settima

1970s

Multiple SIDosis (Sid Laverents, 1970)

Mar

27

National Acoustic Soul Day

Multiple SIDosis (1970)

Clockwise: Sid playing a ukulele, Sid whistling, Sid playing improvised chimes (metal pipes and one cymbal hanging from an overhead microphone stand), Sid blowing a tune on champagne bottles, one metronome. DP: Sid Laverents.

There's a handful of notable amateur films in the National Film Registry. One of them is the Zapruder film, another Sid Laverents' Multiple SIDosis.

“In terms of sheer entertainment value, I think that it demonstrated that one eccentric genius alone in his garage can rival the best of the Hollywood studios””

– Ross Lipman, UCLA Film & Television Archive restorationist

 

Catch it here.

On the Marriage Broker Joke as Cited by Sigmund Freud in “WIT AND ITS RELATION TO THE UNCONSCIOUS” or Can the Avant-Garde Artist Be Wholed (Owen Land, 1977)

Mar

16

National Panda Day

ON THE MARRIAGE BROKER JOKE AS CITED BY SIGMUND FREUD IN “WIT AND ITS RELATION TO THE UNCONSCIOUS” OR CAN THE AVANT-GARDE ARTIST BE WHOLED? (1977)

Two fake pandas in a black-and-white room, seated on zebra-striped chairs. The floor has black-and-white square tiles and the walls black-and-white polkadots. Framed behind them, two black squares with white passe-partouts.

Owen Land explores meaning, wit, and #WordPlay, and manages to unite the #marketing of #umeboshi #plums in a wide variety of vessels, the brokering of #brides, and pandas discussing #Freud in all of the above contexts.

“My film is going to be introduced by a fake panda and it’s going to be about Japanese salted plums among other things.”

– FIRST PANDA

Le fantôme de la liberté [The Phantom of Liberty] (Luis Buñuel, 1974)

Mar

9

World Kidney Day

Le fantôme de la liberté (1974)

Five adults and a child at a large table. They're all seated on toilets. One of the men is defecating. DP: Edmond Richard.

Eating is taboo, and relieving oneself is performed on a toilet at a communal table in Luis Buñuel's Le fantôme de la liberté. The farce strings together events from #Buñuel's life (who was 74 by the time he made this film), with dreams remembered by both Buñuel and co-writer Jean-Claude Carrière.

“Madrid was filled with the stench of – pardon my language – food. It was indecent.”

– le professeur des gendarmes

The title references the opening sentence from Marx and Engels' Communist Manifesto (1848): “A spectre is haunting Europe—the spectre of communism.”. What follows is a wonderful, free-flowing pastiche performed by a sublime cast.

Malá morská víla [The Little Mermaid] (Karel Kachyňa, 1976)

Mar

3

National Dress In Blue Day

Malá morská víla (1976)

The little mermaid (Miroslava Safránková) in her wonderful sea-blue dress, puts a coral-red rose in her blue hair. DP: Jaroslav Kučera.

Miroslava Safránková plays Hans Christian Andersen's doomed little mermaid – Malá morská víla in Czech – who falls in love with a mortal and gives up her beautiful voice to be with him. Sadly, the mortal, a prince, doesn't recognize his mute saviour and doesn't return his love.

“The other day I got caught in some fishermen's net. Of course, I had to drown them. I couldn't allow them to touch me, could I?”

– the little mermaid

The wonderful soundtrack is by Zdeněk Liška who also composed music for Ikarie XB 1 (Jindřich Polák, 1963) and Spalovač mrtvol (Juraj Herz, 1969).

Het Leesplankje [The Reading Lesson] (Johan van der Keuken, 1973)

Mar

2

National Read Across America Day

Het Leesplankje (1973)

Reading board tiles laid out on a newspaper. Half a headline – 7.000 ARRESTANTEN (“7000 DETAINEES”) – can be read. A photograph of a shellshocked, very young soldier in front of a fleeing crowd illustrates the article. DP: Johan van der Keuken.

Amsterdam schoolchildren recite the words from a reading board while the traditional teaching method's pictures are interspersed with news photos of then-current events and children's drawings.

“Aaaaap” “Nooot” “Miiieees”

This short, and life, is haunting and violent; schools should be safe for all. Even if only to escape in a book.

Desperate Living (1977)

Desperate Living (1977)

March 1: someone pays a compliment on #WorldComplimentDay

Desperate Living (John Waters, 1977)

Peggy Gravel: Peggy is about to die from being shot up the ass by Mole. You're so low you make white trash look positively top drawer! Mole McHenry: Oh, blow it out your ass!

#Bales2023FilmChallenge #JohnWaters #LizRenay #MinkStole #SusanLowe #EdithMassey #crime #comedy #USA #1970s ★★★½

#todo

Transition de phase dans les cristaux liquides [Liquid Crystals] (Jean Painlevé, 1978)

Feb

28

National Science Day – India

Transition de phase dans les cristaux liquides (1978)

A scene that foreshadows computer-generated imagery. DP: Jean Painlevé.

Filmmaker, photographer and honorary surrealist Jean Painlevé made science films that verge on experimental art cinema. With custom-built camera setups, he explored the world above and below the water surface, and with that exposed human traits.

 

It's almost impossible to select one film from a filmography as vast as #Painlevé's. In honour of C.V. #Raman, lets go with his Transition de phase dans les cristaux liquides.

 

It's on Ubu, in case you wonder.

Dirty Little Billy (Stan Dragoti, 1972)

Feb

25

National Billy Day

Dirty Little Billy (1972)

Michael J. Pollard as Billy the Kid. He looks rather unwashed. DP: Ralph Woolsey.

A mucky, nihilistic #punk adaptation of the Billy the Kid saga foreshadowing Alex Cox's Straight to Hell by 15 years.

– All right, Billy. All right. You still haven't answered my question. What do you want to do?

– Nothin'.

The Whole Shootin' Match (Eagle Pennell, 1978)

Feb

23

Diesel Engine Day

The Whole Shootin' Match (1978)

Frank (Sonny Carl Davis) and Loyd (Lou Perryman) attempt to fix the diesel motor that keeps their polyurethane business afloat. DP: Eagle Pennell.

“Now this is a real good one Loyd, you want me to get in a business I can't even pronounce the name of? Poly-whatcha-doodle-all-day?”

– Frank

Fast Break (Mike McLeod + Don Zavin, 1978)

Feb

19

NBA All Star Game

Fast Break (1978)

Bill Walton hosting a basketball camp for Indigenous kids. Children line up to get pictures and T-shirts signed. DP: Mike McLeod.