view
L'eclisse [The Eclipse] (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1962)
Jul
10
Mon
Vittoria (Monica Vitti, bottom left) at the Borsa – the Rome Stock Exchange. A clock top-right indicates it's Monday, July 10, 12:31 pm.. DP: Gianni Di Venanzo.
“Everything's crashing here.”
– Vittoria's mother
view
La dame dans l'auto avec des lunettes et un fusil [The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun] (Anatole Litvak, 1970)
Jul
10
Vendredi
A man with a lot of swagger and rolled up blueprints is about to enter a room with a prominent Coca-Cola machine and a jazzy leather swivel chair on display. An electronic flip clock tells the time and date. It's 17:52. DP: Claude Renoir.
view
Les vacances de Monsieur Hulot [Monsieur Hulot's Holiday] (Jacques Tati, 1953)
Jul
7
Mr Hulot's view from his hotel room. DPs: Jacques Mercanton & Jean Mousselle.
A film with people at, or taking place in, a hotel*
“Mr. Hulot is off for a week by the sea. Take a seat behind his camera, and you can spend it with him. Don't look for a plot, for a holiday is meant purely for fun, and if you look for it, you will find more fun in ordinary life than in fiction.”
– opening lines
view
Zig-Zag – le jeu de l'oie (Une fiction didactique à propos de la cartographie) [Snakes and Ladders] (Raúl Ruiz, 1980)
Jul
5
“It appears obvious that the territory is the sum of all the maps, the result of an infinite addition. Or a contrary, the territory is what is left when we remove all the sets of lines, drawings, traces and colors which are covering it. Its existence becomes doubtful.”
A man, H., joins two others playing jeu de l'oie (Game of the Goose), a board game associated with labyrinths and pilgrimage. While the three play, the game opens up maps and new roads to explore.
Following my own Bales' rules, I cannot pick a title twice. See Zig-Zag as an avatar of Raúl Ruiz's O Território [The Territory] from 1981.
view
Le démon dans l'île [Demon Is on the Island / Demon of the Island] (Francis Leroi, 1983)
Jun
28
1947
Dr. Gabrielle Martin (Anny Duperey) reads her digital patient file. It mentions her day of birth, June 28, 1947. DP: Jacques Assuérus.
“Don't think too much, it could affect your health, Gabrielle.”
– Dr. Marshall
view
L'immortelle (Alain Robbe-Grillet, 1963)
Jun
23
Sat
A man's hand holds a crumbled up diary page for Saturday June 23. There are no calendar entries. DP: Maurice Barry.
“You're a foreigner and you're lost.”
view
Il vangelo secondo Matteo [The Gospel According to Matthew] (Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1964)
Jun
22
National Kissing Day
Judas (Otello Sestili) kisses Jesus (Enrique Irazoqui) in intimate closeup. DP: Tonino Delli Colli.
A [favourite] movie kiss for National Kissing Day (USA*), not to be confused with International Kissing Day aka World Kiss Day which falls on July 6.
“I don’t have the inhibitions that a practicing Catholic would in that I’m not paralysed by the sacredness of the text, nor do I have the inhibitions of a lapsed Catholic who would view approaching the story of Jesus as compromising his Marxist beliefs, of sinking back into conformity.”
An neorealist, straightforward adaptation of the Gospel of Matthew, populated by non-actors (“Jesus” is a 19-year Catalan trade unionist picked for his resemblance to El Greco's Christ), intellectuals, and anachronistic characters based on biblical art through the ages.
According to said Gospel, apostle Judas kissed prophet Jesus to signal to the police who of the 13 men present was the one to arrest.
Interestingly, the word Matthew chose to describe the kiss is καταφιλέω, the same word used by philosopher Plutarch to describe the kiss between Alexander the Great and his eunuch Bagoas
* no one wants to kiss you anymore, America
view
Ascenseur pour l'échafaud [Elevator to the Gallows] (Louis Malle, 1958)
Jun
18
International Panic Day
M Tavernier (Maurice Ronet) seated in an elevator, calmly smoking. Around him several items speak of less calm moments. DP: Henri Decaë.
“Have you seen Mr Tavernier tonight?”
Julien Tavernier has a plan about how to run off with his boss' wife. There's just this one snag. No time to panic, c'est cool c'est cool.
view
La cicatrice intérieure [The Inner Scar] (Philippe Garrel, 1972)
Jun
15
Ice Cube – 1969
Nico and Ari. DP: Michel Fournier.
A musician in a film role for O'Shea Jackson Sr. aka Ice Cube's birthday (1969).
“Janitor of lunacy
Paralyze my infancy
Petrify the empty cradle
Bring hope to them and me
Janitor of tyranny
Testify my vanity
Mortalize my memory
Deceive the devil's deed”
– Nico, Janitor of Lunacy (Desertshore, 1970)
Accompanied and inspired by Nico's Desertshore, the musician tracks the barren landscapes of Iceland, Egypt's Sinai, and Death Valley with her son Christian (Ari) in tow.
view
Bob le flambeur [Bob the Gambler] (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1956)
Jun
13
frites
Anne (Isabelle Corey), a cute blonde with a beret, eats a fry (French, obviously) while giving us a side glance. It's all very proto-Vague. DP: Henri Decaë.
– I saw you the other morning, eating frites.
– I like frites.