan Shawcross are not in the same mould as Paolo Maldini, a player who could win the ball by not making sinister tackles. Maldini did not need to lunge because his understanding of the game was genius. Whereas from the tackle that Taylor made just two minutes into the Birmingham game, one can easily infer that he falls under an inept mould of a player. The smirk on his face after the tackle indicated that he had no consequences for his actions. His first thoughts were “that will teach ya” or “you are not getting past me” or he even thought that he had just shown the commitment his manager talked about, that sense of “getting stuck-in”, not backing away from a tackle. Shawcross on the other hand was distraught after he saw how serious the injury to Ramsey was, but the damage had already being done. And the fact that this is not the first time that Shawcross made such a dangerous tackle (Adebayor was put out by Shawcross) refutes the claim that Ryan is an innocent player.
Easier to destruct than to create
Unfortunately, the league is full of players like Taylor and Shawcross. Players who sense of tackling is off, players who are not technically competent. So who gets punished? The player or the system that believes it is manly to take an opponent down, a system that encourages players that there is no shame in being physical to stop an opponent?
Question: How do you stop a skillful player?
In 1966, Portugal and Hungry answered this question by kicking the hell out of Pele. The players did not hide their vicious fouls and openly went after the Brazilian superstar.
Well, for the last few years plenty of teams have also answered this question by going after Arsenal in a physical manner (Manchester Utd in 2004, Bolton, Blackburn come to mind). What’s worse is that nothing is seen wrong in that. The excessive fouls are just put down to "physical part of the game". Yup, the physical part of the game that has always existed, exists and will always exist. Players have to be men enough to take the kicks, get up and carry on. And if a player complains about getting kicked too much? Well he is not a man! He is considered weak. A perception that existed in the English game long before the 1990’s was that foreign players were considered too weak to withstand the physical part of the game. Vialli makes a reference to this as well in his book. Ofcourse, the reverse is also true when quite a few English players could not make it in the Italian league because they did not possess the technical skills required to avoid defenders who would breathe on an attacker’s neck constantly. Thankfully those narrow views changed slightly in the last decade when an influx of talented foreigners came into the English league and the overall style of play changed to accommodate skillful passing. Yet one can still find commentators refer to some players as having a "silky touch" but not being physical enough. And there are plenty of teams who continue to spend time on getting their players ready to kick opponents.
The league will never take any serious actions against a player who makes a reckless tackle and ends an opponent's season or career. That is just not the English way. So the only way to fight this is for Arsenal to win against teams who have leg breaking players in their squad. If Arsenal and other teams win games against negative or anti-football, then that might mean that teams might be forced to improve technically and not resort to kicking to win games.
Fate signals
In 2008, Arsenal were leading 2-1 but a last minute mistake from Clichy gave Birmingham a penalty from which they tied the game up. Gallas, the then Arsenal captain, was in tears and sat in the center circle by himself. The players, who were rattled from the Eduardo injury, never recovered after the game and threw the title away. History books will show that Man Utd won the 2008 title but the truth is Man Utd didn't win the title but Arsenal instead lost the title.
Yesterday, with the game tied 1-1, Eduardo came on as a late sub. Fate gave him a chance to win the game but he put the ball wide. Then fate decided that a penalty must reverse Arsenal's fortunes from 2 years and so after Arsenal got a last minute penalty, their captain, Cesc Fabregas, stepped up and just managed to convert his penalty. Cue celebrations. And to emphasize their new found belief, Arsenal added a third goal via a Thomas Vermaelen tap-in. Vermaelen and Cesc were in shock after the Ramsey injury but both of them managed to score crucial goals. After the final whistle, the players huddled in a circle and showed their team spirit, something missing 2 years ago.
So does that mean that Arsenal will turn the tide and win the title this year? Fate has certainly given them a chance. A promising third act lies in store.
Monday, January 25, 2010
A note from the past
A few years ago I came across José Suárez Carreño’s The Final Hours at an antique bookstore. I had never heard anything about Carreño but after flipping through a few pages, I decided to give the book a try. The 1953 hardcover book turned out to be the first American edition of the book and it was in surprizingly good condition, considering that the book was more than 5 decades old. I started reading the book but for whatever reason, I never finished it and put it aside. However, a few days ago I re-discovered the book and started to read through it again. This time around I made a surprizing discovery. Turning through the pages, I came across the following handwritten note buried halfway through the book:
This is the most horribly sordid book I have ever read. It makes one feel indecent & unclean, nearly made me sick! Thought you might like to read it though. Most extraordinary - what a mind Carreño must have! And it won a prize!! Don’t return it - burn it!
Now, I have bought many antique and second hand books in my life but this is the first time I have come across a handwritten note tucked away in any of the books. At most, I have books which have some comments written on a page but this handwritten note is something else entirely. Ofcourse, this means I have to finish the book to see what triggered these comments. Interestingly, whoever borrowed the book clearly did not follow the instructions to burn it. The borrower probably sold the book to a second hand bookstore and from there it must have changed many hands before landing up in my city. But the question is when was the note written? On the inside cover, there is a scribbled mark “Victoria/57” followed by a stamp giving a shop name & address in Victoria, B.C. So that means this book was sold via the Victoria bookstore but the note must have been a recent thing because otherwise someone would have removed the note. Or maybe the note has persisted through subsequent sales because either no one got past page 146 or people decided that the note is part and parcel of this book's life.
This is the most horribly sordid book I have ever read. It makes one feel indecent & unclean, nearly made me sick! Thought you might like to read it though. Most extraordinary - what a mind Carreño must have! And it won a prize!! Don’t return it - burn it!
Now, I have bought many antique and second hand books in my life but this is the first time I have come across a handwritten note tucked away in any of the books. At most, I have books which have some comments written on a page but this handwritten note is something else entirely. Ofcourse, this means I have to finish the book to see what triggered these comments. Interestingly, whoever borrowed the book clearly did not follow the instructions to burn it. The borrower probably sold the book to a second hand bookstore and from there it must have changed many hands before landing up in my city. But the question is when was the note written? On the inside cover, there is a scribbled mark “Victoria/57” followed by a stamp giving a shop name & address in Victoria, B.C. So that means this book was sold via the Victoria bookstore but the note must have been a recent thing because otherwise someone would have removed the note. Or maybe the note has persisted through subsequent sales because either no one got past page 146 or people decided that the note is part and parcel of this book's life.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Abundant Limited Choices
Sometime in the future....
“What movie do you want to go see?”
“I don’t know. What’s playing?”
“Transformers VI 3D, Shrek 6 3D, Spider Man 5 3D”.
“That’s it?”
“Yup. That’s it. Every multiplex in the city is only playing these three movies”
“Hmm. What do the critics say about these films?”
“What do you mean by critics?”
“You know, those people who review a film and sometimes give a rating. Their reviews are printed in the friday newspapers”
“Oh..You don’t remember, do you?”
“huh?”
“Well..I don’t know where to start. You see, there are no more newspapers and so there are no more film critics.”
“What!! When did this happen?”
“When was the last time you saw a movie or read a newspaper?”
“Oh, I guess it has been a long time now...”
“There have been no newspapers printed in this city for almost a year now and the same is true for all North American cities. Most film critics were laid off two years ago and there have been no film reviews of any film anywhere in North America, atleast not officially.”
“what does officially mean?”
“After the North American film critics were laid off, most of them quickly went off to Europe where they have had a thriving career because films are still appreciated in Europe. The few critics that remained started some underground web sites where they wrote critical analysis of films.”
“Why underground web sites?”
“The thing is most Hollywood studios did not want people to review or judge their films. A few years ago, Hollywood decided to rebrand their films as an entertainment experience and thus were not happy when people wrote negative comments about their films. Hollywood decided audiences should sit in their seats, put on their 3D goggles and just consume whatever they put on screen, be it talking animals or green alien creatures. In order to prevent any chatter about their films, they got the governments (both Canada and the US) to prevent any mention of their films on the internet. The newspapers were already in trouble, so it was easy to get the newspapers to remove the film critics. And then, the biggest coup for Hollywood was to ban all non-Hollywood films from entering North American shores. This was the real clincher. Once Hollywood prevented films from outside North America (such as Europe, Asia, Latin America) to ever be shown in any Canadian or American cinema hall, it became easy to control things. The independent/art house theaters quickly went out of business because they didn’t have any foreign films to show and they could not afford the expensive 3D Hollywood films and then only the multiplexes were left who took whatever film Hollywood provided without question.”
“I don’t remember any of this.”
“In a way, I should not be surprized. You got so busy in your life that you stopped watching any films and no matter how much I tried, you never had time. Eventually, I stopped talking to you about films as I had given up on you ever watching a film again.”
“I am sorry. I never thought this could happen.”
“It’s okay. Even if you had watched the foreign films, this was going to happen anyway.”
“So what now? What films do you watch?”
“I don’t watch too many Hollywood films. There are still a few talented directors working in the Hollywood system who make intelligent and artistic films and I try to catch their works but I have to be on my toes as their films are only shown for a few days before the multiplexes are cleared for the next Transformers or Avatar 3D film.”
“I did see that film, Avatar.”
“Yeah, the 4th film in the series is coming out next week.”
“I only remember seeing the first one. I didn’t know there were more than one”
“You did live under a rock then. The second and third films were almost mandatory viewings.”
“How were they mandatory?”
“Every night on TV, they kept announcing that this is the MUST SEE movie of the century and every human being on the planet must see the film. The ads and announcements worked in a way as lot of people saw the movie.”
“Did you see the movies?”
“I saw the first and second one and that was too much for me.”
“So what other films do you see?”
“Oh I try to go to Europe or Asia 1-2 times a year and get my films from there. Europe and Asia still have film festivals so it is possible to catch some great films there. And then, sometimes if I am feeling brave, I smuggle some foreign films home.”
“Smuggle?”
“Oh yeah. Officially, we are not allowed to bring any films into North America. And if one is caught with a foreign language film, they are then sent to a “cinema rehabilitation camp” for a week.”
“I thought you were going to say jail or something.”
“No, jail would be considered getting off easy. The “cinema rehabilitation camp” ensures that a person’s brain will be purged of any non-Hollywood film images and that one would not want to watch any foreign films ever.”
“Do you know what goes on in a “cinema rehabilitation camp”?”
“I have only heard rumours. Apparently they chain you in a seat and pry your eyes open and force you to watch 8-10 hours of 3D Hollywood films in a day, and then repeat that for a total of 7 days.”
“Are you serious?”
Silence.
Finally, a burst of laughter.
“No I am not serious. We live in a democracy after all and are free to make our choices.”
A sigh of relief.
“Good. So you been making all this up?”
“Well only the “cinema rehabilitation camp” part. We can bring in any foreign DVDs we want. But the rest is true, we can’t watch any non-Hollywood films in a North American theater and there are no newspapers or critics.”
“Oh.”
“Cheer up. We can stay home and watch this great film from Malaysia that I bought last year.”
“Oh. Wow. That sounds great.”
“I am just glad you finally want to watch a film.”
“I can’t wait...”
“Good. And if you like that, then I have some films from Romania, France, India, Thailand that you have to see as well.”
“What movie do you want to go see?”
“I don’t know. What’s playing?”
“Transformers VI 3D, Shrek 6 3D, Spider Man 5 3D”.
“That’s it?”
“Yup. That’s it. Every multiplex in the city is only playing these three movies”
“Hmm. What do the critics say about these films?”
“What do you mean by critics?”
