Gabbeh 1 The Girl who Sold the Sun 0
The Day I Became a Woman 0 Nightingale’s Prayer 1
Where is the Friend’s Home? 0 Black Girl 1
i liked all of these., already loved Gabbeh, very beautiful, something of Paradjanov, and Nightingale’s Prayer is another great world cup discovery from Africa..will say more later
Where is My Friend’s Home 1 – Black Girl 0
Am I allowed to vote on this match?
Gabbeh 0 – THE GIRL WHO SOLD THE SUN 1
Even though not a big fan of iranian cinema, I loved Gabbeh a lot. But than it is again a little masterpiece which is so much to tell in about one hour what some films didn´t manage in 3 hours.
Where is my friend´s home 0 – BLACK GIRL 1
Both are very fine films, but BLACK GIRL was a big discovering for me.
Rumplesink, yes you can vote
Where Is the Friend’s Home? 0 – Black Girl 1
Gabbeh 0 v The Girl Who Sold the Sun 1
My personal choice for “find” of the tournament so far.
The Day I Became a Woman 0 v Nightingale’s Prayer 1
Two looks at womens issues but Nightingale was the more interesting story
Where is My Friend’s Home? 0 v Black Girl 1
The vote is partially for historical importance.
Okay.
1. Gabbeh 0 – The Girl Who Sold the Sun 1
Again I seem to be out of phase with the other voters, but I found Gabbeh a bit confusing. At one point I couldn’t decide whether the main character was a young girl or a rug! Too metaphorical for my blood. I did like The Girl Who Sold The Sun though.
3. Where is My Friend’s Home? 1 – Black Girl 0
I like this Kiarostami fellow. Give me more!
The Girl who Sold the Sun avoids the mawdlin sentimentality of many films in the west with children with disabilities; and i loved those shots of the tree and fruit in the wind close up filling the screen. Gabbeh had me lovesick though when i saw it some years back now.
The Day I Became a Woman is yet another fine film from the Makhmalbaf family, it may come as a surprise to many how female directors are prominent in Iran, and it deals effectively with issues affecting women at different life stages. Nightingale’s Prayer has a lovely fluidity and a heroine to empathise with, Barakat has a feel for camera placement and movement.
Black Girl is very powerful- well we have quite a group of films here with female protagonists as well as a few with children. It makes no concessions to the colonisers’ need to feel better about themselves at the end. Sembene is one for empowerment and defiance rather than pity and defeatism; here suicide, as in Mizoguchi’s Lady of Musashino, is an act of defiance as much as despair
>I found Gabbeh a bit confusing
Agree. An attempt to be Parajanov-like maybe, but really unaccomplished. A nice curiosity, however.
Gabbeh 1 – The Girl Who Sold the Sun 0
Gabbeh was a real find for me when I saw it about a year ago. I fell in love with the story of the rug that came to life. A subtle little gem. The Girl Who Sold the Sun was an engaging tale, too. The feisty little girl, who lets nothing stand in her way, was a bit hard to believe at times, perhaps, but a great study in determination and grit.. The surreal magic of Gabbeh won me over in this pairing.
The Day I Became a Woman 0 – Nightingale’s Prayer 1
The Day I Became a Woman was really only effective for me in its 2nd story about the woman cyclist who is besieged by all her male family members, but still goes on. Otherwise, the film felt a bit forced. Nightingale’s Prayer was a real melodrama, with many turns that would now seem comical from a modern perspective. Still, I got caught up in the story and enjoyed the acting of Faten Hamama (then Omar Sharif’s wife) as Amna. A dated, but captivating film. Thanks to Sir Douglas for uploading The Day I Became a Woman so that I could vote for this pairing.
Where is My Friend’s Home? 0 – Black Girl 1
The Kiarostami film showed his usual close attention to detail and was an interesting take on childhood in Iran. Seeing events from the boy’s perspective was natural and seamless. The Sembene film is a powerful indictment of the colonial system told from the perspective of a servant who resents her powerless position in an unfeeling and hostile environment. Very dramatic and the film that lauched sub-Saharan black cinema. Surely Black Girl is one of the unsung masterworks of cinema and one of the best indictments of colonialism anywhere. I thought the contrast of Diouana’s life in Africa with France was an interesting way of telling the story. The use of the African mask motif was also a fine touch.
Thanks to both managers for presenting films that are effective social/political statements as well as fine films.
Yes, Nightingale’s Prayer is melodramatic, but in the right hands as here it can be a very rich experience- the genre tends to have an unfair press these days with post-modern cynicism and minimalism etc
Where Is My Friend’s Home? (Abbas Kiarostami) 0 v Black Girl (Ousmane Sembene) 1
BLACK GIRL was such an important historical breakthrough film for African cinema that I have to give it the nod over the Kiarostami. If it were up against TASTE OF CHERRY, it would be an even closer call for me.
