The World Cup of Cinema - Australia

The Fringe Dwellers

note: the following critique may contain images and/or the names of Australian Aboriginal people who are currently deceased.

The World Cup of Cinema - Türkiye

Uzak (Distant) 

(Screen capture image taken from an NBC Ajans production/ Distributed by New Yorker Films)

Often during this project I’ve been torn between my desire to dabble in curious, adventurous cinematic pursuits and the necessity of completing this project in a timely manner, with the latter requiring a bit more discipline and focus than the former. For Türkiye, I’ll lean more towards the objective of completion as I return to the foolproof strategy of revisiting a film that I had previously watched once before. While I certainly enjoyed Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s third feature film enough to want to watch it again, I still wonder how much different my reaction will be the second time around. This becomes an even more intriguing query when there’s a substantial amount of time between viewings. The film itself doesn’t change in the interim, only the viewer of such work. Theoretically I could critique any film once every 10 years and each critique may develop into something completely different. The biggest difference for this visit is that I’m going in with the prior knowledge of the sudden and tragic death of one of its starring performers. I suspect that this may lead me to see the film in a darker, more bittersweet light.

The World Cup of Cinema - Sweden

Aniara 

(Screen capture image taken from a Meta Film Stockholm production/ Distributed by Magnolia Home Entertainment)

My initial selection for Sweden was a film that hadn’t been distributed to the United States and was out of my reach. Well, almost out of my reach. I did find a website that would allow me to watch it, but the thing is you get to a certain point in this project where you have to contemplate how much of an advocate that you want to be for acts that others might find infringing to peoples’ copyrights. And let’s be honest even if I stay within the bounds of the law I live in an absurd world where some people might histrionically flip out over the notion that a person could watch a film on a website. Just think of the horror! I don’t want to reveal what this film is though because I’m holding out hope that someday I may be able to watch it and thus include it in future iterations of this series. Is this manner of thinking foolish? Probably. Trust me, there is a part of my brain that feels I should just resign myself to the notion that at the end of this project I will be left with a sizable list of films that I’ll never be able to watch. Be aware that there is a trace amount of self-flagellating torture involved when doing this.

The World Cup of Cinema - Tunisia

Asfour Stah (Halfaouine: Boy of the Terraces) 

(Screen capture image taken from a co-production between Cinetelefilms, France Media, Scarabee Films and La Sept/ Distributed by Kino On Video)

Before I started this project there were certain countries whose cinema culture I knew absolutely nothing about. While one might reasonably assume that such countries would be difficult to complete, this wasn’t always the case. In regards to Tunisia, Férid Boughedir’s 1990 feature was one of the first films that I considered as a potential selection. I didn’t have any real difficulty confirming the selection criteria for the film, and since a DVD copy was distributed to the US, finding a copy in a local library was relatively painless. When everything unexpectedly falls into place this project could almost be a fun thing to endeavor.

The World Cup of Cinema - Columbia

La Estrategia del Caracol (The Strategy of the Snail) 

(Screen capture image taken from a co-production between Crear TV and Producciones Fotograma)

This film was directed by Sergio Cabrera, whose work I had never seen before, which may have actually prompted me to select it. I think there was a subtle subconscious desire on my part to use this project as an excuse to expand upon my prior cinematic experiences. I think this should be a goal for every cinephile; to watch a film from as many different directors as possible. If I really put forth an effort, there’s no reason I couldn’t reach, … I don’t know, … a thousand different directors?!?, maybe? Of course there would still be issues with access. My desire to watch this film offered an excellent example of how frustrating this project could be at times.