settima

1960s

心中天網島 [Shinjū: Ten no Amijima / Double Suicide] (Masahiro Shinoda, 1969)

Oct

10

International Stage Management Day

心中天網島 (1969)

Jihei (Kichiemon Nakamura ) and his children with a stagehand visible between them. DP: Tōichirō Narushima.

心中天網島 is based on a 1721 文楽 [#bunraku] puppet theatre play]. As traditional in this style of theatre, the puppeteers are in full view of the audience wearing all-black cloaks. 心中天網島 does the same, but substitutes the puppets with flesh and blood actors.

 

The puppeteers are 黒衣 [kuroko, litt. “black clad”, though there are colour variations depending on the scene's requirements], guiding the performers towards their destiny.

Yawar Mallku [Blood of the Condor] (Jorge Sanjinés, 1969)

Oct

9

Indigenous Peoples Day

Yawar Mallku (1969)

Three Quechua men in ponchos and chullas seen from the back look out over the Anti (Andes). One of them stands on top of a large boulder. DP: Antonio Eguino.

Dutchman (Anthony Harvey, 1966)

Oct

3

Mean Girls Day

Dutchman (1966)

Clay (Al Freeman Jr.) reading a newspaper and minding his business on a subway train home. Just arrived on his car is Lula (Shirley Knight) and her endless supply of apples. DP: Gerry Turpin.

The haunting retelling (beware of spoilers) of #Wagner's The Flying Dutchman.

“Bet you can't eat just one.”

– advertising slogan

Morire gratis (Sandro Franchina, 1968)

Oct

2

National Michelle Day

Morire gratis (1968)

Michelle (Karen Blanguernon) and the artist (Franco Angeli). DP: Guido Cosulich.

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

Oct

1

Balloons Around The World Day

Привързаният балон (1967)

The balloon sails along as a young woman in white (Janet Miteva) walks with it. DP: Emil Vagenshtain.

One day, a large blimp shows up over a small Bulgarian village. The townspeople, seeing the prosperity in all that beautiful silk and then some, go after it.

“It was fear that created the first gods.”

– Stratius

La caza [The Hunt] (Carlos Saura, 1966)

Sep

23

International Rabbit Day

La caza (1966)

One of the hunters, seen from the back, aims for a wild rabbit. When you look closely you can see the animal leap just out of frame. DP: Luis Cuadrado.

The Mills of the Gods: Viet Nam (Beryl Fox, 1965)

Sep

18

Air Force Birthday

The Mills of the Gods: Viet Nam (1965)

Drafted soldiers in a military chopper. One of them is reading Richard Wormser's Operation Crosbow (Dell Comics Movie Classics #590), another has his head slumped in his hands. DP: Erik Durschmied.

“Thus, I do not see what use there is in those mills of the gods said to grind so late as to render punishment hard to be recognized, and to make wickedness fearless”

– Plutarch, Moralia (1 A.D.)

Nóz w wodzie [Knife in the Water] (Roman Polanski, 1962)

Sep

16

Mayflower Day

Nóz w wodzie (1962)

The young man (Zygmunt Malanowicz) outstretched on the boat's bow. DP: Jerzy Lipman.

“Hitching at this hour.”

The Birds (Alfred Hitchcock, 1963)

Sep

10

chicken

The Birds (1963)

Alfred Hitchcock and Tippi Hedren in a promotional photo by Philippe Halsman. Hedren, as her character Melanie Daniels, is attacked by a large crow while Hitchcock calmly enjoys a fried chicken and a glass of wine. DP: Robert Burks.

Feeling rather peckish.

“Are the birds gonna eat us, Mommy?”

মহানগর [Mahanagar / The Big City] (Satyajit Ray, 1963)

Sep

6

freebie: National Lipstick Day

মহানগর (1963)

Edith (Vicky Redwood) applying colour to Arati's (Madhavi Mukherjee) lips. DP: Subrata Mitra.

Set in 1950s Calcutta, মহানগর is a story of emancipation in a changing society. Arati (Madhavi Mukherjee) is a housewife from a traditionalist family, who – in order to support her relatives' lavish demands – goes out to work as a door-to-door saleswoman. Slowly, she discovers her independence.

“I've got it. Film star! You'd be perfect. Dark glasses, lots of red lipstick, and 100,000 rupees per picture. And if it's a Hindi film, we'll all fly to Bombay.”

– Bani