settima

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Raggare! [Blackjackets] (Olle Hellbom, 1959)

Apr

3

Raggare! (1959)

Bibban, a beaming blonde (Christina Schollin) in a petticoat, at a small bar table smoking a cigarette. There's an half-empty glass and a full ashtray next to her. Just offscreen the object of her smile: a smartly dressed man reaching for his glass. DPs: Frank Dalin & Bertil Palmgren.

Io la conoscevo bene [I Knew Her Well] (Antonio Pietrangeli, 1965)

Apr

2

cocktails

Io la conoscevo bene (1965)

A lone Roberto (Enrico Maria Salerno) at a lively cocktail party in Rome's hypermodern EUR district. DP: Armando Nannuzzi.

“Trouble is, she likes everything. She's always happy. She desires nothing, envies no one, is curious about nothing. You can't surprise her. She doesn't notice the humiliations, though they happen to her every day. It all rolls off her back like some waterproof material. Zero ambition. No moral code. Not even a whore's love of money.”

– the writer

太陽の墓場 [Taiyō no hakaba / Grave of the Sun / The Sun's Burial] (Nagisa Ōshima, 1960)

Mar

31

太陽の墓場 (1960)

An empty-looking woman eats something while a scrawny man in a pork pie hat and dirty shirt eyes her. Next to the woman a bulking bearded guy, cleaning his nails. DP: Takashi Kawamata.

“Empires, the past – they're beyond me! Will things change for the better? Will bums like these disappear? And the slums too? Come on. Tell us!”

– Hanako

Salesman (Albert + David Maysles, Charlotte Zwerin, 1969)

Mar

29

breakfast

Salesman (1969)

Bible salesmen enjoying breakfast at a soulless motel. DP: Albert Maysles.

Watched on Good Friday.

Los hermanos Del Hierro [My Son, the Hero] (Ismael Rodríguez, 1961)

Mar

19

revenge

Los hermanos Del Hierro (1961)

Brothers Martín (Julio Alemán) and Reynaldo Del Hierro (Antonio Aguilar) drinking in a cantina. Reynaldo, the older one, looks pensive while the younger takes a big gulp of beer. DP: Rosalío Solano.

A dish best served cold.

Привързаният балон [Privarzaniyat balon / The Tied-Up Balloon] (Binka Zhelyazkova, 1967)

Mar

17

bread

Привързаният балон (1967)

A boy and young woman (Janet Miteva) riding a donkey. The boy eats a handful while the woman faces downwards. There are several donkeys with riders behind them. DP: Emil Vagenshtain.

Max et les ferrailleurs [Max and the Junkmen] (Claude Sautet, 1971)

Mar

16

Max et les ferrailleurs (1971)

Lily (Schneider) and Max (Piccoli) at a small table decked with good food, good wine, and quite a few wads of cash. DP: René Mathelin.

Devil Doll (Lindsay Shonteff, 1964)

Mar

15

sandwiches

Devil Doll (1964)

A large knife amongst rather minuscule triangular tea sandwiches. A miniature wooden barrel holding toothpicks is right there for your sandwich stabbing convenience. DP: Gerald Gibbs.

Herz aus Glas [Heart of Glass] (Werner Herzog, 1976)

Mar

13

tea

Herz aus Glas (1976)

“I look into the distance to the end of the world. Before the day is over, the end will come. First, time will tumble, and then the earth. The clouds will begin to race… the earth boils over; this is the sign. This is the beginning of the end. The world's edge begins to crumble… everything starts to collapse… tumbles, fall, crumbles and collapses. I look into the cataract. I feel an undertow, it draws me, it sucks me down. I began to fal, a vertigo seizes upon me.”

– Hias

Pickpocket (Robert Bresson, 1959)

Mar

12

Pickpocket (1959)

Michel (Martin LaSalle) in a busy café, observing. An emptied water glass next to the thief should make him look like a paying guest. DP: Léonce-Henri Burel.

“Can we not admit that certain skilled men, gifted with intelligence, talent or even genius, and thus indispensable to society, rather than stagnate, should be free to disobey laws in certain cases?”

– Michel