Dillinger è morto [Dillinger Is Dead] (Marco Ferreri, 1969)
Jul
25
1934

Glauco (Michel Piccoli) reading the July 25, 1934 Chicago Daily Tribune that he found in the pantry. The headline states CLEAR UP DILLINGER MYSTERY. DP: Mario Vulpiani.
Dillinger è morto [Dillinger Is Dead] (Marco Ferreri, 1969)
Jul
25
1934

Glauco (Michel Piccoli) reading the July 25, 1934 Chicago Daily Tribune that he found in the pantry. The headline states CLEAR UP DILLINGER MYSTERY. DP: Mario Vulpiani.
“Mother, didn't you know there are children starving in Africa?”Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story (Todd Haynes, 1987)
Feb
4

A brunette Barbie doll representing Karen Carpenter makes a statement in front of the White House. DP: Barry Ellsworth.
– “Karen Carpenter”
“Look at us. We're almost totally dependent on our maid. She cooks and washes for us, and is the first person to greet me when I come home from work. She is entirely at our service.” 하녀 [Hanyeo / The Housemaid] (Kim Ki-young, 1960)
Nov
13

Adding one more ingredient. DP: Deok-jin Kim.
A memorable kitchen or cooking scene*
– Dong-sik Kim
A housemaid works her way into a middle-class household and takes over the wife's tasks – cleaning, cooking, child rearing.
* the Bales 2025 Film Challenge for November is, again, not date-based, but follows a sloppy schmaltzy all-American Thanksgiving-y narrative. Trying to make it work my way.
Le boucher [The Butcher] (Claude Chabrol, 1970)
Oct
3

Popaul (Jean Yanne) and Hélène (Stéphane Audran) in the former's butcher shop. DP: Jean Rabier.
“In all my years of practice, I've never seen anything so sweet. A rosebud.”Sweet Movie (Dušan Makavejev, 1974)
Sep
13
International Chocolate Day

The most virgin, Miss 1984 (Carole Laure), bathing in chocolate. DP: Pierre Lhomme.
Chocolate for International Chocolate Day (Milton S. Hershey's birthday)
– Dr. Mittelfinger
Miss Canada, winner of the “most virgin” contest, escapes her rich, milk tycoon husband into a world of anarchy, lust, and sugar.
“That's all the people we've got now. We'll get there somehow.” Хлебный день [Khlebnyy den / Bread Day] (Sergei Dvortsevoy, 1998)
Aug
10
green

The old folks pushing the cart past the hamlet's name sign. With thick brush strokes, almost too much for the small rectangle, it reads TOWNSHIP NR. 3. DP: Alisher Khamidkhodzhaev.
Green: a building or structure*
Where the old folks' hands push the cart, the green's worn off. That doesn't change anything about its importance. A lifeline, bread, is delivered once a week and with delivered, it means that the carriage is left on the rails, several kilometers away from Zhikharevo, or Township Nr. 3, which in its turn is about 80 km away from Saint Petersburg. It takes the seniors about two hours to get the wagon to their hamlet. We get to witness ten minutes or so. It lasts a lifetime.
As of 2002, only three people lived in Zhikharevo. I wonder how the wain comes home now.
* the Bales 2025 Film Challenge for August is not date-related but lists, for the most part, the colours of the rainbow.
“Tell me the truth!” Ovoce stromů rajských jíme [We Eat the Fruit of the Trees of Paradise] (Věra Chytilová, 1970)
Aug
6
orange

Eva (Jitka Novákova) devouring oranges under a black umbrella (via). DP: Jaroslav Kučera.
Orange, food or fashion*
– choir
An allegorical, psychedelic retelling of Genesis 3 and the Fall of Man
* the Bales 2025 Film Challenge for August is not date-related but lists, for the most part, the colours of the rainbow.
“Un gâteau.”La boulangère de Monceau [The Bakery Girl of Monceau] (Éric Rohmer, 1963)
Jul
28
un gâteau
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A young woman in an apron grabs a French cookie. DPs: Bruno Barbey & Jean-Michel Meurice.
– young man
“The most revolting film I have ever seen” La grande bouffe (Marco Ferreri, 1973)
Jul
21

Andréa Ferréol in a promotional photo. Food styling by actor/food writer Giuseppe Maffioli, DP: Mario Vulpiani.
A character pigging out*
– Mary Whitehouse, via
Four hedonistic gourmands throw a party of the flesh, of meat, of lust, and death.
* the Bales 2025 Film Challenge for July is, for unknown reasons, mostly not date-related and follows some sort of vacation narrative.
“We split up on April Fool's Day. So I decided to let the joke run for a month. Every day I buy a can of pineapple with a sell-by date of May 1. May loves pineapple, and May 1 is my birthday. If May hasn't changed her mind by the time I've bought thirty cans, then our love will also expire.”重慶森林 [Chung Hing sam lam / Chungking Express] (Wong Kar-Wai, 1994)
Apr
28
freebie: April

Eating pineapple, expiration date May 1. DPs: Christopher Doyle & Wai Keung Lau.
A film set in April.
– He Zhiwu, Cop 223