“You know, those people who review a film and sometimes give a rating. Their reviews are printed in the friday newspapers”
“Oh..You don’t remember, do you?”
“huh?”
“Well..I don’t know where to start. You see, there are no more newspapers and so there are no more film critics.”
“What!! When did this happen?”
“When was the last time you saw a movie or read a newspaper?”
“Oh, I guess it has been a long time now...”
“There have been no newspapers printed in this city for almost a year now and the same is true for all North American cities. Most film critics were laid off two years ago and there have been no film reviews of any film anywhere in North America, atleast not officially.”
“what does officially mean?”
“After the North American film critics were laid off, most of them quickly went off to Europe where they have had a thriving career because films are still appreciated in Europe. The few critics that remained started some underground web sites where they wrote critical analysis of films.”
“Why underground web sites?”
“The thing is most Hollywood studios did not want people to review or judge their films. A few years ago, Hollywood decided to rebrand their films as an entertainment experience and thus were not happy when people wrote negative comments about their films. Hollywood decided audiences should sit in their seats, put on their 3D goggles and just consume whatever they put on screen, be it talking animals or green alien creatures. In order to prevent any chatter about their films, they got the governments (both Canada and the US) to prevent any mention of their films on the internet. The newspapers were already in trouble, so it was easy to get the newspapers to remove the film critics. And then, the biggest coup for Hollywood was to ban all non-Hollywood films from entering North American shores. This was the real clincher. Once Hollywood prevented films from outside North America (such as Europe, Asia, Latin America) to ever be shown in any Canadian or American cinema hall, it became easy to control things. The independent/art house theaters quickly went out of business because they didn’t have any foreign films to show and they could not afford the expensive 3D Hollywood films and then only the multiplexes were left who took whatever film Hollywood provided without question.”
“I don’t remember any of this.”
“In a way, I should not be surprized. You got so busy in your life that you stopped watching any films and no matter how much I tried, you never had time. Eventually, I stopped talking to you about films as I had given up on you ever watching a film again.”
“I am sorry. I never thought this could happen.”
“It’s okay. Even if you had watched the foreign films, this was going to happen anyway.”
“So what now? What films do you watch?”
“I don’t watch too many Hollywood films. There are still a few talented directors working in the Hollywood system who make intelligent and artistic films and I try to catch their works but I have to be on my toes as their films are only shown for a few days before the multiplexes are cleared for the next Transformers or Avatar 3D film.”
“I did see that film, Avatar.”
“Yeah, the 4th film in the series is coming out next week.”
“I only remember seeing the first one. I didn’t know there were more than one”
“You did live under a rock then. The second and third films were almost mandatory viewings.”
“How were they mandatory?”
“Every night on TV, they kept announcing that this is the MUST SEE movie of the century and every human being on the planet must see the film. The ads and announcements worked in a way as lot of people saw the movie.”
“Did you see the movies?”
“I saw the first and second one and that was too much for me.”
“So what other films do you see?”
“Oh I try to go to Europe or Asia 1-2 times a year and get my films from there. Europe and Asia still have film festivals so it is possible to catch some great films there. And then, sometimes if I am feeling brave, I smuggle some foreign films home.”
“Smuggle?”
“Oh yeah. Officially, we are not allowed to bring any films into North America. And if one is caught with a foreign language film, they are then sent to a “cinema rehabilitation camp” for a week.”
“I thought you were going to say jail or something.”
“No, jail would be considered getting off easy. The “cinema rehabilitation camp” ensures that a person’s brain will be purged of any non-Hollywood film images and that one would not want to watch any foreign films ever.”
“Do you know what goes on in a “cinema rehabilitation camp”?”
“I have only heard rumours. Apparently they chain you in a seat and pry your eyes open and force you to watch 8-10 hours of 3D Hollywood films in a day, and then repeat that for a total of 7 days.”
“Are you serious?”
Silence.
Finally, a burst of laughter.
“No I am not serious. We live in a democracy after all and are free to make our choices.”
A sigh of relief.
“Good. So you been making all this up?”
“Well only the “cinema rehabilitation camp” part. We can bring in any foreign DVDs we want. But the rest is true, we can’t watch any non-Hollywood films in a North American theater and there are no newspapers or critics.”
“Oh.”
“Cheer up. We can stay home and watch this great film from Malaysia that I bought last year.”
“Oh. Wow. That sounds great.”
“I am just glad you finally want to watch a film.”
“I can’t wait...”
“Good. And if you like that, then I have some films from Romania, France, India, Thailand that you have to see as well.”
Sunday, January 17, 2010
It's Official -- Awards = Popular
Kathryn Bigelow is robbed! The Hurt Locker was the best directed American film of 2009 not Avatar. But as expected, the best director award was given not on merit but on popular choice. The Hurt Locker is a much superior film in 2-D than the 3-D Avatar and if one took away the 3-D, then Avatar is nothing but an average summer Hollywood film. Yes, credit must be given where it is due. James Cameron certainly knows how to make popular films, movies that make a lot of money and appeal to the masses.
Friday, January 15, 2010
2010 Movie World Cup, part 2
[Update, Apr 2] -- Films from all 32 countries taking part in the soccer world cup have been located. Entries from North Korea and Honduras were proving to be a challenge but films from both nations have been identified and viewed recently. So a proper movie world cup can now take place and this total of 32 certainly improves on the 2006 movie world cup edition when films from only 22 of the 32 countries were found.
Notes:
How I Killed a Saint is technically a Macedonian film shot in Macedonia but it sneaks in because Slovenia is listed as a co-producer.
Due to unforseen circumstances the Danish entry of Allegro (2005, Christoffer Boe) is no longer readily available. The film Flame and Citron has to be drafted in as a substitute entry. June 1 is the deadline for the World Cup soccer teams to call on a substitute player in case of an injury, so I am using that same guideline to bring in a replacement film.
England: Of Time and the City (2008, Terence Davies)
Mexico: In the Pit (2006, Juan Carlos Rulfo)
Japan: The Human Condition, part I (1959, Masaki Kobayashi)
Portugal: Colossal Youth (2006, Pedro Costa)
Paraguay: Paraguayan Hammock (2006, Paz Encina)
France: Sans soleil (1983, Chris Marker)
Spain: The Spirit of the Beehive (1973, Victor Erice)
Italy: Il Divo (2008, Paolo Sorrentino)
USA: Ballast (2008, Lance Hammer)
Australia: Celia (1989, Ann Turner)
New Zealand: Black Sheep (2006, Jonathan King)
South Africa: U-Carmen e-Khayelitsha (2005, Mark Dornford-May)
Denmark: Flame and Citron (2008, Ole Christian Madsen)
Germany: Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler (1922, Fritz Lang)
Ivory Coast: Adanggaman (2000, Roger Gnoan M'Bala)
Nigeria: Without Shame (2005, Lancelot Oduwa Imasuen)
Cameroon: A Trip to the Country (2000, Jean-Marie Téno)
Argentina: Liverpool (2008, Lisandro Alonso)
Ghana: The Perfect Picture (2009, Shirley Frimpong-Manso)
North Korea: A Day in the Life (2004, Pieter Fleury)
Algeria: Daughter of Keltoum (2001, Mehdi Charef)
Slovakia: Orbis Pictus (1997, Martin Sulík)
Holland: Amsterdam (2009, Ivo van Hove)
Switzerland: A Crude Awakening (2006, Basil Gelpke & Ryan McCormack)
Chile: Historias de fútbol (1997 Andrés Wood)
Slovenia: How I Killed a Saint (2004, Teona Strugar Mitevska)
Brazil: Almost Brothers (2004, Lúcia Murat)
Uruguay: Gigante (2009, Adrián Biniez)
Greece: The Lost Monument (2009, Stefanos Tsivopoulos, 27 min)
Honduras: El Porvenir (2008, Oscar Estrada)
Serbia: The Life and Death of a Porno Gang (2009, Mladen Djordjevic)
South Korea: Like you Know it All (2009, Hong sang-soo)
Mexico: In the Pit (2006, Juan Carlos Rulfo)
Japan: The Human Condition, part I (1959, Masaki Kobayashi)
Portugal: Colossal Youth (2006, Pedro Costa)
Paraguay: Paraguayan Hammock (2006, Paz Encina)
France: Sans soleil (1983, Chris Marker)
Spain: The Spirit of the Beehive (1973, Victor Erice)
Italy: Il Divo (2008, Paolo Sorrentino)
USA: Ballast (2008, Lance Hammer)
Australia: Celia (1989, Ann Turner)
New Zealand: Black Sheep (2006, Jonathan King)
South Africa: U-Carmen e-Khayelitsha (2005, Mark Dornford-May)
Denmark: Flame and Citron (2008, Ole Christian Madsen)
Germany: Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler (1922, Fritz Lang)
Ivory Coast: Adanggaman (2000, Roger Gnoan M'Bala)
Nigeria: Without Shame (2005, Lancelot Oduwa Imasuen)
Cameroon: A Trip to the Country (2000, Jean-Marie Téno)
Argentina: Liverpool (2008, Lisandro Alonso)
Ghana: The Perfect Picture (2009, Shirley Frimpong-Manso)
North Korea: A Day in the Life (2004, Pieter Fleury)
Algeria: Daughter of Keltoum (2001, Mehdi Charef)
Slovakia: Orbis Pictus (1997, Martin Sulík)
Holland: Amsterdam (2009, Ivo van Hove)
Switzerland: A Crude Awakening (2006, Basil Gelpke & Ryan McCormack)
Chile: Historias de fútbol (1997 Andrés Wood)
Slovenia: How I Killed a Saint (2004, Teona Strugar Mitevska)
Brazil: Almost Brothers (2004, Lúcia Murat)
Uruguay: Gigante (2009, Adrián Biniez)
Greece: The Lost Monument (2009, Stefanos Tsivopoulos, 27 min)
Honduras: El Porvenir (2008, Oscar Estrada)
Serbia: The Life and Death of a Porno Gang (2009, Mladen Djordjevic)
South Korea: Like you Know it All (2009, Hong sang-soo)
Notes:
How I Killed a Saint is technically a Macedonian film shot in Macedonia but it sneaks in because Slovenia is listed as a co-producer.
Due to unforseen circumstances the Danish entry of Allegro (2005, Christoffer Boe) is no longer readily available. The film Flame and Citron has to be drafted in as a substitute entry. June 1 is the deadline for the World Cup soccer teams to call on a substitute player in case of an injury, so I am using that same guideline to bring in a replacement film.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Saturday, January 09, 2010
Violence hits Soccer
It is not surprising that Togo have withdrawn from the African Cup of Nations after yesterday's bus attack. The entire episode has been shocking. Yes, such bus attacks have taken place many times before in various countries but this one is different because the bus was packed with soccer player. Soccer has always been an outlet for people to escape the troubles of their daily life but this time around soccer is directly harmed.
The famous Liverpool manager had a quote: "Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I assure you, it's much more serious than that."
Well yesterday's incident should change that perception.
Will the tournament still go on? How will this effect the security question regarding the World Cup in South Africa?
The famous Liverpool manager had a quote: "Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I assure you, it's much more serious than that."
Well yesterday's incident should change that perception.
Will the tournament still go on? How will this effect the security question regarding the World Cup in South Africa?
