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More (Barbet Schroeder, 1969)
Sep
7
Estelle (Mimsy Farmer) and Stefan (Klaus Grünberg) tripping in Ibiza. DP: Néstor Almendros.
“I had imagined this journey as a quest. I finished my studies in math. I wanted to live. I wanted to burn all the bridges, all the formulas, and if I got burned, that was okay, too. I wanted to be warm. I wanted the sun and I went after it.”
– Stefan
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Nostos: Il ritorno [Nostos: The Return] (Franco Piavoli, 1989)
Sep
6
Magellan expedition – 1522
A seafaring explorer in commemoration of Ferdinand Magellan's (almost) completed circumnavigation in 1522. The Portuguese Magellan was enlisted by Spain to gain access to the Moluccas' spices and other trading goods by sailing west instead of east, thus avoiding the heavily armed Portuguese and Dutch traders who were plundering Southeast Asia, its peoples and cultures.
“Calypso the lustrous goddess tried to hold me back,
deep in her arching caverns, craving me for a husband.
So did Circe, holding me just as warmly in her halls,
the bewitching queen of Aeaea keen to have me too.
But they never won the heart inside me, never.
So nothing is as sweet as a man's own country.”
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Mélodie en sous-sol [Any Number Can Win] (Henri Verneuil, 1963)
Sep
6
Tue
Mario (Henri Virlojeux), bathhouse proprietor. A nearby wall calendar reads mardi, septembre 6. DP: Louis Page.
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Pickpocket (Robert Bresson, 1959)
Sep
6
Sun
The newspaper of Sunday, September 6, announcing a derby. DP: Léonce-Henri Burel.
“The pickings were poor and not worth the risk.”
– Michel
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Homicidal (William Castle, 1961)
Sep
6
Man's hands hold a picture of Emily (Joan Marshall). DP: Burnett Guffey.
“We've been to Haunted Hills, and through Tinglers, and even Ghosts... but now we're going to meet a group of people who just happen to be… Homicidal.”
– William Castle, introduction
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Nuits rouges [L'homme sans visage / Shadowman] (Georges Franju, 1974)
Sep
6
A faceless man in black wearing a red balaclava (Jacques Champreux) holds his right wrist, which is bleeding profusely. DP: Guido Bertoni.
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Jaider, der einsame Jäger [Jaider, the Lonely Hunter] (Volker Vogeler, 1971)
Sep
5
Mother Teresa
Gottfried John as Jaider (via). DP: Gérard Vandenberg.
“Denn auf den Bergen, ja da ist die Freiheit,
denn auf den Bergen ist es doch so schön,
dort wo auf grauenhafte Weise
der Jennerwein zugrund mußt gehn.”
Jennerwein-Lied, 19th c.
Jaider, just returned home from the Franco-Prussian War and incapable to find work, turns to poaching to feed himself and his impoverished town. Soon he leads a gang of poachers, who in their turn are hunted by Bavarian soldiers and state-sanctioned hunters. Loosely based on legendary “Jaider” (“hunter”) and poacher Georg Jennerwein.
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Le vampire de Düsseldorf [The Vampire of Dusseldorf] (Robert Hossein, 1965)
Sep
5
Robert Hossein as Peter Kuerten [sic]. DP: Alain Levent.
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海底から来た女 [Kaitei kara kita onna / Woman from the Sea] (Koreyoshi Kurahara, 1959)
Sep
4
The mysterious sea woman (Hisako Tsukuba, who under the name Chako van Leeuwen went on to produce the Jawsploitation franchise Piranha) and a bewitched Toshio (Tamio Kawachi). Note how the boat's sail resembles a shark's dorsal fin. DP: Yoshihiro Yamazaki.
A strange woman appears in the life of a young man. He falls in love with her, but the fishermen know. She's the wife of a shark killed years ago. And she's out for revenge.
Doing Hooptober parallel to Bales. Expect some contamination of the September/October posts.
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Petit à petit [Little by Little] (Jean Rouch, 1970)
Sep
3
Skyscraper Day
Damouré (Damouré Zika) measures a Parisian with craniology callipers. No skyscraper in this still, but there's scaffolding. DP: Jean Rouch.
In the sequel to Rouch's Jaguar (1967), Damouré wants a high rise for his Niger business with “as many floors as he has wives”. He decides to travel to Paris to learn about the construction of such building, and what made Paris to the Paris of today. While there, he gets distracted by the peculiarities of the French natives. Worried about Damouré's increasingly puzzling postcards, his company sends out Lam (Lam Ibrahim Dia) to bring him home.