The naturalism of Bruno Stroszek and the opening scene had me wondering if the film might be a documentary, and again at the end of the film with Stroszek only being credited as Bruno S. Herzog seems fond of exploring the boundries of fiction and documentary. Still, Children of the Wind holds a special place for me, it was the first Shimizu film I saw and as good as Ozu’s films with kids, but more exciting, probably because of his location shooting and even more natural performances. Children in the Wind has moments where it feels as improvised as Stroszek, and the films probably have a lot in common in the way they were made.
Werner Herzog (Stroszek) 0 vs. Hiroshi Shimizu (Children in the Wind) 1
interesting that whoever passes this round will be facing off either Ray or Sternberg
(if my calculations are correct)
bump
because i don’t want to see Woody Allen’s victory getting the most votes as an overall match.
I think it will be the 10skies Eraserhead match that gets the most votes
Stroszek 1 vs Children of the Wind 0
" … and we can’t cut off the power to the dancing chicken"
I can’t get that ending out of my head. One of the greatest.
Stroszek -1 vs Children of the Wind -0
28 – 23 to Herzog
Stroszek -0 vs Children of the Wind -1
Stroszek -1 vs Children of the Wind -0
This was really close and honestly could have gone either way.
Stroszek -0 vs Children of the Wind -1
This is a hard decision. Both directors are chameleons in a great proportion of their filmographies but always share a deep love for humanity, vicissitudes of life and randomness in general. It’d have been a terrific match with Shimizu’s “Mr. Shozuke Ohara”, a film with a main character, detached from material things, whose solidarity leads him to (an apparent) total failure and ruin.
In Stroszek and Children of the wind, episodical structure stands out for the two. Herzog and Shimizu share proceedings to increase naturality in some crucial sequences:
*Use of Long shots and relative no-fragmentation of actions
*Inclusion of nature aleatory conditions and “randomly found elements”
*Some characters played by non-actors
My vote goes to Shimizu. He bet his proposal to some morality that is almost lost nowadays in Cinema and arts in general. Back In his days, many of those films (made by him or his contemporaries) looked for ways to integrate human kind and to reconstruct devastated or next-to-be devastated societies. Shimizu’s films now have to be seen and be treated as social visionaries.
Ironically, I love most of Herzog’s works and I distrust of most films on/with children, but this time I feel that Shimizu’s is more pertinent.
Stroszek -0 vs Children of the Wind -1
stroszek 1 — 0 children of the wind
had Children of the Wind remained in its entirety as solid as it was during its first hour, it would have gotten my vote.
30 – 26 to Werner, I think. Geez, this is close.
Stroszek (0) v Children of the Wind (1)
I liked both of them a lot and found it hard to actually choose between the two. It’s possible that I would have voted for Stroszek if Children of the Wind was ahead. Though, I’ve been on a big youth film kick lately, so maybe I wouldn’t have.
Stroszek (1) vs. Children of the Wind (0)
I love both of these movies. Children in the Wind is wonderful, and as someone may have said above me, I enjoyed this more than Ozu’s movies featuring children. But Stroszek has too much going for it. Wonderful performances by humans and animals, great cinematography, an amazing musical performance, and my favorite song recurring throughout. It is hard for me in 2010 to see this film as an attack on the myth of the American dream. You would have to be extremely naive to think a German prostitute and life-long institutionalized man could somehow improve their lives by suddenly moving to America. I see most of this movie as a celebration of Harry Smith’s old, weird America (and Canada and Germany). This is a great match.
animal magnetism FTW
can anyone tell me how many hours remain to vote?
There are 3 hours and 40 minutes left.
ok thank you!
I too “fell for the relationships amongst the kids and Shimizu’s understated style”…as Ozufan pointed out. The pretend Olympic swimming event was priceless. I wanted to like Strosek but……I did enjoy Fitzcarraldo and the important little short where Herzog gives life to a plastic bag with his narration of The Plastic Bag.
Werner Herzog (Stroszek) 0 vs. Hiroshi Shimizu (Children in the Wind) 1
Stroszek 1 vs Children of the Wind 0
Stroszek 1 vs Children of the Wind 0
VOTING IS OVER ON THIS MATCH
The score is 33 – 28 to Stroszek. Werner Herzog will be proceeding to Round 2.
Thank you all for voting :D
apursansar
Glad to see Scheitz being highlighted above. His quotations of Schopenhauer’s On the Principle of Sufficient Reason were hilarious in that context.
While it first seemed like “Children in the Wind” would be catching up, “Stroszek” managed to advance again.
26 – 22 in favor of Werner H. and Bruno S. (including Chris’ vote)