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重慶森林 [Chung Hing sam lam / Chungking Express] (Wong Kar-Wai, 1994)
Apr
28
freebie: April
Eating pineapple, expiration date May 1. DPs: Christopher Doyle & Wai Keung Lau.
A film set in April.
“We split up on April Fool's Day. So I decided to let the joke run for a month. Every day I buy a can of pineapple with a sell-by date of May 1. May loves pineapple, and May 1 is my birthday. If May hasn't changed her mind by the time I've bought thirty cans, then our love will also expire.”
– He Zhiwu, Cop 223
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Das Netz – Unabomber / LSD / Internet [The Net] (Lutz Dammbeck, 2003)
Apr
27
personal computer mouse – 1981
A mouse in action. Note the stress ball. DPs: James Carman, István Imre & Thomas Plenert.
A computer mouse: the first personal computer mouse debuted on this day in 1981.
“To those who think that all this sounds like science fiction, we point out that yesterday's science fiction is today's fact. The Industrial Revolution has radically altered man's environment and way of life, and it is only to be expected that as technology is increasingly applied to the human body and mind, man himself will be altered as radically as his environment and way of life have been.”
– Theodore J. Kaczynski
A Gedankenspiel.
Similar to the way moveable print has accelerated the spread of ideas, the personal computer mouse accelerated the speed of which individualist's ideas can spread. However, like the printing press and unlike the spoken word, the mouse can only point and enhance pre-existing notions, thus neutering any prospect of revolutionary change on an individual level.
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The Kirlian Witness (Jonathan Sarno, 1978)
Apr
27
A ficus hooked up to a polygraph. DP: João Fernandes.
“Based on a true occult event”
– tagline
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Willi Tobler und der Untergang der 6. Flotte [Willi Tobler and the Decline of the 6th Fleet] (Alexander Kluge, 1969)
Apr
27
One of many many handmade, overly complicated title cards. The date is May/June 42. DPs: Dietrich Lohmann, Thomas Mauch & Alfred Tichawsky.
And November 9, January 14, and January 21.
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Krakatit (Otakar Vávra, 1948)
Apr
26
International Chernobyl Disaster Remembrance Day
A man on a darkened, concrete runway, running towards a man-made structure, a mirage. DP: Václav Hanuš.
With the experience of yet another world war, and two devastating applications of science biggest terror, Karel Čapek's 1922 novel Krakatit [“Krakatoa”] anticipated and moulded the decades to come.
And R.U.R. is now, just around the corner.
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Una farfalla con le ali insanguinate [The Bloodstained Butterfly] (Duccio Tessari, 1971)
Apr
26
Fri
Sarah Marchi (Wendy D'Olive) with Giorgio (Helmut Berger) in the background, just out of focus behind her. DP: Carlo Carlini.
“Because, in the way I see it, the killer could only be one of two types. Either a person who was seized by a sudden impulse and in all probability has no police record, or else, a sex maniac.”
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Bom Povo Português [The Good People of Portugal] (Rui Simões, 1980)
Apr
25
1974
A young soldier triumphantly holds up his riffle. DPs: Manuel Barros, Mário Cabrita Gil, José Luís Carvalhosa, Gérard Collet, Acácio de Almeida, Russell Parker & José Reynès.
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Распад [Raspad / Collapse / Decay] (Mikhail Belikov, 1990)
Apr
25
1986
A young boy looks over his shoulder into the camera. He's seated at an extended table, set with food for many. A man in the back is on the phone; a woman walks around cradling a newborn child. In the corner of the room a baby cot. DP: Vasiliy Trushkovskiy.
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Prigionieri della guerra [Prisoners of War] (Yervant Gianikian + Angela Ricci Lucchi, 1995)
Apr
24
Armenian genocide
Horse-pulled carts arrive at a cross (via). DPs: Yervant Gianikian & Angela Ricci Lucchi.
“Parfois ils disent que nos images sont esthétiques, mais nous disons que les images esthétiques sont des images hautement étiques. Pour nous éthique et esthétique marchent ensemble. Re-filmer signifie re-signifier.”
– Yervant Gianikian and Angela Ricci Lucchi in conversation with Daniele Dottorini, 2007 (via)
Re-purposed propaganda reels show citizens – displaced, dehumanised – turned into prisoners of war, and finally into corpses.
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Notorious (Alfred Hitchcock, 1946)
Apr
24
Devlin (Cary Grant) and Alicia Huberman (Ingrid Bergman). DP: Ted Tetzlaff.
And January 9.
“Dry your eyes, baby; it's out of character.”
– Devlin