Abbas Kiarostami

Cinema lost a leading voice when Abbas Kiarostami passed away in 2016. Mr. Kiarostami was one of the genuine greats of cinema. Anyone who started exploring global cinema was bound to come across one of his films at some point in their film paths. The one difference would be that each person would have discovered Mr. Kiarostami via a different film. Many in the west likely first came across his work with the 1990 film CLOSE-UP and others likely found his work after his brilliant film TASTE OF CHERRY won the Palme D’Or at the Cannes film festival in 1997.

However, Abbas Kiarostami was making films long before that. He started off by directing short films and documentaries from the 1970’s onwards. While these earlier works may have been unknown for most of the 1990’s, they started surfacing in the mid 2000’s. These earlier works are extremely valuable in showing he approached his cinema. Early in his career, he worked at the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Adults. This is probably why he is one of those rare directors whose films showed children with genuine warmth, compassion and honesty. In his early short films, children and animals played a big part. In fact, his first ever short film THE BREAD AND ALLEY, a 12 minute short made in 1970 features a boy and a dog.

Right from his first short film, he showed an ability to re-imagine a different way of shooting a scene. He wanted events to flow naturally and the camera to capture reality as it unfolded. The 12 minute short film shows traces of a neo-realist cinema but also an aspect that would come to define his film making style in the 1990’s, a style where the line between fiction and documentary is blurred.

He often used non-actors in his films and at times, it was hard to distinguish real life from fiction in his films. He often had audience guessing on what is real and what is manufactured. The placement of the camera played a big part in this technique and even then, Kiarostami didn’t follow conventional ways. He would mount his camera inside a car such as he did in TEN or have a camera facing an audience watching a film in a movie theatre like in SHIRIN. Except, things were not as what they seem. In SHIRIN, the audience is watching a movie that does not exist and the film is not shot inside a real movie theatre.

In Cinema Scope Issue No. 68, Quintín has noted that Abbas Kiarostami "was trained as a painter and a photographer". This training clearly played a big part in the beautiful landscape and visuals found in many of his films which take place outside the city in stunning Iranian countryside.

Mr. Kiarostami was able to realize his vision while living and working in his home country of Iran. As a result, in a way, he helped put Iranian cinema on the map and was a key part of the new wave of Iranian directors that emerged from the 1990’s onwards.

What is remarkable is that he continued making films in Iran despite the changing political landscape. He was born in 1940 and lived through many of the different political forces that have shaped Iran. Yet, despite the government changes, he was able to continue pushing the boundaries of cinema and art. His films often got to the core of meaning of art and life in general.

Like a true artist, he continued exploring new ways to expand his filmmaking. In 2010, he directed CERTIFIED COPY, shot entirely in Italy, his first film shot outside of Iran. In 2012, he made LIKE SOMEONE IN LOVE shot in Japan and in once again in a different language. These two films marked a new and exciting point in his career. In an interview, Mr. Kiarostami said that many people around the world understood his films via subtitles. So he wanted to understand his own films via subtitles and that explains why these 2 films were shot in a different language.

He was next supposed to work in film set in China. Sadly, that was not to be. It is clear that he had a lot to offer to cinema.

The 2016 short film TAKE ME HOME, shot in Southern Italy, playfully manages to incorporate elements from his cinema. Like his earlier films, there is a little boy and there are some animals. The artistic beauty he found in landscapes are to be found in this film. And the concept of fiction vs reality is also seen. The short appear to be following a soccer ball in a natural manner. However, there is a very clear visual indicator in the film which lets us know what he is really up to. This short was released along with the documentary 76 MINUTES and 15 SECONDS WITH ABBAS KIAROSTAMI, directed by Mr. Kiarostami’s long time collaborator Seifollah Samadian. In this documentary, we get a true sense of how Mr. Kiarostami conceived his shots, how his training as a painter and photographer played a big part in his films. For those who are familiar with his films, it brings a new perspective to view his films. For those who are not familiar with his work, it provides an excellent starting point to see an artist at work.

