SCFZ

Earth Light (Guy Gilles, 1970)
xDrift


Silent Souls (Aleksey Fedorchenko, 2010)
xRiver


vote for either
xDrift or xRiver
by Feb 28

An ethnographic document of the indigenous Merjan culture in modern day Russia? A rambling road movie featuring the most deadpan of road movie companions? A Resnais-like love story refracted through the past, present and self? I'm not sure Silent Souls really bridges its various parts, but for me, that's what gives it its idiosyncratic charm. Fedorchenko had always struck me as an enfant terrible of sorts, but he strikes a fine balance between being needlessly provocative and genuinely earnest (and engaging). Of course, mileage may vary.

xRiver

Voting is extended until end of day Mar 3

Excellent matchup for me. I quite like Fedorchenko's ethnographic eye, and while Silent Souls isn't as intriguingly mysterious as Celestial Wives of the Meadow Mari, I still enjoyed it a lot. But Earth Light was a true revelation. The editing style, the colors, the natural beauty... it all blew me away.

xDrift

xDrift

xDrift

silent souls was interesting but if i'm being uncharitable felt a little bit too generic iffr/locarno from that period for me, and maybe just a little too much easy shorthand in the relationships as seen in the flashbacks...

earth light on the other hand was really great. on one hand i wish i had read up a little more on gilles and his films and context before watching but on the other i'm kind of glad i saw this one cold; don't think i've been as surprised by a movie's basic from as much since...maybe watching rita azevedo gomes a few months back? at first i thought the decoupage rhythm (where you get these static scenes broken up by dozens of cut ins to details in the environment, often cutting multiple angels of the same object or portrait, with sometimes jarring elliptical transitions between scenes, time and location) was going to feel like a trick but it really does zero into its protagonists sense of perception, something that becomes clearer and clearer as the movie goes on, in a way that seems pretty unique to me.

xDrift

xDrift

xDrift

not sure i have much to add to what mesnalty and nrh said above, but earth light is remarkable filmmaking, that editor deserves a nobel prize

xDrift

For the second straight round, Mario stands alone...

xDrift wins 7-1.