“Oh, it's you.” Mix-Up ou Meli-melo (Françoise Romand, 1986)
Nov
21
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One of the daughters, here as a child, with one of their mothers. DP: Emile Navarro.
A heartfelt reunion scene*
– Margaret Wheeler, welcoming the viewers to this curious retelling of her life's events
Through an unexplained muddle, the Wheeler and the Rylatt girls were mixed up at the maternity ward. One of the mothers, Mrs Wheeler, had a hunch something was off. Her girl was suspiciously long and skinny, unlike the one that was entrusted to her. Over the years and to Mrs Rylatt's increasing chagrin, Mrs Wheeler kept in touch with that woman from the maternity ward. And was proven to be correct. This film is one breezy yet tense reunion scene. Heartwarming, awkward, and – like all that's nostalgia – slightly surreal.
* the Bales 2025 Film Challenge for November is, again, not date-based, but follows a sloppy schmaltzy all-American Thanksgiving-y narrative. Trying to make it work my way.
TVMovie
Śledztwo [The Investigation] (Marek Piestrak, 1974)
Oct
28
A person offscreen shoots a handgun. DP: Edward Kłosiński.
Medium (Jacek Koprowicz, 1985)
Oct
2
A man in an impeccable, light-colored suit. His nose is bleeding. DPs: Jerzy Zieliński & Wit Dąbal.
“Those flowers, take them away;
they’re only funeral decorations.
This is The Fall and this is a drudge nation.
Your decadent sins will wreak discipline.
You puritan, you shook me.
I wash every day.”Hail the New Puritan (Charles Atlas, 1987)
Sep
22
Fall
As it says on the tin, it's Mark E. Smith of The Fall (via). DP: John Simmons.
The Northern Hemisphere welcomes the autumn equinox
– The Fall, New Puritan (1979), via
A fictional day in the life of choreographer Michael Clark, company, and friends in preparation of the dance piece New Puritans.
The UFO Incident [Interrupted Journey] (Richard A. Colla, 1975)
Sep
19
Betty Hill (Estelle Parsons) observed from above. It's night, and tire tracks are visible. DP: Rexford L. Metz.
A Sunday in September (James Hill, 1961)
Sep
17
1961
A large group of bobbies attempts to block off the street in front of an Underground station. They're greatly undone by the large group of protesters behind them (via).
Television documentary about the nuclear disarmament demonstration at Trafalgar Square on September 17, 1961 (description via aforementioned link in the caption).
“In the next world war, I believe that both sides could stop before the ultimate destruction of cities so that both sides could retire for a period of ten years or so of post-attack recuperation, in which world wars four to eight could be prepared.”The War Game (Peter Watkins, 1966)
Sep
16
An old man in uniform, possibly a mailman or traffic warden, stands motionless in a crowd of people. He looks off into the distance. DPs: Peter Bartlett & Peter Suschitzky.
– a leading American nuclear strategist
“I caused dreams which caused death … this is my crime.”Dead Dreams of Monochrome Men (David Hinton, 1989)
Sep
14
Patrick Swayze – 2009
Two of the male dancers performing. They're lying on a black-and-white tiled floor. There's a heaviness to their bodies. DP: Nicholas D. Knowland.
Dancing, or Patrick Swayze who passed away on this date in 2009.
– Dennis Nilsen
Dennis Nilsen was a lonesome, closeted gay man in Thatcher's London, whose desperation lead to multiple horrific killings. He'd ritually bathe and dress the bodies, and held on to them for company. Radical dance troupe DV8's interpretation of Nilsen's transgressions explores the horror of the act in suffocating beauty.