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Ánimas Trujano (El hombre importante) [The Important Man] (Ismael Rodríguez, 1961)
Dec
16
Underdog Day
Now very important Ánimas Trujano [Toshirō Mifune] holding his Juana (Columba Domínguez). DP: Gabriel Figueroa.
It took me a moment to get comfortable with the casting of Japanese movie legend Toshirō Mifune as the titular important man (also see Noé Murayama in Rodríguez's Los hermanos Del Hierro from 1961, but from that moment on, Ánimas Trujano feels as universal as any great cinematic experience should be.
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Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment (Robert Drew, 1963)
Dec
14
Alabama Day
Bobby on the phone, seen from the back. DP: Gregory Shuker.
Filmed in Alabama: Alabama Day. In what he dubbed “Stand in the Schoolhouse Door”, George Wallace, Alabama governor, blocked Black students from walking into the University so he could uphold his inaugural promise of “segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever”. This prompted a national crisis, resulting in the President issuing Executive Order 11111, making the #NationalGuard step in.
“Come Senators, Congressmen,
Please heed the call,
Don't stand in the doorway,
Don't block up the hall”
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Holubice [The White Dove] (František Vláčil, 1960)
Dec
9
Official Lost And Found Day
Michal (Karel Smyczek) finds the white dove perched on a sculpture. The artwork depicts a faceless boy. DP: Jan Čuřík.
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剣 (小説) [Ken / The Sword] (Kenji Misumi, 1964)
Dec
6
rice
Young people eating. An older woman in kimono scoops rice from an electric rice cooker. When read from right to left, this scene – as are numerous others in Chikashi Makiura's photographed 剣 (小説) – are split into tradition and modernity. DP: Chikashi Makiura.
“We come to life, we die… It's a perpetual renewal. How boring.”
– Mibu
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Mr. Hayashi (Bruce Baillie, 1963)
Dec
5
World Soil Day
Mr. Hayashi's hand digging in soil.
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The Big Shave [The Big Shave… or, Viet '67] (Martin Scorsese, 1967)
Dec
2
Safety Razor Day
A young man (Peter Bernuth) shaving in front of a mirror. The bathroom is clean, white, with chrome fixtures. DP: Ares Demertzis.
Accompanied by the sweet tunes of Bunny Berigan and Ira Gershwin's I Can't Get Started, a young man shaves his face. The Big Shave is a short commissioned film which contains many of the hallmarks of Martin Scorsese's later, more accessible work.
“I've been consulted by Franklin D.,
Gretta Garbo has had me to tea,
Still I'm broken hearted,
Cause I can't get it started,
With you”
–Ira Gershwin, I Can't Get Started (1936)
There's also the obvious influence of #KennethAnger to be found, in nostalgic show tunes, the fetishisation of chrome and clean lines, followed by lustful, by ways erotic, violence. #Scorsese theme here is not homoeroticism, not on the surface at least, but the carnage laid upon so many young men sent off to the smouldering battlefields of #Vietnam. There'd be another six years of that. And meanwhile, some young men came back. And some picked up a job, driving a cab.
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Lights (Marie Menken, 1966)
Dec
1
National Christmas Lights Day
It took experimental filmmaker Marie Menken three years to shoot Lights. From midnight until 1 AM, she filmed New York's window displays during the holiday season, using her camera, motion, colour, and available light sources as her paintbrush.
“There is no why for my making films. I just liked the twitters of the machine, and since it was an extension of painting for me, I tried it and loved it. In painting I never liked the staid and static, always looked for what would change the source of light and stance, using glitters, glass beads, luminous paint, so the camera was a natural for me to try—but how expensive!”
– Marie Menken, c. 1966
Filming at night helped to avoid unwanted interruptions of people and cars, but turned out to be problematic for her hand-cranked #Bolex, which kept stalling in NYC's icy winter nights.
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1999 A.D. (Lee Madden, 1967)
Nov
27
Cyber Monday
In the soul crushing future of 1999, one heroic nuclear family bravely fulfils their gender-specific duties. While Father Mike works in his computer-aided office, Son Jamie fails at computer homeschool and Mother Karen slavishly shops, cooks, and cleans as if the 70s never happened.
Thankfully, the future turned out to be even bleaker.
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Weihnacht (Roland Klick, 1963)
Nov
24
Black Friday
The miracle of Christmas, as seen in a fancy shop window. A dress shirt is on display among Sputnik-style decorations and an entranced toddler is reflected in a gilded mirror. From across the street, “Woolworth's” in neon text bounces off the window pane. DPs: Jochen Cerhak & Roland Klick.
A little boy takes in the magic of pre-Christmas, while the adults rush and worry about all that must to be bought.
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O slavnosti a hostech [A Report on the Party and Guests] (Jan Němec, 1966)
Nov
22
grapes
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.