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De nieuwe ijstijd [The New Ice Age] (Johan van der Keuken, 1974)
Mar
16
Reykjavík Food & Fun Festival
A young female factory worker listlessly fills a long plastic tube with pale ice-cream.. DP: Johan van der Keuken.
“For me it’s important to note that the film’s information is also the only thing you know. That’s the idea of the tip of the iceberg, provided that only the portion above the water exists (in the film), because you know nothing of what’s under water and therefore it’s impossible for you to describe the entire iceberg.
For example, in De nieuwe ijstijd the characters are not described 'in their entirety'. What is shown is only what we’ve encountered when we were filming. It’s always a limited, fragmentary knowledge of everything that exists, and that’s how it’s shown.”
– Johan van der Keuken, via
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Le fils [The Son] (Jean-Pierre Dardenne + Luc Dardenne, 2002)
Mar
15
Idus Martiae
Olivier (Olivier Gourmet) and Francis (Morgan Marinne) both seen from the back, with the pupil following the teacher. DP: Alain Marcoen.
For Idus Martiae, the Ides of March, a scene showing the main character's back.
Olivier, a carpentry teacher at a youth rehabilitation center, has a new apprentice, 16 year old Francis. Fascinated by the boy and his unspoken backstory, he starts following him around.
“With these shots from the back and the neck, we hope to confront the spectator with a mystery, the impossibility of knowing and seeing. The face and the eyes should not try to express a situation that already sufficiently stirs up the spectator’s interests. This expression would direct, limit or even prevent expectations, whereas the back and the neck allow the spectator to go deeper, like a car driving into the night.”
– Luc Dardenne, via [spoilers]
“The Dardennes' brothers’ camera follows Olivier in his enigmatic, ominous obsession with the boy and almost constantly films him up close and from behind. In the absence of a true gaze, the back turns into a face that speaks but doesn’t explain anything, “a body that becomes a vibrating membrane”, as Jean-Pierre Dardenne so beautifully put it.” (via)
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Cockfighter (Monte Hellman, 1974)
Mar
15
Frank Mansfield (Warren Oates) holding up a reluctant, wildly flapping white rooster. DP: Néstor Almendros.
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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