DIRECTORS’ CUP 2011 VOTING, ROUND 2, MATCH 22: Pedro Almodovar (Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown) vs. Dziga Vertov (The Eleventh)

The extended voting period for this match lasts until 7:00 pm BST (6:00 pm GMT) on Wednesday, July 6, 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, July 5.

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 (managers in parentheses) you´re going to vote for on this thread is:

Pedro Almodovar (Jirin) Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown vs. Dziga Vertov (Malkin) The Eleventh

If you have not seen these films and are not able to access them on your own then pm me and I may be able to give you access to the streaming links

For Riss, who is out of town and away from the internet:

Pedro Almodóvar (Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown) 0 – Dziga Vertov (The Eleventh) 1

a disappointment (comparatively) for Almodovar, lacks the fun of a Kika and the anarchy of a Pepi and Luci. The Vertov was much more exciting than I expected but grew tiresome about 2/3 of the way in. I would rate both films 3/5 but since life is usually a series of disappointments:

Pedro Almodóvar (Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown) 1 – Dziga Vertov (The Eleventh) 0

Pedro Almodovar (Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown) – 1 vs. Dziga Vertov (The Eleventh) – 0

Like both of these just about the same, but I felt that it kind of lost it’s appeal toward the end of it.

Pedro Almodóvar (Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown) 1 – Dziga Vertov (The Eleventh) 0

Pedro Almodóvar (Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown) 1 – Dziga Vertov (The Eleventh) 0

Dziga Vertov (The Eleventh) 1 – Pedro Almodovar (WOtVoaNB) 0

Close match, I loved both of these. Honestly, though, I don’t want Almodovar to succeed. Vertov interests me a lot more.

Pedro Almodóvar (Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown) 0 – Dziga Vertov (The Eleventh) 1

I loved the Almodovar film. It’s one of my favorites of his. He’s a great director, and his comedy is hilarious. But Vertov has the ability to turn anything into art. Even Soviet Propaganda films. Vertov did take my breath away, although his film did slow down in the third act.

This is a tough vote, since the directors are so very different, and I like both films, but I’m voting Vertov because he impressed me more.

It’s a straight genre decision for me here. Screwball comedy, when done right (as Almodovar has done here) makes for a consistently enjoyable and funny film. Propaganda, on the other hand, is boxed in by what it is, so even impressive visuals (present here, but not as striking as in Sixth Part of the World) can only do so much for such a narrow purpose. Music’s still fun though.

I agree with Brad. The Eleventh is very inventive on a formal level, but propaganda can never really be as interesting as drama—particularly a drama as fun as Women on the Verge. This was the first time I saw Verge, and it’s one of my new favorites from Almodóvar—fast and energetic in the way that some of his latest films have felt leaden.

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown 1 – The Eleventh 0

6-3 Almodóvar

Pedro Almodóvar (Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown) 0 – Dziga Vertov (The Eleventh) 1

Can’t say that I really enjoyed any of the films (unlike round 1 picks), but I’d rather see more Vertov rather than more Almodovar.

Pedro Almodóvar (Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown): 1 —vs— Dziga Vertov (The Eleventh): 0

Pedro Almodóvar (Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown) 0 – Dziga Vertov (The Eleventh) 1

Vertov is one of my best in this cup. I don’t know how to win the match against him :)

Pedro Almodóvar (Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown) – 1 vs. Dziga Vertov (The Eleventh) – 0

Pedro Almodóvar (Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown) 0 vs. Dziga Vertov (The Eleventh) 1

Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown is messy in an unenjoyable way for me and I find the characters to be more annoying than funny. I’m not much of an Almodóvar fan, but I do like some of his films (the R1 pick was great), but WOtVoaNB isn’t one of them.

The Eleventh was a pleasant surprise, I liked it a lot better than the R1 pick. There are some beautiful associations of images and I think the film is very effective.

Pedro Almodóvar (Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown) – 0 vs. Dziga Vertov – 1

Argh, too close on this….