Where is the Friend’s Home? 1 vs Black Girl 0
Where is My Friend’s Home? (Abbas Kiarostami) 1 v Black Girl (Ousmane Sembene) 0
current scores:
Gabbeh 2 The Girl who Sold the Sun 3
The Day I Became a Woman 0 Nightingale’s Prayer 3
Where is the Friend’s Home 4 Black Girl 6
Gabbeh 0 – The Girl who Sold the Sun 1
The Day I Became a Woman 1 – Nightingale’s Prayer 0
Where is the Friend’s Home 0 – Black Girl 1
I found The Day I Became a Woman one of the most (if not The most) interesting pieces in these quarters. The ridicolous ethos is put on stage and attacked with perfect art strokes. I liked especially the second segment.
Gabbeh 0 The Little Girl Who Sold the Sun 1
Even though I do want to see Iran win this round and I notice that Africa’s in the lead right now, I have to choose The Little Girl Who Sold the Sun over Gabbeh. Life is indeed color but you’ve got to give it to the young woman who still decides to go on, move on, instead of whine and cry about it in the end.
The Day I Became a Woman 1 Nightingale’s Prayer 0
Nightingale’s Prayer’s plot, to me, is messy. Wouldn’t it be better, or rather wouldn’t it make more sense, to avenge your sister’s death by torturing or killing the person who actually murdered her, the devilish uncle himself? Why waste your time trying to flirt with that asshole of a man when the uncle who killed your father and your sister (because of the “dishonor” they have caused to the family) is still alive and breathing?
The Day I Became a Woman, on the other hand, knows what it is and doesn’t try to manipulate its audience. Two of the most memorable moments in this film are when the girl and her male friend take turns in licking the lollipop (her last moment with her friend before she becomes a woman) and where the furniture is placed at the seashore.
Where Is the Friend’s Home? 1 Black Girl 0
As much as I love all the Ousmane Sembene’s films I’ve seen, I must say that Black Girl is very outdated because now, it’s the Mexican maids and Filipino caregivers they oppress and take advantage of. Fucking white supremacists….
In France it’s the Mexicans and Filipinos being taken advantage of? Well, whoever, the moral is still the same and relevant- as you imply-, so i’m not sure about outdated
“I liked especially the second segment”
the second tale of Marzieh’s film is in my opinion one of the most important film-entrances to a new cinematic decade (2000’s in our case),it’s a shame she has only made 2 films (but oh so perfect)
p.s.: the Filipino incident Scorpio rises is indeed true for my country,not necessarily literal but there’s a major bias by a large portion of Greeks of Filipinos = sweatshop workers….true story.
Where Is the Friend’s Home? 1 – Black Girl 0
Gabbeh 2 The Little Girl who Sold the Sun 5
The Day I Became a Woman 2 Nightingale’s Prayer 3
Where is the Friend’s Home 6 Black Girl 7
Gabbeh 0 – The Girl who Sold the Sun 1
The Day I Became a Woman 0 – Nightingale’s Prayer 1
Where is the Friend’s Home? 1 – Black Girl 0
Crap. I thought I posted my votes and comments earlier, but it appears it didn’t go through. I don’t have time to rewrite them all now (which is, I’m sure, a huge disappointment to everyone) but I’ll say I really enjoyed all six films, as I have almost all of both teams previous selections, and hated to vote against any of them. Girl Who Sold the Sun is easily my favorite of this group as its spirit of indomitable hope is inspiring and infectious. Sud FM!
The other choices were almost a coin toss, but I went with Nightingale since I have a deeper fondness for films in the “classic” style in general compared with the more modern, or post-modern era of filmmaking, and I picked Friend’s Home over Black Girl due to my emotional connection with Kiarostomi’s work and a little feeling of there being some inexactness in the parallel to colonialism in Black Girl. Her suicide seemed an avoidable fate and a bit much within the story context even though it is a powerful and appropriately devastating rejoinder to the colonial/racist attitudes so truthfully captured by Sembene. A small issue, but enough to tip the scales to Iran in this case.
Gabbeh (Mohsen Makhmalbaf) 1 – The Girl Who Sold the Sun (Djibril Diop-Mambety) 0
The short and sweet work by Mambety about a disabled girl who sells the “Soleil” and gets bullied by other vedors has been a great find, but for me it doesn´t surpass the extraordinary beauty of “Gabbeh” which melds traditions, colors and landscapes of Iran in order to create a work of sheer poetry.
The Day I Became a Woman (Marzieh Makhmalbaf) 0 – Nightingale’s Prayer (Henri Barakat) 1
I especially liked the astonishing second segment of “The Day I Became a Woman” in which a bicycle race becomes the perfect allegory on the attempt of Iranian women to escape the masculine domination. The first one was a charming tale about the last hours of a little girl before society classifies her as a woman, and I was rather indifferent about the third segment. The Egytian masterpiece “Nightingale´s Prayer” is a powerful melodrama which affected me especially outrageous injustice, but I think the vulnerable solution which the female main character chooses is more comprehensible in regards to woman´s position in Arabian society as if she had decided to murder her uncle in order to take revenge as suggested above.
