Swissmade [Swiss Made 2069] (Fritz E. Maeder, Fredi M. Murer + Yves Yersin, 1968)
Oct
20
Alien
A man hooked up to a device with tubes dreams about a strange, unsettling creature. Just out of a frame someone (H.R. Giger himself) works on the being with a grinder. DPs: Witold Lesiewicz, Fritz E. Maeder & Fredi M. Murer.
[A favourite] Alien [“alien”?] movie*
Three segments envision the future of the Swiss Confederation. In the Fredi M. Murer instalment 2069 – oder wo sich Futorologen und Archäologen gute Nacht sagen, an alien visits surveillance state Switzerland. The visitor in question is designed by H.R. Giger, and glimpses of the XX121 xenomorph are present in its exoskeletal core.
* the Bales 2025 Film Challenge for October is horror-themed as opposed to date-based, and is all about favourites. Expect non-horror and films I believe to be relevant instead.
drama
Kladivo na čarodějnice [Witchhammer] (Otakar Vávra, 1970)
Oct
19
apples
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A woman in a tub lustfully bites into an apple, presented to her by a giddy maid. A second maid replenishes the bathwater. DP: Josef Illík.
Nattmara [Nightmare] (Arne Mattsson, 1965)
Oct
19
Tue
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spoiler warning: click to read
Hands hold up a small diary. The camera is focussed on Tuesday the 19th of October, 1965. Handwriting, a chicken scrawl, reads CITROEN A66692 MAJ BERG ✝. Besides that the week is uneventful. DP: Max Wilén.
1943-1997 ['43 – '97] (Ettore Scola, 1997)
Oct
16
1943
The boy (Francesco Cencioni) on the run in a locked down town. DP: Carlo Tafani.
Könnyű testi sértés [Tight Quarters] (György Szomjas, 1983)
Oct
16
Csaba (Károly Eperjes) and Miklós (Péter Andorai) in their reluctantly shared apartment. Every frame is claustrophobically filled with people, including the television. DP: Ferenc Grunwalsky.
– The Paris Court of Appeals, meeting on October 15, 1959, pursuant to the charges against Dominique Marceau. – With a girl like that, truth may be the best defense for once.La vérité [The Truth] (Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1960)
Oct
15
1959
Gilbert (Sami Frey) and Dominique (Brigitte Bardot). DP: Armand Thirard.
The day of the court case. Numerous other dates are mentioned, all in flashbacks.
狂った一頁 [Kurutta ichipėji / A Page of Madness] (Teinosuke Kinugasa, 1926)
Oct
14
silent cinema
A masked inmate (Eiko Minami) dances. The shot of the dancer is superimposed over a shot of her cel's bars, putting the viewer in the position of the husband witnessing – or is he hallucinating – an inescapable nightmare (via). DP: Kōhei Sugiyama.
A [favourite] silent horror film*
Incomplete and, despite the generally accepted popular Occidental opinion, not a horror film. Oh, to have seen this narrated by Musei Tokugawa…
* the Bales 2025 Film Challenge for October is horror-themed as opposed to date-based, and is all about favourites. Expect non-horror and films I believe to be relevant instead.
“I won't cook for a concubine, even if today is the last day of my life.”하녀 [Hanyeo / The Housemaid] (Kim Ki-young , 1960)
Oct
12
rice
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A distraught looking woman appears to be force fed rice by a person just off-screen. DP: Kim Deok-jin.
– Mrs Kim
“One can meet only god at such hour.”駅 [Eki / Station] (Yasuo Furuhata, 1981)
Oct
12
Eiji Mikami (Ken Takakura) and Kiriko (Chieko Baishō) watching TV in her quiet bar. She sings along with her favourite song. DP: Daisaku Kimura.
Set 278 days before the start of the Tokyo Olympics.
– You expect me to eat that? – Americans live on ketchup and milk. I'm a whiz at geography.Le passager de la pluie [Rider on the Rain] (René Clément, 1970)
Oct
10
Mélancolie 'Mellie' Mau (Marlène Jobert) and Col. Harry Dobbs (Charles Bronson), dancing. DP: Andréas Winding.