settima

animals

Ormen: Berättelsen om Iréne [Ormen / The Serpent] (Hans Abramson, 1966)

Jan

29

Lunar New Year – 巳

Ormen: Berättelsen om Iréne (1966)

The German poster. An illustration of a nude woman with a serpent's head. DP: Mac Ahlberg.

Snakes (巳) in celebration of Lunar New Year.

 

Ormen is an adaptation of the first two chapters of the novel Berättelsen om Iréne (Stig Dagerman, 1945).

 

In an army barrack, a sergeant is bitten by a snake. A soldier hides the animal in his bag in order to blackmail his superior. Iréne – who works in the same barrack's mess and is the soldier's lover – pushes her mother off a train during a quarrel about the daughter's lack of morals.

 

Dagerman's novel is a metaphor of Sweden's uncomfortable position in a post-WW2 world (it had declared itself neutral, which by default made it complicit in helping the Nazis). Due to its violence and nudity, outside its homecountry the film adaptation mostly played porn theatres.

The Cameraman (Edward Sedgwick + Buster Keaton, 1928)

Jan

14

National Dress Up Your Pet Day

The Cameraman (1928)

Buster (Buster Keaton) with Josephine the monkey on his shoulder. DPs: Reggie Lanning & Elgin Lessley.

A funnily dressed pet for National Dress Up Your Pet Day (USA) (please don't!).

– Now, see! You kill-a de monk! – Pay him for that baboon… or I'll run you in!

After cameraman Buster accidentally knocks over a monkey, he has no choice but to take the sailor-suited simian along on his movie shoots.

Valkoinen peura [The White Reindeer] (Erik Blomberg, 1952)

Dec

21

Yule

Valkoinen peura (1952)

Pirita (Mirjami Kuosmanen) in Gákti in front of a prism-like structure with a reindeer skull on top. Antlers stick out in the snow around her. DP: Erik Blomberg.

Pagans for Yule. The reindeer plays an important part in Sámi #animism (1/2).

Lonely Are the Brave (David Miller, 1962)

Dec

15

bread

Lonely Are the Brave (1962)

Jerry Bondi (Gena Rowlands) kneads dough. DP: Philip H. Lathrop.

“I don't need a card to figure out who I am. I already know.”

– Jack Burns

The Monkey Talks (Raoul Walsh, 1927)

Dec

14

Monkey Day

The Monkey Talks (1927)

Jocko (Jacques Lerner) in embrace with his Olivette (Olive Borden). Amazingly, Lerner does not wear a mask; it's all the work of makeup craftsman Jack Pierce. DP: L. William O'Connell.

A monkey for (unofficial) Monkey Day.

 

Zahrada [The Garden] (Jan Švankmajer, 1968)

Oct

25

Zahrada (1968)

Jiří Hálek and Luděk Kopřiva as Josef and Frank. DP: Svatopluk Malý.

Maléfices [Sorcery / Where the Truth Lies] (Henri Decoin, 1962)

Sep

10

Maléfices (1962)

Myriam Heller (Juliette Gréco) sharing a bed with Nyète, her cheetah. DP: Marcel Grignon.

The Black Cat (Harold Hoffman, 1966)

Sep

9

The Black Cat (1966)

A sad blonde (Robyn Baker) with her perfectly coiffured head on a perfectly set table. DP: Walter Schenk.

Night of the Cobra Woman [Movini's Venom] (Andrew Meyer, 1972)

Sep

7

cereal

Night of the Cobra Woman (1972)

A blonde, mud-covered, boyish woman with shoulder-length dead hair (Joy Bang) in a grey kitchen eats Cheerios straight from the box. One of her shoes is on the kitchen counter. DP: Nonong Rasca.