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Un matrimonio interplanetario [A Marriage in the Moon] (Enrico Novelli, 1910)

Sep

12

Луна 2 – 1959

Un matrimonio interplanetario (1910)

Aldovin (director and author of La Colonia Lunare (1908) meets his lovely Martian fiancée halfway, on the Moon.

To commemorate the launch (not landing) of the Луна 2 aka the Second Soviet Cosmic Rocket on September 12, 1959, we present The Moon.

 

According to Wikipedia, Luna 2 was the first spacecraft to touch the surface of the Moon, and the first human-made object to make contact with another celestial body. Well, Enrico Novelli went there first…

“Mars Daughter, You are fine. I am loving you and I should like very much to marry you.”

– Aldovin, Terrestrial Astronomer (Aldovin's radiotelegraph to Mars), via

…and what an adventure he had! An Earth gentleman points his telescope at the red planet, only to spot a beautiful Martian princess. He promptly falls in love and lo and behold! it's mutual! That asks for an instantaneous wedding halfway, on the Moon, and nothing can stop them!

Die Delegation – Eine utopische Reportage [The Delegation] (Rainer Erler, 1970)

Sep

9

0 h 20 GMT

Die Delegation (1970)

Reporter Will Roczinski (Walter Kohut) picks up mysterieus signals through the ether (via). DP: Charly Steinberger.

We watch the final report by Will Roczinski, who sadly died in a car crash while working on a TV documentary about UFOs and the like. A fascinating early “faux footage” film from the BRD. One can only wonder how the average West German processed the fantastic premise.

Nostos: Il ritorno [Nostos: The Return] (Franco Piavoli, 1989)

Sep

6

Magellan expedition – 1522

Nostos: Il ritorno (1989)

Odysseus (Luigi Mezzanotte) and Poseidon's kingdom, the sea (via). DP: Franco Piavoli.

A seafaring explorer in commemoration of Ferdinand Magellan's (almost) completed circumnavigation in 1522. The Portuguese Magellan was enlisted by Spain to gain access to the Moluccas' spices and other trading goods by sailing west instead of east, thus avoiding the heavily armed Portuguese and Dutch traders who were plundering Southeast Asia, its peoples and cultures.

“Calypso the lustrous goddess tried to hold me back, deep in her arching caverns, craving me for a husband. So did Circe, holding me just as warmly in her halls, the bewitching queen of Aeaea keen to have me too. But they never won the heart inside me, never. So nothing is as sweet as a man's own country.”

– Homer, Odyssey, ca. 8th century CE (via)

 

With the war over, Odysseus returns home by sea, a ten year voyage known as the Odyssey

Mélodie en sous-sol [Any Number Can Win] (Henri Verneuil, 1963)

Sep

6

Tue

Mélodie en sous-sol (1963)

Mario (Henri Virlojeux), bathhouse proprietor. A nearby wall calendar reads mardi, septembre 6. DP: Louis Page.

Nuits rouges [L'homme sans visage / Shadowman] (Georges Franju, 1974)

Sep

6

Nuits rouges (1974)

A faceless man in black wearing a red balaclava (Jacques Champreux) holds his right wrist, which is bleeding profusely. DP: Guido Bertoni.

Le vampire de Düsseldorf [The Vampire of Dusseldorf] (Robert Hossein, 1965)

Sep

5

Le vampire de Düsseldorf (1965)

Robert Hossein as Peter Kuerten [sic]. DP: Alain Levent.

Flic Story [Cop Story] (Jacques Deray, 1975)

Sep

3

1947

Flic Story (1975)

A close-up of a man's feet hastily walking along a corridor. Superimposed it reads 3 SEPTEMBRE 1974. DP: Jean-Jacques Tarbès.

Mon oncle (Jacques Tati, 1958) / Koolhaas Houselife (Ila Bêka + Louise Lemoine, 2008)

Aug

29

grey

Mon oncle (1958)
Koolhaas Houselife (2008)

A delivery man in front of the gates of Villa Arpel (via), and custodian Guadalupe Acedo working the lift in Maison à Bordeaux. DP of Mon Oncle: Jean Bourgoin.

[A favourite] colour: grey*

 

Approaching the 60s, Mr Hulot finally switches from black-and-white to colour. Suddenly, we see that his suit is a beigeish grey and so is the Arpels' house, that modernist masterpiece designed by Tati. The beloved luddite struggles with hypermodern people and their hypermodern constructs, much alike the future Hulot from Playtime (1967).

– A house like yours must be such a job! – Oh, a leaf! Ah, yes it's a chore. – Admit it, you love it.

In similar absurd fashion, Guadalupe Acedo, cleaning lady, works her way through Rem Koolhaas' Maison à Bordeaux (1998) in Bêka and Lemoine's Koolhaas Houselife (2008). Too steep are the stairs, too leaky everything else. Levelheaded, she does her thing; a small beacon of romantic practicality in a world of absurd efficiency.

 

La horse [Horse] (Pierre Granier-Deferre, 1970)

Aug

28

1923

La horse (1970)

Francis Grutti's (Armando Francioli) ID, handled by someone wielding a large stamp. His birthday is August 28, 1923. DP: Walter Wottitz.

Plein soleil [Purple Noon] (René Clément, 1960)

Aug

20

1959

Plein soleil (1960)

A contract for Marge, a sailboat, dated August 20, 1959. DP: Henri Decaë.

“Marge, my love, my angel.”