World Cup, Season 2, Match QF-A: Japan vs Egypt

[monty]

... and a more or less conventional impossible love story.

But you did like the postmaster's assistant, right?

[sortile9io]

... and a more or less conventional impossible love story.

But you did like the postmaster's assistant, right?

Mariam was more like my type. Or the French pin-ups.

[joachimt]

Fisshu sutôrî - Al-boustaguy: 10 - 16

Mario, can you confirm the score? I had a computer crash yesterday and I'm not sure I saved the file with the latest changes before it crashed.

[Mario Gaborović]

Mario, can you confirm the score? I had a computer crash yesterday and I'm not sure I saved the file with the latest changes before it crashed.

10-16, it's correct.

2.5 days left.

[Lilarcor]

1. The Postman 7/10
2. Fish Story 5/10

I thought The Postman had a strong latter half, but the way the love story was built up in the first act tested my patience, partly because neither the girl nor the guy are that convincing and it seems like the movie doesn't care much. Also it doesn't help that she is portrayed to be dumb as a brick early on.

I was a bit surprised of the bluntness of the film's political messages with regards to bureaucracy and patriarchy. The film got a lot better in the second half with the lead getting more to do and those low-angle shots of him with the letters were particularly great. A low 7.

Fish Story is entirely outside of my tastes but it was almost charming enough to get a higher grade for me. Unfortunately the story is a bit too muddled because it tries to be clever. The "stories" are very uneven. An exposition dump towards the end to tie up loose ends makes it worse. I saw the film almost a week ago and still have that song in my head (like right now). It's not a bad song I guess.

[tommy_leazaq]

1. The Postman - 7
2. Fish Story - 6.6

[Mario Gaborović]

Fisshu sutôrî - Al-boustaguy: 10 - 18

1.5 day left.

[Gershwin]

Not gonna vote this time. I'm too busy at work these days, so whenever I watch something, I try to watch films I like at least a bit. Started the Egyptian one, but couldn't get through, and from what I expect the Japanese entry won't be my cup of tea either.

[monty]

I think it might be a good idea to extend/postpone the QFs as many are preoccupied with lots of extra work prior to xmas. Also, there should be no matches during the holidays as people are likely doing other stuff than watching films.
How about it?

[HVM]

How about no.

Spoiler: click to toggleShow

I only got this far by sheer force of will. I want to get this over with before I crumble.

[Armoreska]

I think it might be a good idea to extend/postpone the QFs as many are preoccupied with lots of extra work prior to xmas. Also, there should be no matches during the holidays as people are likely doing other stuff than watching films.
How about it?

Well boo hoo Dont holidays bring some free time? Makes no sense.
10 days is still plenty time to watch 1 or 2 solid films.

[joachimt]

Everyone knows the schedule long enough before the holidays, so if one knows he's busy, he should watch the movies in time. No need to postpone the deadline.

But you already knew my answer, right? ;)

[Mario Gaborović]

Just skip this match or the next one and then you have more spare time.

Or monty hopes some miracle will happen to save Japan from adieu way too early?

[Gershwin]

No need to postpone it for me, anyhow. I'm just telling that I have different priorities at the moment.

[PeacefulAnarchy]

The deadline is today, right? I may or may not make it. It's been a busy week and I thought I had more time.

[Mario Gaborović]

The deadline is today, right? I may or may not make it. It's been a busy week and I thought I had more time.

13 hours, 17 minutes is what's left. Enough time IMO.

[mjf314]

1. Fisshu sutôrî
2. Al-boustaguy

[monty]

Again, mjf, kudos to you for having the balls to make an unconventional pick - respect!
Btw, have you seen Marusa no onna (1987)?

[mjf314]

Again, mjf, kudos to you for having the balls to make an unconventional pick - respect!
Btw, have you seen Marusa no onna (1987)?

No, I haven't seen it.

[Mochard]

First time I've left it this late - well apart from not watching the Taiwan entry when I was in the UK. I'm still planning on watching it before the world cup ends, just so I can say I've watched them all!

Anyway back to this round!

1. Fisshu sutôrî - 6/10
2. Al-boustaguy - 5/10

[joachimt]

Fisshu sutôrî - Al-boustaguy: 12 - 18

Few hours left.

[PeacefulAnarchy]

I liked them both though neither was great. The Egyptian one was more consistent, though, and up until the end it felt about as close to a sex comedy as you can expect from Egypt, so no surprise it won Monty over. Fish Story was a fun idea with a lot of enjoyable moments, but a lot of awkward uneven ones too and the fractured narrative doesn't really add anything to the film, just impedes the flow.

1. Al-boustaguy - 7/10
2. Fisshu sutôrî - 7/10

[Fergenaprido]

I was going to skip this round because life is busy right now and most of the votes for the films come with dismal reviews. I'm glad I didn't, though, as I really enjoyed both of the films a lot more than I thought I would.

Egypt - The first hour of setup was okay, introducing the characters and the situations, etc. I liked how the camera could show two different plotlines in the same frame without feeling like it was forcing them together. The postmaster was an asshole, though, and I find it strange how the film centres around him as if we're supposed to root for him; he's neither the hero nor the antihero, but he's not really an antagonist either. The love story was way too melodramatic to start, but it got better as the film moved on, though (spoiler)I'm guessing that the censors are to blame for the young couple embracing and then the natural plotpoint is for her to be pregnant; I'm not convinced she would have slept with him that night given the way they behaved the rest of the time on screen. The girl's father infuriated me; it's been a long time since I hated a film character so passionately. Overall it was good, and the last half an hour was very tense and suspenseful for me, which I was not expecting.

