settima

drama

Sweet Smell of Success (Alexander Mackendrick, 1957)

April 20

20

oysters

Sweet Smell of Success (1957)

J.J. Hunsecker (Burt Lancaster) pulling Sidney Falco's (Tony Curtis) tie over cocktails and oysters. DP: James Wong Howe.

“I'd hate to take a bite outta you. You're a cookie full of arsenic.”

– J.J. Hunsecker

Strategia del ragno The Spider's Stratagem] (Bernardo Bertolucci, 1970)

Apr

19

melon

Strategia del ragno (1970)

Athos Magnani (Giulio Brogi) and Draifa (Alida Valli) sharing a meal. There's a carafe with water, a small vase with two flowers, wine glasses, and half a melon. Athos looks up, past us, towards something. DPs: Franco Di Giacomo & Vittorio Storaro.

“There's phrase that… 'A man is made of all men. He is equal to all and all are equal to him'.”

– Athos Magnani

Série noire (Alain Corneau, 1979)

Apr

9

canned pilchards

Série noire (1979)

Franck Poupart (Patrick Dewaere) about to dig into a can of pilchards. A pile of French women's magazine “marie claire” is next to him on an otherwise bare coffee table. DP: Pierre-William Glenn.

Raggare! [Blackjackets] (Olle Hellbom, 1959)

Apr

3

Raggare! (1959)

Bibban, a beaming blonde (Christina Schollin) in a petticoat, at a small bar table smoking a cigarette. There's an half-empty glass and a full ashtray next to her. Just offscreen the object of her smile: a smartly dressed man reaching for his glass. DPs: Frank Dalin & Bertil Palmgren.

Io la conoscevo bene [I Knew Her Well] (Antonio Pietrangeli, 1965)

Apr

2

cocktails

Io la conoscevo bene (1965)

A lone Roberto (Enrico Maria Salerno) at a lively cocktail party in Rome's hypermodern EUR district. DP: Armando Nannuzzi.

“Trouble is, she likes everything. She's always happy. She desires nothing, envies no one, is curious about nothing. You can't surprise her. She doesn't notice the humiliations, though they happen to her every day. It all rolls off her back like some waterproof material. Zero ambition. No moral code. Not even a whore's love of money.”

– the writer

太陽の墓場 [Taiyō no hakaba / Grave of the Sun / The Sun's Burial] (Nagisa Ōshima, 1960)

Mar

31

太陽の墓場 (1960)

An empty-looking woman eats something while a scrawny man in a pork pie hat and dirty shirt eyes her. Next to the woman a bulking bearded guy, cleaning his nails. DP: Takashi Kawamata.

“Empires, the past – they're beyond me! Will things change for the better? Will bums like these disappear? And the slums too? Come on. Tell us!”

– Hanako

Salesman (Albert + David Maysles, Charlotte Zwerin, 1969)

Mar

29

breakfast

Salesman (1969)

Bible salesmen enjoying breakfast at a soulless motel. DP: Albert Maysles.

Watched on Good Friday.

Los hermanos Del Hierro [My Son, the Hero] (Ismael Rodríguez, 1961)

Mar

19

revenge

Los hermanos Del Hierro (1961)

Brothers Martín (Julio Alemán) and Reynaldo Del Hierro (Antonio Aguilar) drinking in a cantina. Reynaldo, the older one, looks pensive while the younger takes a big gulp of beer. DP: Rosalío Solano.

A dish best served cold.

Привързаният балон [Privarzaniyat balon / The Tied-Up Balloon] (Binka Zhelyazkova, 1967)

Mar

17

bread

Привързаният балон (1967)

A boy and young woman (Janet Miteva) riding a donkey. The boy eats a handful while the woman faces downwards. There are several donkeys with riders behind them. DP: Emil Vagenshtain.

Max et les ferrailleurs [Max and the Junkmen] (Claude Sautet, 1971)

Mar

16

Max et les ferrailleurs (1971)

Lily (Schneider) and Max (Piccoli) at a small table decked with good food, good wine, and quite a few wads of cash. DP: René Mathelin.