La maudite galette [Dirty Money] (Denys Arcand, 1972)
Jun
16

Berthe (Luce Guilbeault) points a rifle offscreen. Next to her a perpetual wall calendar from Desjardins with the date. It's June 16. DP: Alain Dostie.
La maudite galette [Dirty Money] (Denys Arcand, 1972)
Jun
16

Berthe (Luce Guilbeault) points a rifle offscreen. Next to her a perpetual wall calendar from Desjardins with the date. It's June 16. DP: Alain Dostie.
Распад [Raspad / Collapse / Decay] (Mikhail Belikov, 1990)
Apr
25
1986

A young boy looks over his shoulder into the camera. He's seated at an extended table, set with food for many. A man in the back is on the phone; a woman walks around cradling a newborn child. In the corner of the room a baby cot. DP: Vasiliy Trushkovskiy.
I'm sure the people at home would be interested to know why such a large force as you is all dressed up like Frank Zappa. Tell us Larry, whats the deal?200 Motels (Tony Palmer + Frank Zappa, 1971)
Mar
23

Ringo Starr dressed up like Frank Zappa, with Frank Zappa dressed up like Frank Zappa in the background. Both wear identical blue jeans and turtleneck sweaters and sport the same shoulder-length hairstyle and moustache/goatee combination. DP: Tony Palmer.
– Rance Muhammitz speaking to Larry The Dwarf
Mon oncle (Jacques Tati, 1958)
Aug
29
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Mr Hulot and three women enjoy an outdoor lunch in Villa Arpel's concrete backyard. A woman in furs laughs heartily, head thrown back, with Hulot looking into her open mouth, halting a woman reaching for a carafe mid-movement. The third woman, in an avant-garde Eastmancolor-red poncho, calmly smokes through her cigarette holder. DP: Jean Bourgoin.
– A house like yours must be such a job!
– Oh, a leaf! Ah, yes it's a chore.
– Admit it, you love it.
Mon oncle (Jacques Tati, 1958) / Koolhaas Houselife (Ila Bêka + Louise Lemoine, 2008)
Aug
29
grey


A delivery man in front of the gates of Villa Arpel (via), and custodian Guadalupe Acedo working the lift in Maison à Bordeaux. DP of Mon Oncle: Jean Bourgoin.
[A favourite] colour: grey*
Approaching the 60s, Mr Hulot finally switches from black-and-white to colour. Suddenly, we see that his suit is a beigeish grey and so is the Arpels' house, that modernist masterpiece designed by Tati. The beloved luddite struggles with hypermodern people and their hypermodern constructs, much alike the future Hulot from Playtime (1967).
In similar absurd fashion, Guadalupe Acedo, cleaning lady, works her way through Rem Koolhaas' Maison à Bordeaux (1998) in Bêka and Lemoine's Koolhaas Houselife (2008). Too steep are the stairs, too leaky everything else. Levelheaded, she does her thing; a small beacon of romantic practicality in a world of absurd efficiency.
* the Bales 2025 Film Challenge for August is not date-related but lists, for the most part, the colours of the rainbow.
La maudite galette [Dirty Money] (Denys Arcand, 1972)
Jun
1
Oscar the Grouch Day

Rolland (René Caron) and Berthe (Luce Guilbeault). She's had it with these money troubles. DP: Alain Dostie.
A character who's a grouch for Oscar the Grouch Day (USA)
Sedmi kontinent [Sedmý kontinent / The Seventh Continent] (Dušan Vukotić, 1966)
Dec
13
Francis Drake's circumnavigation

The first two children to set sail, with Iris Vrus on the right, and possibly Tomislav Pasarić on the left. DP: Karol Krška.
A voyage of discovery on the start of Francis Drake's circumnavigation. Children, ignored by their ever-busy parents, set sail to the Seventh Continent.
La maudite galette [Dirty Money] (Denys Arcand, 1972)
Aug
2

At a depressing, fluorescent-lit bar, men gathered at small round tables smoke and drink. A single man in a brightly lit phone booth places a call. DP: Alain Dostie.
Sedmi kontinent [Sedmý kontinent / The Seventh Continent] (Dušan Vukotić, 1966)
Aug
12
teevee dinner

A little blond boy on a red tricycle driving past his TV-ish dinner in an empty house. DP: Karol Krška.
Swirlee (James Lorinz, 1989)
Jul
23
National Vanilla Ice Cream Day

Newspaper clipping. Mr Softy's roommate (David Caruso) and Mr Softy (James Lorinz), a man with a softee for/as a head, pose for a picture.