view

El ángel exterminador (1962)

A young brown bear in a luxuriously furnished room. DP: Gabriel Figueroa.

June 3: a bear for #NationalBlackBearDay

El ángel exterminador [The Exterminating Angel] (Luis Buñuel, 1962)

Everything was perfect, Lucía, despite – at this hour even lipstick begins to fade.

As part of a witty surprise, Lucía Nóbile (Lucy Gallardo) arranged a #bear and three #sheep for the lavish dinner party she's thrown for her fellow #opera-loving guests. However, the joke is not appreciated and in the cause of the evening – and a ruined dinner when the staff decides to go even before serving any of the #food – the company find that they cannot leave the salon. While the #animals roam the house, the elite are faced with hunger, primal urges, and no motivation to leave.

#Bales2023FilmChallenge #LuisBuñuel #LuisAlcoriza #SilviaPinal #LucyGallardo #GabrielFigueroa #Mexico #surrealism #outbreak #Ballardian #1960s ★★★★★

view

Simón del desierto (1965)

A young person in toga (Silvia Pinal) with a lamb in front of Simón (Claudio Brook) on top of his pillar. DP: Gabriel Figueroa.

May 4: someone praying on #NationalDayOfPrayer

Simón del desierto aka San Simeón del desierto [Simon of the Desert] (Luis Buñuel, 1965)

Come down off that column. Taste earthly pleasures till you've had your fill. Till the very word pleasure fills you with nausea.

Simón is a stylite – an ascetic Christian who frees himself from worldly sin to reach a religious goal. He lives in the Syrian #desert on top of a pillar, close to God, #praying. People gather and pray to him, Simón. Simón prays for the people, the animals, himself. As with anyone who believes in the concept of #sin, or desires to be free of sin, sin comes to Simón.

#Bales2023FilmChallenge ##LuisBuñuel #ClaudioBrook #SilviaPinal #RaúlLavista #GabrielFigueroa #Mexico #drama #comedy #religion #1960s ★★★★½

view

Le fantôme de la liberté (1974)

March 9: someone going potty on #WorldKidneyDay

Le fantôme de la liberté [The Phantom of Liberty] (Luis Buñuel, 1974)

Madrid was filled with the stench of – pardon my language – food. It was indecent.

Eating is taboo, and relieving oneself is performed on a #toilet at a communal table in Luis Buñuel's Le fantôme de la liberté. The farce strings together events from #Buñuel's life (who was 74 by the time he made this film), with dreams remembered by both Buñuel and co-writer Jean-Claude Carrière. The title references the opening sentence from Marx/Engels' Communist Manifesto. What follows is a wonderful, free-flowing pastiche performed by a sublime cast.

#Bales2023FilmChallenge #LuisBuñuel #JeanClaudeCarrière #MichaelLonsdale #MichelPiccoli #MonicaVitti #satire #France #Italy #1970s