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Best Films of 2009
I saw plenty of excellent films in 2009 and I cannot restrict my list to 10 or even 20 films. My short list has 57 titles that I enjoyed in varying aspects so I have decided to break things up into three categories to reflect a subjective ordering -- Gold (Favourites), Silver (Honorable Mention), Bronze (Worthy viewing). All the films in each category are listed in order of viewing and are 2009 released films or older films that only saw the light of day in my city this year (such as Zidane and Wendy and Lucy).
Zidane (France, Douglas Gordon/Philippe Parreno)
Wendy and Lucy (USA, Kelly Reichardt)
Birdsong (Spain, Albert Serra)
Call If You Need Me (Malaysia, James Lee)
Buick Riviera (Croatia, Goran Rusinovic)
Be Calm and Count to Seven (Iran, Ramtin Lavafipour)
Border (Armenia/Holland, Harutyun Khachatryan)
Everyone Else (Germany, Maren Ade)
Milk (Turkey, Semih Kaplanoglu)
Karaoke (Malaysia, Chris Chong Chan Fui)
Ain’t No Tomorrows (Japan, Yuki Tanada)
The Storm (Turkey, Kazim Öz)
The Hurt Locker (USA, Kathryn Bigelow)
District 9 (South Africa/New Zealand, Neill Blomkamp)
Katalin Varga (Romania co-production, Peter Strickland)
Police, Adjective (Romania, Corneliu Porumboiu)
The Happiest Girl in the World (Romania co-production, Radu Jude)
I Killed My Mother (Canada, Xavier Dolan)
Breathless (South Korea, Yang Ik-June)
The Prophet (France, Jacques Audiard)
The Class (France, Laurent Cantet)
In the Loop (UK, Armando Iannucci)
The Limits of Control (USA, Jim Jarmusch)
The International (USA/Germany/UK, Tom Tykwer)
Che, part two (USA, Steven Soderbergh)
The Blessing (Denmark, Heidi Maria Faisst)
Can go Through Skin (Holland, Esther Rots)
My Only Sunshine (Turkey co-production, Reha Erdem)
This Longing (Malaysia, Azharr Rudin)
Fujian Blue (China, Weng Shou Ming)
Lulu & Jimi (Germany/France, Oskar Roehler)
Daytime Drinking (Korea, Young-Seok Noh)
Vacation (Japan, Hajime Kadoi)
Independencia (Philippines, Raya Martin)
Mid-August Lunch (Italy, Gianni Di Gregorio)
Still Walking (Japan, Hirokazu Koreeda)
Fish Eyes (Korea/China, Zheng Wei)
Rough Cut (Korea, Hun Jang)
Revache (Austria, Goetz Spielmann)
Wrong Rosary (Turkey, Mahmut Fazil Coskun)
Man on Wire (UK/USA, James Marsh)
Firaaq (India, Nandita Das)
The Damned United (UK/USA, Tom Hooper)
35 Shots of Rum (France, Claire Denis)
Dev D (India, Anurag Kashyup)
Gulaal (India, Anurag Kashyup)
Pontypool (Canada, Bruce McDonald)
Guidance (Sweden, Johan Jonason)
Amreeka (USA/Canada, Cherien Dabis)
Genova (UK, Michael Winterbottom)
Mary and Max (Australia, Adam Elliot)
Public Enemies (USA, Michael Mann)
The White Ribbon (Germany co-production, Michael Haneke)
The Last Lullaby (USA, Jeffrey Goodman)
Cooking History (Slovakia co-production, Peter Kerekes)
Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis (France, Dany Boon)
Tulpan (Kazakhstan co-production,Sergei Dvortsevoy)
Gold -- 23 titles
Zidane (France, Douglas Gordon/Philippe Parreno)
Wendy and Lucy (USA, Kelly Reichardt)
Birdsong (Spain, Albert Serra)
Call If You Need Me (Malaysia, James Lee)
Buick Riviera (Croatia, Goran Rusinovic)
Be Calm and Count to Seven (Iran, Ramtin Lavafipour)
Border (Armenia/Holland, Harutyun Khachatryan)
Everyone Else (Germany, Maren Ade)
Milk (Turkey, Semih Kaplanoglu)
Karaoke (Malaysia, Chris Chong Chan Fui)
Ain’t No Tomorrows (Japan, Yuki Tanada)
The Storm (Turkey, Kazim Öz)
The Hurt Locker (USA, Kathryn Bigelow)
District 9 (South Africa/New Zealand, Neill Blomkamp)
Katalin Varga (Romania co-production, Peter Strickland)
Police, Adjective (Romania, Corneliu Porumboiu)
The Happiest Girl in the World (Romania co-production, Radu Jude)
I Killed My Mother (Canada, Xavier Dolan)
Breathless (South Korea, Yang Ik-June)
The Prophet (France, Jacques Audiard)
The Class (France, Laurent Cantet)
In the Loop (UK, Armando Iannucci)
The Limits of Control (USA, Jim Jarmusch)
Silver -- 21 titles
The International (USA/Germany/UK, Tom Tykwer)
Che, part two (USA, Steven Soderbergh)
The Blessing (Denmark, Heidi Maria Faisst)
Can go Through Skin (Holland, Esther Rots)
My Only Sunshine (Turkey co-production, Reha Erdem)
This Longing (Malaysia, Azharr Rudin)
Fujian Blue (China, Weng Shou Ming)
Lulu & Jimi (Germany/France, Oskar Roehler)
Daytime Drinking (Korea, Young-Seok Noh)
Vacation (Japan, Hajime Kadoi)
Independencia (Philippines, Raya Martin)
Mid-August Lunch (Italy, Gianni Di Gregorio)
Still Walking (Japan, Hirokazu Koreeda)
Fish Eyes (Korea/China, Zheng Wei)
Rough Cut (Korea, Hun Jang)
Revache (Austria, Goetz Spielmann)
Wrong Rosary (Turkey, Mahmut Fazil Coskun)
Man on Wire (UK/USA, James Marsh)
Firaaq (India, Nandita Das)
The Damned United (UK/USA, Tom Hooper)
35 Shots of Rum (France, Claire Denis)
Bronze -- 13 titles
Dev D (India, Anurag Kashyup)
Gulaal (India, Anurag Kashyup)
Pontypool (Canada, Bruce McDonald)
Guidance (Sweden, Johan Jonason)
Amreeka (USA/Canada, Cherien Dabis)
Genova (UK, Michael Winterbottom)
Mary and Max (Australia, Adam Elliot)
Public Enemies (USA, Michael Mann)
The White Ribbon (Germany co-production, Michael Haneke)
The Last Lullaby (USA, Jeffrey Goodman)
Cooking History (Slovakia co-production, Peter Kerekes)
Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis (France, Dany Boon)
Tulpan (Kazakhstan co-production,Sergei Dvortsevoy)
2009: Overview
Another film watching year is in the books! My final total of 338 films seen in 2009 is lower than the 445 films seen in 2008 and 385 in 2007. However, the quality of films I saw in 2009 was much higher than that of the previous two years. With the exception of a few films (soon to be outlined in a best of 2009 post), a majority of the best films I saw in 2009 came courtesy of the film festival circuit, routed via Sundance, Rotterdam, Cannes and eventually landing in CIFF. For me, the importance of Film Festivals cannot be emphasized enough and going into a new decade film festivals continue to be the only venue for most of the cinephiles around the world to peer into the existing beautiful cinematic universe. This is because the multiplexes are dominated with the usual gimmicky Hollywood [insert Bollywood or other local commercial offering] works and as a result, non-commercial films struggle to be seen. The number of art house venues cannot possibly show every worthy foreign/independent work and distributors only have a limited budget to grab a majority of these titles for DVD releases. Thankfully there are plenty of online/print film magazines/blogs which shed a light on the relevant cinema that exists but their film write-ups are still limited to a few titles from a select few film festivals. The onus is still on the cinephile to chase down titles on their own and try to discover works that others have missed. The good think is that there is plenty of potential to find new cinematic gems. For example, I was alerted to the lineup of films at The International Film Festival of Kerala thanks to Brown Country. Not only have I not seen any of the 14 competition films, I have not heard/read about them anywhere. So there remains a huge chance to find real gems in that list. How many of these 14 films will make the rounds around the world, via film festivals or DVD? Very few. What about the rest? They will sadly disappear as it often happens every year where sometimes worthy works go unnoticed because an important distributor/critic/film programmer did not get a chance to see the film. The fate of the Indian films in the IFFK list is even more bleak. Atleast Harishchandra’s Factory will get a wider release by UTV in January 2010 but the others might be inaccessible not only to international audiences but even to the people of India.
The Real Game Changer -- availability, not format
There has been a lot of talk this year about the new possibilities regarding 3D cinema. The buzz words around 3D now even apply to TV as 3D-TV should be available sometime in 2010 (very pricey though) and in 2009, one could have seen some 3D episodes of some TV series (one episode of the amazing Chuck comes to mind). Sure the experience of watching a film in rich 3D is rewarding but that experience only applies to a limited Hollywood selection and those films would have been easily available anyway in 2D and DVD anyway. On the other hand, I think something that allows cinephiles access to films from around the world is the real game changer. The current film festival calendar is broken and the film distribution network is not adequate enough to get films shown to people. For example, Cannes takes place in May and people in North America have to wait until TIFF premiers a select few Cannes titles in September before other film festivals can then start to show those films over the next few months (or a year as the case maybe). Then it is a further 6-8 months before a few of those titles would make it out to the art house/independent screens the following summer. And then the DVD release of those films could take another 6-8 months, meaning almost 2 years could have passed since a film’s Cannes premier before the film makes it to DVD in North America. This timeline applies to the few select award winning/big name Cannes films whereas the DVD release of other Cannes films could take even longer or never happen in some cases. That is not acceptable, especially when in an age where people talk about the speed and efficiency of data.
There has to be a major rethink about how fast film festival titles are made accessible to people. Here are my two cents to speed the process up:
1) The major film festivals with a distribution network (such as Sundance, Rotterdam, Cannes) should also broadcast films over the internet on a pay per view basis.
2) The festivals should provide a method to upload films via satellite to designated film theaters around the world.
Neither idea seems far fetched but the internet option might be more doable and recently The Auteurs tried something out with the Sao Paulo film festival where people from around Brazil could watch a selection of works shown at the Sao Paulo festival. I just think this model should be extended to allow international audiences to view films from the major film festivals. One argument why such a model cannot be opened up for people around the world has to do with a film’s international rights. But if a film does not have an international distributor, then I think it is better if the film is seen rather than wait 2-3 years for a future release or worse have the film never see life outside of the festival circuit. Overall, both options would benefit everyone -- the festival could get some extra revenue, the filmmakers can get a bigger audience for their works, cinephiles can finally have choices of what they watch, various film programmers can quickly decide what films they want to book for their festivals or cinematheque and prospective distributors can assess films without flying around the world to the various film festivals.
Will anything change in 2010? I don’t think so but I do hope that things will be better so that people can access quality cinema a bit more easily.