As it turns out, TAKE ME HOME won’t be the last film of Mr. Kiarostami. Later this year, we will see his final film project getting a release. That film will be the movie event of the year!

Note: both TAKE ME HOME and the documentary 76 MINUTES AND 15 SECONDS were shown by the Calgary Cinematheque as part of a special tribute to Mr. Kiarostami.

Best Films of 2016

At times, it was hard to think of films in 2016 given the shifting political winds around the world. Thankfully, global cinema was in step with the changes and some films predicted the anger and shift to the right. Naturally, most of these films were only found at various international film festivals, cinematheques and arthouses. Hopefully, some of these titles start getting distribution in 2017 and find a larger audience.

Note: for the sake of an even comparison, only 2016 titles are considered for this list.

Baker’s Dozen of Top 2016 films

1. Take Me Home (Iran, Abbas Kiarostami)

Cinema lost a leading voice when Abbas Kiarostami passed away in 2016. The artistic beauty with which he crafted his films can be found in Take Me Home, a lovely short  film about a soccer ball’s journey. The short is beautiful, packs warm emotions and plays with the concept of reality. A precious final gift from one of cinema’s greatest directors!

2. Aquarius (Brazil/France, Kleber Mendonça Filho)

Even though the film is localized to a Brazilian apartment building, the events echo our current world of rapid development where the past is always in danger of being demolished for a shiny new future.

3. The Student (Russia, Kirill Serebrennikov)

The Student brilliantly portrays the recent changing political sentiment in Europe and USA. The film uses the radicalization of a lonely shy white male to underline that hateful ideas that may seem harmless at first can result in grave consequences if unchecked and allowed to spread.

4. Shin Godzilla (Japan, Hideaki Anno/Shinji Higuchi)

A film of immense beauty and fierce intelligence about creation, evolution, destruction, logistics and problem solving.

5. Nocturama (France/Germany/Belgium, Bertrand Bonello)

A tense razor sharp film that is stripped of any specific ideology but is completely aware of our contemporary world.

6. Nightlife (Slovenia/Republic of Macedonia/Bosnia and Herzegovina, Damjan Kozole)

This Slovenian co-production cleverly uses a single incident to depict how private events can quickly end up becoming public scandals. The film style has shades of the Romanian New Wave.

7. Silence (USA/Mexico/Taiwan, Martin Scorsese)

At its core, this is a film about imposing one's will on others. On a macro-level, this is a clash of civilizations/religions. But this idea of imposing ideas onto another takes place on micro-levels as well, from every day beliefs about sports, politics and even the weather. On a micro-level, these ideas may seem harmless and can be ignored. But this need to impose one's way can take on serious consequences on a macro-level. Throughout history, men (always men, which is why no female leads are in the film) have tried to convert others, to conquer other's soul, minds. Men did this because they believed their way was the only way. So they went about with extreme measures and tortured, killed until the others accepted.

Silence is not an easy film to watch and needs time to digest. But it is one of most significant and relevant films of the year!

8. Neruda (Chile/Argentina/France/Spain/USA, Pablo Larraín)

Creatively uses the poetry of Neruda to create a fictional framework which questions the reality and myth surrounding Neruda’s escape. Infused with humour and a scrumptious touch of noir.

9. Yourself and Yours ( South Korea, Hong Sang-soo)

In the films of Hong Sang-soo, characters open up their feelings and transform when alcohol is present. That point is hammered home in Yourself and Yours where the main character morphs into a completely different person as soon as a fresh pint of beer is served. The end result is a dizzying delightful work!

10. The Ornithologist (Portugal/France/Brazil, João Pedro Rodrigues)

A hypnotic journey which is an innovative mix of a fable and myth that seamlessly shifts through multiple cinematic genres.

