World Cup, Season 3, Match 1F: Sweden vs Japan vs Turkey vs Lebanon

[Pretentious Hipster]

[monty]

No need for any melodrama, Art. I always knew that you deep down have been a lover of samurai films.

[Mario Gaborović]

2.5 days left.

[monty]

2.5 days left.

Still time for some extra votes for samurai cinema excellence.

[Nopros]

1. Ingeborg Holm (1913)
2. Sanbiki no samurai (1964)
3. Bulanti (2015)
4. West Beyrouth (À l'abri les enfants) (1998)

[Gorro]

1. Sanbiki no samurai - 8.3/10
2. West Beyrouth (A l'abri les enfants) - 7.7/10
3. Ingeborg Holm - 7.3/10
4. Bulanti - 6.5/10

[joachimt]

Nice to see you back this match, Gorro. And thanks for voting the right order of the movies.

[Fergenaprido]

Sanbiki no samurai [Three Outlaw Samurai] - This was pretty good. Took a while to really grab my attention, but it steadily got better and the characters became more intriguing, and you didn't know who was going to stick around until the end.

Ingeborg Holm - I suppose it was great in it's day, but a century later it doesn't do much for me. Can't really fault it for anything, though.

Bulanti [Nausea] - I was bored to tears. The only part that grabbed my attention was the scene in Ozge's apartment.

A Rant and some Spoilers

I have absolutely zero interest anymore in seeing films about macho men and their 'problems'. This film seemed too self-indulgent to me. Director gets to act in his own film, sleep with beautiful actresses half his age, behave like an asshole the entire time, and all he needs to do is break down at the end to redeem himself? Puh-leez. Plus, the supporting characters never got a chance to stand on their own two feet. Nothing was addressed about the incessant phone calls, why Ozge's bf came to the apartment, etc. The film didn't even care about her enough to see if she was well after getting beaten up, because we had to go back to mopey self-absorbed middle-aged man, because God forbid anyone else should matter. The film reviews online talk of redemption, but I see none here. There are other ways to quietly grieve, to suppress emotion, to behave irrationally. These ways can also be interesting to watch and don't have to be dismissive of everything and everyone else in life.

West Beyrouth (À l'abri les enfants) - This kept me engaged throughout. It alternated between serious and hilarious, and managed to keep my sympathies centred on the main duo, even if I wanted to smack Tarek every three minutes to wipe that smirk off of his face. I invited my colleague/temporary house guest to join me since she studied Arabic, and she enjoyed it as well. It's only the second Lebanese film I've seen, but I actually was able to explain who Kamal was in the film, because the first Lebanese film I saw was the documentary about him. Bonus points for feelgood warmfuzzy feeling?

Spoiler: click to toggle

That ending, though.

1. Lebanon - 8.2
2. Japan - 7.6
3. Sweden - 6.8
4. Turkey - 4.4

[Armoreska]

It is now a question of who gets the 3rd spot with Sweden slowly closing (as i suspected it would)

[metaller]

Barely managed to watch them all started late with this batch polus i had a lot of other things to do. Luckily I did see them all, as I liked this round overall.
Perhaps i'll update this post tomorrow to write a bit more about each film. Likely not though, as I know my lazy ass.

1. Sanbiki no samurai (1964) - Bad-ass samurai stuff. Among my favorite films of all world-cup seasons. Well played Monty. 8.5/10
2. Bulanti (2015) - Intentionally minimalistic film about a guy suffering from depression and / from the loss of his wife. I liked its economic style and the way it was shot. 7.5/10
3. Ingeborg Holm (1913) - A bit hard to judge such a really early silent feature against modern films. Considering its old age, this still is a well told tale, in a style that could have been easily still be relevant 10 years later. 7/10
4. West Beyrouth (À l'abri les enfants) (1998) - Nice coming of age film in war torn Beyrouth. While I actually liked a lot of single elements, it didn't work fully as an entity for me. The main character was also a bit too much of a jerk for my liking. 7/10

[Gershwin]

1. West Beyrouth
2. Bulanti
3. Sanbiki no samurai
4. Ingeborg Holm

[Daviddoes]

1. Sanbiki no samurai
2. Bulanti
3. Ingeborg H
4. West Beyrouth

[PeacefulAnarchy]

1. Ingeborg Holm (1913)
2. Sanbiki no samurai (1964)
3. West Beyrouth (À l'abri les enfants) (1998)
4. Bulanti (2015)

Top 2 are clear, the last two are close. Bulanti is the better executed of the two, but West Beyrouth strives for more and is held back mainly by its choice of lead.

[joachimt]

1. Lebanon - 8.2
2. Japan - 7.6
3. Sweden - 6.8
4. Turkey - 4.4

Small tip:
I almost missed this, because I put in the order of your review as your vote first. Please post your vote above next time or put the reviews in the right order.

[joachimt]

39 votes, 3 hours and 15 minutes left.