Here’s wishing to a Happy New Year and more film watching :)
The Real Game Changer -- availability, not format
There has been a lot of talk this year about the new possibilities regarding 3D cinema. The buzz words around 3D now even apply to TV as 3D-TV should be available sometime in 2010 (very pricey though) and in 2009, one could have seen some 3D episodes of some TV series (one episode of the amazing Chuck comes to mind). Sure the experience of watching a film in rich 3D is rewarding but that experience only applies to a limited Hollywood selection and those films would have been easily available anyway in 2D and DVD anyway. On the other hand, I think something that allows cinephiles access to films from around the world is the real game changer. The current film festival calendar is broken and the film distribution network is not adequate enough to get films shown to people. For example, Cannes takes place in May and people in North America have to wait until TIFF premiers a select few Cannes titles in September before other film festivals can then start to show those films over the next few months (or a year as the case maybe). Then it is a further 6-8 months before a few of those titles would make it out to the art house/independent screens the following summer. And then the DVD release of those films could take another 6-8 months, meaning almost 2 years could have passed since a film’s Cannes premier before the film makes it to DVD in North America. This timeline applies to the few select award winning/big name Cannes films whereas the DVD release of other Cannes films could take even longer or never happen in some cases. That is not acceptable, especially when in an age where people talk about the speed and efficiency of data.
There has to be a major rethink about how fast film festival titles are made accessible to people. Here are my two cents to speed the process up:
1) The major film festivals with a distribution network (such as Sundance, Rotterdam, Cannes) should also broadcast films over the internet on a pay per view basis.
2) The festivals should provide a method to upload films via satellite to designated film theaters around the world.
Neither idea seems far fetched but the internet option might be more doable and recently The Auteurs tried something out with the Sao Paulo film festival where people from around Brazil could watch a selection of works shown at the Sao Paulo festival. I just think this model should be extended to allow international audiences to view films from the major film festivals. One argument why such a model cannot be opened up for people around the world has to do with a film’s international rights. But if a film does not have an international distributor, then I think it is better if the film is seen rather than wait 2-3 years for a future release or worse have the film never see life outside of the festival circuit. Overall, both options would benefit everyone -- the festival could get some extra revenue, the filmmakers can get a bigger audience for their works, cinephiles can finally have choices of what they watch, various film programmers can quickly decide what films they want to book for their festivals or cinematheque and prospective distributors can assess films without flying around the world to the various film festivals.
Will anything change in 2010? I don’t think so but I do hope that things will be better so that people can access quality cinema a bit more easily.
Here’s wishing to a Happy New Year and more film watching :)
Sunday, December 27, 2009
The Ethical Red Button
The Box (2009, USA, Richard Kelly): 8/10
When I was a young kid, I remember staying up late to watch episodes of the Twilight Zone. I have forgotten most of the episodes but the episode based on the "Button, Button" short story stayed with me. The episode ended on a chilling note and I can still remember the ethical dilemma the couple faced while sitting in front of a simple box with a button in the center. When I first heard about Richard Kelly’s film adaptation, I was intrigued about how this short story could be extended into a feature. Given Richard Kelly’s previous two features, I had a feeling that The Box would certainly be fresh and innovative. Sure enough, I was not let down as The Box is indeed one of the most though provoking films to come out of the normally stale and cliched Hollywood film industry.
**** Some spoilers ****
The short story ended with the idea that the young couple could die next when the box would be given to someone the couple didn’t know. The feature picks on up this idea and shows that the box follows a closed loop where death will next take place in the household that last pressed the button. Since there are multiple such boxes doing the rounds in America, a scenario is setup where various paths of life/death will be made. On a macro level, the boxes also seem to serve as an elaborate game theory model where pressing a button also triggers codes for a possible global game of destruction. The game theory angle is never mentioned but can be inferred at the continuously changing world map listing the various US combat command centers around the world. Does the map change everytime someone presses the button? Possibly, because in one instance the deliverer of the box, Arlington Steward (Frank Langella), mentions the game will stop when enough people decide to not press the button. The game theory angle could have been the perfect explanation for the film had there not been the additional layers of an alien invasion, government conspiracy and religious implications thrown in the mix. Not to mention the mind control element and portals used to give people a glimpse of the after life or to transfer them from one location to another. I am unable to find a unified theory to explain everything in the movie but that did not diminish my enjoyment of the film. Two other films came to mind while watching The Box -- David Twohy’s 1996 feature The Arrival regarding the radio communication with aliens and the ending of John Carpenter’s 1987 feature Prince of Darkness. The ending of Prince of Darkness showed that someone from the future was sending messages at a frequency which was picked up by the people in the church only in their dreams, meaning only when the people fell asleep were they able to get the same dream, which turned out to be an encoded message. In The Box, people’s mind is controlled via a frequency which renders them into zombies and in turn transmits the images they see back to a central source.
The Box requires an investment from the audience to think ahead and to piece things together. Given the poor reviews the film has received, it is clear that most people were not willing to invest their time in this film and slammed it. The same reaction was given to Cameron Crowe’s Vanilla Sky, a film which was much less complicated than The Box and even to Anurag Kashyap’s No Smoking, a film which was jam packed with intelligent ideas. If The Box was instead an animated film, then some people might have accepted what they saw on screen. I can’t remember many people complaining too much about how an elderly man could spend a single night to blow up enough helium filled balloons to uproot his house in Up. No one seemed to further question how a young boy could then navigate this flying house in the movie correctly to South America with just a compass? A cartoon allows one to easily digest any deviation from reality whereas a flesh and blood feature allows very little room for imagination. Richard Kelly’s Donnie Darko became a cult hit on video and DVD and I certainly hope The Box does find an audience on DVD. While the film may not be on the same level as Donnie Darko, The Box certainly needs to be seen and not dismissed lightly.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Champions League, Round of 16
A fascinating round of 16 draw for the Champions League was made on Friday, Dec 18:
The words emotional rivalry come to mind regarding the Inter vs Chelsea match-up. Jose Mourinho was a favourite of the Chelsea players and fans and it was because of Jose that Chelsea finally won the league title after a gap of 50 years. So his return to Stamford Bridge will certainly be an interesting event and another fascinating element to this tie is that Jose's opponent will be Carlo Ancelotti, the once successful player and manager of AC Milan, Inter's bitter rivals.
Milan lock horns with Man Utd again and it will be interesting to see if David Beckham will lineup against Man Utd. If everyone at Man Utd is fit, then they should progress against Milan but if Milan spend wisely in the January transfer window, then they might provide Man Utd a challenge.
It seems no Champions League season would be complete if Porto didn't face either Chelsea or Arsenal. This time since Porto already met Chelsea in the group stages, it is appropriate that they face Arsenal in the two legged affair. Arsenal will struggle as usual in their away trip to Portugal similar to their last two visits to Porto (a 2-0 loss and a 0-0 tie). However, Arsenal's last two home results against Porto were 4-0 and 2-0 wins. Given Arsenal's injury problems, it is hard to know what shape the Arsenal team will be in February. If Arsenal are to progress, then they will need an away goal in Portugal and have to keep a clean sheet at home. For Porto, a 1-0 win at home will be more than enough as they are capable of grinding out a 0-0 or 1-1 result in London.
What to make of Lyon vs Madrid? Once upon a time, Lyon thrashed Madrid 3-0 and 2-0 in back to back seasons (2006, 2007) and managed 1-1, 2-2 ties in their away results. Ofcourse, those were seasons that Lyon should have won the Champions League but for one reason or another, Lyon always struggled in the knock out round. Along with Arsenal, Lyon are the other European team that has had enough talent to merit a Champions League title but the European Cup is not won on the strength of a squad on a piece of paper. Lyon's best years in the Champions League appear to be a distant memory and it is hard to see this squad avoid getting brushed aside by Madrid.
Barca should be able to see off Stuttgart comfortably while the CSKA Moscow vs Sevilla game should be an open tie that sees two former UEFA Cup Champions lock horns. Bayern should progress against Fiorentina but sometimes with the German side it is better to flip a coin instead as it is hard to know which team will show up. Also, it is uncertain if Luca Toni will get to face his former team. Olympiacos vs Bordeaux gives the French Champions an excellent chance to progress while Zico's team have to win their home leg in Greece if they are to have any chance of upsetting Bordeaux.
The two big game changing variables between now and February would be if any of the 16 teams strengthen their squads in January and whether any of the team's African stars come back injured from the African Cup of Nations.
Still, some mouth-watering ties await.
Lyon vs Real Madrid
AC Milan vs Manchester United
FC Porto vs Arsenal
Bayern Munich vs Fiorentina
VfB Stuttgart vs FC Barcelona
Olympiacos vs Bordeaux
Inter Milan vs Chelsea
CSKA Moscow vs Sevilla
The words emotional rivalry come to mind regarding the Inter vs Chelsea match-up. Jose Mourinho was a favourite of the Chelsea players and fans and it was because of Jose that Chelsea finally won the league title after a gap of 50 years. So his return to Stamford Bridge will certainly be an interesting event and another fascinating element to this tie is that Jose's opponent will be Carlo Ancelotti, the once successful player and manager of AC Milan, Inter's bitter rivals.
Milan lock horns with Man Utd again and it will be interesting to see if David Beckham will lineup against Man Utd. If everyone at Man Utd is fit, then they should progress against Milan but if Milan spend wisely in the January transfer window, then they might provide Man Utd a challenge.
It seems no Champions League season would be complete if Porto didn't face either Chelsea or Arsenal. This time since Porto already met Chelsea in the group stages, it is appropriate that they face Arsenal in the two legged affair. Arsenal will struggle as usual in their away trip to Portugal similar to their last two visits to Porto (a 2-0 loss and a 0-0 tie). However, Arsenal's last two home results against Porto were 4-0 and 2-0 wins. Given Arsenal's injury problems, it is hard to know what shape the Arsenal team will be in February. If Arsenal are to progress, then they will need an away goal in Portugal and have to keep a clean sheet at home. For Porto, a 1-0 win at home will be more than enough as they are capable of grinding out a 0-0 or 1-1 result in London.
What to make of Lyon vs Madrid? Once upon a time, Lyon thrashed Madrid 3-0 and 2-0 in back to back seasons (2006, 2007) and managed 1-1, 2-2 ties in their away results. Ofcourse, those were seasons that Lyon should have won the Champions League but for one reason or another, Lyon always struggled in the knock out round. Along with Arsenal, Lyon are the other European team that has had enough talent to merit a Champions League title but the European Cup is not won on the strength of a squad on a piece of paper. Lyon's best years in the Champions League appear to be a distant memory and it is hard to see this squad avoid getting brushed aside by Madrid.
Barca should be able to see off Stuttgart comfortably while the CSKA Moscow vs Sevilla game should be an open tie that sees two former UEFA Cup Champions lock horns. Bayern should progress against Fiorentina but sometimes with the German side it is better to flip a coin instead as it is hard to know which team will show up. Also, it is uncertain if Luca Toni will get to face his former team. Olympiacos vs Bordeaux gives the French Champions an excellent chance to progress while Zico's team have to win their home leg in Greece if they are to have any chance of upsetting Bordeaux.
The two big game changing variables between now and February would be if any of the 16 teams strengthen their squads in January and whether any of the team's African stars come back injured from the African Cup of Nations.
Still, some mouth-watering ties await.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Pedro Costa, finally....
Criterion has finally announced the date for the Pedro Costa Box Set: March 30, 2010.
So that means my 3.5+ year search for Costa's films can finally end.
2006: The search started around the same time that Mark Peranson asked his Cinema Scope readers to "Vote for Pedro", Costa that is.
2007: The Pedro Costa film series traveled through North America but only touched down in two Canadian Cities (Toronto & Vancouver). I had planned on going to the Vancouver one but the plan fell through.
2008: Cinema Scope announced that they would give away copies of Costa's Colossal Youth for new and existing subscribers. Unfortunately, nothing come of that.
2009: Rumours of Criterion releasing Costa's films began to surface. Then a glimmer of hope arrived courtesy of Second Run DVD in the UK who released Costa's first feature O Sangue in the fall. Shortly after, Criterion announced that Costa's Fontainhas trilogy would be released in "Early 2010".
