settima

@settima@zirk.us

آداب بهاری [Adab-e Bahari / Rites of Spring] (Ali Asghar Agahbanaei, 1982)

Aug

11

spring

Adab-e Bahari (1982)

In a dewdrop hanging from a rose, the face of a smiling woman appears.

Dita e Verës, a pagan spring celebration from Albania, celebrated in March: a spring scene*

 

The restless anticipation of spring. Iran as it was before and after the 1979 toppling of the Shah. While the snow melts away, the Revolution takes place, and fresh buds appear on the rose bushes. A poem.

 

E-clip-se (Chris Marker, 1999)

Aug

11

1999

E-clip-se (1999)

A young woman or child at the Jardin des plantes de Paris wears protective glasses while looking up in amazement during the August 11, 1999 solar eclipse, her baguette a vague memory. DP: Chris Marker.

Хлебный день [Khlebnyy den / Bread Day] (Sergei Dvortsevoy, 1998)

Aug

10

green

Хлебный день (1998)

The old folks pushing the cart past the hamlet's name sign. With thick brush strokes, almost too much for the small rectangle, it reads TOWNSHIP NR. 3. DP: Alisher Khamidkhodzhaev.

Green: a building or structure*

“That's all the people we've got now. We'll get there somehow.”

Where the old folks' hands push the cart, the green's worn off. That doesn't change anything about its importance. A lifeline, bread, is delivered once a week and with delivered, it means that the carriage is left on the rails, several kilometers away from Zhikharevo, or Township Nr. 3, which in its turn is about 80 km away from Saint Petersburg. It takes the seniors about two hours to get the wagon to their hamlet. We get to witness ten minutes or so. It lasts a lifetime.

 

As of 2002, only three people lived in Zhikharevo. I wonder how the wain comes home now.

 

Du côté de la côte [Along the Coast] (Agnès Varda, 1958)

Aug

9

yellow

Du côté de la côte (1958)

Two people, one big one small, in identical canary yellow robes and straw sun hats on the beach (more here). DPs: Quinto Albicocco & Raymond Castel.

Yellow, in food or fashion*

“Tourists prefer the trendy colors, yellow and blue. Pacing fancies, hotels are painted yellow and blue. Blue wins. All women want to be fashionable. All women wear blue, except the English, those learning to swim, and the Germans, who are dedicated to green.”

– narrator

The Lady from Shanghai (Orson Welles, 1947)

Aug

9

The Lady from Shanghai (1947)

Elsa Bannister (Rita Hayworth) and husband Arthur Bannister (Everett Sloane) in the dizzying modernist finale. DP: Charles Lawton Jr..

“You need more than luck in Shanghai.”

– Elsa Bannister

Seksmisja [Sexmission] (Juliusz Machulski, 1984)

Aug

9

Seksmisja (1984)

Two poor captured extinct men enjoying breakfast and cigarettes. DP: Jerzy Łukaszewicz.

– Men are extinct.

– They were not mammoths!

8-8-88 Church of Satan Mansonite Rally (Boyd Rice, 1988)

Aug

8

1988

8-8-88 Church of Satan Mansonite Rally (1988)

The marquee of the San Francisco Strand Theater. Mentioned are two films: animation A Bitter Message of Hopeless Grief by Jonathan Reiss (1988), and excellent Mansonsploitation drama The Other Side of Madness aka The Helter Skelter Murders by Frank Howard (1971). Also billed (what a night!) are NON and Secret Chiefs 3.Still (via). DP: ?.

Provocateur Boyd Rice and friends perform a Satanic rite on August 8, 1988; exactly 20 years minus one year minus one day after the Tate-LaBianca murders.

“The entire world is rotten and corrupt… to us they're dead people who refuse to lay down, they're cadavers”

– Boyd Rice speaking to Geraldo Rivera (via)

Please note that the linked article is written by an dimwitted ignoramus completely oblivious of Boyd Rice's, and Anton LaVey's, prankster background.

墮落天使 [Do lok tin si / Fallen Angels] (Wong Kar-Wai, 1995)

Aug

7

yellow

Do lok tin si (1995)

The killer's agent (Michelle Reis) rides an escalator in a yellow and black underground station. She wears an all-black outfit and yellow nail polish (via). DP: Christopher Doyle.

Yellow: a building or structure*

“Just when I really needed a raincoat, he returned to my side. It would be so great if it could rain forever.”

– Punkie

Domenica d'agosto [Sunday in August] (Luciano Emmer, 1950)

Aug

7

1949

Domenica d'agosto (1950)

A little boy runs down a Roman street. Superimposed a calendar page: SUNDAY AUGUST 7 S. GAETANO THE SUN RISES AT 5:15 SUNSET AT 19:42 – CRESCENT MOON. “S. Gaetano” refers to Saint Cajetan, who's feast day is on August 7. DPs: Leonida Barboni, Ubaldo Marelli & Domenico Scala.

Ovoce stromů rajských jíme [We Eat the Fruit of the Trees of Paradise] (Věra Chytilová, 1970)

Aug

6

orange

Ovoce stromů rajských jíme (1970)

Eva (Jitka Novákova) devouring oranges under a black umbrella (via). DP: Jaroslav Kučera.

Orange, food or fashion*

“Tell me the truth!”

– choir

An allegorical, psychedelic retelling of Genesis 3 and the Fall of Man