WORLD CUP: LAST 16 (1/8 FINAL) MATCH LINE-UPS!
oh, dear…
We can do another thread with links soon. We’ve been given some, Apursansar and i need to sort them out, of course the managers who provided them should still have them.
Spain v Italy looks very delicately poised, and Italy have some big guns left that could certainly see off Japan in the 1/4 finals- if Japan get past a pretty strong Caucasus + Ukraine selection. Well, i’m delighted to see Celine and Julie go Boating and my beloved The Green Ray chosen for France. Had they been picked v Japan i would have wanted to vote for them myself. Russia have also picked 2 of my favourite films, Mirror and Tale of Tales. Charulata v Day of Wrath looks a tight one and may decide the India v Denmark match, though i have high expectations of Apursansar’s other unknown picks. Germany have picked 2 films i originally thought i might be up against in the 1/4 finals had Germany won their group.
Well, we have a lot of viewing to catch up with by the look of it, and the first 2 matches are due on 18th November. I’ve got 15 still to see (and recent problems with film watching online!) Some are ones on my must-see list anyway- Toute une Nuit, Hamlet, Arrebato, The Witness, The Terroriser…-which is great
sorry Kenji but Caucasus has some exceptional rare choices against you,but i’m delighted to see you picked Crazed Fruit,i wanted to see that for a long time….
best match will probably be the last one since i haven’t even seen Daratt yet nor all of Czech’s choices..
Taiwan and Hungary also formated a powerful structure…
I´m curious to get to see the new Delvaux Ar Sh has selected for us, so far one of the most interesting directors I discovered because of this competition. Street Angel has also been one of the Chinese films I´ve been wanting to see for quite a while. I´m definitely looking forward to the Day of Wrath V Charulata match-up, that one´s going to be fun and may drive some voters into despair.
Caucasus + Ukraine; i was preparing for The Cranes are Flying, The Ascent, Arsenal, a Iosseliani, maybe a Peleshian (i’ve seen Menq), forgot about Kozintsev, and Hamlet is highly rated among Shakespeare adaptations, i’ve only seen parts of it. I picked Crazed Fruit in the expectation it would lose, but we’ll see.
Caucasus also keeps in its pocket one other available on the net film by Abuladze…
yes Apu,the Dreyer – Ray match is one of the “derbies” of the 16 and the Akerman – Zhuangzhuang pairing looks hardcore too,although i cannot find Akerman’s film anywhere :(
Ralch, Italy have gone for 2 established classics and one divisive film, could still have picked a stronger line-up v Spain, very cannily (or very riskily?) saving big guns to do to Japan what Italy did to Brazil in the 1/4 finals of the 1982 world cup. I’ve said all along it’s the teams who do just enough to get through when not at their best and then come on strong that so often win tournaments. Italy v Spain may be a close one. i’ve heard good things of Arrebato, know it’s highly rated in Spain but less familiar than the others, i love El Sur, and i hope others do too. Los Olvidados v Umberto D could be crucial.
I like all 3 Chinese films, haven’t seen the Belgians. Toute une Nuit is widely regarded as Akerman’s 2nd best i think
Le Rayon Vert v Close Up (maybe Kiarostami’s best?) should be fascinating, and Muriel v Moment of Innocence is not a foregone conclusion.
Italy should have been disqualified from the group stage back in 1982,Peru and Cameroon were the unlucky ones….
Close-Up is ONE of Kiarostami’s best films but i really love Rohmer as much as i like Abbas,so i’ll watch Rayon in order to decide…
Belgium is probably the team with the most experimental line-up,hehe.
I’m cool with my team. I really like Arrebato. Much to see here (as in “not yet seen”).
…And I really like the word “Sur”, too.
Well, does this change the overall betting odds? If France get through they still have plenty in reserve (but it’s far from definite they’ll beat Iran), if Italy get through they and Japan (assuming they make the last 8) would have to roll out big guns, that match could be titanic, they’re both among original top 4 and remaining top 3 seeds-, and then be more vulnerable, but Russia have now used up 2 goodies in that half of the draw. Now if China then get through v Belgium (very unclear) they could have enough strength in depth to keep going. And in films like football never rule out the Germans. But Hou and Yang seem to have enough fans here to make that match tough. India’s manager knows his stuff, and who knows with Africa? It really is wide open.
This looks great!
Obviously Spain-Italy is the only match for which I am ready, my two better-known filmographies.
Of all selections, ‘Rotation’ is probably the film I most want to see.