And now, there is a date. Finally!!!!!!!
This also means that I can finally choose a Costa film to represent Portugal in my 2010 Movie World Cup. Although, if I had this information a few weeks ago, I surely would have had a more involved dialogue with my mystery caller, whose identity still lurks in the shadows.
So that means my 3.5+ year search for Costa's films can finally end.
2006: The search started around the same time that Mark Peranson asked his Cinema Scope readers to "Vote for Pedro", Costa that is.
2007: The Pedro Costa film series traveled through North America but only touched down in two Canadian Cities (Toronto & Vancouver). I had planned on going to the Vancouver one but the plan fell through.
2008: Cinema Scope announced that they would give away copies of Costa's Colossal Youth for new and existing subscribers. Unfortunately, nothing come of that.
2009: Rumours of Criterion releasing Costa's films began to surface. Then a glimmer of hope arrived courtesy of Second Run DVD in the UK who released Costa's first feature O Sangue in the fall. Shortly after, Criterion announced that Costa's Fontainhas trilogy would be released in "Early 2010".
And now, there is a date. Finally!!!!!!!
This also means that I can finally choose a Costa film to represent Portugal in my 2010 Movie World Cup. Although, if I had this information a few weeks ago, I surely would have had a more involved dialogue with my mystery caller, whose identity still lurks in the shadows.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Follow the silence...
Back in 1999, on a rainy sunday night, I got my first text message on a cellphone. The cellphones back then were a lot bulkier than the current models and on this particular night, that large cellphone stood motionless on my coffee table until the arrival of that text message. The sudden vibration of the cellphone disturbed the quietness in the room and the words of that first ever text message simply read:
“Follow the white rabbit”.
Ha. It was obviously a joke by a friend who knew I had recently seen The Matrix. Since there was no phone number associated with the message, I had to resort to a guessing game of sorts. As the days went by, I could not find any trace of this mystery person. Eventually, a few weeks later it turned out to be someone unexpected who sent the message from the cellphone company’s internet page.
Now almost a decade later, another mysterious person got in touch with me. The phone number was unlisted when I picked up the phone.
Silence.
“Hello”
Silence.
I said hello once again and was about to hang up when I heard some static on the other end of the line. Then finally a voice.
“I have what you want.”
“Hello..who is this?”
“It does not matter. I have the Costa.”
“Sorry, I am not sure what you mean. Who are you?”
“You wanted to see the Pedro Costa films? Well I have them, all of them.”
By now, I was going through the short list of people who knew about my desire to trace down Pedro Costa’s films.
“Yes. I want to see them,”
“Good. Meet me at.....”
“How will I recognize you?”
“You don’t have to. I will approach you.”
I was certain this was a new prank from of my friends. So I went along.
However, I could not make it out to the location on the specified date & time. I tried but the icy roads coupled with the snow storm in the city made it almost impossible for me to make it. I was stuck in traffic for 1.5 hours and after seeing a dozen accidents on the roads, I decided it would be safer for me to head back home. The next day, after making a few inquiries, I could not get any verification about this mystery person.
Two weeks have now gone by. The weather is still brutally cold and more importantly, I have still not heard back from this mysterious person again.
For the record, I have already seen three Pedro Costa films -- Casa de Lava, Where Does your Hidden Smile Lie? & O Sangue. I am waiting for Criterion’s Fontainhas Trilogy due in 2010 which will check off three more Costa features off my list. So I am not that worried about missing that date with the mysterious person.
On the other hand, mystery person, if you are reading this, I would really appreciate it if you could dig up a film from North Korea, Honduras, Slovakia (Czech Republic will not do), Slovenia (besides Spare Parts which I have seen and love), Ghana and Nigeria.
“Follow the white rabbit”.
Ha. It was obviously a joke by a friend who knew I had recently seen The Matrix. Since there was no phone number associated with the message, I had to resort to a guessing game of sorts. As the days went by, I could not find any trace of this mystery person. Eventually, a few weeks later it turned out to be someone unexpected who sent the message from the cellphone company’s internet page.
Now almost a decade later, another mysterious person got in touch with me. The phone number was unlisted when I picked up the phone.
Silence.
“Hello”
Silence.
I said hello once again and was about to hang up when I heard some static on the other end of the line. Then finally a voice.
“I have what you want.”
“Hello..who is this?”
“It does not matter. I have the Costa.”
“Sorry, I am not sure what you mean. Who are you?”
“You wanted to see the Pedro Costa films? Well I have them, all of them.”
By now, I was going through the short list of people who knew about my desire to trace down Pedro Costa’s films.
“Yes. I want to see them,”
“Good. Meet me at.....”
“How will I recognize you?”
“You don’t have to. I will approach you.”
I was certain this was a new prank from of my friends. So I went along.
However, I could not make it out to the location on the specified date & time. I tried but the icy roads coupled with the snow storm in the city made it almost impossible for me to make it. I was stuck in traffic for 1.5 hours and after seeing a dozen accidents on the roads, I decided it would be safer for me to head back home. The next day, after making a few inquiries, I could not get any verification about this mystery person.
Two weeks have now gone by. The weather is still brutally cold and more importantly, I have still not heard back from this mysterious person again.
For the record, I have already seen three Pedro Costa films -- Casa de Lava, Where Does your Hidden Smile Lie? & O Sangue. I am waiting for Criterion’s Fontainhas Trilogy due in 2010 which will check off three more Costa features off my list. So I am not that worried about missing that date with the mysterious person.
On the other hand, mystery person, if you are reading this, I would really appreciate it if you could dig up a film from North Korea, Honduras, Slovakia (Czech Republic will not do), Slovenia (besides Spare Parts which I have seen and love), Ghana and Nigeria.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Spotlight on Iran
When it comes to Iranian cinema, the names of Abbas Kiarostami and Mohsen Makhmalbaf loom large. However, there are many more names which have captured the attention of festival audiences over the last decade such as Jafar Panahi, Majid Majidi and Bahman Ghobadi. I recently realized that all the Iranian films I had seen were post 1990, even though there are many worthy cinematic works available pre-1990. This was a similar situation to the one I found myself in last year with regards to South Korean cinema when I had not seen anything from South Korea prior to 1990. I was able to rectify the pre-1990 South Korean cinema gap this year thanks to the Auteurs availability of Kim Ki-young’s Housemaid. So it was time to throw the net out and grab some pre-1990 Iranian films along with other works. In that regard, I came up with the following list of 10 films for a spotlight:
The Cow (1969, Dariush Mehrjui)
The Cyclist (1987, Mohsen Makhmalbaf)
The Suitors (1989, Ghasem Ebrahimian)
Close-up (1990, Abbas Kiarostami)
Gabbeh (1996, Mohsen Makhmalbaf)
The Mirror (1997, Jafar Panahi)
The Pear Tree (1998, Dariush Mehrjui)
Delbaran (2001, Abolfazl Jalili)
The Fish Fall in Love (2005, Ali Raffi)
It’s Winter (2006, Rafi Pitts)
All the films were engaging but if I had to pick out one favourite, it would have to be Rafi Pitts beautiful It’s Winter. The shots of a character against the snowy background in It’s Winter did not remind me of any Iranian film I had seen but made me think of Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s fascinating Distant.
One interesting aspect about The Fish Fall in Love is that the camera lovingly lingers a big longer on the food, be it stuffed fish, rice or kebabs. I cannot remember seeing food being the focus in any other Iranian film so it was nice to see how the restaurant scenes were incorporated around the framework of two love stories.
The Cow (1969, Dariush Mehrjui)
The Cyclist (1987, Mohsen Makhmalbaf)
The Suitors (1989, Ghasem Ebrahimian)
Close-up (1990, Abbas Kiarostami)
Gabbeh (1996, Mohsen Makhmalbaf)
The Mirror (1997, Jafar Panahi)
The Pear Tree (1998, Dariush Mehrjui)
Delbaran (2001, Abolfazl Jalili)
The Fish Fall in Love (2005, Ali Raffi)
It’s Winter (2006, Rafi Pitts)
All the films were engaging but if I had to pick out one favourite, it would have to be Rafi Pitts beautiful It’s Winter. The shots of a character against the snowy background in It’s Winter did not remind me of any Iranian film I had seen but made me think of Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s fascinating Distant.
One interesting aspect about The Fish Fall in Love is that the camera lovingly lingers a big longer on the food, be it stuffed fish, rice or kebabs. I cannot remember seeing food being the focus in any other Iranian film so it was nice to see how the restaurant scenes were incorporated around the framework of two love stories.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Clean Hands
So this week, the British government announced a tax on bankers bonuses. The bankers are not happy, ofcourse. After all, the bankers have worked hard to play with other people’s money and get rich. Why should the bankers be punished for others mistakes? It is not the bankers problem that the government lent billions of dollars to banks to bail them out. As far as the bankers are concerned, their hands are clean.
The entire financial problem is not the bankers fault but caused by the general public. Yup, it is the general public that have ruined things. How? By two ways:
1) Giving banks their money
2) Borrowing too much from banks
The public duly give their money to banks. Why? Because it is “better” than keeping it under a mattress. The banks turn around and give the people close to 0% interest on their deposited money (sorry, 0.01% is as good as zero). On top of that, banks charge people fees for accessing their own money. So what do the people do in return? Nothing!!! They still keep their money in the banks. Stupid people. The banks then have no choice but to take reckless risks with the people’s money. When the banks run into trouble, they do not have to worry because the government will rush in to save the day and use taxpayers money to keep the banks on their feet. Hooray!!
People are supposed to be smart about their money. If they go to a bank for a $100,000 loan and the bank in turn approves them for a $500,000 loan, the people should know better than to accept the money. Who is to blame here? These people for accepting the money or the banks for approving their loans? The people ofcourse!! The banks seriously do not have time to do proper checks on each person’s financial history and only lend the correct money to each person. If the banks did that, then they would be crushing these people’s “American dream”. The banks don’t want to be the bad guys but want to be liked by the people. Moreover, how can the bankers ever have time to treat each customer like an individual. For that, the bankers would have to..gasp...work atleast 8 hours a day. Seriously! How can bankers be expected to work 8 hours like those average miserable non-banker public. Yuck! Bankers should not have to come into work before 10 am and they have to leave by 4 pm.
The bankers hands are clean.
Yup.
They do not have to get their hands dirty by building a bridge or operating on a patient. No sir! A few clicks of the keyboard and playing with other people’s money is not a dirty job. It is the cleanest job there is.
Moreover, since when was it bad to make money? I mean, even Hollywood heaps praises on characters who are greedy such as Gordon Gekko (Wall Street) and Daniel Plainview (There Will be Blood). Does Hollywood ever give a trophy to a character who plays a slacker? Nope. Modern society has been built using loans and human progress has been fueled by money. So why is being greedy bad all of a sudden?
In a year or two, this “greed is bad” phase will pass. The banks are not going anywhere after all. Where else will people put their money? The bankers will always be rich and their hands will always be clean.
Noe: image from Francesco Rosi's brilliant film Le Mani sulla città (Hands on the City)
The entire financial problem is not the bankers fault but caused by the general public. Yup, it is the general public that have ruined things. How? By two ways:
1) Giving banks their money
2) Borrowing too much from banks
The public duly give their money to banks. Why? Because it is “better” than keeping it under a mattress. The banks turn around and give the people close to 0% interest on their deposited money (sorry, 0.01% is as good as zero). On top of that, banks charge people fees for accessing their own money. So what do the people do in return? Nothing!!! They still keep their money in the banks. Stupid people. The banks then have no choice but to take reckless risks with the people’s money. When the banks run into trouble, they do not have to worry because the government will rush in to save the day and use taxpayers money to keep the banks on their feet. Hooray!!
