“I'm just fine. I have everything here. I have the TV. You can see the whole world” Trois couleurs: Bleu [Three Colors: Blue] (Krzysztof Kieślowski, 1993)
Aug
15
cerulean
Julie (Juliette Binoche) in a blue wallpapered room, observes blue beads suspended in front of a window with a cerulean sky and ocean behind it. Throughout the story, her clothing changes from white, to black, to the darkest charcoal blue, to Prussian blue. DP: Slawomir Idziak.
Cerulean, or blue: in food or fashion*
– the mother
How could I not pick at least one instalment of Kieślowski's Trois couleurs trilogy. Here's blue, the liberté of the tricolor. Blue occurs as the sky to fall through, the room without life, and the cloth that binds.
* the Bales 2025 Film Challenge for August is not date-related but lists, for the most part, the colours of the rainbow.
1990s
E-clip-se (Chris Marker, 1999)
Aug
11
1999
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A young woman or child at the Jardin des plantes de Paris wears protective glasses while looking up in amazement during the August 11, 1999 solar eclipse, her baguette a vague memory. DP: Chris Marker.
“That's all the people we've got now. We'll get there somehow.” Хлебный день [Khlebnyy den / Bread Day] (Sergei Dvortsevoy, 1998)
Aug
10
green
The old folks pushing the cart past the hamlet's name sign. With thick brush strokes, almost too much for the small rectangle, it reads TOWNSHIP NR. 3. DP: Alisher Khamidkhodzhaev.
Green: a building or structure*
Where the old folks' hands push the cart, the green's paler. That doesn't change anything about its importance. A lifeline, bread, is delivered once a week and with delivered, it means that the carriage is left on the rails, several kilometers away from Zhikharevo, or Township Nr. 3, which in its turn is about 80 km away from Saint Petersburg. It takes the seniors about two hours to get the wagon to their hamlet. We get to witness ten minutes or so. It lasts a lifetime.
As of 2002, only three people lived in Zhikharevo. I wonder how the wain comes home now.
* the Bales 2025 Film Challenge for August is not date-related but lists, for the most part, the colours of the rainbow.
“Just when I really needed a raincoat, he returned to my side. It would be so great if it could rain forever.”墮落天使 [Do lok tin si / Fallen Angels] (Wong Kar-Wai, 1995)
Aug
7
yellow
The killer's agent (Michelle Reis) rides an escalator in a yellow and black underground station. She wears an all-black outfit and yellow nail polish (via). DP: Christopher Doyle.
Yellow: a building or structure*
– Punkie
* the Bales 2025 Film Challenge for August is not date-related but lists, for the most part, the colours of the rainbow.
Sombre (Philippe Grandrieux, 1998)
Jun
3
World Bicycle Day
Cycling fans along the route. DPs: Philippe Grandrieux & Sabine Lancelin.
A film scene with a bike for World Bicycle Day
Jean (Marc Barbé) follows the route of the Tour de France. He sees women, picks them up, takes them out. Claire, infatuated with him, is taken in by his darkness. At night, the cyclists continue the course.
“Ich bin meine eigene Frau” (“I am my own woman/wife”)Ich bin meine eigene Frau [I Am My Own Woman] (Rosa von Praunheim, 1992)
May
16
Honor Our LGBT Elders Day
Ichgola Androgyn, Jens Taschner, and Charlotte von Mahlsdorf as Charlotte von Mahlsdorf. DP: Lorenz Haarmann.
An LGBTQ actor, director, or character over 55 for Honor Our LGBT Elders Day (USA)
– Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, in response to her mother's request to settle and get married
The extraordinary life of Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, Berliner, gender bender, Nazi killer (her own father, with a wooden rolling pin, mind you), prisoner, custodian, museum founder, barmaid, Stasi informer (arguably), den mother to the GDR's LGBT+ youngsters, but most of all, her own woman.
“We broke up on April's fools day, so I took it as a joke. I'm willing to humor her for a month.”重慶森林 [Chung Hing sam lam / Chungking Express] (Wong Kar-Wai, 1994)
Apr
28
8:59
A flipclock. It's April 28, a Friday, and 8:59 pm. DPs: Christopher Doyle & Wai Keung Lau.
– He Zhiwu, Cop 223
“We split up on April Fool's Day. So I decided to let the joke run for a month. Every day I buy a can of pineapple with a sell-by date of May 1. May loves pineapple, and May 1 is my birthday. If May hasn't changed her mind by the time I've bought thirty cans, then our love will also expire.”重慶森林 [Chung Hing sam lam / Chungking Express] (Wong Kar-Wai, 1994)
Apr
28
freebie: April
Eating pineapple, expiration date May 1. DPs: Christopher Doyle & Wai Keung Lau.
A film set in April.
– He Zhiwu, Cop 223
Распад [Raspad / Collapse / Decay] (Mikhail Belikov, 1990)
Apr
25
1986
A young boy looks over his shoulder into the camera. He's seated at an extended table, set with food for many. A man in the back is on the phone; a woman walks around cradling a newborn child. In the corner of the room a baby cot. DP: Vasiliy Trushkovskiy.