view
Le notti di Cabiria [Nights of Cabiria] (Federico Fellini, 1957)
Jul
18
National Caviar Day
Cabiria (Giulietta Masina) about to experience an unforgettable meal of lobster and caviar. She's holding the lobster up by its antennae with a mix of bewilderment and amusement on her face. Her frumpy outfit looks completely out of place in Lazzari's (Amedeo Nazzari) fancy apartment. DP: Aldo Tonti.
Maria “Cabiria“ Ceccarelli (Giulietta Masina), a prostitute looking for happiness, meets famous movie star Alberto Lazzari (handsomely moustachioed Amedeo Nazzari). In his plush mansion, he treats her to an opulent – if not bewildering to Cabiria – meal of lobster and caviar.
“And what's this? I saw it in a movie once.”
– Cabiria
Co-written by #Pasolini, #Fellini's Le notti di Cabiria is a love letter to hope, life, #Rome, and of course his Giulietta.
view
刺青 [Irezumi] (Yasuzō Masumura, 1966)
Jul
17
National Tattoo Day
view
Alphaville: Une étrange aventure de Lemmy Caution (Jean-Luc Godard, 1965)
Jul
16
AI Appreciation Day
Natacha von Braun (Anna Karina) and Lemmy Caution (Eddie Constantine). Lights reflected in the windowpane that shields the two characters suggest “the existence of an obscure reality” (after Baudrillard). DP: Raoul Coutard..
Science fiction, of course, doesn't have to be driven by grandes effects, by superstar names and monumental backdrops. It can be cool, dry, colourless even. The hero, in trenchcoat and fedora, traverses a lightless city. There are few others at this time of night. The familiar landmarks of the City of Light become the voice of 𝛼-60, an artificial intelligence that presides over Alphaville.
𝛼-60: “Do you know what illuminates the night?”
Lemmy Caution: “Poetry.”
Based on a poem by Paul Éluard, #Godard's Alphaville bears similarities with Jean #Cocteau's Orphée (1950), transported to a mirror world of sorts. It also foreshadows not only our time, but also M. Hulot's, whose #Tativille could be the simulacra of 𝛼-60's simulated, dehumanised world.
view
Sueños de hielo [Dreams of Ice] (Ignacio Agüero, 1994)
Jul
15
Arctic Sea Ice Day
Arctic ice in transit from Antarctica to Seville. DPs: José Luis Arredondo, Germán Liñero, Gastón Roca & Luis Roca.
view
盘丝洞 [Pan si dong / The Cave of the Silken Web] (Dan Duyu, 1927)
Jul
14
Pandemonium Day
One of the many demons accompanied by the sisters, having a vision in a cup. DP: Ganting Dan.
“Today is our Queen's wedding day, let us drink it up!”
Note that some of the reels are still missing, and the English translation I found is subjective at best, so have a translation app at the ready. Nevertheless, take a moment to dim the lights, and accompany Tang Sanzang, the Monkey King, and Pigsy on their pilgrimage. Even if only for a little while.
view
Blue (Derek Jarman, 1993)
Jul
13
Oxymoron Day
Not a screenshot from the film, but a pure representation of International Klein Blue.
Synchronous to the screening of a film that wasn't, Derek Jarman's Blue was broadcast on radio and television. Those who tuned into the radio could request a special card printed in that most spectral of colours, International Klein Blue, a blue that according to its creator Yves Klein, has “a quality close to pure space” and “immaterial values beyond what can be seen or touched”.
“You say to the boy 'Open your eyes'. When he opens his eyes and sees the light, you make him cry out, saying 'Oh, Blue, come forth! Oh, Blue, arise! Oh, Blue, ascend! Oh, Blue, come in!'.”
– Nigel Terry
Submerged in #blue, seeing through what was left of Jarman's eyes, we live through the artist's life, and love, and loss. When you leave the theatre, put down that card, you're temporarily blinded by the physiological afterimage of a devastating disease. What remains is the voice of a filmmaker who lost his sight.
view
Taris, roi de l'eau [Taris, King of the Water] (Jean Vigo, 1931)
Jul
12
freebie: Swim A Lap Day
Jean Taris in his element. DP: Boris Kaufman.
A proto-Jean Painlevé exercise avant la lettre.
view
Head (Bob Rafelson, 1968)
Jul
10
Bahamas Independence Day
After Micky (Micky Dolenz, R) jumps of a bridge, the picture becomes pseudo-solarized and to the sweet tunes of Gerry Goffin and Carole King's Porpoise Song, he meets a siren (actress unknown, L). DP: Michel Hugo.
“Clicks, clacks, riding the backs of giraffes for laughs,
S'alright for a while,
The ego sings of castles and kings,
And things that go with a life of style,
Wanting to feel, to know what is real,
Living is a, is a lie”
view
Whistle Down the Wind (Bryan Forbes, 1961)
Jul
9
Barn Day
The man (Alan Bates) in the barn surrounded by little children. The older girl in the light coat, Kathy, is played by Hayley Mills, author Mary Hayley Bell's daughter. DP: Arthur Ibbetson.
In the barn of a remote Lancashire farmhouse, three children stumble upon a stranger. Confused, they conclude that the fellow must be the Second Coming of Christ. In the world of the adults, a man is wanted by the police.
“Good night, Gentle Jesus. Sleep well.”
– Charlie Bostock
view
Ekstase [Ecstasy] (Gustav Machatý, 1933)
Jul
8
International Skinny Dip Day
Eva (Hedy Lamarr), swimming nude in a lake. DPs: Hans Androschin, Gerhard Huttula & Jan Stallich.
Eva (Hedy Lamarr) hangs her clothes over her horse's back, then – cut through a wonderfully voyeuristic moment – goes swimming in a lake. The foal, still carrying Eva's outfit, wanders off to find a stallion.
Ekstase is full of not so subtle, beautifully framed innuendo. #Horses are a recurring theme and make me wonder if it inspired the mustangs sequence in John Huston's The Misfits (1961), another story of doomed passion.