People are supposed to be smart about their money. If they go to a bank for a $100,000 loan and the bank in turn approves them for a $500,000 loan, the people should know better than to accept the money. Who is to blame here? These people for accepting the money or the banks for approving their loans? The people ofcourse!! The banks seriously do not have time to do proper checks on each person’s financial history and only lend the correct money to each person. If the banks did that, then they would be crushing these people’s “American dream”. The banks don’t want to be the bad guys but want to be liked by the people. Moreover, how can the bankers ever have time to treat each customer like an individual. For that, the bankers would have to..gasp...work atleast 8 hours a day. Seriously! How can bankers be expected to work 8 hours like those average miserable non-banker public. Yuck! Bankers should not have to come into work before 10 am and they have to leave by 4 pm.
The bankers hands are clean.
Yup.
They do not have to get their hands dirty by building a bridge or operating on a patient. No sir! A few clicks of the keyboard and playing with other people’s money is not a dirty job. It is the cleanest job there is.
Moreover, since when was it bad to make money? I mean, even Hollywood heaps praises on characters who are greedy such as Gordon Gekko (Wall Street) and Daniel Plainview (There Will be Blood). Does Hollywood ever give a trophy to a character who plays a slacker? Nope. Modern society has been built using loans and human progress has been fueled by money. So why is being greedy bad all of a sudden?
In a year or two, this “greed is bad” phase will pass. The banks are not going anywhere after all. Where else will people put their money? The bankers will always be rich and their hands will always be clean.
Noe: image from Francesco Rosi's brilliant film Le Mani sulla città (Hands on the City)
Friday, December 11, 2009
The Damned Job
The Damned United (2009, UK/USA, Tom Hooper): 9/10
Just a few of the things a modern soccer manager has to satisfy:
And even if all the above are met, there is still no guarantee that a soccer manager would be able to keep his job.
Case 1: A manager wins all the trophies by playing 1-0 negative football and the owners/board of directors are happy with all the trophies.
However, if some sections of the fans and media are not happy with the negative football and they have a huge say in the club’s operations, then the manager would not be in the job too long.
Case 2: A manager ensures his team plays the most beautiful football but fails to win many trophies.
Some fans would be happy but others would want the manager to be fired. However, if the board of directors are satisfied, then the manager would survive.
Case 3: A manager wins trophies by playing beautiful football but does not get along with the board of directors.
In this case, the manager would not last long in the job. The example of Real Madrid comes to mind because at Madrid, the board of directors are never shy to fire a manager days after he had landed a major trophy. Heck, at Madrid, they are known to fire managers even when the team is top of the league and in an excellent position to win the title (example, the 1991-92 season).
Until this year, if one had to understand a soccer manager’s tough position, then one could only piece things together by reading multiple books, newspaper/magazine articles and watching the odd tv interview. But with the release of The Damned United fans of the game finally have a film that gives a glimpse into the multiple pulls that a soccer manager has to withstand in his day to day job. Even if one is not a soccer fan, then there is still plenty to enjoy in this accessible and polished film that mixes the real life case of Brian Clough’s turbulent 44 days of employment at Leeds United with a sprinkling of fiction.
Wednesday, December 09, 2009
Gossip + Misinformation = Information
In the Loop (2009, UK, Armando Iannucci): 10/10
Journalists only run stories they have verified from multiple sources.
Governments make decisions based on concrete evidence.
Ha!
The last few years have shown that gossip combined with misinformation tactics, used to great effect in the Cold War era, have rewritten the rules on how stories are published and how high level decisions are made. The hazy “truth” is complicated by the fact that there are now several 24 hour news channels who have to fill their air time by pointless analysis. For example, if a president coughs at a global meeting, numerous pundits are wheeled in to analyze the ramifications of that cough. The following morning, newspapers run the same stories about how the cough showed weakness and could signal the downfall of the president.
Armando Iannucci’s witty and hilarious In the Loop may be officially called fiction but no one seeing the film can fail to draw the connections with a certain invasion back in 2003. To Iannucci’s credit, the film does not really have any bad guys but portrays people trying to do their jobs. Ofcourse, there are some people who are better at their jobs than others, there are some who crack under pressure and some who are looking to advance their careers. Watching all these people collide with one another makes for a fascinating cinematic experience.
Journalists only run stories they have verified from multiple sources.
Governments make decisions based on concrete evidence.
Ha!
The last few years have shown that gossip combined with misinformation tactics, used to great effect in the Cold War era, have rewritten the rules on how stories are published and how high level decisions are made. The hazy “truth” is complicated by the fact that there are now several 24 hour news channels who have to fill their air time by pointless analysis. For example, if a president coughs at a global meeting, numerous pundits are wheeled in to analyze the ramifications of that cough. The following morning, newspapers run the same stories about how the cough showed weakness and could signal the downfall of the president.
Armando Iannucci’s witty and hilarious In the Loop may be officially called fiction but no one seeing the film can fail to draw the connections with a certain invasion back in 2003. To Iannucci’s credit, the film does not really have any bad guys but portrays people trying to do their jobs. Ofcourse, there are some people who are better at their jobs than others, there are some who crack under pressure and some who are looking to advance their careers. Watching all these people collide with one another makes for a fascinating cinematic experience.
Friday, December 04, 2009
2010 World Cup Draw
So the countdown to the 2010 World Cup can now officially start after today’s draw.
Group A: South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay, France
Group B: Argentina, Nigeria, Korea Republic, Greece
Group C: England, USA, Algeria, Slovenia
Group D: Germany, Australia, Serbia, Ghana
Group E: Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, Cameroon
Group F: Italy, Paraguay, New Zealand, Slovakia
Group G: Brazil, Korea DPR, Côte d'Ivoire, Portugal
Group H: Spain, Switzerland, Honduras, Chile
The hosts, South Africa, are probably not thrilled as all the other teams in their group are stronger than them. On paper, Mexico, Uruguay and France are all better than South Africa but the home support might give the South Africans a boost. Also, the French team has a 50% chance of crashing out because their coach is still Raymond Domenech.
Group C appears to be a joke with all 4 teams probably glad that they got each other. England may be delighted but Algeria, USA and Slovenia are also probably thrilled that they avoided some of the bigger teams.
Group H is too easy for Spain while Argentina and Italy won’t be too worried. Brazil on the other hand will have their hands full with Ivory Coast and Portugal. The Ivory Coast have once again gotten a tough group after they were paired with Holland, Serbia and Argentina back in 2006.
The Dutch have a decent group with Denmark, Japan and Cameroon while the Germans will get an average test with Serbia, Ghana and Australia.
Overall, with the exception of Algeria, all the other African teams have gotten some tough assignments. Also, excluding Group G, this is a very light weight draw which means that the best games will only take place once the group stages are decided.
Group A: South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay, France
Group B: Argentina, Nigeria, Korea Republic, Greece
Group C: England, USA, Algeria, Slovenia
Group D: Germany, Australia, Serbia, Ghana
Group E: Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, Cameroon
Group F: Italy, Paraguay, New Zealand, Slovakia
Group G: Brazil, Korea DPR, Côte d'Ivoire, Portugal
Group H: Spain, Switzerland, Honduras, Chile
The hosts, South Africa, are probably not thrilled as all the other teams in their group are stronger than them. On paper, Mexico, Uruguay and France are all better than South Africa but the home support might give the South Africans a boost. Also, the French team has a 50% chance of crashing out because their coach is still Raymond Domenech.
Group C appears to be a joke with all 4 teams probably glad that they got each other. England may be delighted but Algeria, USA and Slovenia are also probably thrilled that they avoided some of the bigger teams.
Group H is too easy for Spain while Argentina and Italy won’t be too worried. Brazil on the other hand will have their hands full with Ivory Coast and Portugal. The Ivory Coast have once again gotten a tough group after they were paired with Holland, Serbia and Argentina back in 2006.
The Dutch have a decent group with Denmark, Japan and Cameroon while the Germans will get an average test with Serbia, Ghana and Australia.
Overall, with the exception of Algeria, all the other African teams have gotten some tough assignments. Also, excluding Group G, this is a very light weight draw which means that the best games will only take place once the group stages are decided.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Man sitting on a chair looks at a goat....
One can now easily find copies of Jon Ronson’s book The Men Who Stare At Goats in Canadian bookstores but that was not the case 4 years ago. In 2005, there was no movie deal and the book was largely unknown in North America. I had not heard of the book when I first came across it in a London bookstore. I found the title amusing and picked up the book. After reading a few pages, I was still not sure what to make of it but I decided to take a chance on it. It turned out to be money well spent as Jon Ronson’s book was a quick and delightful read. Ofcourse, the most surprizing aspect about the book was that it was supposed to be true. The topic of psychic soldiers was something one would have found in The X-Files or things that one believed would take place in Area 51 but here was a book giving names and details. Hmmm.
Another jaw dropping aspect about the book were the segments which were tied to the Iraq war, such as using the "I love You" Barney song as a torture technique. As part of this method, the Iraqi prisoners were locked away in a shipping container and strobe lights were used in conjunction with the words of the purple dinosaur repeated over a period of 24 hours. Jon Ronson’s book was the first account I had read about such a torture technique but in the last few years other sources (books, newspaper articles) have talked about this and other torture methods meant to break prisoners.
I still have to see the movie but going by the trailers it looks to have ensured maximum humour by incorporating some of these bizarre and strange aspects from the book. Going back to the title, it is about a master sergeant who stopped a goat’s heart from beating just by concentrating. When I mentioned this to a friend, he referred me to the following video about fainting goats.
Now, this video does raise an interesting question. Was the original goat in the book a fainting one? Did that goat fake death? Or maybe the goat dropped dead out of boredom? Ofcourse, all it took was one dead goat for a legend to be born :)
Here are some quotes from the book:
Glenn leant forward in his chair. 'You've gone from the front door to the back door. How many chairs are in my house?'
There was a silence.
'You probably can't tell me how many chairs are in my house,' said Glenn.
I started to look around.
'A super soldier wouldn't need to look,' he said. 'He would just know.'
'A super soldier?' I asked.
'A super soldier,' said Glenn. 'A Jedi Warrior. He would know where all the lights are. He would know where all the power outlets are. Most people are poor observers. They haven't got a clue about what's really happening around them.'
'What's a Jedi Warrior?' I asked.
'You're looking at one,' said Glenn.
In the mid-1980s, he told me, Special Forces undertook a secret initiative, codenamed Project Jedi, to create super soldiers - soldiers with super powers. One such power was the ability to walk into a room and instantly be aware of every detail; that was level one.
'What was the level about that?' I asked.
'Level two,' he said. 'Intuition. Is there some way we can develop you so you make correct decisions? Somebody runs up to you and says, "There's a fork in the road. Do we turn left or do we turn right?" And you go' -Glenn snapped his fingers - 'We go right!"'
'What was the level about that?' I asked.
'Invisibility,' said Glenn.
'Actual invisibility', I asked.
'At first,' said Glenn. 'But after a while we adapted it to just finding a way of not being seen.'
'In what way?' I asked.