11. In the Last Days of the City (Egypt/Germany/UK/UAE, Tamer El Said)
       tied with
      Clash (Egypt/France, Mohamed Diab)

Two completely different Egyptian films set in different eras but the two films end up having a dialogue with each other.

In the Last Days of the City is a poetic love letter to a Cairo that no longer exists. The film consists entirely of footage shot in 2009-10 and there are many scenes which may have seemed harmless back in 2010 but take on a much different meaning after the 2011 Egyptian revolution. In the Last Days of the City shows a time when people could roam the streets of Cairo freely and openly discuss political ideas. The freedom of the camera’s movement in Tamer El Said’s film is in stark contrast to Clash which is set in a confined space in the back of a police van.

Mohamed Diab’s powerful film depicts the division in Egyptian society that came to a boil in 2013. The confined space in Clash creates a powerful immersive experience and mirrors the state of society in 2013 in contrast to In the Last Days of the City.

13. Fences (USA, Denzel Washington)

A film that will always be timely due to the discussions about a racial past and also due to the honest practical conversations about relationships. The dialogues articulate what a relationship means and outlines the every day dollar value associated with decisions that people make. These dialogues won't apply to the 1% but for the 99%.

Honourable mentions (alphabetical order):

Elle (France/Germany/Belgium, Paul Verhoeven)
Hell or High Water (USA, David Mackenzie)
The Human Surge (Argentina/Brazil/Portugal, Eduardo Williams)
It’s Not the Time of My Life (Hungary, Szabolcs Hajdu)
Life after Life (China, Zhang Hanyi)
Mother (Estonia, Kadri Kõusaar)
Old Stone (Canada/China, Johnny Ma)

CIFF 2010, Days 1-7

Oh the sunlight. Beautiful sunlight. All summer long instead of a clear blue sky & sunshine, my lovely city got nothing but dark gloomy rain packed cloudy skies. So finally after a 3 month delay, summer has arrived. And she has decided to oust the traditional chilly winds that greet CIFF every year. As a result, the good weather has certainly made it fun to watch films and made for a pleasant stroll in between the different venues.

The films at the 11th Calgary International Film Festival have been very very good. 7 days and 16 films later, I have only seen one misfire. That's a pretty good rate.

Filmi list so far

Score: A Hockey Musical (2010, Canada, Michael McGowan)
The Illusionist (2010, UK/France, Sylvain Chomet)
Freetime Machos (2009, Finland/Germany, Mika Ronkainen)
Armadillo (2010, Denmark, Janus Metz Pedersen)
Secret Reunion (2010, South Korea, Jang Hun)
Heartbeats (2010, Canada, Xavier Dolan)
The Happy Poet (2010, USA, Paul Gordon)
A Screaming Man (2010, Chad/Belgium/France, Mahamat-Saleh Haroun)
Nora's Will (2008, Mexico, Mariana Chenillo)
The Sentimental Engine Slayer (2010, Mexico/USA, Omar Rodriguez Lopez)
Small Town Murder Songs (2010, Canada, Ed Gass-Donnelly)
Certified Copy (2010, France/Iran/Italy, Abbas Kiarostami)
Curling (2010, Canada, Denis Côté)
Incendies (2010, Canada, Denis Villeneuve)
A Simple Rhythm (2010, Canada, Tess Girard)
Rec 2 (2009, Spain, Jaume Balagueró/Paco Plaza)

Oh Canada!

Denis Villeneuve's Incendies is a beautifully crafted film that packs a mighty emotional punch. The film unfolds in multiple chapters, with each chapter profiling the principle characters and uncovering a smaller piece of the puzzle. As a result, the viewer arrives at the final destination more or less the same time as the two main characters in the film. The film starts and ends in Canada but the rest of the film dives deep into the Middle East and is the kind of cinema that Canada needs more of, films that use second generation Canadian characters as a launching pad to explore their complex cultural background.

