Red & Rosy (Frank Grow, 1989)
Jun
3
Big Red (Rico Martinez) in his hotrod. DPs: Frank Grow, Ralph Hawkins & Rico Martinez.
“My Hermès handbag!”
Week-end (Jean-Luc Godard, 1967)
May
9
UN Global Road Safety Week
A terrible, bloody, car crash. There's cars on fire and several injured sprawled around. A lucky survivor exclaims MY HERMÈS HANDBAG! DP: Raoul Coutard.
A traffic accident: UN Global Road Safety Week *
– Corinne
The bourgeois make their way to the countryside, and find themselves in a cacophony of car crashes, primitive urges, and political uprisings.
* This actually takes places from May 12 to May 18, 2025.
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.
“This film portrays the traffic war that goes on every day. — Tokyo, 1964”
ドキュメント 路上 [Document Rojo / On the Road: The Document] (Noriaki Tsuchimoto, 1964)
Mar
26
Road Traffic Act 1934
A look from a Tokyo cab driver's perspective. We see the dashboard, heavy trucks ahead, and behind, and the reflection of the driver in his rearview mirror. DP: Tatsuo Suzuki.
Bad drivers: the start of compulsory driving tests in the UK was established on March 26, 1934* with the Road Traffic Act.
– opening title
*I find no solid proof to support this statement
Accidente 703 [Los culpables] (José María Forqué, 1962)
Dec
21
A darkened room. People take care of a man slumped on a coach. A wall calendar tells us it's the 21st. DP: Juan Mariné.
少年 [Shōnen / Boy] (Nagisa Ōshima, 1969)
May
6
The boy in his school uniform (Bin Amatsu) at a table in a traditional Japanese room with his meal untouched. A man eats next to the kid who glances at someone or something offscreen. The table is set for three. DPs: Seizō Sengen & Yasuhiro Yoshioka.
“In the land of the legless, the one-legged woman is queen.”
A Zed & Two Noughts [Z+00 / ZOO] (Peter Greenaway, 1985)
Dec
27
Visit The Zoo Day
A zebra in a cage with the word ZOO in large blue lit capitals in the background. In the background a man. All but the lettering is black-and-white. DP: Sacha Vierny.
A zoo for National Visit The Zoo Day (USA)
少年 [Shōnen / Boy] (Nagisa Ōshima, 1969)
Dec
17
Freebie: National Insurance Awareness Day
The boy waiting next to a buzy road. DPs: Seizō Sengen & Yasuhiro Yoshioka.
Freebie: National Insurance Awareness Day (USA) redux.
A boy (Bin Amatsu), helps out his father and stepmother's insurance money scam by pretending to be injured in traffic.
“He's still alive.”
Muerte de un ciclista [Death of a Cyclist / Age of Infidelity] (Juan Antonio Bardem, 1955)
Jun
28
National Insurance Awareness Day
Juan (Alberto Closas) looking out at María José (Lucia Bosè) and the car after the crash. The cyclist is never shown. The scene echoes Beckett's Waiting for Godot. DP: Alfredo Fraile.
A car crash on National Insurance Awareness Day (USA)
A couple rushing home at night hit a cyclist. Despite knowing that the man's still alive, they opt to leave the site of the #crash and never mention it again. News reports about the death of the cyclist cause a rupture; because of the couple's #class differences – she a wealthy socialite, he a former falange soldier turned university professor – because they're lovers, and because no one can know about their whereabouts on the night of the accident.
Striking about Bardem's Muerte de un ciclista is its outsiderness in the Spanish film landscape. By adopting the visual language of both Italian #Neorealismo and Hollywood #melodrama, Bardem elegantly circumvents #Francoist censorship.
“Where are you going, Mr. Hulot?”
Trafic [Traffic] (Jacques Tati, 1971)
May
16
National Barbecue Day
A man prepares a steak on his nifty Renault 4 Altra grill (there's a pun), observed by M. Hulot and a perplexed Dutch customs officer. In the background a sign in Dutch that requests to refrain from smoking. DPs: Eduard van der Enden & Marcel Weiss.
Monsieur #Hulot – who in his final appearance happens to be an automobile designer – travels to a car show in Amsterdam to demonstrate his latest creation, a camper van par excellence. The vehicle of course accommodates the latest gadgets, such as a collapsible grill.
However regarded as a lesser #Tati, Trafic, is another display of lovingly choreographed insanity, notably a #CarCrash that makes me wonder if this was Tati's attempt to transpose Godard's Week-end (1967) into a pleasant, pre-May 68 France.