1. 7.8 - Canada - Les ordres [The Orderers] (1974)
2. 7.4 - Italy - Il cavaliere misterioso [The Mysterious Rider] (1948)
3. 7.2 - Serbia - Pre istine [Before the Truth] (1968)
4. 6.4 - Sweden - Elvira Madigan (1967)
5. 6.2 - Ecuador - Ratas, ratones, rateros [Rodents] (1999)
I'm pleasantly surprised that
my pick has done well so far, as despite knowing it had a few fans on here already it still felt like a risk, and the "love it or hate it" response it seems to be getting so far (in terms of 1st or 5th place, not ratings) makes me feel lucky. I've probably written about this film before, but the first time I saw it I didn't care for it much, maybe a 7.0 rating; I had to watch it for French class in university (I forget which one), and it didn't have subtitles at the time so I didn't fully grasp it and I felt a bit bored, but I knew that I eventually wanted to give it another go. 7 years later I showed it to my colleagues at our weekly film night, and enjoyed it much more, and my friends all liked it as well. My Russian colleague in particular was struck by the similarities to what happened in the film to what happened in Soviet times, and she was surprised that stuff like that had happened in a "freer" Western country. I think what gets me the most about the film, aside from it's interesting blend of fact and fiction, is that it covered a part of our history that was often glossed over (I only learned about it in university, in one of my French Canadian studies classes, never in elementary or high school aside from a brief mention about the October Crisis), despite it being a really key important political turning point in Québec and Canada as a whole. The fact that this film was released only a few years later is astonishing to me. Anyway, glad that many of you enjoyed it, and glad to share a bit about my country's troubled history with you all.
The
Italian film is not one I would have sought out on my own, but it ended up being rather enjoyable. I think Gassman was a pretty perfect choice for Casanova (and in some shots he looked like Heath Ledger, who also played Casanova 50+ years later), and his charm carried most of the film. It moved along at a nice pace for the first hour or so, but the last big dragged some. The script was a bit disjointed at times, and some of the editing was off (especially the scene where Casanova meets Catherine in the woods and the snow cover changes from shot to shot), but overall it was pleasant and the best surprised of the match.
I think being a non-Scandinavian puts me at a detriment for the
Swedish film, because I wasn't familiar with the historical story and it felt like it got started with a lot of assumptions about what the intended audience already knew about the couple. That, plus the romanticized rewriting of the actual story, left me cold to what was happening, and no amount of pretty pictures or pleasant classical music could draw me in. A lot of the plot was laughable, too (the little girl barely glimpsing two people in the grass at the start and then running away immediately, only to be able to give an accurate description of them to her mother a few scenes later?), and it just felt like a jumbled mess. This was style over substance for me, and the style didn't draw me in.
The
Serbian film was pretty good, and I'm glad to have finally seen it; I am indeed interested in the sequel. What ended up downgrading the film was the non-sequential storytelling of the present day sections; it was fine for the first half of the movie, but then by the time they encountered the 5 or 6 gentlemen in the streets I started to get lost. I don't understand the choice to tell the story that way, and ultimately it caused me to drift away from it. There were some really stellar shots in the cinematography, though. I wonder what it would look like if the film was recut for all the modern scenes to be chronological (while keeping the flashbacks where they are), and if that would change my opinion or appreciation of the film. I also understand it was a fansub, but I felt a bit lost not knowing what the signs at the protest said at the beginning, or what some of the speeches were near the end. Given the year of release I assume it was something akin to the May '68 student protests in France, but I don't know. It feels like it could have had some affect on the plot/mood of the film, as it seems to have been intentionally set during these protests, so it feels like I'm missing some context a native viewer would implicitly understand, but I could be mistaken.
I think a better English title for the
Ecuadorian film would be
Vermin instead of
Rodents, as it gives a better connotation of what the original Spanish title is trying to convey (though that alliteration is pretty brilliant). To tie in to a recent podcast episode (which I haven't listened to, mind you), this film is a stress film, and I'm not a fan. I want to be entertained or educated, not stressed out and fearful during a film (though I know I'm a minority on this forum in that respect), and I just couldn't get into or enjoy this one (though I suppose sacs will be unsurprised given my responses to
his clem's Secret Santa choices for me). I did start to like it more the second half of the film, and it almost overtook
Elvira for me, but then
the way the film just ended without any resolution whatsoever killed any appreciation or goodwill I had going for it. No redemption for anyone, not consequences for anyone else, just a sudden cliffhanger like it was setting itself up for a sequel that never came to fruition, or like they just ran out of budget. I found it hard to care about a group of largely self-centred irredeemable characters making bad decision after bad decision... I don't find that interesting and would have probably turned off the film if it wasn't a WC pick.
I also don't know if the graininess was from the filmstock or not, but it looked like it was added in afterward digitally, and I found that distracting. Still, I'm glad to get another Ecuadorian film under my belt.
Overall, not a bad round and all the films had some merit. Hopefully I'll squeak through by the end of this match. Thanks to all the other managers for their picks, and for the participants for voting.
And yes, sol,
Elvira Madigan was in the FLM list before. It had 2 votes in the 2012 poll, but 0 votes in the 2022 update.
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Elvira Madigan https://letterboxd.com/solh/film/elvira-madigan/
Pre istine https://letterboxd.com/solh/film/before-the-truth/
Les ordres https://letterboxd.com/solh/film/orderers/
Il cavaliere misterioso https://letterboxd.com/solh/film/the-my ... ider-1948/
Ratas, ratones, rateros https://letterboxd.com/solh/film/rodents/
Would have preferred to qualify for next round, but that's a heartwarming consolation
And I'm glad that I finally sat down to watch the film, which I had been aware of for at least a decade. I'm kind of surprised that it isn't on any Official Lists (yet) given the director's reputation. Or maybe it was on the FLM list before it got updated. I'm certainly surprised that it is not only absent from the current 1000<400 list, but the current 2000<400 list too, which meant that it received less than 95 points last year. That should change this year though between you, me and and whoever else adds it to their list.
Before the Truth
The Mysterious Rider
Elvira Madigan
Orderers
Rodents
1. Pre istine
2. Elvira Madigan
3. Il cavaliere misterioso
4. Ratas, ratones, rateros
5. Les ordres