Xavier Dolan's second feature Heartbeats is playful, funny and manages to neatly tuck in cute cinematic homages especially to the French New Wave. It is remarkable that someone so young can make such good films but Dolan is a national treasure.

Denis Côté has gone with the bold choice to give Curling a cold chilly look. As a result, it takes a while to warm up to the material but once one gets past the cold exterior, then one can admire the film's tale of a father's resolve to raise his daugther away from society. In a way, Curling is a cousin of the Greek film Dogtooth in showing how incorrect parental decisions can alter a child’s life. The father in Curling makes the decision to not send his daughter to school because he fears that she would be corrupted by other kids. As a result, his 12 year old girl is out of touch with everyday reality and a bit weak in basic math. The girl’s need for human contact is highlighted in one key sequence where she comes across a pair of frozen dead bodies in the wilderness. The daughter does not tell her father about the bodies but goes to visit the corpses day after day as it is the only contact she has with someone other than her father. Like his daughter, the father himself is lonely and needs human contact. Eventually the father realizes his mistake of isolating both himself and his child but he goes about making changes in small fragments. The snowy visuals are a constant in the film but as the movie progresses, rays of sunshine start to filter in, highlighting that even in an isolated Canadian town, winter will eventually come to an end.

Small Town Murder Songs uses the power of music to elevate a simple story into a grander tale about redemption and rebirth. The opening gala film Score: A Hockey Music is pure fun, packed with a few surprizing but welcome Canadian cameos.

There are still a few other worthy Canadian titles that I have yet to see and I have already praised the wonderful Taylor's Way which has 2 upcoming shows in the festival.

Overall, the Canadian film category has been very strong this year.

Best films

Picking one best film is a tough choice from the plenty of great titles seen but so far, Kiarostami's Certified Copy and Chomet's The Illusionist are front runners with Incendies not too far behind.

Kiarostami is on top of his game in the witty dialogue driven Certified Copy. Aptly descibed as "a Tuscan Before Sunset" in the film's write-up, the movie is also a beautiful variation on Guerín's In the City of Sylvia. In Guerín's film, there is no dialogue between the male and female leads and a distance is maintained between the two as the male follows the female. There are some scenes in Certified Copy where the two characters maintain their distance but most of the film is about the two walking side by side engaged in passionate discussion about relationships and marriage. One can imagine the dialogue in Kiarostami's film would be exactly what would have taken place had the characters in In the City of Sylvia talked to each other. Certified Copy is brilliantly acted and the direction is perfect in showing us either the Tuscan beauty or Juliette Binoche's charming face at the right moments.

A Screaming Man is a quiet powerful film that highlights the tough emotional decisions that occur in a state of constant war. Nora's Will is a wonderful film that manages to generate plenty of laughs despite starting with an act of suicide. Armadillo is a no holds barred film that literally gets in the line of fire to bring us an unfiltered look at the day to day dangers that greet Danish soldiers on their Afghan mission.

Worst film

No contest for this category. The worst film so far, clearly by 100 miles, is Rec 2. This horrible sequel undoes all the good work that went into the first film Rec which was a smart and edgy film. Rec 2 is covered from the perspective of three cameras. The first camera heads into the apartment building moments after the first film ends. Yet this first camera provides nothing but video game like shots of bullets and possessed demons running around trying to bite anyone in site. Yawn. The second camera tries to provide footage from a different angle but is clearly present to extend the wafer thin story. After the second camera's battery dies, we get the crucial third camera, which requires the necessary night vision feature to generate some final moments of tension. When all is said and done, this mess of a story is still not concluded which leaves the door open (ha ha) for a possible third film.

More films...

The last few days have some great films on tap. Of course, top of my list is Uncle Boonmee. The big question will be how many more films I can eat up. Thanks to a few additional screenings, there is the possibility of watching 7 movies again on the final Saturday. But this time around, I am not keen to take up the challenge. After watching 7 films in 2009, I decided that experiment was just a once in a lifetime attempt. Although this time around, the running time of the 7 films is shorter than the 2009 bunch, meaning, a person would end up spending 10.5 hours watching 7 films, and not the 12+ hours I spent last year.