Pedro Almodóvar (Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown) 1 – Dziga Vertov (The Eleventh) 0

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown 1 The Eleventh Year 0

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown 0 The Eleventh Year 1

Almodovar’s film is great fun, but Vertov’s is an overwhelmingly brilliant masterpiece, a big step towards the even more exhilarating Man with a Movie Camera. Vertov, Svilova, Kaufman the masters of space and time, cinema even more dynamic an element than the machinery, ooh the material may not seem the most promising and the message can no longer carry such optimism, but what vision, what an eye, what editing, what poetry, what camerawork, what movement! Where are the films to match this today?

Pedro Almodovar (Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown) 1 – Dziga Vertov (The Eleventh) 0

11-8 Women

Pedro Almodovar (Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown) 1 – Dziga Vertov (The Eleventh) 0

Poor Vertov. I love him, but I love Almodovar more.

Pedro Almodóvar (Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown) 1 – Dziga Vertov (The Eleventh) 0

Pedro Almodóvar (Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown) 1 – Dziga Vertov (The Eleventh) 0

This is a funny Almodóvar with an exquisite plot, but I find it a little bit uneven. It has a notorious introduction. Its pacing, montage and tone are very interesting for the first 23 minutes aprox. till this scene:

From this point on, there’s a significant change of tone and screwball comedy (with the characters of Candela, Marissa and Carlos) takes all of its form. I’m not saying this change is necessarily bad: Actually, the tragicomic development and the acts’ structure justify it, but I sure miss some of the montage, pace and even compositons that took place in those first 23 minutes.

The Eleventh Year shows some more aesthetic consistence, when states its specific theme and proposal of transformation and “progress” using some dynamic ways of expressing more with rythm, dissolvences and compositions, turning the screen into some canvas for creative framing/design. Maybe the same could be said for other Vertov’s works, but for example, in this one specifically he finds singular cinematic material and motifs such as moving-directed water, dynamos, spinning tools and mechanisms with particular movements, most of them part of complex energy generation processes, which configures the main topic of the work.

Pedro Almodóvar (Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios) 0 – Dziga Vertov (The Eleventh Year) 1

Pedro Almodóvar (Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown) –0 vs. Dziga Vertov (The Eleventh) –1

This is the best of the Almodovars I’ve seen so far, and gives me hope of finding more gems in his oeuvre, but my vote is still for Vertov.

Pedro Almodóvar (Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown) 0 vs. Dziga Vertov (The Eleventh) 1

Pedro Almodóvar (Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown) 1 – Dziga Vertov (The Eleventh) 0

I thought the Almodovar was great and the Vertov was a snooze. Not to mention I got to see WOTVOFNB in an excellent 35mm print last month and I had to watch The Eleventh Year on Youtube, which looked like the film had been compressed a few different times. I guess it’s a necessary evil to put up with when we’re doing such strict viewing in this way, but I know I would have liked the Vertov better if I had seen it on film. This type of thing makes a great deal of difference, in my opinion, and I wonder if others feel the same. My preferred way of seeing things is in a theater, not watching links off of Youtube where I have to keep clicking on the next part after 14 minutes. Does anyone else feel that this type of thing can hinder their appreciation of a film as well?

Like I said, it is a necessary part of this competition and I am 1000% grateful to those who found, ripped and uploaded the films (I uploaded my picks myself and it takes a lot of time and effort), but I don’t think this type of viewing can be as good as viewing something on film or in HD or just in a good quality theatrical setting. I know there are access issues to that (how often do the films of Ritwik Ghatak play anywhere in the world on film, for example, or how many people live hours away from a good repertory or alternative cinema?) but just thought it should be acknowledged. I think this particular instance came into my head also because there was a fairly comprehensive Dziga Vertov exhibit at MoMA recently too.

Another thing worth mentioning was that I disliked the soundtrack for The Eleventh Year. It sounded like a Phillip Glass knock-off. Any info on the composer or anything? I’m not sure which DVD this rip would have come from.

Pedro Almodovar (Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown) 1 Dziga Vertov (The Eleventh) 0