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Baron Prášil [The Fabulous Baron Munchausen] (Karel Zeman, 1962)
Mar
14
Under the Skin – 2013
A weird of quirky sci-fi film on the date Under the Skin (2013) was released in the UK.
“I cast my hat out into the universe, let it greet those who are on their way from Earth. From this day forward, the Moon is no longer a dream.”
– Cyrano de Bergerac
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絵を描く子どもたち [E o kaku kodomotachi: jidōga o rikai suru tame ni / Children Who Draw] (Susumu Hani, 1956)
Mar
13
Youth Art Month
A little girl painting. DP: Shizuo Komura.
Small children work with clay, paint, and other materials. Under the camera's watchful eye, we see their work come to life.
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Нощта срещу тринадесети [Noshtta sreshtu 13-i / On the Eve of the 13th] (Anton Marinovich, 1961)
Mar
13
Three men packed in a car. It's night and it's raining. DP: Trendafil Zahariev.
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Die große Ekstase des Bildschnitzers Steiner [The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner] (Werner Herzog, 1974)
Mar
13
Walter Steiner, flying. DP: Jörg Schmidt-Reitwein.
“Ich sollte eigentlich ganz allein auf der Welt sein, ich, Steiner, und sonst kein anderes lebendes Wesen. Keine Sonne, keine Kultur, ich nackt auf einem hohen Fels, kein Sturm, kein Schnee, keine Straßen, keine Banken, kein Geld, keine Zeit und kein Atem. Ich würde dann jedenfalls keine Angst mehr haben.”
– Walter Steiner
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L'immortelle (Alain Robbe-Grillet, 1963)
Mar
12
National Hitchcock Day
A woman in silhouette (Françoise Brion) enters a building. The setup is perfectly symmetrical except a beam of light passing through the opened doors that highlight's the woman's presence, adding a sense of wrong to the scene. DP: Maurice Barry.
“You're a foreigner and you're lost.”
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Hell Bound (William J. Hole Jr., 1957)
Mar
12
Saturday
A man writes a name in the 9:30 a.m. time slot of the calendar page for Saturday March 21. DP: Carl E. Guthrie.
“Three days ago, at exactly 0600 – because that is really not the time – on February 5 – because that is really not the date – this freighter, which shall be nameless, sailed from a certain Far Eastern port. Its destination: The Port of Los Angeles, Wilmington, California. This is fact.”
– narrator
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Bell Book and Candle (Richard Quine, 1958)
Mar
12
Gillian Holroyd (Kim Novak) and her Siamese, Pyewacket. DP: James Wong Howe.
“I sit in the subway sometimes, on buses, or the movies, and I look at the people next to me and I think… 'What would you say if I told you I was a witch?'”
– Queenie
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L'homme à la valise [The Man with the Suitcase] (Chantal Akerman, 1983)
Mar
11
close quarters
Henri (Jeffrey Kime) and the woman (Chantal Akerman) at a claustrophobically small table, each eating their breakfast. The woman has a baguette, a bowl of coffee, and a cigarette. Henri takes up most of the table with a serving tray holding a whole box of Pelletier toast, a plastic milk bottle, and a coffee pot. He's also manspreading. DP: Maurice Perrimond.
Close quarters: US premiere of 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016).
A filmmaker (Akerman) reluctantly hosts a guest (the always imposing Jeffrey Kime) in her already cramped quarters. His increasingly expanding presence in volume, sight and sound are insufferable for the quiet cineast.
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Le Songe Des Chevaux Sauvages [Dream of the Wild Horses] (Denys Colomb de Daunant, 1960)
Mar
10
ithrah69's birthday
Camargue horses galloping through a haze of water and dreams. DPs: Denys Colomb de Daunant & André Costey.
Filmmaker and photographer Colomb de Daunant's spiritual sequel to Crin blanc : le cheval sauvage [White Mane] (1953) and Glamador (1958) follows the same wild Camargue horses in their dreams.
The accompanying music is performed on a Cristal Baschet, a glass instrument key to several avant-garde films. I refer to John Coulthart's writeup about Le Songe, which links through to an article about the Cristal Baschet.
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Invasión [Invasion] (Hugo Santiago, 1969)
Mar
9
Bobby Fischer – 1943
Don Porfirio (Juan Carlos Paz) in front of a map of Aquileia. DP: Ricardo Aronovich.
Strategy for Bobby Fischer's birthday (1943).
People meticulously plan, move, and countermove in response to an invasion.
