DIRECTORS’ CUP VOTING, ROUND 1, MATCH 51: Rainer Werner Fassbinder (Love Is Colder Than Death) vs Shyam Benegal (Ankur)

THE DIRECTORS’ CUP 2010 : ROUND 1, MATCH 51 VOTING

New participants are most welcome and allowed to vote in the match-ups.

Match 50, Richard Linklater (Slacker) vs Kaneto Shindō (Children of Hiroshima), will remain open for voting until 9pm BST (8pm GMT) on Saturday 31st July and can be voted on HERE

On this thread voting will be on Match 51, Rainer Werner Fassbinder (Love Is Colder Than Death) vs Shyam Benegal (Ankur)
The other matches in Round 1 will each be getting their own threads.

The extended voting period for this match lasts until 9pm BST (8pm GMT) on Sunday 1st August, 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 9pm BST (8pm GMT) on Saturday 31st July.

The current match-ups can be found on: http://directorscup.lifeasfiction.com/
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. Team managers are not allowed to vote on matches their own team 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
Rainer Werner Fassbinder (Love Is Colder Than Death) vs Shyam Benegal (Ankur)

managed by Martin and Sir Douglas respectively

If you have yet to see Love Is Colder Than Death it is available to watch HERE
If you have yet to see Ankur it is available to watch HERE

My Fassbinder comments are someone in this place, the movie was pretty decent but not on par with Ankur

Ankur
Second best film of the cup. Perfect score and setting. Film is about a system that allows criminals to be shamed beyond reason and people to gossip if a potter’s wife is serving tea to a landowner. Surya seems a decent guy at first, not interested in caste, tho with a grudge against his father’s other family. He is, very sadly, proven to be indecent as the film progresses. Tragic story played very low key (even a bit of comic relief from certain villagers). There is not a wasted scene here, every scene is in service to a point (refreshing). The film is particularly good at showing two sides: Surya spots Laxmi crying (vulnerable) then asks her to take care of a snake for him (tough), the satisfaction of her returning to make his tea, followed by the trail of a woman who wants to leave her husband. Kishtaya is a decent fellow (just a drunk) and Laxmi knows this, probably why she only beds down Surya after he is behaving as her husband might after the card game. In the end, the curse of the poor is put on the douche land owner. I likely got hit with that curse at some point myself (tho I did not do anything near as bad as Surya).

Grade A++

Ankur (1) vs Love is Colder Than Death (0)

Rainer Werner Fassbinder (Love Is Colder Than Death) 0 – Shyam Benegal (Ankur) 1

Rainer Werner Fassbinder (Love Is Colder Than Death) 0 – Shyam Benegal (Ankur) 1

no contest for me

i haven’t seen a fassbinder that i didn’t like, this spare tale no exception, but it couldn’t supercede petra or satansbraten in my affection….
……whereas ankur was from one of the directors that i hadn’t even heard of before the cup, and so…..my eager vote for him has been sur-prised from me and ascended, like a rabbit caught in benegal’s cinematic headlights…

Rainer Werner Fassbinder (Love Is Colder Than Death) 0 – Shyam Benegal (Ankur) 1

more please……

It would have been an interesting draw if this Fassbinder had been up against Straub-Huillet’s Bridegroom, Comedienne and the Pimp! Like the Robbe-Grillet there’s a lot of distanced new wave cool play with images, guns, gals + gangsters, but it apparently had a tough reception at first. A brave choice by the manager here

Rainer Werner Fassbinder (Love Is Colder Than Death)—1 vs Shyam Benegal (Ankur)—0

I rate these films equally, and I’m not sure that either blow mysocks off the way similar films from this cup have, and this vote could easily change tomorrow, but for now, this is it.

Love is Colder than Death 0 Ankur 1

A positive vote for Ankur, yet another superb Indian film. I quite liked the early Fassbinder, interesting exploration of space, b+w, showing influence, i think, of Straub-Huillet as well as French new wave (Erika Rohmer!), but lacking depth and emotion.