A glimpse into Iranian Cinema

There was a very interesting article by Doug Saunders in the weekend edition of The Globe and Mail about censorship and Iranian cinema. It seems the censors have been increasing in what can be eliminated from the movies. In the past I have read about Iranian movies being banned and even certain scenes being left on the editing floor, but in the article Doug Saunders outlines the procedures to get films made in Iran --

Step One: The government must first approve the script.
Step Two: The government then provides shooting approvals, lighting and equipment.
Step Three: After the film has been made, "the government can edit, alter or ban the film, and controls the time and quantity of its exhibition."

Doug interviews three film-makers and their different approaches to handling the censors.

1) Bahman Ghobadi -- The award-winning director of the wonderful Turtles Can Fly and A Time for Drunken Horses is debating leaving Iran for good because of the censors. Ghobadi's new film, Half Moon, is about female musicians but he had to "remove every scene of women making music, or even appearing in the same room room as any music". Despite all the concessions he made, the government informed him that his movie would never be shown because they felt "that it contained messages of Kurdish independence." Going by his previous films, that accusation seems highly unlikely. But what might be possible is that the movie contains Kurdish characters just like in his previous films and ofcourse, the fact that Ghobadi is a Kurd himself might have sealed this decision.

In the end, the censors were preventing him to work freely. Also, the fear of the ministry was causing Ghobadi to censor his work in advance while writing and editing his films. Currently, Ghobadi has decided that he can't work in such an environment and will finally leave Iran for Toronto.

2) Rakshan Bani-Etemad -- Rakshan's example is extraordinary. She has been able to make films on controversial topics such as Iranian bureaucracy (Off Limits), the wasteful nature of the Iraq-Iran war (Gilaneh), a passionate love triangle (Nargess) and heroin addiction in Iranian society (Khoon Bazi). But all her films have been distributed and shown in Iran. Rakshan approach is that she works with the censors and "willingly gives up scenes of images, or even sometimes entire film ideas, in order to get the important things across". She does admit that she is not happy with the system but for her, it is very "important that Iranians see her movies that she is willing to sacrifice almost anything within them". Rakshan does feel that is she being "pushed to her limit" regarding what she can or can't say, but for now, she is staying put.

3) Jafar Panahi -- Jafar's films are a treat but they also get the full brunt of the censors. He refuses to submit to the censors and a result, gets his movies banned. But film festival, critics and cine fans around the world have bestowed awards and praise on his sublime features -- The Circle, Crimson Gold and Offside. For him the challenge is to stay in Iran and continue to make films without giving up even a scene. In 2003, he was arrested by the Information ministry and interrogated for four hours. He was asked why he doesn't leave Iran since most of his audience lies outside the country? But that would be playing into the government's hands as per Panahi: "The government is encouraging people in all kinds of cultural and political activities to move outside of Iran. I can't let them win this way."

So for now, Panahi faces a tough and lonely battle. What hurts him the most is that people in Iran can't see his movies and as it stands, he is left "without an audience in his own language".

---

Despite all these restrictions, I have always found watching Iranian films a rewarding experience. All their films are alive and vibrant -- they have something to say and are not pointless entertainment. The characters are so real that any of them could easily step out of the silver screen and assume an honest living in Tehran or other Iranian cities. Inspired partly by the article, I decided to find some Iranian films to watch. In the end, the three random picks ended up being a great choice, especially the Panahi & Abbas Kiarostami film.

Crimson Gold (2003, Director Jafar Panahi, Writer Abbas Kiarostami): Rating 10/10

Vintage cinema! Film-making of the highest order. A simple story yet so beautifully done; it also manages to convey messages of certain universal society class differences.

