RUS says:
Aleksei German (Trial of the Road): 1 —vs— Arturo Ripstein (Such is Life): 0
Aleksei German (Trial of the Road) – 1 vs Arturo Ripstein (Such is Life) – 0
Aleksei German (Trial of the Road) – 0 vs Arturo Ripstein (Such is Life)-1
first time I watched both films the day of the match. Trail was very well made, ambitious and ambigious, it could simply be that I cannot take a film about destruction and war right now but I found a good deal of Such is Life charming, I loved the Pig charcter, the boxer, the sunny look (blown up digital video) even in squalar and the sex scenes. There is a bit of bathos but all and all it is like a female centered Almodovar pick.
Aleksei German (Trial of the Road) – 1 vs Arturo Ripstein (Such is Life) – 0
Trial of the Road’s defiantly anti-heroic portrayal of the army, and its meaninglessly tragic culmination make it both a daring and thought-provoking war film; the fact that I wasn’t entirely blown away is more because I’m not the greatest fan of the genre. Such is Life, on the other hand, is quite suffocating in terms of its setting and the main characters’ constant state of misery, self-pity and desperation. I can’t say I enjoyed it, though it was still curiously hard to look away from.
Trial of the Road 1 – Such is Life 0
Aleksei German (Trial of the Road) – 0 vs Arturo Ripstein (Such is Life)-1
Trial of the Road (German) – 0 // Such is Life (Ripstein) – 1
I don’t know about German… neither of his films have really captivated me, although I appreciate that certain clinical coolness they carry. And anyway, I’m no great fan of war films most of the time.
Such is Life, on the other hand, quite fascinated me. The transplanted Greek tragedy provides a perfect backdrop for Ripstein to explore the dissolution of the family unit, masculinity gone awry (the main male character muses on his life while pounding away on a punching bag, in a full suit), and escape from a cruel world. All themes he explored in Castle of Purity as well; I find it very interesting to parallel Julia with the demented father in that film. Both characters are miserable, sad, tortured individuals turning their anguish outward and, eventually, onto their own family. Both are supposedly well-intentioned. We’re shown Julia’s point of view in exhaustive, painful detail; not so with the father, whose motivations are only hinted at, glossed over. The repercussions of his actions are what’s really on display. There’s a play of ambiguity between these two cases, I think, and even if I’m imagining it it makes Ripstein a very intriguing director to me and his film an easy winner.
Trial Of The Road 1 – Such Is Life 0
Both are fantastic films. I love it’s take on the fuzzy time toward the end of an occupied period where the people who collaborated with the enemy out of fear are now at the mercy of the loyalists who want their blood.
Moderated
Trial of the Road (1) – Such is Life (0)
Aleksei German (Trial of the Road) 1 Arturo Ripstein (Such is Life) 0
Probably my favorite German’s film, midway between Ivan’s Childhood (from a narrative point of view) and The Ascent (aesthetic).
Aleksei German (Trial of the Road) – 1 vs Arturo Ripstein (Such is Life) – 0
Aleksei German (Trial of the Road) – 1 vs Arturo Ripstein (Such is Life) – 0
German understands like no other that it takes shadows to sculpt someone into life, to cut him out of a cardboard reality, of a brainwashed happiness whose most extreme illustration is Loznitsa’s Revue. A very surprising work.
As for Such is Life, i think demolishing ancient myths is so comfortable and unrisky today. And this kind of grotesque tragicomedy… hm, i don’t think that’s really my cup of tea.
Aleksei German (Trial of the Road) –1 vs Arturo Ripstein (Such is Life) –0
I liked both films, though didn’t love them as much as their Round 1 counterparts. Also, the anti-war films from this point on stand in the shadow of The Red and the White for me.
@House
You’ve voted twice.
Aleksei German (Trial of the Road): 1 —vs— Arturo Ripstein (Such is Life): 0
Both great discoveries.
Trial of the Road (German) – 0 vs Such is Life (Ripstein) – 1
I gave more stars to German, but my vote goes to Ripstein. Trial of the Road is too safe, a bit too much of the confident hand of a master.
I got 11-4 German
House voted twice for German. Once after Erszebet and the other one after Jirin.
I count 11 – 4
wow he did, I thought he was posting for someone, corrected thru edit, thanks
;) Don’t know why I did that. Damn those brain cells. I moderated the first one.
Aleksei German (Trial of the Road) – 1 vs Arturo Ripstein (Such is Life) – 0
Aleksei German (Trial of the Road) –1 vs Arturo Ripstein (Such is Life) –0
Aleksei German (Trial of the Road) 1 – Arturo Ripstein (Such is Life) 0
Wow, the German film is so much different from his R1 film which I found incomprehensible. This is gorgeous because it’s like Angel said, it has that aesthetic that I love like in The Ascent. Put some Asian soldiers in a snowy forest and I think I’m in for the ride no matter what happens.
Aleksei German (Trial of the Road) 1 – Arturo Ripstein (Such is Life) 0
Hidden treasure of the Soviet Union. Nice discovery.
Aleksei German (Trial of the Road) 1 – Arturo Ripstein (Such is Life) 0
Once again Aleksei German. I still couldn’t get used to his style. When I watched it, I couldn’t decide if it is good or not. Clear or not. As times go by I can feel the beauty of it. I think Aleksei German will be the most beautiful treasure that I find in directors’ cup 11.
Aleksei German (Trial of the Road) –1 vs Arturo Ripstein (Such is Life) –0
Was anyone else upset that so many of the Hitler jokes got interrupted before the punchline? I wanted to hear more of those!
Aleksei German (Trial of the Road) –1 vs Arturo Ripstein (Such is Life) –0
House of Leaves
Because of the delay, the extended voting period for this match lasts until 7:30pm BST (6:30pm GMT) on Wed, June 1, which means that users will have over 48 hours in order to publish their votes. The world map which lists all current time zones can be found on www.worldtimezone.com, so that everyone can be up to date about how much time is left.
After the voting period is over the votes will be counted and the results published.
The next match will begin before 7pm BST (6pm GMT) on Tuesday, 31 May.
Each user can vote on any match as long as he/she has watched both films that are lined-up against each other. An explanation for the preference in each case would be greatly appreciated. Managers are not allowed to vote on matches that their director participates in. The voting should be handled like this:
Film A 1 (or 0) – Film B 0 (or 1)
Please mark the winning film/score in large or heavy print.
PLEASE NOTE: IF YOU DO NOT NAME BOTH FILMS IN YOUR POST YOUR VOTE WILL NOT BE COUNTED
The match you´re going to vote for on this thread is:
Aleksei German (Trial of the Road) vs. Arturo Ripstein (Such is Life)
If you have not seen either of these films and are not able to access them on your own then pm me and I should hopefully be able to give you access to streaming links.