Japan - I was especially dreading this one based on the premise, but I feel like the synopsis given online is not accurate at all. The first hour was just random, and I didn't care for the old crotchety man's character; he served no point other that to be opposite the two guys in the record shop. I also felt unsatisfied in that his storyline was never explained about why he was there, or how he'd known for ten years about the comet, etc. I was SO satisfied when he got punched in the face. The random vignettes were okay, and I just kind of accepted them for what they were without trying to make sense of them because nothing was making any sense at that point, and you didn't really know which character to focus on. Then, I got lost in the story of the band in the '70s, and for me this was the strongest segment of the film. The climax was acceptable, but I really appreciated the ending where the connected all of the dots (finally) with the song playing in the background. Everything clicked into place and it was a very satisfying feeling. Question: (spoiler) Was the music store owner supposed to be the son of the band manager Ozonaki (or whatever his name was)? When the did the face meld from the kid watching Go Rangers to the present I got that impression, but it was never mentioned otherwise. The whole was not greater than the sum of the parts, and the film seemed like it couldn't decide what kind of film it wanted to be. But the song was kickass.


I liked both more or less equally, but I think Fish Story will stay in my mind longer and linger there. Overall, though, I've preferred the Egyptian films of this season, so I'm happy Egypt will (likely) advance.


1. Fisshu sutôrî
2. Al-boustaguy

[joachimt]

Deadline over. Egypt goes to the semi-finals!!

Fisshu sutôrî - Al-boustaguy: 13 - 19

[joachimt]

[Pretentious Hipster]

Maybe this for the next round for Egypt? https://www.icheckmovies.com/movies/la+anam/ Faten Hamama is the lead.

[Lonewolf2003]

I was going to skip this round because life is busy right now and most of the votes for the films come with dismal reviews. I'm glad I didn't, though, as I really enjoyed both of the films a lot more than I thought I would.

Egypt - The first hour of setup was okay, introducing the characters and the situations, etc. I liked how the camera could show two different plotlines in the same frame without feeling like it was forcing them together. The postmaster was an asshole, though, and I find it strange how the film centres around him as if we're supposed to root for him; he's neither the hero nor the antihero, but he's not really an antagonist either. The love story was way too melodramatic to start, but it got better as the film moved on, though (spoiler)I'm guessing that the censors are to blame for the young couple embracing and then the natural plotpoint is for her to be pregnant; I'm not convinced she would have slept with him that night given the way they behaved the rest of the time on screen. The girl's father infuriated me; it's been a long time since I hated a film character so passionately. Overall it was good, and the last half an hour was very tense and suspenseful for me, which I was not expecting.

Japan - I was especially dreading this one based on the premise, but I feel like the synopsis given online is not accurate at all. The first hour was just random, and I didn't care for the old crotchety man's character; he served no point other that to be opposite the two guys in the record shop. I also felt unsatisfied in that his storyline was never explained about why he was there, or how he'd known for ten years about the comet, etc. I was SO satisfied when he got punched in the face. The random vignettes were okay, and I just kind of accepted them for what they were without trying to make sense of them because nothing was making any sense at that point, and you didn't really know which character to focus on. Then, I got lost in the story of the band in the '70s, and for me this was the strongest segment of the film. The climax was acceptable, but I really appreciated the ending where the connected all of the dots (finally) with the song playing in the background. Everything clicked into place and it was a very satisfying feeling. Question: (spoiler) Was the music store owner supposed to be the son of the band manager Ozonaki (or whatever his name was)? When the did the face meld from the kid watching Go Rangers to the present I got that impression, but it was never mentioned otherwise. The whole was not greater than the sum of the parts, and the film seemed like it couldn't decide what kind of film it wanted to be. But the song was kickass.


I liked both more or less equally, but I think Fish Story will stay in my mind longer and linger there. Overall, though, I've preferred the Egyptian films of this season, so I'm happy Egypt will (likely) advance.


1. Fisshu sutôrî
2. Al-boustaguy

To answer your spoilerquestion on Fish Story

Spoiler: click to toggleShow

I thought the same

[sortile9io]

Congratulations, tommy!

[tommy_leazaq]

Maybe this for the next round for Egypt? https://www.icheckmovies.com/movies/la+anam/ Faten Hamama is the lead.

I'll give it a try. Thanks.

And Thanks sortile9io. And cheers to mjf for the brave choice. I liked the concept of Fish Story and the song was awesome. But some segments were lengthy and bit boring. Also no character was interesting enough to root for them. Well, Champion of Justice came close. But his part was too small. OTOH, I loved the Postmaster character, which gave me the edge.

[weirdboy]

I also felt unsatisfied in that his storyline was never explained about why he was there, or how he'd known for ten years about the comet, etc

Uh, he was the doomsday priest. The one who everyone got angry with in 2002 (?) Anyway the guy who said, "no I miscalculated, it's actually 2012"

[Fergenaprido]

I also felt unsatisfied in that his storyline was never explained about why he was there, or how he'd known for ten years about the comet, etc

Uh, he was the doomsday priest. The one who everyone got angry with in 2002 (?) Anyway the guy who said, "no I miscalculated, it's actually 2012"

Ahh, that was him? I never made the connection or recognized him in that segment on the beach. Thanks