settima

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Italianamerican (1974)

Cast and crew in the Scorsese family dining room.

Italianamerican (1974)

November 23: family dinner for #Thanksgiving

Italianamerican (Martin Scorsese, 1974)

Take a few spoonfuls of tomato and throw them in there.

While mother Scorsese's famous meatballs in gravy are working their way to mwah! ​chef's kiss​ perfection, son Martin interviews his parents Catherine and Charles. For those unsure what to cook, and for those who don't celebrate Thanksgiving at all, mama's recipe is included in the end credits. And here:

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O slavnosti a hostech [A Report on the Party and Guests] (Jan Němec, 1966)

Nov

22

grapes

O slavnosti a hostech (1966)

A man in tuxedo removes a grape seed from his mouth. He's seated at a wonderfully opulently set table in a birch forest. DP: Jaromír Šofr.

O slavnosti a hostech [A Report on the Party and Guests] (Jan Němec, 1966)

Nov

22

Bales' Birthday

O slavnosti a hostech (1966)

The birthday party mingled in with the others in the woods, all dressed immaculately and seated at elaborately decked tables. The guests and their host raise their glasses towards the camera. DP: Jaromír Šofr.

A birthday party for OP Bales’ birthday!

“So will someone tell me what happened or not? A brother shouldn't turn against his brother. And a guest shouldn't turn against a guest.”

– the host

Every Day's a Holiday (A. Edward Sutherland, 1937)

Nov

21

National Entrepreneurs Day

Every Day's a Holiday (1937)

Lobbycard. Peaches O'Day (Mae West, dressed by Schiaparelli) hands her business card to yet another sucker. They're on the Brooklyn Bridge, which can be seen in the background. DP: Karl Struss.

The main character is an entrepreneur: National Entrepreneur's Day (USA)

 

In my book, entrepreneur is just a fancy talk for conman. A famous one, the one who may've tried to sell you the Brooklyn Bridge, was George C. Parker. He'd peddle the famous landmark to any hapless rube, immigrant, or sucker who then would promptly erect a little tollbooth to make a fast buck from any hapless rube, immigrant, or sucker.

“Selling the Brooklyn Bridge again, huh?”

– Police captain Jim McCarey

Like Parker, Mae West's Peaches O'Day bamboozles it her way. And boy, does she have a bridge to sell you!

Lonesome (Pál Fejős, 1928)

Nov

20

A Beautiful Day

Lonesome (1928)

Our lovebirds holding out on the Human Roulette, one of the many dizzying Steeplechase attractions of Coney Island. DP: Gilbert Warrenton.

A beautiful day for Beautiful Day (USA??).

 

Two hopelessly lonely hearts meet each other at Coney Island, spending the most wonderful day in each other's company. Pál Fejős' joyful Lonesome was made just when motion pictures became talkies, and new and more modern novelties were expected by the audience. Fejős delivers, with sound and musical inserts, and the occasional – almost shocking – burst of colour.

– Nice day, isn't it? – Yes, isn't it! – It's swell. It's perfect.

With light touches of Murnau's groundbreaking Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927) and Jean Vigo's more experimental À propos de Nice (1930), Lonesome depicts the exuberance of youth with an optimism soon to be lost to the vices of history.

The Bat Whispers [The Bat] (Roland West, 1930)

Nov

19

Play Monopoly Day

The Bat Whispers (1930)

Board and planchette at the ready for a little game of Ouija. DPs: Ray June (23mm) & Robert H. Planck (70mm).

Play a board game on Play Monopoly Day (USA)

 

It's just a little game. But then you wonder if Ouija, the Wonderful Talking Board is actually just that. Two neat little ladies playing that quirky 1891 novelty game in Roland West's The Bat Whispers summon the aforementioned bat, black-clad fiend and Batman predecessor.

– Get the Ouija board.

– It's got the Bible on top of it, keeping it quiet.

Who is he? What does he want? And how can he be stopped? Do you know the answer?
YES NO
GOOD BYE

Tätowierung [Tattoo / The Delinquent] (Johannes Schaaf, 1967)

Nov

18

National Adoption Day

Tätowierung (1967)

Benno (Christof Wackernagel), a pensive young man with dark hair and dark eyes. DPs: Petrus R. Schlömp & Wolf Wirth.

16 year old Benno (Christof Wackernagel) lives in a reformatory until the Lohmanns, a rich middle-aged #WestBerlin business couple decides to adopt him. A new world opens up, one of adulthood and responsibility. For the teenager, this neatly regulated new bourgeois life feels all wrong.

Muloorina (David Cobham, 1964)

Nov

17

Guinness World Records Day

Muloorina (1964)

The Bluebird parked amongst the crew's Jeeps. DPs: John Daniell, Ross King, Frank McKechnie, Ian Millar & Bob Wright.

Short in gorgeous Technicolor, Muloorina tells about a small, arid town in Australia that one day finds itself on the world's stage. Kati Thanda–Lake Eyre, a local salt lake that hasn't seen a drop of rain in nine years, is the perfect spot for a landspeed record attempt by British daredevil Donald Campbell and his Bluebird.

 

A play of contrasts. The supersonic blue machine on the ancient white riverbed and the slowness of the eternal landscape versus something faster than should be possible. And meanwhile, the locals care for their land and animals, and wait for rain.

Kick That Habit (Peter Liechti, 1989)

Nov

16

National Andy Day

Kick That Habit (1989)

Andy Guhl of experimental Swiss music/art group Voice Crack playing metal wire strung along a room. DP: Peter Liechti.

Everything is noise. Everything is light. Everything is dark. Everything is motion. Everything is static. Everything is energy. Everything is lethargy. Everything is rhythm. Everything is chaos. Everything is silent

L'udienza [The Audience] (Marco Ferreri, 1972)

Nov

14

L'udienza (1972)

Amedeo (Enzo Jannacci), a young man with heavy rimmed glasses wrapped in heavy, flowery drapes as if it's a toga, eating late at night. There's an opened can on one of his plates. A sad looking stuffed toy dog hangs out. DP: Mario Vulpiani.