There was a scene in the film Is Raat Ki Subah Nahin (1996, India, Director Sudhir Mishra) that has stayed with me for over a decade. A couple of street gangsters break into a middle class apartment during a party and hold the people hostage. While they are killing time, one of the men waves his gun around and tells his accomplices that no matter how much power they get or how much money they make, they won't ever get respect like the people in the apartment. Those words are quite true and an unfortunate reality about societies all around the world, even North America -- people are quickly judged by their profession or their clothes. And even if certain people try dress the part, they won't ever get the respect they deserve because of preconceived notions. And this feeling of class difference is at the heart of Crimson Gold.

Ali and Hussein are average men who go about making an honest living by working as pizza delivery men. When Ali finds an expensive purse, he comes across a receipt for an Italian necklace which cost 75 million Tomans. The two are shocked that someone could spend so much on a necklace. So they decide to visit the jewelery store and look at what such an expensive necklace looks like. But the jeweler refuses to let the two in because of how they are dressed. So a few days later, Hussein dresses smartly and returns to the store with his fiancee and Ali. But even then, the same jeweler manages to find a way to get the message across that this store is not for people like them. This insult eats at Hussein and results in him going over the edge.

Besides this class difference, other interesting aspects of Iranian society are shown:

-- the police are keen to arrest young people coming from a party where the men and women have been drinking. Such parties are deemed illegal.
-- there are some references to a time when women didn't have to cover up in Iran.
-- attitude difference of Iranians who live abroad and return to Iran are shown.
-- the poverty and rich life is shown.

Unlike the characters in Is Raat Ki Subah Nahin , Hussein gets to taste the rich life for one amazing night.

Under the Moonlight (2001, Director Seyyed Reza Mir-Karimi): Rating 7.5/10

This is a touching film that looks at people living on the fringes of society -- unemployed people who are forced to live under bridges or seek shelter by the roadside. Sayyed is studying to become a cleric. Yet he is only doing this to please his parents wishes. He does not exhibit the behaviour of a devout religious person. For example:

1) he continues to read sport magazines even though such an act is frowned up by the elder clerics.
2) Sayyed is not comfortable with the idea of wearing a turban which is a requirement.

But he continues to quietly go through the motions. For the final part of his graduation, he needs to go buy the proper attire. He makes a trip to the city center to buy his robe, shoes & other materials required to perform the final rites as a cleric. On the train ride back, a young boy steals the bag containing these items. Sayyed sees this as a sign from God that maybe he was not meant to be a cleric. He is curious to find the boy and learn to see what caused the boy to commit the theft.

From there on, Sayyed becomes a spectator himself and watches the harsh life of a few street people who society has forgotten. He brings food for these people and even spends a night under the bridge with them. He is clearly effected by these people's plight and his confusion between the need to pursue religion vs serving these people only increases. In the end, another sign helps him make the right decision.

Smell of Camphor, Fragrance of Jasmine (2000, Director Bahman Farmanara): Rating 8/10

Death in all forms hangs over every frame in this film. This means physical death, mental death, and even perceived death that comes when society makes living so hard for its citizens that they are like the living dead. Bahman is shown to be a film-maker who has not made a film for over two decades since he was banned by the Iranian government. For Bahman it is essential to not live a futile life and making films is a big part to ensure that does not happen. In that regard, he is happy to make a comeback with a documentary about funeral rites in Iran. In following Bahman,Smell of Camphor... is broken up into 3 acts --

Act One: "Bad Day" -- His son's phone call in the morning is the best thing to happen to Bahman all day long. After he leaves the house, death follows him around everywhere -- he sees his dead wife, he gives a ride to a woman whose one day baby was born dead, and the thought of his dead friends stays with him. When he goes to visit his wife's grave, he finds that someone else has been buried in the plot next to her grave -- he had reserved the plot next to his wife for himself.

Act Two: "Funeral Arrangements" -- This is where Bahman tries to get props and hire his friends to play actors. Scenes of typical funeral rituals are shown. Also, Bahman visits his mother who suffers from Alzhemier's and can't recognize him. Bahman considers his mother's equivalent to death itself.