Yeah,I also think it’s pretty open.But for me,Italy+France would be the two favorites,over Japan,because they have plenty of goodies left to use,especially Italy.But they would have a very hard time against their rivals in this round.Agreed for Germany,they used their strongest film in the first two phases(M,Sunrise,Nosferatu,Aguirre).Supposing they could make it through this round,what will they use next?I’m waiting for links,and I hope that I could find more time for watching and voting this time,cause I was absent in the third matches of the group stage.
Well, Germany do still have more by Fassbinder, Wenders, Herzog, Lang..- which could be enough even v Apursansar to at least reach the semis, but i agree their chances of winning the cup may not be so hot, it depends if France beat Iran. Well, if Iran spring a surprise anything can happen in that half of the draw.
At last someone who doesn’t have Japan favourites, hurray! I’d imagined all along Italy being in France’s half, this could be my undoing. I’ve already picked Sansho the Bailiff, Seven Samurai and Tokyo Story….and then along comes Paolo Rossi?! Or could Bunuel and co scupper that?
The Celine and Julie Go Boating pick is dedicated to Drew. If not for his persistance to see this film, another Rivette might have taken its place.
i still think Taiwan will beat them all :P
Law,any Rivette pre-2000’s is welcoming :)
Pauvre Juliet!
Well,if Iran beat France,then all these guesses that we made could fail…and that would be just great,as all the surprises in WC history…if the victim of this surprise is not our team of course!!Btw,Kenji,I think that you could have made it through the group stage without wasting so many of your top guns.Seven Samurai in the first match??I thought this and Tokyo Story would be for the finals…but maybe you have a different point of view…
If you guys want to vote out France, go ahead. But if only Korea were still in the competition…
It seems to me as if nearly every match is going to be extremely close. The big unknowns for me personally are the rosters of Teams Hungary and Caucasus, but both teams put up some amazing films before, so I’m looking forward to watching their selections.
Some may have thought that Team Denmark had run out of films, but clearly that is not the case. The Case Is Closed is a very good film, but then again, I’m partial to Mrinal Sen’s works. I’d mistakenly thought that Henning’s Hunger was a Norwegian film—since it’s based on Knut Hamsun’s novel… Oops. A case of a dumb Asian person thinking all Scandinavians are the same. :P But Hunger is a great film as well… I haven’t seen the opposing films for the two I’ve mentioned, and I’m looking forward to seeing them. But Charulata vs Day of Wrath…whoa.
It seems to me as if nearly every match is going to be extremely close. The big unknowns for me personally are the rosters of Teams Hungary and Caucasus, but both teams put up some amazing films before, so I’m looking forward to watching their selections.
Some may have thought that Team Denmark had run out of films, but clearly that is not the case. The Case Is Closed is a very good film, but then again, I’m partial to Mrinal Sen’s works. I’d mistakenly thought that Henning’s Hunger was a Norwegian film—since it’s based on Knut Hamsun’s novel… Oops. A case of a dumb Asian person thinking all Scandinavians are the same. :P But Hunger is a great film as well… I haven’t seen the opposing films for the two I’ve mentioned, and I’m looking forward to seeing them. But Charulata vs Day of Wrath…whoa. I love both of these films, and may have to revisit them!
i love Day of Wrath being my first Dreyer….but so far,Ray hasn’t disappointed me..so i’m eagerly looking forward to Charulata,unless there are links already?
I didn´t expect that anyone had already seen “The Case is Closed”. You´re surprising me, Blue. I have just started to upload the film on my youtube channel, and also promised to Martin that I will upload a subtitled version of Holubice.
Dimitris, there are already youtube links for Charulata and The Ritual. I think that Kenji will soon start a new thread where we can publish the links. I had expected Kai to choose Gertrud and therefore considered the very similar film Charulata a perfect response, but it turned out to be Day of Wrath.
Am most looking forward to seeing:
Toute une nuit (Chantal Akerman)
The Horse Thief (Tian Zhuangzhuang)
Still Life (Jia Zhangke)
Almanac of Fall (Béla Tarr)
Crazed Fruit (Nakahata)
Salo (Pasolini)
The Puppetmaster (Hou Hsiao-hsien)
The Terrorizer (Edward Yang)
Mirror Image (Ya-Chuan Hsiao)
Day of Wrath (Carl Theodor Dreyer)
Moolaadé (Sembene)
Thanks everybody!
Jake, well i do regret picking Sansho in a match where it didn’t get many new viewers, i did plan to use it later but then i had a late moment of paranoia/madness and just wanting to make sure it got seen at all. I don’t regret picking Seven Samurai (i thought this would make a great battle with Passion of Joan of Arc, i do regret Joan didn’t show!) or Tokyo Story. Everyone has their reasons.
