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Bales2025FilmChallenge

Viskningar och rop [Cries and Whispers] (Ingmar Bergman, 1972)

Aug

1

red

Viskningar och rop (1972)

The three sisters in the red room (via). DP: Sven Nykvist.

Red: a building or structure*

“It's just a dream, Agnes.”

– Anna

Red as an expression of inner and outer worlds. Even the scene transitions are red.

 

Menschen am Sonntag [People on Sunday, a Film Without Actors] (Robert Siodmak, Edgar G. Ulmer, Rochus Gliese, Curt Siodmak + Fred Zinnemann, 1929)

Jul

31

Menschen am Sonntag (1929)

Brigitte Borchert savours her Sunday. The workweek is still lightyears away (via). DP: Eugen Schüfftan.

Someone goes to work*

“Du, Wolf, nächsten Sonntag — ?”

– title card

Berliners rest on Sunday, we still do. People lounge in the many parks, and on the shores of the city's many lakes. And then, it's Monday.

 

Released in 1929, according to Atlas Film, who restored this important Weimar classic long before Criterion put their grubby hands on it.

 

Το κορίτσι με τα μαύρα [To koritsi me ta mavra / A Girl in Black] (Mihalis Kakogiannis, 1956)

Jul

30

To koritsi me ta mavra (1956)

Marina (Ellie Lambeti) in the port of Hydra. DP: Walter Lassally.

Someone is sad, or cries*

 

A wealthy Athenian writer on holiday on Hydra falls for the morose Marina (Ellie Lambeti), one of the daughters of his widowed innkeeper, causing disruption in the close-knit island community.

 

Paparazzi (Jacques Rozier, 1963/1964)

Jul

29

Paparazzi (1964)

Brigitte Bardot and her co-star Michel Piccoli making a show of ascending the stairs of Casa Malaparte as seen through a paparazzo's lens. DP: Maurice Perrimond.

A character has a camera or takes photos*

 

It buzzes on the set of Le mépris. These mosquitos, the Italians say paparazzi, swarm La Bardot and making it merely impossible for anyone – themselves included – to do their job. But Bardot knows them, too well, and gives them what they want, when she wants it.

 

The Tempest (Derek Jarman, 1979)

Jul

28

The Tempest (1979)

Sailors dancing in a room wildly decorated with guirlandes and flowers (via). DP: Peter Middleton.

Local nightlife: people dancing or at a show*

“Don't know why There's no sun up in the sky Stormy weather Since my man and I ain't together Keeps raining all of the time

Oh, yeah Life is bad Gloom and misery everywhere Stormy weather, stormy weather And I just can get my poor self together Oh, I'm weary all of the time The time, so weary all of the time

When he went away The blues walked in and met me Oh, yeah if he stays away Old rocking chair's gonna get me All I do is pray The Lord will let me Walk in the sun once more

Oh, I can't go on, can't go on, can't go on Everything I have is gone Stormy weather, stormy weather Since my man and I, me and my daddy ain't together Keeps raining all of the time Oh, oh, keeps raining all of the time Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah raining all of the time Stormy stormy Stormy weather Yeah”

– Elisabeth Welch, Stormy Weather (Harold Arlen & Ted Koehler, 1933)

A radiant Goddess (Elisabeth Welch) performs the torch song Stormy Weather. Enchanted sailors dance.

 

Sommaren med Monika [Summer with Monika] (Ingmar Bergman, 1953)

Jul

27

Sommaren med Monika (1953)

Monika (Harriet Andersson) and Harry (Lars Ekborg) rest in each other's arms. DP: Gunnar Fischer, still photography by Louis Huch.

Someone naps or sleeps*

“I guess we like each other a lot, huh?”

– Monika Eriksson

Il sorpasso [The Easy Life] (Dino Risi, 1962)

Jul

26

a boys' night out

Il sorpasso (1962)

Bruno (Gassman) and Roberto (Trintignant) driving along Italy in their sports car (via). DP: Alfio Contini.

A boys' night out: men having fun on their own*

“Bruno, I've spent the best two days of my life with you… I mean it!”

– Roberto Mariani

Serious law student Roberto (Jean-Louis Trintignant) goes on an accidental road trip with bon vivant Bruno (Vittorio Gassman).

 

Sedmikrásky [Daisies] (Věra Chytilová, 1966)

Jul

25

a girls' night out

Sedmikrásky (1966)

Marie I and Marie II (Jitka Cerhová and Ivana Karbanová respectively) having a heck of a time. DP: Jaroslav Kučera.

A girls' night out: women having fun on their own[???]*

Marie II: “But I'm happy.” Marie I: “I'm so happy, too.”

Two young women called Marie pull destructive, anarchist pranks.

 

簪​ [Kanzashi / Ornamental Hairpin] (Hiroshi Shimizu, 1941)

Jul

24

relaxation

簪 (1941)

Men relaxing at a roten-buro, an outdoor onsen. DP: Suketarō Inokai.

Someone goes to a spa, beach, or retreat*

“There’s something almost poetic about finding a hairpin in the bath. It’s like the sole of my foot has been pierced by poetry.”

– Nanmura, via

Relaxing at an onsen, a soldier steps on the titular kanzashi. Now injured with too much time on his hands, he and his fellow nosy patrons go out looking for its owner.

 

Vysoká zeď [The High Wall] (Karel Kachyňa, 1964)

Jul

23

Vysoká zeď (1964)

The young man (Vít Olmer) rests in the sun with Jitka (Radka Dulíková) observing him. DP: Josef Vaniš.

Someone is in an ambulance or hospital*

“We still remember our high wall. Even the day we first climbed it, filled with curiosity. The sadness of the discoveries of those years seemed devastating to us. Then we wondered how we could have forgotten it so suddenly.”

– prologue

It's summer in Prague. Jitka, a girl on the cusp of womanhood, follows a stray cat and finds a tall hospital wall. Behind it, a young man in a wheelchair rests. The girl and the man connect.