Act Three: "Throw a stone in the water" -- This is where Bahman confronts his fears of death. The death circus that surrounds him & his confusion regarding whether to make the movie or not, has shades of a Fellini film.

Overall, despite the depressing topic, elements of dark humour, surreal dreams and self-mockery made this a refreshing viewing.

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Update, Oct 2011:

All the quotes are taken from the March 31, 2007 article which is now available online via Doug Saunders' website. Also, given the recent injustice against Panahi, Saunders' interview is even more relevant.

Also, the following line that I typed back in 2007 is now sadly even more true.

So for now, Panahi faces a tough and lonely battle.

1st Movie World Cup – Second Round Results!

In keeping with the format laid out by the Soccer World Cup, 16 teams competed in a knock-out format in the second round of the Movie World Cup.

Rules for scoring in second-round and onwards until the Final:

1) Movies compete in 5 categories (Acting, Story, Direction, Cinematography and Sound) earning either 0 or 1 point for each criteria.
-- If movie A has a better story than its opponent (movie B), then movie A gets 1 point and movie B gets 0.
-- However, if both movie A and movie B have good stories, then they each get 1 point each.
-- Also, if both have terrible stories, then the two movies get 0.

This scoring enables reasonable soccer scores like 3-2, 2-0 or even 0-0 (both movies failed on all 5 criteria).

2) If the score is tied after all the 5 categories, then a penalty shoot-out will be used with a single criteria – subjectivity. That means, I can freely give preference to a movie that I like without caring for its objective values. Is that fair? Well it is more fair than penalties are in the real soccer world cup!!

Here are the match-ups and results:

1A vs 2B – Germany vs England

German movie: Werner Herzog’s Signs of Life
English movie: Director Gary Wicks Endgame

This contest was not even close. It was a bit unfair because the English movie was thrown into the fire but the odd thing is that Signs of Life was Herzog’s first movie. Herzog’s 1968 film has some similarities with his last movie Grizzly Man . Both movies are about insanity, although the two films take a different approach to reach that conclusion. Grizzly Man is a documentary where Herzog narrates the camera footage that he discovered of Timothy Treadwell. Signs of Life is a scripted movie but it is told in a documentary format where a narrator tells of the slow transformation of Stroszek, a solider who gradually goes insane after he finds himself bored on an island. The beautifully shot black and white movie is told in documentary style and could easily be something constructed by assembling found camera footage of the incidents on the Greek island. The camera angles at times also give us the idea that the audience is looking from the outside and is never let in as to what is happening, something which is common when one is watching a documentary based on archival footage. Overall, Signs of Life is visually excellent with some very poetic shots. Easily a contender for best movie!

Final score: Germany 5 – 0 England
Goal scorers, Germany: Story, Acting, Direction, Cinematography, Sound
The German movie was strong in every department and ran the English movie off the pitch!

1B vs 2A – Sweden vs Poland

Swedish movie: Ingmar Bergman’s Persona
Poland: Andrzej Wajda’s Kanal

This was a really close contest. Persona is a critically loved movie and I can see why. But then again, I don’t think it is as good as it made out to be. Kanal on the other hand has a very dull start but once the story movies to the underground labyrinth of tunnels, the movie really kicks into gear. My biggest problem with Persona was that I believe all the clever abstract elements were wasted on a dull story; the movie ensures that the viewer knows at all times that they are watching a film -- the start gives the viewer a glimpse of the evolution of cinema, the middle has the screen split in half as if the projector chewed up the film, and near the end, the camera shifts back to the camera crew showing the movie being shot. Now, these are great elements but the story of the two women trying to outwit each other just didn’t appeal to me.