I have Charulata on DVD in case anyone needs help with the uploading.
Don´t worry, Law. It has already been uploaded on youtube with English subs. All of India´s selections should be available as streaming links at the end of the day.
The Hungarian manager pulls open his curtains to see the Russian big guns parked on his lawn, as expected. And against these tanks he sends out a simple man named Pelikan, armed only with a Hungarian grown orange. This can’t end well…
What a great selection of films: some great match ups: Charulata v Day of Wrath, The Green Ray v Close Up, Los Olvidados v Umberto D and so on. The favourites: Japan, France and Italy have real problems with great selections from Caucasus + Ukraine, Iran and Spain.
I’ve still to see around 20 films, Belgium and Czech Republic have complete slates of films I’ve never seen and I can’t wait to see the unseen gems from Africa, Taiwan, India, China and Denmark. I’m downloading Street Angel from www.archive.com as I type, a film I’ve meant to watch after reading Mark Cousins’ book, but never got around to until now.
Blue K: well, i’m not surprised by Denmark picking Hunger and Day of Wrath, and they still have enough goodies to even put up a fine show in the next round. Charulata may be #2 Ray, and Day of Wrath is certainly among Dreyer’s best too, i would only place one each by Bergman or Fellini higher than either, that should be a cracker of a pairing. .
Which Mark Cousins book is that, Ozufan? I’ve got his History of Film. Yuan Muzhi is a great favourite of Tony Rayns- but it was on second viewing i appreciated the film more..
Kenji: Yup, it was History of Film, he mentions it 2 or 3 times IIRC. There are about 40-50 films I’d really like to see after reading that book.
I would certainly trumpet the quality of Street Angel, it is going to be hard to beat for me. Delvaux has his work cut out.
kenji
The moment you’ve been waiting for folks, the team selections for the last 16
BELGIUM
1.Rendez-vous à Bray – (André Delvaux)
2.Toute une nuit (Chantal Akerman)
3.Aaltra (Gustave de Kervern & Benoît Delépine)
v
CHINA
1.Street Angel (Yuan Muzhi)
2.The Horse Thief (Tian Zhuangzhuang)
3.Still Life (Jia Zhangke)
-
RUSSIA
1.Mirror (Tarkovsky)
2.Burnt by the Sun (Mikhalkov)
3.Tale of Tales (Norshteyn)
v
HUNGARY
1. Diary For My Children (Márta Mészáros)
2. Almanac of Fall (Béla Tarr)
3. A tanú/The Witness (Péter Bacsó)
-
JAPAN
1.Crazed Fruit (Nakahata)
2.Tokyo Story (Ozu)
3.Hara Kiri (Kobayashi)
v
CAUCASUS + UKRAINE
1.Hamlet (Kozintsev)
2.Menq (Peleshian)
3.Arsenal (Dovzhenko)
-
SPAIN
1.El Sur (Víctor Erice)
2.Los Olvidados (Luis Buñuel)
3.Arrebato (Iván Zulueta)
v
ITALY
1.La Strada (Fellini)
2.Umberto D (De Sica)
3.Salo (Pasolini)
-
TAIWAN
1.The Puppetmaster (Hou Hsiao-hsien)
2.The Terrorizer (Edward Yang)
3.Mirror Image (Ya-Chuan Hsiao)
v
GERMANY
1.Aguirre Wrath of God (Herzog)
2.Rotation (Wolfgang Staudt)
3.M (Lang)
-
INDIA
1.The Case is Closed (Mrinal Sen)
2.Charulata (Satyajit Ray)
3.The Ritual (Girish Kasaravalli)
v
DENMARK
1.Memories of a Marriage (Kaspar Rostrup)
2.Day of Wrath (Carl Theodor Dreyer)
3.Sult (Henning Carlsen)
-
FRANCE
1.Celine and Julie go Boating (Rivette)
2.Le Rayon Vert/The Green Ray (Rohmer)
3.Muriel (Resnais)
v
IRAN
1.Crimson Gold (Jafar Panahi)
2.Close-Up (Abbas Kiarostami)
3.A Moment of Innocence (Moshen Makhmalbaf)
-
AFRICA
1.Daratt (Haroun)
2.Moolaadé (Sembene)
3.Night of Counting the Years (Abdelsalam)
v
CZECH REPUBLIC
1.Holubice/The White Dove (Frantisek Vlacil)
2.Kazdy den odvahu/Courage for Every Day (Evald Schorm)
3.Erotikon/Seduction (Gustav Machaty)