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Touki bouki [Journey of the Hyena] (Djibril Diop Mambéty, 1973)
Jun
23
National Pink Day
Mory (Magaye Niang) and Anta (Myriam Niang) in romanticised European outfits. DP: Georges Bracher.
“Paris, Paris, Paris
C'est sur la Terre un coin de paradis
Paris, Paris, Paris,
De mes amours c′est lui le favori
Mais oui, mais oui, pardi
Ce que j'en dis on vous l′a déjà dit
Et c'est Paris, qui fait la parisienne
Qu′importe, qu'elle vienne du nord ou bien du midi
Et c'est aussi le charme et l′élégance
Et l′âme de la France
Tout cela, mais c'est Paris”
Cowherd Mory and student Anta journey from Dakar to their new destination, the city of Paris.
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L'immortelle (Alain Robbe-Grillet, 1963)
Jun
23
Sat
A man's hand holds a crumbled up diary page for Saturday June 23. There are no calendar entries. DP: Maurice Barry.
“You're a foreigner and you're lost.”
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Il vangelo secondo Matteo [The Gospel According to Matthew] (Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1964)
Jun
22
National Kissing Day
Judas (Otello Sestili) kisses Jesus (Enrique Irazoqui) in intimate closeup. DP: Tonino Delli Colli.
A [favourite] movie kiss for National Kissing Day (USA*), not to be confused with International Kissing Day aka World Kiss Day which falls on July 6.
“I don’t have the inhibitions that a practicing Catholic would in that I’m not paralysed by the sacredness of the text, nor do I have the inhibitions of a lapsed Catholic who would view approaching the story of Jesus as compromising his Marxist beliefs, of sinking back into conformity.”
An neorealist, straightforward adaptation of the Gospel of Matthew, populated by non-actors (“Jesus” is a 19-year Catalan trade unionist picked for his resemblance to El Greco's Christ), intellectuals, and anachronistic characters based on biblical art through the ages.
According to said Gospel, apostle Judas kissed prophet Jesus to signal to the police who of the 13 men present was the one to arrest.
Interestingly, the word Matthew chose to describe the kiss is καταφιλέω, the same word used by philosopher Plutarch to describe the kiss between Alexander the Great and his eunuch Bagoas
* no one wants to kiss you anymore, America
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Nosferato no Brasil [Nosferato in Brazil] (Ivan Cardoso, 1970)
Jun
21
International Surfing Day
Nosferatu enjoys the breeze and fresh coconut water on the beaches of Rio. I could've posted a still of the surfers here but that would have been boring.
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Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes [Aguirre, the Wrath of God] (Werner Herzog, 1972)
Jun
20
World Productivity Day
Don Lope de Aguirre (Kinski), his eyes focussed. DP: Thomas Mauch.
“I am the great traitor. There must be no other. Anyone who even thinks about deserting this mission will be cut up into 198 pieces. Those pieces will be stamped on until what is left can be used only to paint walls. Whoever takes one grain of corn or one drop of water… more than his ration, will be locked up for 155 years. If I, Aguirre, want the birds to drop dead from the trees… then the birds will drop dead from the trees. I am the wrath of God. The earth I pass will see me and tremble. But whoever follows me and the river, will win untold riches. But whoever deserts…””
– Don Lope de Aguirre
Conquistador Don Lope de Aguirre drives his men deep into the Peruvian jungle, to El Dorado
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藪の中の黒猫 [Yabu no naka no kuroneko / A Black Cat in a Bamboo Grove] (Kaneto Shindō, 1968)
Jun
19
Garfield the Cat Day
A young woman in white, strangely resembling a cat, seemingly lapping a drink from a bowl. DP: Kiyomi Kuroda.
A mother and daughter who are raped and murdered by a rogue samurai, return as cat-shaped onryō, vengeful spirits.
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Ascenseur pour l'échafaud [Elevator to the Gallows] (Louis Malle, 1958)
Jun
18
International Panic Day
M Tavernier (Maurice Ronet) seated in an elevator, calmly smoking. Around him several items speak of less calm moments. DP: Henri Decaë.
“Have you seen Mr Tavernier tonight?”
Julien Tavernier has a plan about how to run off with his boss' wife. There's just this one snag. No time to panic, c'est cool c'est cool.
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6-18-67 (George Lucas, 1967)
Jun
18
1967
The opening credits with the date 6-18-67 superimposed over it. DPs: Charles Braverman, George Lucas, David MacDougall & David Wyler.
“We had never been around such opulence, zillions of dollars being spent every five minutes on this huge, unwieldy thing. It was mind-boggling to us because we had been making films for three hundred dollars, and seeing this incredible waste – that was the worst of Hollywood.”
– pre-blockbuster George Lucas
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Ace in the Hole (Billy Wilder, 1951)
Jun
17
A man holds up the first newspaper reporting on Leo Minosa's faith, dated June 17. The headline blares ANCIENT CURSE ENTOMBS MAN. DP: Charles Lang.
“It's a good story today. Tomorrow, they'll wrap a fish in it.”
– Charles Tatum
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Blue Remembered Hills (Brian Gibson, 1979)
Jun
16
Youth Day
The children playing in the Forest of Dean. From left to right: Raymond (John Bird), Angela (Helen Mirren), Willie (Colin Welland), and Audrey (Janine Duvitski). DP: Nat Crosby.
A [favourite] child character for Youth Day (ZA)
“Into my heart an air that kills
From yon far country blows:
What are those blue remembered hills,
What spires, what farms are those?
That is the land of lost content,
I see it shining plain,
The happy highways where I went
And cannot come again.”
– narrator, after A.E. Housman's A Shropshire Lad
A group of children plays. It's sunny and lovely in the Forest of Dean, a day to remember for as long as one lives. The war, the second one, is one of the adults' plays and far away from the children's much simpler life. It seeps through, though. You may run around, imagining being a fighter bomber, putt-putt-putting while you do so. And your uncle, your uncle!, is a parachutist! And maybe your dad is missing and your mum is doing something that involves bed sheets, and the other kids are mean about that. That too. That too is the cruelty of blue remembered hills.