'By understanding the linkage between observation and reality, you learn to dance with invisibility,' said Glenn. 'If you're not observed, you are invisible. You only exist if someone sees you.'
'So, like camouflage?' I asked.
'No,' signed Glenn.
'How good are you at invisibility?' I asked.
'Well,' said Glenn, 'I've got red hair and blue eyes, so people tend to remember me. But I get by. I'm alive today.'
'What was the level about invisibility?' I asked.
'Uh,' said Glenn. He paused for a moment. Then he said, 'We had a master sergeant who could stop the heart of a goat.'
There was a silence. Glenn raised an eyebrow.
'Just by...'I said.
'Just by wanting the goat's heart to stop,' said Glenn.
Quotes from Pages 14-15, 2004 Picador edition.
'A Warrior Monk,' said Jim, 'is someone who has the presence of a monk, the service and the dedication of the monk and the absolute skill and precision of the warrior.'
Quote from Page 44, 2004 Picador edition.
"The Bucha Effect"
It all began in the 1950s, Sid told me, when helicopters started falling out of the sky, just crashing for no apparent reason, and the pilots who survived couldn't explain it. They had just been flying around as normal and then suddenly they felt nauseous and dizzy and debilitated and they lost control of their helicopters and they went down.
So a Dr Bucha was called in to solve the mystery.
'What Dr Bucha found,' said Sid, 'was that the rotor-blades were strobing the sunlight and when it reached the approximation of human brainwave frequence it was interfering with the brain's ability to send correct information to the rest of the body.'
As a result of Dr Bucha's findings, new safety measures were introduced, such as tinted glass and helmet visors and so on.
'Believe me,' said Sid Heal, 'there are easier ways of doing sleep deprivation than going to all those great lengths. Barney music? Flashing lights? Sleep deprivation may be a part of it, but it's got to have some deeper hidden effect. My guess is that this is the Bucha effect. My guess is that they're going for the amygdala.'
Quotes from Pages 157-158, 2004 Picador edition.
Another jaw dropping aspect about the book were the segments which were tied to the Iraq war, such as using the "I love You" Barney song as a torture technique. As part of this method, the Iraqi prisoners were locked away in a shipping container and strobe lights were used in conjunction with the words of the purple dinosaur repeated over a period of 24 hours. Jon Ronson’s book was the first account I had read about such a torture technique but in the last few years other sources (books, newspaper articles) have talked about this and other torture methods meant to break prisoners.
I still have to see the movie but going by the trailers it looks to have ensured maximum humour by incorporating some of these bizarre and strange aspects from the book. Going back to the title, it is about a master sergeant who stopped a goat’s heart from beating just by concentrating. When I mentioned this to a friend, he referred me to the following video about fainting goats.
Now, this video does raise an interesting question. Was the original goat in the book a fainting one? Did that goat fake death? Or maybe the goat dropped dead out of boredom? Ofcourse, all it took was one dead goat for a legend to be born :)
Here are some quotes from the book:
Glenn leant forward in his chair. 'You've gone from the front door to the back door. How many chairs are in my house?'
There was a silence.
'You probably can't tell me how many chairs are in my house,' said Glenn.
I started to look around.
'A super soldier wouldn't need to look,' he said. 'He would just know.'
'A super soldier?' I asked.
'A super soldier,' said Glenn. 'A Jedi Warrior. He would know where all the lights are. He would know where all the power outlets are. Most people are poor observers. They haven't got a clue about what's really happening around them.'
'What's a Jedi Warrior?' I asked.
'You're looking at one,' said Glenn.
In the mid-1980s, he told me, Special Forces undertook a secret initiative, codenamed Project Jedi, to create super soldiers - soldiers with super powers. One such power was the ability to walk into a room and instantly be aware of every detail; that was level one.
'What was the level about that?' I asked.
'Level two,' he said. 'Intuition. Is there some way we can develop you so you make correct decisions? Somebody runs up to you and says, "There's a fork in the road. Do we turn left or do we turn right?" And you go' -Glenn snapped his fingers - 'We go right!"'
'What was the level about that?' I asked.
'Invisibility,' said Glenn.
'Actual invisibility', I asked.
'At first,' said Glenn. 'But after a while we adapted it to just finding a way of not being seen.'
'In what way?' I asked.
'By understanding the linkage between observation and reality, you learn to dance with invisibility,' said Glenn. 'If you're not observed, you are invisible. You only exist if someone sees you.'
'So, like camouflage?' I asked.
'No,' signed Glenn.
'How good are you at invisibility?' I asked.
'Well,' said Glenn, 'I've got red hair and blue eyes, so people tend to remember me. But I get by. I'm alive today.'
'What was the level about invisibility?' I asked.
'Uh,' said Glenn. He paused for a moment. Then he said, 'We had a master sergeant who could stop the heart of a goat.'
There was a silence. Glenn raised an eyebrow.
'Just by...'I said.
'Just by wanting the goat's heart to stop,' said Glenn.
Quotes from Pages 14-15, 2004 Picador edition.
'A Warrior Monk,' said Jim, 'is someone who has the presence of a monk, the service and the dedication of the monk and the absolute skill and precision of the warrior.'
Quote from Page 44, 2004 Picador edition.
"The Bucha Effect"
It all began in the 1950s, Sid told me, when helicopters started falling out of the sky, just crashing for no apparent reason, and the pilots who survived couldn't explain it. They had just been flying around as normal and then suddenly they felt nauseous and dizzy and debilitated and they lost control of their helicopters and they went down.
So a Dr Bucha was called in to solve the mystery.
'What Dr Bucha found,' said Sid, 'was that the rotor-blades were strobing the sunlight and when it reached the approximation of human brainwave frequence it was interfering with the brain's ability to send correct information to the rest of the body.'
As a result of Dr Bucha's findings, new safety measures were introduced, such as tinted glass and helmet visors and so on.
'Believe me,' said Sid Heal, 'there are easier ways of doing sleep deprivation than going to all those great lengths. Barney music? Flashing lights? Sleep deprivation may be a part of it, but it's got to have some deeper hidden effect. My guess is that this is the Bucha effect. My guess is that they're going for the amygdala.'
Quotes from Pages 157-158, 2004 Picador edition.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Spotlight on the Arab World
1948 and the question of land...
Border and Checkpoints
In both The Syrian Bride & Rana's Wedding, a woman’s marriage plans are strained due to the presence of border and checkpoints respectively.
Three different films but all tied together by images of a female foiled by man made borders. The following image of a bride in a white dress heading towards the border in The Kite can be found in The Syrian Bride as well.
Internal problems
Sometimes one’s problems are not created by a border but by friction within a nation’s boundaries. The two Algerian films Barakat and Rachida show how the consequences of internal struggle can effect the daily lives of people. 
In Barakat it is civil war while in Rachida it is terrorism that causes fear in the population. In both films, women are the main characters who overcome their fear and find new strength to carry on. Interestingly, both films are also tied in another way -- the lead actress of Barakat is Rachida Brakni and her first name forms the title and character name of the other film.
Youth and life on the streets
The Moroccan film Ali Zaoua packs quite a punch in depicting the life of streets kids in Casablanca. While it is heart breaking to see young kids miss their childhood and head straight into an adult life of gangs and crime, credit must be given to director Nabil Ayouch for balancing the harsh street realities with a fantasy tale. The fantasy tale, which forms the basis of the title character’s quest to find an elusive land with two suns, lends a sprinkling of hope to the film. Such is the strength of Ali Zaoua’s belief that his friends go to great lengths to fulfill his wish and in turn give their lives a purpose as well.
All about the girl and some falafel...
What a Wonderful World
It is indeed a wonderful world. Every frame of Faouzi Bensaïdi ‘s What a Wonderful World is poetic and beautiful. Even though the wonderful individual parts of the film do not add up to a coherent whole, it is hard to resist the charms of this unique film. What a Wonderful World is a mesmerizing mix of a French comedy (references to Jacques Tati), a Spy spoof, a musical and a love story.
Films seen as part of this spotlight and in order of preference:
Salt of the Sea (2007, Palestine co-production, Annemarie Jacir)
What a Wonderful World (2007, France/Morocco, Faouzi Bensaïdi)
Ali Zaoua (2000, Morocco co-production, Nabil Ayouch)
Falafel (2004, Lebanon/France, Michel Kammoun)
Rachida (2002, Algeria/France, Yamina Bachir)
Enough! (2006, Algeria, Djamila Sahraoui)
The Kite (2003, Lebanon co-production, Randa Chahal Sabag)
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
2010 Movie World Cup
In 2006, I conducted a personal movie World Cup to go along with the FIFA soccer tournament. The entire experiment of comparing films from the various countries turned out to be quite enjoyable and I repeated similar movie/soccer spotlights for the 2007 Copa America and Euro 2008. Now that all the 32 spots for the 2010 World Cup are filled, it is time to plan for another version of a movie World Cup. The format for the movie World Cup will be once again the same as the soccer tournament, meaning that I will divide films from the 32 countries into the same groups as the soccer tournament. The World Cup draw will take place on Dec 4, so the film groupings will have to wait until then.
In the meantime, I want to start thinking of finding titles from all the countries. Last time around, I watched the movies at the same time as the soccer tournament. That was a bit hectic, so this time I will start watching the movies as early as December and limit my viewing to only a few films per month. My target is to finish watching all the films by June 25, 2010, to coincide with the last day of all the group matches in the soccer World Cup. Another reason to start watching the movies this early on is to ensure I will have enough time to get as many movies from all the countries involved. In 2006, I could only find films from 22 of the 32 countries in the soccer tournament. I really want to get as close to 32 films as possible, although I have a feeling that getting a film from North Korea might prove to be a real challenge.
Here are the 32 countries:
Africa:
South Africa (hosts), Cameroon, Nigeria, Algeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast
Asia:
Australia, Japan, South Korea, North Korea
Europe:
Denmark, Portugal, Switzerland, Greece, Slovakia, Slovenia, Germany, Spain, England, Serbia, France, Italy, Holland
North, Central America and Caribbean:
USA, Mexico, Honduras
Oceania:
New Zealand
South America:
Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Argentina, Uruguay
[Update, Mar 2010]
Rules
The group stages & second round games will follow a similar format to the soccer world cup as all 32 films will be divided into 8 groups of 4 films each with the top two films advancing into the second round. The 16 films in the second round will go through knock out head-to-head matches and be narrowed down to a two film final.
The films will be placed in the same groups as the soccer world cup groups and have the same second round draw as the soccer tournament as well.
Group A: South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay, France
Group B: Argentina, Nigeria, Korea Republic, Greece
Group C: England, USA, Algeria, Slovenia
Group D: Germany, Australia, Serbia, Ghana
Group E: Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, Cameroon
Group F: Italy, Paraguay, New Zealand, Slovakia
Group G: Brazil, Korea DPR, Côte d'Ivoire, Portugal
Group H: Spain, Switzerland, Honduras, Chile
Group Stage Points
In the world cup the maximum points a team can get from playing their 3 group games is 9. So 9 points is set as the maximum total that a film can achieve. There will be 5 categories used to reach this total for fiction films:
Direction, Acting, Cinematography, Story - 2 points each
Production Values - 1 point
There are quite a few documentaries in the mix and I decided to break the total for those into 3 categories:
Direction, Structure (which includes story and editing), Cinematography - 3 points each
Group Stage Tie Break and Second Round Criteria
Four years ago, it was easy to have this criteria because I did not have any documentaries but this time around trying to pick a winner based on fiction vs documentary is not so straight forward. So to keep things simple, a head-to-head match-up will only feature three categories - Direction, Structure (story and editing) & Cinematography.
