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Where the Boys Are (Henry Levin, 1960)
Jul
21
Legal Drinking Age Day
While chatting up TV Thompson (Jim Hutton), Tuggle Carpenter (Paula Prentiss) presents a fake ID to prove that with her “25” years of age she's old enough to drink. The ID also states that despite her 5'10” (1,78m) frame, she's a petite 5'2” (1,57m). DP: Robert J. Bronner.
Where the Boys Are is chock-full of characters whose names appear to be straight space-travel-lifted from various #JohnWaters' movies: Tuggle Carpenter! TV Thompson! Lola Fandango! Dr. Raunch for Chrissakes!
“The boys come to soak up the sun, and a few carloads of beer. The girls come, very simply, because this is where the boys are.”
– narrator
We follow four female midwestern college students on #SpringBreak in Fort Lauderdale. Their objective is boys boys boys (and an even tan) and nothing, including being too young to drink, can stop them. This was one of the first post-Hayes Hollywood movies to address teenage sex yet despite all the innuendo (“What's your shoe size?” “13.” “Get in the car!”), it's all pretty clean. But without these girls, there wouldn't be any Dawn Davenport. And that would've ruined everybody's Christmas.
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Ikarie XB 1 [Icarus XB 1] (Jindřich Polák, 1963)
Jul
20
Space Exploration Day
Two astronauts weightlessly pushing themselves through a round airlock. Their suits are very similar to the ones seen in Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). DP: Jan Kališ.
Both anticapitalist and pre-Stanley space odyssey. Based on Stanislaw Lem's Obłok Magellana [The Magellanic Cloud] (1955).
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刺青 [Irezumi / The Tattoo] (Yasuzō Masumura, 1966)
Jul
18
Otsuya (Ayako Wakao) and one of her samurai clients share sake and a small meal. Beautifully framed by cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa there's all we need to see – Otsuya's facial expressions and the fiery, protective 籠目 (kagome, litt. eye) pattern – with not much more on display. DP: Kazuo Miyagawa.
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刺青 [Irezumi] (Yasuzō Masumura, 1966)
Jul
17
National Tattoo Day
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盘丝洞 [Pan si dong / The Cave of the Silken Web] (Dan Duyu, 1927)
Jul
14
Pandemonium Day
One of the many demons accompanied by the sisters, having a vision in a cup. DP: Ganting Dan.
“Today is our Queen's wedding day, let us drink it up!”
Note that some of the reels are still missing, and the English translation I found is subjective at best, so have a translation app at the ready. Nevertheless, take a moment to dim the lights, and accompany Tang Sanzang, the Monkey King, and Pigsy on their pilgrimage. Even if only for a little while.
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Whistle Down the Wind (Bryan Forbes, 1961)
Jul
9
white bread
A child grabs a thick slice of white bread while the cutlery on her plate indicates she's finished eating. DP: Arthur Ibbetson.
“It isn't Jesus. It's just a fella.”
– Charlie Bostock
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Whistle Down the Wind (Bryan Forbes, 1961)
Jul
9
Barn Day
The man (Alan Bates) in the barn surrounded by little children. The older girl in the light coat, Kathy, is played by Hayley Mills, author Mary Hayley Bell's daughter. DP: Arthur Ibbetson.
In the barn of a remote Lancashire farmhouse, three children stumble upon a stranger. Confused, they conclude that the fellow must be the Second Coming of Christ. In the world of the adults, a man is wanted by the police.
“Good night, Gentle Jesus. Sleep well.”
– Charlie Bostock
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Ekstase [Ecstasy] (Gustav Machatý, 1933)
Jul
8
International Skinny Dip Day
Eva (Hedy Lamarr), swimming nude in a lake. DPs: Hans Androschin, Gerhard Huttula & Jan Stallich.
Eva (Hedy Lamarr) hangs her clothes over her horse's back, then – cut through a wonderfully voyeuristic moment – goes swimming in a lake. The foal, still carrying Eva's outfit, wanders off to find a stallion.
Ekstase is full of not so subtle, beautifully framed innuendo. #Horses are a recurring theme and make me wonder if it inspired the mustangs sequence in John Huston's The Misfits (1961), another story of doomed passion.
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491 (Vilgot Sjöman, 1964)
Jul
7
Global Forgiveness Day
One of the juvenile delinquents carving a simple arithmetical calculation into a desk during the Reverend's lecture about forgiveness. DP: Gunnar Fischer.
Early 60s, Sweden. A social experiment. Six hopelessly criminal juveniles are packed in a guesthouse – cynically named Objectivity – and loosely supervised by social workers and a reverend. The public servants speak of a new lease on life, God's servant of how Jesus forgives; all speak on their own behalf. We follow the young men closely and sense their need to break out, to be young, to be out of that house. We learn that their world, in or out, is eternally equally irrelevant.
“Jesus Christ has promised to forgive you 490 times, whatever you have done… because those were his words. But about the 491st time… He has given no words. None at all.”
– Reverend Mild
Vilgot Sjöman's 491 is an extremely, bleak, aggressive, and hopeless depiction of youth in postwar Sweden. Forgiveness is a tool of power, a method of control. And as empty as a repetitive lecture.
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Lo straniero [The Stranger] (Luchino Visconti, 1967)
Jul
3
soup
Arthur Meursault (Mastroianni) eating from a cracked bowl. DP: Giuseppe Rotunno.