WORLD CUP SEMI-FINAL LINE-UP: CHINA V JAPAN

CHINA V JAPAN

Scenes of City Life (Yuan Muzhi) v Sound of the Mountain (Naruse)
Two Stage Sisters (Xie Jin) v After the Rain (Koizumi)
In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar-Wai) v Humanity and Paper Balloons (Yamanaka)

The match will be in about a week, to be confirmed, and likely to be played on a separate day ahead of the other semi. The other semi-final line-up will be announced tomorrow

i’m betting on China to win 2-1, in the belief In the Mood for Love is the most loved Wong film here, and among WC regular voters, and he’s far from unpopular. Dimitris wanted Miyazaki, and she has a major role in After the Rain, a late 90s Kurosawa- Mifune film

more discoveries!!! i’ve only seen the Wong film!! (you heard me from somewhere Myra,haha)
i knew you’d put a Xie Jin film!

Kenji,what a line-up as well,i’d never think of a Koizumi film,multi grazie! and i’ve been meaning to watch Humanity for some time now.

p.s.: you should have kept Days of Being Wild for the semis Myra,In the Mood is excellent but……i really don’t know until i’ve seen Humanity.

I think I’m going to lose 3-0 to you kenji! I’m not very confident at all… WKW may be scorned, despite my personal absolute love for it, hence the inclusion. :’(

Dimitris also wanted 60s films, and potentially a Xie Jin I believe. Well, Dimitris, you got both in my second selection. :) Let’s see how others take to some 3rd Gen cinema…

i’m the second best mascot after Josh Ryan,haha.

Kenji,this isn’t Koizumi’s debut,right?
i just saw he’s co-directed a documentary before that.

i’ve not seen anything else by Koizumi, he was Kurosawa (Akira)‘s assistant, it’s based on a Kurosawa script, even the title could be taken as a homage, and look for Mifune jnr (Shiro) in a large part. And Mieko Harada of Ran fame also appears. Two Stage Sisters is great, i first saw it by picking it for our film society in Wales years back. And Yuan Muzhi’s an excellent director, though dare i say i prefer Street Angel? Tony Rayns has picked Scenes of City Life anyway in his top 10. In the Mood for Love has lots of 5 star ratings here from WC regulars (i checked this when someone said about Wong Kar-Wai being unpopular in the world cup, but thought i’d keep schtumm). Humanity has grown on me second time round, i started thinking of After the Rain when i thought of a Japanese print (i’ll try to find for the pictures gallery) and all the rain in the UK. I also wanted some of Myra’s own favourites against her- almost chose Yoshida’s Bitter End of a Sweet Night for a third instead, but i’ve not picked many recent films, sorry for shortage of New Wave, several close contenders. Myra has again come up with a beautiful balance; films of 30s, 60s and 00s.

In the Mood for Love is probably the most beloved Wong film (but i don’t know why as of yet) and dare i say it’s even more popualr than the art-house bravado of Chungking!
i can say for certainty though that it’s Wong’s magnum opus as a structural film,i’m not able to say whether it’s THE best,no director has just one best in his oeuvre…but it’s the most ambitious of them all.

a Kurosawa assistant,interesting…looking at his filmography,he hadn’t directed another film for 30 years until After the Rain,i’m new to this director though so we’ll see.

A mouth-watering battle! My studies will take another battering next week. Oh well…

Humanity and Paper Balloons vs In the Mood for Love, dang that’s harsh on us voters!!

With After the Rain i’ve also had a yearning for its lush greenery as it’s been so dark and bleak here, and may the rain end (terrible again in the night)

Myra did you see i mentioned Two Stage Sisters today on another of your youtube films- before seeing your selection

>multi grazie!

No! Molte grazie! :)

Great selections. I must say, I’m surprised to see that Koizumi around here. You made the right move (imo), Kenji (I would never have voted for possibly the worst Yoshida)
By the way, I have to see only the Yuan Muzhi: the Chinese title is “Dushi fengguang”? Is it at youtube?

Would you be able to provide any links for the least accessible films here? (i.e. Thunder of the Mountain, Scenes of City Life and After the Rain)

Well, i know Thunder/Sound of the Mountain, Humanity.. and After The Rain (very kindly just added today with English subs) are on youtube- the links can be put on the links thread too.

Found it!
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Dushi+fengguang+&search_type==

There are 5 parts at the moment, I think Myra has to finish uploading it.

Where is the links thread? Or has it not been created yet?

oh sorry, you’re right the thread for the semis hasn’t been created yet!

I’m excited to watch both Kenji’s selections I haven’t seen and Myra’s Two Stage Sisters, which she’s uploading right now for its Internet debut with English subs! If anyone understands the difficulty of seeing these films, I hope they will understand the necessity of streaming. I’ve linked the films we have available so far in my profile.

http://www.youtube.com/user/DrStrangefilm#g/c/234EE924406DCD97

That’s the link to Team Japan’s After the Rain.

Congratulations Kenji – you’ve finally made Dimitris happy :o)

yes and look where that’s got me with my earlier results (the selections that he approved of lost!).

After the Rain is not a stunning innovative or showy masterpiece but i hope it will leave people feeling better in themselves and with life

I haven’t yet seen the Koizumi but Bitter End of a Sweet Night would certainly have been an interesting choice. Though now I at least have one more film to look forward to (with Scenes of City Life being the other). This one should be a barnburner!

Arsaib: you’ve done such a great Japanese New Wave list here, so i regret the lack of so many goodies from the 60s, i like a lot but somehow it’s not happened with my picks. I originally planned Suzuki’s Branded to Kill specifically v Dimitris in the groups, then couldn’t fit it in, with the old directors limit, as you know i didn’t get to see a few possibles and there’s Uchida, Imamura, Masumura, Yoshida, Teshigahara…oh well, whoever manages Japan next up will have a lot to play with. Well at least the influential Crazed Fruit has been in

Hiroshige print i was thinking of the other day that i associate with the film After the Rain

I’ve seen ‘In the Mood for Love’ and ‘Humanity and Paper Balloons’ a couple times each and I know how I’m going to vote there. ‘Sound of the Mountain’ is probably my favourite Naruse, so that’s going to take some beating. Should be a good match.

This is gonna be a super match. Thank you, Myra and Kenji, I’m looking forward to watching the 2 Chinese films and the 1 Japanese film I have not yet seen, I KNOW I won’t be disappointed with any.

I’m confused. Where is the India vs. Africa match?

After the Rain! I’ve wanted to see that for a rather long time. Mifune’s son and Kurosawa’s last script? Great combo.

I’m looking forward to it as well. I notice Myra has the China films posted on her profile. Will Kenji post the Japan films on his profile as well or will there be a central location for all of them – as in the past?

Yes, please check out this site for the current links. We´re also going to publish another links thread after the two remaing selections have been published.

Thanks Apu, I thought that’s where they might all be – but wasn’t sure. Help me answer Drew’s question – where is the India-Africa match? It comes a few days later and will be posted at the same site, yes?

The India vs. Africa match will be posted tomorrow.

Oh, and by the way, why don’t we start these World Cup threads under the World Cup section?