Final Score: Sweden 2 – 3 Poland
Goals, Sweden: Acting, Direction
Goals, Poland: Cinematography, Story, Sound

1C vs 2D – Argentina vs Portugal

Argentina – Director Héctor Olivera’s A Shadow you soon will be
Portugal - Director Manoel de Oliveira's I'm Going Home

This was a very close contest but in the end, ‘subjectivity’ penalty kicks had to decide the contest. Personally, I loved the Argentine movie. I felt this was a poor man’s version of the sentiments that the 2005 Brazilian movie Cinema, Aspirins and Vultures echoed. Both the Argentine and Brazilian movies had similar ideas of men setting out into the unknown, escaping and seeking. In the Argentine movie, the main character returns home only to find himself thrust into a chaotic circus surrounded by colorful eccentric characters who are seeking to live their life to the fullest, even if that means living in the past, dreaming about the future or merely driving away the present. The Portuguese movie, I’m Going Home is in French and is a technically polished movie with high caliber acting. However, I didn’t agree with the director’s vision of packing the movie with plenty of staged dramatic scenes to convey the main character’s love of theatre over other aspects of his life.

Final Score: Argentina 3 – 3 Portugal, Argentina win on Penalties
Goals, Argentina: Story, Direction, Sound. Penalty: Subjectivity
Goals, Portugal: Direction, Acting, Cinematography

1D vs 2C – Iran vs Holland

Iran – Director Abbas Kiarostami’s And Life Goes On
Holland - Director Paul Verhoeven’s Turkish Delight

Two completely different movies, two completely different styles! The Iranian style was slow but the Dutch were pacy and only slowed down near the end when they knew the victory was in the bag. And Life Goes On turned out to be appropriate pick because it does talk about the Soccer World Cup – the films showed that despite having an earthquake level out cities, some people still wanted to watch the soccer World Cup because it came only every 4 years. However, as the movie’s actor told one person, an earthquake was more critical because it could only occur once every 40 years!

Final Score: Iran 4 – 5 Holland
Goals, Iran: Story, Acting, Direction, Cinematography
Goals, Holland: Story, Acting, Direction, Cinematography, Sound,

1E vs 2F – USA vs Japan

USA - Director David Dobkin's Wedding Crashers
Japan – Director Masaki Kobayashi’s Kwaidan

Wedding Crashers were able to power their way out of their group in the first round but they stood no chance against the award-winning stylish Japanese movie.

Final Score: USA 1 – 4 Japan
Goals, USA: Acting
Goals, Japan: Story, Direction, Cinematography, Sound

1F vs 2E – Brazil vs Italy

Brazil - Director Vicente Amorim's The Middle of the World
Italy - Director Roberto Benigni's The Tiger and the Snow

What a colourful contest! The Italian movie, unlike the Italian soccer team, showed plenty of energy. However all of Benigni’s energy was not enough to channel enough goals to overcome the technically polished Brazilian movie. It felt as though Benigni was trying to carve out another feel good movie along the lines of Life is Beautiful but this time the hollow story didn’t stand strong.

Final Score: Brazil 5 – 2 Italy
Goals, Brazil: Acting, Story, Direction, Cinematography, Sound
Goals, Italy: Acting, Sound

1G vs 2H – Korea vs Tunisia

South Korea - Director Chan-wook Park's Lady Vengeance
Tunisia -- Director Raja Amari's Satin Rouge

Both movies were very good and quite different from each other. In the end, tt was a very close contest and the final decision was a tough one.

Final Score: Korea 5 – 4 Tunisia
Goals, Korea: Acting, Story, Direction, Cinematography, Sound
Goals, Tunisia: Acting, Story, Direction, Sound

1H vs 2G – Spain vs France

Spain -- Director Achero Mañas's El Bola
France – Director Pierre Jolive’s In all Innocence

This is the only tie that is similar in both movie and Soccer World Cup. The soccer game will be a tight encounter but the movie contest was not as close.

Final Score: Spain 5 – 2 France
Goals, Spain: Acting, Story, Direction, Cinematography, Sound
Goals, France: Acting, Cinematography