Where is My Friend’s Home? (Abbas Kiarostami) 0 – Black Girl (Ousmane Sembene) 1
Kiarostami´s early film is a wonderful depiction of a young boy trying to do the right thing in a world ruled by unreasonable adults who are teaching the children wrong moral values. The discussion between the two older man makes it quite clear that grown-ups not only impart knowledge to the next generation, but also confuse their common sense. The film didn´t have the profound impact on me as the two subsequent masterpieces of the trilogy centering around Koker which likewise transcended the boundaries of fictional cinema while “Where is my Friend´s Home” is still a more conventional narrative film. Sembene´s brilliant tale of domestic slavery makes great use of the voice over in order to depict the feelings of an exploited black maid who despises the arrogant woman and indifferent man who thread her without respect. Her final act of liberation is at the same time shocking and a desperate protest against white supremacy. The disrespectful offering of money instead of an excuse to her mother which gets refused is a clear statement, there´s no possible way to recompensate what Europeans have done to Africans. The more relevant film clearly gets my vote in this case.
Gabbeh 0 – The Girl Who Sold the Sun 1
The disabled newspaper sales girl won me over with her courage and charm.
Gabbeh 1 – The Girl Who Sold the Sun 1 (a tie – is this allowed?)
The Day I Became A Woman 1 – Nightingale’s Prayer 0
Where Is the Friend’s Home 0 – Black Girl 1
Neil, well i suppose it doesn’t matter if a pairing is a 1-1 or 0-0 tie, but that is allowed
scores:
Gabbeh 4 Girl who Sold the Sun 8
The Day I Became a Woman 3 Nightingale’s Prayer 5
Where is the Friend’s Home? 7 Black Girl 9
Africa gradually edging to a win, but still plenty of time for a comeback. Do see these films and vote folks!
Gabbeh 0 Girl who Sold the Sun 1
A wonderfully woven film by Makhmalbaf that I have loved for so long had no chance of losing to a young paper seller, however touching her face as a helper falls in the water, and yet her determination left me feeling like the guy buying all her papers.
The Day I Became a Woman 0 Nightingale’s Prayer 1
My irrational love of films with bicycles (roll on Naruse) almost went with the excellent second part of the Iranian selection, but the other two parts weren’t of the same standard. So like her husband, the director falls to defeat. I liked the almost traditional melodramatic feel of Nightingale’s Prayer.
Where is the Friend’s Home? 1 Black Girl 0
By far the hardest decision of the three here, I really like Black Girl with the differently voiced narration, the mask and the two countries; but the boy desperately trying to do the right thing connects with me personally. So I am voting the personal over the historical.
at the moment votes:
Gabbeh 1 – La Petite Vendeuse de Soleil 0
Mambéty is a classic re-discovered (and a wonderful career finale even as a short film) but i’ve always trusted Mohsen’s antique blooms are all over the place in this one,an even superior nourishment to the previous seen A Moment of Innocence.
Roozi Ke Zan Shodam 0 – Doaa al-Karawan 0
Marzieh’s film is another contemporary classic,a 3-folder tragicomic Persian jewel….but i gotta say,that Barakat fella is as dramatized as it gets but he’s just not a typical tearjerker…particularly the unleashing clash of our protagonist Amna with her unethical uncle. (i’m hoping for Al Haram to arrive in a download link too!!!)
Khane-ye Doust Kodjast? 0 – La Noire de… 1
having never seen Sembene before in my short life,even my unconditional love for Kiarostami won’t let me go against a spectacular debut,amidst the many best debuts ever on-screen.
it’s a shame these teams had to face each other,Africa with the most original line-ups in the Cup so far,Blue K could have put every single Sembene film for semi-security,instead he dug up even Google videos for our pleasure!
in case Iran passes,my only request would be more 70’s films,that is if User can find them somewhere…the female touch has been excellent so far for Iran,more oldies perhaps? ;)
Kenji
THE AUTEURS WORLD CUP 2009 : 1/4 FINAL VOTING
We are now in the second pair of 1/4 final matches. New participants are still most welcome and allowed to vote in the following match-ups.
On this thread, voting will be on Iran v Africa. The other match between Germany and India will be on another thread.
The extended voting period for this match lasts from 7 pm GTM on Friday 4th December until 6 pm GMT on Saturday 5th December, which means that users will have 23 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. We will then be having a break for selection and then viewing of semi-final matches.
The special world cup section is still to be updated, the current line-ups and previous 1/8 final films provided by The Auteurs staff can be found on: http://www.theauteurs.com/worldcup2009
Each user can vote on any line-up of each 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, as provided by most voters in the previous matches. You can vote on any single pairing; you do not have to vote on all 3 pairings of a match. 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)
Film C 0 (or 1) – Film D 1 (or 0)
Film E 1 (or 0) – Film F 0 (or 1)
Please mark the winning film/score in large or heavy print. You can give your explanatory statements either after each vote or after all 3 votes.
The match you´re going to vote for on this thread is
IRAN v AFRICA
Gabbeh (Mohsen Makhmalbaf) v The Girl Who Sold the Sun (Djibril Diop-Mambety)
The Day I Became a Woman (Marzieh Makhmalbaf) v Nightingale’s Prayer (Henri Barakat)
Where is My Friend’s Home? (Abbas Kiarostami) v Black Girl (Ousmane Sembene)