Sanbiki no samurai: 1.872 (83-34)
West Beyrouth (À l'abri les enfants): 2.487 (59-58)
Bulanti: 2.795 (47-70)
Ingeborg Holm: 2.846 (45-72)

[Armoreska]

JT read my mind

Looks like Bulanti is going to survive

[funkybusiness]

1. Sanbiki no samurai
2. Bulanti
3. Ingeborg H
4. West Beyrouth

thanks Daviddoes for the copy-paste.

[sebby]

1. West Beyrouth - 7/10
2. Bulanti - 6.5/10
3. Sanbiki no samurai - 6/10
4. Ingeborg Holm - 3.5/10

Solid round.

[Fergenaprido]

1. Lebanon - 8.2
2. Japan - 7.6
3. Sweden - 6.8
4. Turkey - 4.4

Small tip:
I almost missed this, because I put in the order of your review as your vote first. Please post your vote above next time or put the reviews in the right order.

Sorry for the confusion. For this season I've been doing it the same way every round: discussing the films in the order that I viewed them, and then giving the ranking at the end. Could my votes in previous matches have been miscounted?

[mjf314]

1. Sanbiki no samurai
2. West Beyrouth
3. Ingeborg Holm
4. Bulanti

[RogerTheMovieManiac88]

1. 'Three Outlaw Samurai' - 8.5/10
2. 'Ingeborg Holm' - 8/10
3. 'Bulanti' - 7/10
4. 'West Beirut' - 6 or 6.5/10

Thanks to the managers!

[joachimt]

1. Lebanon - 8.2
2. Japan - 7.6
3. Sweden - 6.8
4. Turkey - 4.4

Small tip:
I almost missed this, because I put in the order of your review as your vote first. Please post your vote above next time or put the reviews in the right order.

Sorry for the confusion. For this season I've been doing it the same way every round: discussing the films in the order that I viewed them, and then giving the ranking at the end. Could my votes in previous matches have been miscounted?

It probably went fine in previous matches, because I noticed it multiple times before. Just didn't say it until now. Mario keeps counting as well, so there is a double-check on the scores.

[joachimt]

Deadline over. Final score:

Sanbiki no samurai: 1.837 (93-36)
West Beyrouth (À l'abri les enfants): 2.512 (64-65)
Bulanti: 2.791 (52-77)
Ingeborg Holm: 2.86 (49-80)

Japan and Lebanon proceed to round 2. Congratulations to monty and Armoreska.
Also thanks to XxXApathy420XxX and PeacefulAnarchy for their picks and to the 43 voters of this match.

So we're halfway the first round. Here are the 12 winners and 2nd places so far:
1A1: Croatia (Ne okreci se sine, Mochard)
1A2: Burkina Faso (Buud Yam, hurluberlu )
1B1: China (Mang jing, hurluberlu)
1B2: Spain (Arrebato, beavis)
1C1: Romania (Padurea spânzuratilor, clemmetarey)
1C2: Hungary (Megáll az idö, tarr)
1D1: France (Une si jolie petite plage, klaus78)
1D2: India (Dabba, tommy_leazaq)
1E1: Czechia (Neúplné zatmení, Carmel98)
1E2: Bolivia (Ukamau, burneyfan)
1F1: Japan (Sanbiki no samurai, monty)
1F2: Lebanon (West Beyrouth (À l'abri les enfants), Armoreska)
Which makes me think of a decision to be made about the schedule of round 2. The 24 countries will be divided into 8 groups of 3 countries. Shall I do that completely randomly or should I create three pots? The pots could be:
1. The 8 winners with highest ranking.
2. The 4 winners with lowest ranking plus the 4 2nd places with highest ranking.
3. The 8 2nd places with lowest ranking.
I think I prefer to create pots, but I'm interested in your opinions.

[joachimt]

I'm very happy with the participation so far. It's steady and about 25% higher than the previous season.

[Mario Gaborović]

Which makes me think of a decision to be made about the schedule of round 2. The 24 countries will be divided into 8 groups of 3 countries. Shall I do that completely randomly or should I create three pots? The pots could be:

1. The 8 winners with highest ranking.
2. The 4 winners with lowest ranking plus the 4 2nd places with highest ranking.
3. The 8 2nd places with lowest ranking.

I think I prefer to create pots, but I'm interested in your opinions.

I think good performance should be rewarded so I'd leave it exactly the way you posted + we agreed before. Just mind that two countries that met in the Round 1 cannot meet again - Japan and Lebanon for instance, as it's obvious that the former will be in the Pot 1 and the latter in the Pot 3 (plus the same manager rule, which is so far only valid for hurluberlu I believe).

[joachimt]

I'm okay with managers not competing against themselves. Not sure if I should exclude countries competing to the same country again. We can't keep that up. What if I do this now and Japan en Lebanon (for example) both proceed to round 3, should I keep them separated again?

[Armoreska]

I'm okay with managers not competing against themselves. Not sure if I should exclude countries competing to the same country again. We can't keep that up. What if I do this now and Japan en Lebanon (for example) both proceed to round 3, should I keep them separated again?

Hopefully you shall, at least for R2. But in FIFA world cup, countries from the same group can only meet in the final.

[joachimt]

I'm okay with managers not competing against themselves. Not sure if I should exclude countries competing to the same country again. We can't keep that up. What if I do this now and Japan en Lebanon (for example) both proceed to round 3, should I keep them separated again?