Love is Colder than Death 1 Ankur 5

Rainer Werner Fassbinder (Love Is Colder Than Death)—1 vs Shyam Benegal (Ankur)—0

Love Is Colder than Death 0 Ankur 1

Rainer Werner Fassbinder (Love Is Colder Than Death)—0 vs Shyam Benegal (Ankur)—1

Bring on the calvin klein jokes

Please, do not evict Fassbinder from the Cup that soon!

We really need more voters :(

Rainer Werner Fassbinder (Love Is Colder Than Death)—1 vs Shyam Benegal (Ankur)—0

Fassbinder because he had a good beard and his title is better.

When he had a beard.

When he didn’t, it wasn’t very good.

Oh my, I better try to watch Ankur this weekend. Fassbinder is my favorite director, but I will still give the other film a chance of course.. :)

Love is Colder than Death 0 Ankur 1

Rainer Werner Fassbinder (Love Is Colder Than Death) 0 – Shyam Benegal (Ankur) 1

Fassbinder’s film certainly looked like a first time feature from a young filmmaker which it was. The influences are so obvious and not just because he lists them all boldly in the opening credits. Still despite the fact that it’s just an attempt to recreate what he’s seen before, it’s a good attempt and you can see the potential. Because of this it has nothing on Ankur though.

Its difficult for me to say why I love Ankur. Like Satyajit Ray’s films it’s deceptively simple in terms of narrative and presentation. I’m not sure how these Indian filmmakers seem to be able to bring so much life out of something that from a distance doesn’t seem like it should have that much power.

Poor choice for Fassbinder … so much films to choose from!

Rainer Werner Fassbinder (Love Is Colder Than Death) 0 – Shyam Benegal (Ankur) 1

I really like the long Tarresque walking sequence and the fact Fassbinder can’t or won’t play it straight and does a heelclick or whatever that was near the end of the walk. It isn’t a bad film but far short of the Fassbinder I love. Ankur is another excellent Benegal film that I wouldn’t have seen without these tournaments and leaves Fassbinder as he was at the end of Fox and his Friends.

Love is Colder than Death 0 Ankur 1

Rainer Werner Fassbinder (Love Is Colder Than Death) 1 – Shyam Benegal (Ankur) 0

The vote goes to Fassbinder’s stylish, brooding, melancholic meditation on the gangster film. I’m hating old Rainer Werner taking such a beating here. And, in any case, never had much taste for the so-called Indian middle cinema reeking of Nehruvian socialism, “the Indian village”, and the limp autocritique of urban Indian bourgeoisie…I infinitely prefer the Aravindan, Kaul, Abraham and Mrinal Sen over the Benegals and the Nihalanis of Indian cinema. More importantly, I don’t want Fassbinder to be evicted from the Cup so soon. But alas!

Rainer Werner Fassbinder (Love Is Colder Than Death) 1 – Shyam Benegal (Ankur) 0

i’m a die-hard fassbinder man, sorry

11-5 Ankur

Love Is Colder Than Death 0 – Ankur – 1

Pretty good film by Benegal. I didn’t really know what to make of the Fassbinder . . . okay, moments I liked more than others, didn’t really seem to gel overall.

Rainer Werner Fassbinder (Love Is Colder Than Death) 1 – Shyam Benegal (Ankur) 0

Pretty easy choice. Fassbinder is one of my all-time favorite filmmakers and Love is Colder than Death is one of my all-time favorites. Ankur is amazing as well but I can’t help but vote or a personal favorite in this one… Especially considering it’s standing as of right now!

…

Dimitris says:

Love is Colder than Death 0 – The Seedling 1

sigh, i’d hate to see Fassbinder out but same can be said about Benegal. maybe i’m more keen to a Maria Braun than the alter ego of Fassbinder played by himself of course, of course. a strong debut film with crime and semi-Hollywood of the 30’s motions but Benegal’s debut and the unfortunate hurdles of submissions (it is after all in the brink of master-servant situations), not to mention Azmi’s moving performance…..well, i ought to be writing reviews but i do hope the best for both directors.

a pity for Martin though since in the previous cup he was one of our top 5-6 managers, in my opinion.

I thought the performances were great and I love the message of the film—it’s importance, I should say—but my vote comes down to which film I would rather rewatch right now, and that’s the Fassbinder. Like I said, that could change any moment, but it’s held at least for the last 24 hours.