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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.
“We broke up on April's fools day, so I took it as a joke. I'm willing to humor her for a month.”
– He Zhiwu, Cop 223
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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.
“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.”
– He Zhiwu, Cop 223
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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.
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Prigionieri della guerra [Prisoners of War] (Yervant Gianikian + Angela Ricci Lucchi, 1995)
Apr
24
Armenian genocide
Horse-pulled carts arrive at a cross (via). DPs: Yervant Gianikian & Angela Ricci Lucchi.
“Parfois ils disent que nos images sont esthétiques, mais nous disons que les images esthétiques sont des images hautement étiques. Pour nous éthique et esthétique marchent ensemble. Re-filmer signifie re-signifier.”
– Yervant Gianikian and Angela Ricci Lucchi in conversation with Daniele Dottorini, 2007 (via)
Re-purposed propaganda reels show citizens – displaced, dehumanised – turned into prisoners of war, and finally into corpses.
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Moment of Impact (Julia Loktev, 1998)
Apr
1
1989
A person holds Leonid Loktev's head from behind, while someone else cups his left eye with one hand. DP: Julia Loktev.
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To Lavoisier, Who Died in the Reign of Terror (Michael Snow, 1991)
Mar
6
chemistry
Shot from below through a glass pane, a man pushes a sulphur-yellow substance around.
Chemistry: Dimitri Mendeleev presented his version of the periodic table on this date in 1869. He claimed to have had a dream in which he envisioned a table in which all the chemical elements were arranged according to their atomic weight (via).
“Antoine Lavoisier (1743-1794) was a French chemist who gave the first accurate scientific explanation of the mysteries of fire. He also provided the law of conservation of matter which states that matter can be neither created or destroyed.n His work and this film are situated between modern chemistry and alchemy. The film stages a drama of abstraction and theoretical realism. Everyday life seen photo-chemically and musically. The film is a materialist projected-image conversion of matter.”
– Michael Snow, via
The film stock was chemically altered, giving it an dreamlike quality.
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Le tombeau d'Alexandre [The Last Bolshevik] (Chris Marker, 1993)
Feb
25
Warsaw Pact
Still from a Medvedkin film. Silhouettes in light of Lenin and Stalin facing each other are projected above a crowd of people. DP of Le tombeau d'Alexandre: Chris Marker.
“Alexandre Ivanovitch Medvedkine est le seul cinéaste russe né en 1900. (…) Son énergie, son courage, ses illusions, ses désillusions, ses compromissions, ses bagarres avec les bureaucrates, ses illuminations prophétiques, ses aveuglements, volontaires ou non, son humour indestructible et la lumière déchirante que l’effondrement de l’URSS jette rétrospectivement sur toute sa vie, ce sont ceux de toute une génération, et c’est le portrait de cette génération que j’entends tracer à travers le portrait d’un ami.”
– press kit (via)
A film essay using the life and work of filmmaker Aleksandr Medvedkin to tell the story of communism. Medvedkin traveled the Soviet Union with his Kinopoezd or Cinetrain (also Agit-train), a moving film production train with the sole purpose to create Agitprop while documenting the Five Year Plan.
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Orlando (Sally Potter, 1992)
Jan
24
Billy Zane's birthday
Orlando (Tilda Swinton) and Shelmerdine (Billy Zane) in intimate embrace. DPs: Aleksey Rodionov & Andrew Speller.
A [favourite] Billy Zane film for his birthday (1966).
“This future of yours Shelmerdine, when it's gonna begin? Today? Or, is it always tomorrow?”
– Orlando
As ordered by Queen Elizabeth I (Quentin Crisp), nobleman Orlando remains young and traverses exotic scenery, civilisations, time, and gender.
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کلوزآپ ، نمای نزدیک [Klūzāp, nemā-ye nazdīk / Close-Up] (Abbas Kiarostami, 1990)
Jan
19
Hossain Sabzian on the back of a motorcycle on a busy tree-lined, four lane street. He's holding a large potted rose-red dahlia. DP: Ali Reza Zarrindast.
– Is there anything I can do for you?
– You could make a film about my suffering.
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X2000 (François Ozon, 1998)
Jan
1
2000
A young, naked man holding a drink observes two men asleep in a sleeping bag on the floor. On the wall behind them the text “2000” spelled out with tinsel garlands. DP: Pierre Stoeber.