Hopefully you shall, at least for R2. But in FIFA world cup, countries from the same group can only meet in the final.

I haven't watched a FIFA world cup in 20 years or so, so I didn't know that.

[Nathan Treadway]

I'm okay with managers not competing against themselves. Not sure if I should exclude countries competing to the same country again. We can't keep that up. What if I do this now and Japan en Lebanon (for example) both proceed to round 3, should I keep them separated again?

I wouldn't worry too much about that. If they get paired again, so be it.

The pots you posted would would be fair.

[Mario Gaborović]

I'm okay with managers not competing against themselves. Not sure if I should exclude countries competing to the same country again. We can't keep that up. What if I do this now and Japan en Lebanon (for example) both proceed to round 3, should I keep them separated again?

I wouldn't worry too much about that. If they get paired again, so be it.

The pots you posted would would be fair.

Let's suppose they just don't meet in R2. Later it doesn't matter.

[Gershwin]

(...)
Which makes me think of a decision to be made about the schedule of round 2. The 24 countries will be divided into 8 groups of 3 countries. Shall I do that completely randomly or should I create three pots? The pots could be:
1. The 8 winners with highest ranking.
2. The 4 winners with lowest ranking plus the 4 2nd places with highest ranking.
3. The 8 2nd places with lowest ranking.
I think I prefer to create pots, but I'm interested in your opinions.

Wouldn't it be logical to use the same system as in official soccer World Cups? If I'm not mistaken, there the winner of Group A automatically plays against the second-placed country from Group B in the 'round of 16', etc. Couldn't we do something similar? Seems more fair to me.

[RogerTheMovieManiac88]

(...)
Which makes me think of a decision to be made about the schedule of round 2. The 24 countries will be divided into 8 groups of 3 countries. Shall I do that completely randomly or should I create three pots? The pots could be:
1. The 8 winners with highest ranking.
2. The 4 winners with lowest ranking plus the 4 2nd places with highest ranking.
3. The 8 2nd places with lowest ranking.
I think I prefer to create pots, but I'm interested in your opinions.

Wouldn't it be logical to use the same system as in official soccer World Cups? If I'm not mistaken, there the winner of Group A automatically plays against the second-placed country from Group B in the 'round of 16', etc. Couldn't we do something similar? Seems more fair to me.

Gets my vote, dude. Theoretically, it would give the top seeds an earned advantage over countries that were runners-up.

[RogerTheMovieManiac88]

I think the fairest way to do the football style thing would be to create two pots. The pool winners would be in one pot and the second placers in the other. An open draw then, perhaps with the proviso that countries avoided a country they were paired with in the opening round.

[Armoreska]

(...)
Which makes me think of a decision to be made about the schedule of round 2. The 24 countries will be divided into 8 groups of 3 countries. Shall I do that completely randomly or should I create three pots? The pots could be:
1. The 8 winners with highest ranking.
2. The 4 winners with lowest ranking plus the 4 2nd places with highest ranking.
3. The 8 2nd places with lowest ranking.
I think I prefer to create pots, but I'm interested in your opinions.

Wouldn't it be logical to use the same system as in official soccer World Cups? If I'm not mistaken, there the winner of Group A automatically plays against the second-placed country from Group B in the 'round of 16', etc. Couldn't we do something similar? Seems more fair to me.

But we're trying to hide who plays against whom before the movies are picked, which is more important than following the FIFA WC format.

I think the fairest way to do the football style thing would be to create two pots. The pool winners would be in one pot and the second placers in the other. An open draw then, perhaps with the proviso that countries avoided a country they were paired with in the opening round.

But there can only be 3 pots bc the next round has 3-way matches.

[RogerTheMovieManiac88]

Oh, okay. That knocks that not-so-bright contribution from me on the head. If there are three-team groups it's almost impossible to give some earned advantage or seeding to the first round winners. Pity!

[joachimt]

What Armo said.

[joachimt]

Oh, okay. That knocks that not-so-bright contribution from me on the head. If there are three-team groups it's almost impossible to give some earned advantage or seeding to the first round winners. Pity!

No. With the proposed pots winners get advantage.

[RogerTheMovieManiac88]

Oh, okay. That knocks that not-so-bright contribution from me on the head. If there are three-team groups it's almost impossible to give some earned advantage or seeding to the first round winners. Pity!

No. With the proposed pots winners get advantage.

How so? There are going to be an equal number of first and second-placers from the opening round.

[joachimt]

Oh, okay. That knocks that not-so-bright contribution from me on the head. If there are three-team groups it's almost impossible to give some earned advantage or seeding to the first round winners. Pity!

No. With the proposed pots winners get advantage.

How so? There are going to be an equal number of first and second-placers from the opening round.

The eight best performances won't compete against each other.

[RogerTheMovieManiac88]

No. With the proposed pots winners get advantage.

How so? There are going to be an equal number of first and second-placers from the opening round.

The eight best performances won't compete against each other.

Aren't there 12 pools (12 winners and 12 runners-up) in the opening stage though?