2012 MUBI World Cup Voting, Match #15: Estonia (The Temptation of St. Tony) vs. Poland (Mother Joan of the Angels)

^ Yeah, I’m going to try to watch that one. It looks good.

“At a very basic level, it wears its influences way too close to the sleeve”

That’s the impression i get from the trailer. Is it meant to be a satire?

Estonia (The Temptation of St. Tony) 0 — Poland (Mother Joan of the Angels) 1

Estonia (The Temptation of St. Tony) 1 – Poland (Mother Joan of the Angels)

Mother Joan was good I did enjoy it, was surprised by the cynical edge and found the ending quite moving, Father Joseph’s sacrifice and so on – but it was unfortunately somewhat upstaged/made pallid by The Devils which I just happened to re-watch a couple of days earlier having no idea such a similarly themed film was next up in the Cup. It took up where Devils left off at the charred site of a burned priest (some remarkably similar cinematic frames too, Russell saw this no doubt) – also Father Joseph had to compete in my mind with Oliver Reed, the devilishly sexy presence which had Sister Jeanne and all the ladies libidinally aflutter so comparatively, the energy was a bit flat.

All things considered, I found the darkly humourous surreal trip of TofST more engaging & curious, and ended up quite immersed in it.

Glad to be able to cast my first vote in this year’s WC. My apologies to Riss and all the good people making this wonderful event happen, but I have just been too busy to participate. Anyhow, with that mea culpa out of the way…

Estonia (The Temptation of St. Tony) 0 — Poland (Mother Joan of the Angels) 1

Estonia (The Temptation of St. Tony) 0 — Poland (Mother Joan of the Angels) 1

Estonia (The Temptation of St. Tony) 0 – Poland (Mother Joan of the Angels) 1

Estonia (The Temptation of St. Tony) 1 – Poland (Mother Joan of the Angels) 0
Joan is beautiful, but compared to some great moments in The Temptation it is also boring.

Estonia (The Temptation of St. Tony) 1 – Poland (Mother Joan of the Angels) 0

I’m going to have to make more comments later after the voting is over. I need more time to put together some good comments. I just finished Mother Joan of the Angles a couple of hours ago.

My apologies to Riss and all the good people making this wonderful event happen, but I have just been too busy to participate.

No reason to appologize. You are busy working on your own film!! That’s the best excuse you can give. :)

I really liked your summation of the film on the film’s page though: “One part Aki Kaurismaki, one part Bela Tarr, one part David Lynch, a pinch of Denis Levant with a miniature accordion, shake vigorously,and then finally top it with a garnish of Peter Greenaway. And voila!”

And to those who think the influences are too obvious, I don’t think that’s a bad thing.

Joks’ impression that this might be a satire is an interesting one. I like thinking about it that way.

VOTING IS CLOSED

Final tally:
Estonia (The Temptation of St. Tony) – 7
Poland (Mother Joan of the Angels) – 11

The winner is:

POLAND!

March, march, Dąbrowski,
From the Italian land to Poland.
Under your command
We shall rejoin the nation.

I laughed out loud when the wife’s gets swiped for suggesting they should see what the begger wants and is immediately contrite saying “god I’m sorry, I don’t know what came over me” and when Tony gives the dog the little peck as the only gesture that seems left available to him. That whole scene of him tramping through the snow with the dead animal to the relentless demented drumming music was pretty stirring. Was the director thinking of Stalker when he included the dog, was there a parallel here to the “room” that place the three protagonists in Stalker crave but found endless excuses to not enter….Thought of the Exterminating Angel here and there of course, the back to back feeling of excess and nothingness as hapless “everyman” saint angel “defenseless” Tony wanders wide eyed searching desperately to find something to make sense, to believe in good . I know these themes have been done and done but this was a significant and compelling attempt to make cinematic representation of man’s metaphysical/physical confusion/dilemma. I like it more the next day :)

Yes, Veiko Ounpuu’s vision can be like a game of “concentration,” in which the viewer tries to name the film director (or film director and film) which each particular scene was lifted from. Taken a scene at a time, one gorgeous camera shot at a time, this film is surfeit with promise. But at the end of the day (or movie) it seemed an exercise, almost a laughable one. More than Tarkovski, or Bela Tarr, or Bunuel, The Temptation of St. Tony consciously brought me back to the late 1960’s satire on Bergman’s limitless ennui: De Düva: The Dove—a rather hilarious send-up of Ingmar and his overly serious actor/patients. Or perhaps better is Nick Pinkerton’s description of Ounpuu’s vision here—"his cabaret-gothy Hell is like the fake art film from a beer commercial." Sure, people can make an Andy Warhol print better than Andy Warhol’s factory did it, but why would you want to? It would be a lifeless, imaginationless scoop of froth—no matter how lovely the camera, or how outrageous the symbolic integers, it isn’t genuine. It isn’t a film, it’s a compilation of art-house tropes, not particularly contemporary tropes at that. It’s like buying knock-off goods with famous logos at a flea market, they almost look like the real thing, but they’re actually Chinese reproductions of YSL purses, and no, that isn’t leather. Which, of itself, isn’t a terrible thing if it all suits a purpose. But, I couldn’t grasp any sincerity whatsoever in any of the many philosophical or cultural asides, not even his comic-serious satire. It was funny, no doubt, but I don’t think I laughed at the places which were intended. The director and DP and gaffer deserve major kudos, however, for the look of this film.