In case, two films have the same number of points in the group stages, then a winner will be chosen based on this head to head match-up. The same head to head match-up criteria will also be used in the round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals, 3rd place and final.
If film A is better than a film B in a category, then film A will get 1 point and film B will get 0. In this situation, a maximum score can be 3-0.
If both film A and film B are equal in a category, then they each get 1 point. This could lead to a situation where two films will be tied 3-3. In that case, the winning film will be decided by a subjective vote, which I equate to a penalty shoot-out.
Selection Criteria
#1: Choose a previously unseen feature film solely from the country, meaning no co-productions.
There is no restriction on the film’s production year or the type, meaning the film could be silent, art, commercial, genre, avant-garde or documentary.
The problem is that it is not easy to locate films which will satisfy criteria #1. So I will go down the list of these four fall back options until a film is found.
#2: Choose a previously unseen feature which is a co-production of the World Cup country.
#3: Choose a previously unseen short film from the country.
#4: Re-watch an older film from the country.
#5: Pick a film which is about the country in question or is shot principally in the country.
If I end up at #5, then I am basically grasping at straws. So the #5 selection ensures some sort of representation for the country in question. For example, if I cannot find a film from Nigeria, then I will resort to using the Canadian documentary Nollywood Babylon which is about Nigeria’s film industry. Also, if I cannot find a North Korean film, I will re-watch the German documentary Comrades in Dreams which features a story about cinema in North Korea.
The unwritten rule is to ensure some sort of balance among the selections. In 2006, I had no documentaries and only had narrative fiction features, so this time around I want to mix things up. Also, I am not going to rush to select films but have multiple films in consideration before making a final choice. The following is a wish list of sorts which is color coded to indicate the film’s status.
Green: Film has been selected
Orange: Film is in consideration and is available.
Red: Film is in consideration but is not available.
Note: An updated film list can be found here
The following is maintained as an archive of the original first cut:
England: Of Time and the City (Terence Davies)
Mexico: In the Pit (Juan Carlos Rulfo)
South Africa: U-Carmen e-Khayelitsha (Mark Dornford-May)
Japan: Human Condition (Masaki Kobayashi)
Argentina: Liverpool (Lisandro Alonso)
Portugal: I really want a Pedro Costa film. The question is if the Criterion DVD of Colossal Youth or In Vanda’s Room will be released before the summer of 2010.
Chile: This is turning out to be a fascinating wish-list. Currently, I am keen on these three films in order of preference:
Historias de fútbol (Andrés Wood)
The Maid (Sebastián Silva)
Tony Manero (Pablo Larrain)
I had enjoyed Andrés Wood Machuca as part of my South American spotlight so I am looking forward to tracking down his football related Historias de fútbol.
Not much choice in terms of picking a film from Paraguay as this is the country's only feature in the last 3 decades.
France: The following two are in consideration
Sans soleil (Chris Marker)
35 Shots of Rum (Claire Denis)
Italy: Il Divo (Paolo Sorrentino)
This is a co-production but I am leaning towards this feature.
USA: There is no shortage of choices or availability of films from the US which is why this is such a difficult selection. Currently, these two films from two very different eras are up for selection:
Update: Ballast gets the nod ahead of the 1932 black and white Scarface
Brazil: I may have to hold off on this because some potential Brazilian entries might be released in the early part of 2010. For now, the following is a desired selection and if it is available on DVD first, then I will select it:
Greece: Dogtooth (2009, Giorgos Lanthimos)
Honduras: Amor y frijoles (2009, Mathew Kodath/Hernan Pereira) , El Porvier (Oscar Estrada)
Uruguay: Gigante (2009, Adrián Biniez), The Dog Pound (2006, Manolo Nieto)
Serbia: Maradona (2008, Emir Kusturica)
South Korea: Beautiful (2008, Jae-Hong Jeon)
Note: The option of Kusturica's Maradona does violate the selection criteria rules because the film is a Spanish/French co-production that is filmed primarily in Argentina. However, the reason I am willing to make this exception is that Kusturica is a Serbian film-maker and has shot a segment of the film in Serbia. Also, the inclusion of a film about Maradona in a movie world cup appears to make perfect sense.
In the meantime, I want to start thinking of finding titles from all the countries. Last time around, I watched the movies at the same time as the soccer tournament. That was a bit hectic, so this time I will start watching the movies as early as December and limit my viewing to only a few films per month. My target is to finish watching all the films by June 25, 2010, to coincide with the last day of all the group matches in the soccer World Cup. Another reason to start watching the movies this early on is to ensure I will have enough time to get as many movies from all the countries involved. In 2006, I could only find films from 22 of the 32 countries in the soccer tournament. I really want to get as close to 32 films as possible, although I have a feeling that getting a film from North Korea might prove to be a real challenge.
Here are the 32 countries:
Africa:
South Africa (hosts), Cameroon, Nigeria, Algeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast
Asia:
Australia, Japan, South Korea, North Korea
Europe:
Denmark, Portugal, Switzerland, Greece, Slovakia, Slovenia, Germany, Spain, England, Serbia, France, Italy, Holland
North, Central America and Caribbean:
USA, Mexico, Honduras
Oceania:
New Zealand
South America:
Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Argentina, Uruguay
[Update, Mar 2010]
Rules
The group stages & second round games will follow a similar format to the soccer world cup as all 32 films will be divided into 8 groups of 4 films each with the top two films advancing into the second round. The 16 films in the second round will go through knock out head-to-head matches and be narrowed down to a two film final.
The films will be placed in the same groups as the soccer world cup groups and have the same second round draw as the soccer tournament as well.
Group A: South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay, France
Group B: Argentina, Nigeria, Korea Republic, Greece
Group C: England, USA, Algeria, Slovenia
Group D: Germany, Australia, Serbia, Ghana
Group E: Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, Cameroon
Group F: Italy, Paraguay, New Zealand, Slovakia
Group G: Brazil, Korea DPR, Côte d'Ivoire, Portugal
Group H: Spain, Switzerland, Honduras, Chile
Group Stage Points
In the world cup the maximum points a team can get from playing their 3 group games is 9. So 9 points is set as the maximum total that a film can achieve. There will be 5 categories used to reach this total for fiction films:
Direction, Acting, Cinematography, Story - 2 points each
Production Values - 1 point
There are quite a few documentaries in the mix and I decided to break the total for those into 3 categories:
Direction, Structure (which includes story and editing), Cinematography - 3 points each
Group Stage Tie Break and Second Round Criteria
Four years ago, it was easy to have this criteria because I did not have any documentaries but this time around trying to pick a winner based on fiction vs documentary is not so straight forward. So to keep things simple, a head-to-head match-up will only feature three categories - Direction, Structure (story and editing) & Cinematography.
In case, two films have the same number of points in the group stages, then a winner will be chosen based on this head to head match-up. The same head to head match-up criteria will also be used in the round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals, 3rd place and final.
If film A is better than a film B in a category, then film A will get 1 point and film B will get 0. In this situation, a maximum score can be 3-0.
If both film A and film B are equal in a category, then they each get 1 point. This could lead to a situation where two films will be tied 3-3. In that case, the winning film will be decided by a subjective vote, which I equate to a penalty shoot-out.
Selection Criteria
#1: Choose a previously unseen feature film solely from the country, meaning no co-productions.
There is no restriction on the film’s production year or the type, meaning the film could be silent, art, commercial, genre, avant-garde or documentary.
The problem is that it is not easy to locate films which will satisfy criteria #1. So I will go down the list of these four fall back options until a film is found.
#2: Choose a previously unseen feature which is a co-production of the World Cup country.
#3: Choose a previously unseen short film from the country.
#4: Re-watch an older film from the country.
#5: Pick a film which is about the country in question or is shot principally in the country.
If I end up at #5, then I am basically grasping at straws. So the #5 selection ensures some sort of representation for the country in question. For example, if I cannot find a film from Nigeria, then I will resort to using the Canadian documentary Nollywood Babylon which is about Nigeria’s film industry. Also, if I cannot find a North Korean film, I will re-watch the German documentary Comrades in Dreams which features a story about cinema in North Korea.
The unwritten rule is to ensure some sort of balance among the selections. In 2006, I had no documentaries and only had narrative fiction features, so this time around I want to mix things up. Also, I am not going to rush to select films but have multiple films in consideration before making a final choice. The following is a wish list of sorts which is color coded to indicate the film’s status.
Green: Film has been selected
Orange: Film is in consideration and is available.
Red: Film is in consideration but is not available.
Note: An updated film list can be found here
The following is maintained as an archive of the original first cut:
England: Of Time and the City (Terence Davies)
Mexico: In the Pit (Juan Carlos Rulfo)
South Africa: U-Carmen e-Khayelitsha (Mark Dornford-May)
Japan: Human Condition (Masaki Kobayashi)
Argentina: Liverpool (Lisandro Alonso)
Portugal: I really want a Pedro Costa film. The question is if the Criterion DVD of Colossal Youth or In Vanda’s Room will be released before the summer of 2010.
Chile: This is turning out to be a fascinating wish-list. Currently, I am keen on these three films in order of preference:
Historias de fútbol (Andrés Wood)
The Maid (Sebastián Silva)
Tony Manero (Pablo Larrain)
I had enjoyed Andrés Wood Machuca as part of my South American spotlight so I am looking forward to tracking down his football related Historias de fútbol.
Paraguay: Paraguayan Hammock (Paz Encina)
Not much choice in terms of picking a film from Paraguay as this is the country's only feature in the last 3 decades.
France: The following two are in consideration
Sans soleil (Chris Marker)
35 Shots of Rum (Claire Denis)
Spain: The Spirit of the Beehive (Victor Erice)
I have not seen any of the three features that Erice has made so looking forward to seeing his 1973 film.Italy: Il Divo (Paolo Sorrentino)
This is a co-production but I am leaning towards this feature.
USA: There is no shortage of choices or availability of films from the US which is why this is such a difficult selection. Currently, these two films from two very different eras are up for selection:
Ballast (2008, Lance Hammer)
Scarface (1932, Howard Hawks)
Update: Ballast gets the nod ahead of the 1932 black and white Scarface
Brazil: I may have to hold off on this because some potential Brazilian entries might be released in the early part of 2010. For now, the following is a desired selection and if it is available on DVD first, then I will select it:
Garapa (2009, José Padilha)
What makes this selection interesting is that it is a black and white Brazilian documentary which ends up being at odds with the normally brightly color infused Brazilian cinema that one finds on the film festival circuits.
Another option for Brazil: Margarette's Feast (Renato Falcao)Greece: Dogtooth (2009, Giorgos Lanthimos)
Honduras: Amor y frijoles (2009, Mathew Kodath/Hernan Pereira) , El Porvier (Oscar Estrada)
Uruguay: Gigante (2009, Adrián Biniez), The Dog Pound (2006, Manolo Nieto)
Serbia: Maradona (2008, Emir Kusturica)
South Korea: Beautiful (2008, Jae-Hong Jeon)
Note: The option of Kusturica's Maradona does violate the selection criteria rules because the film is a Spanish/French co-production that is filmed primarily in Argentina. However, the reason I am willing to make this exception is that Kusturica is a Serbian film-maker and has shot a segment of the film in Serbia. Also, the inclusion of a film about Maradona in a movie world cup appears to make perfect sense.
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