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Sep
30
International Translation Day
“This mirror reflected a painting… with words. Chinese idiograms. 'The she-crane calls in the shadow. Her cheek answers.'”
– Alice Campos
Alice, the always fantastically brooding Florinda Bolkan, works as a translator when all of sudden she loses her job and finds herself on the small island of Garma. People tell her she has been there before, recently, but she knows this is not possible.
Some English-language posters try to sell Le orme as an action-ridden sci-fi giallo, but oh boy leave that perception behind and you're in for one unsettling treat! Le orme can be placed somewhere between Don't Look Now and that other Alice film, Chabrol's Alice ou la dernière fugue. Drifting and elegant, distant and claustrophobic.
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Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes [Aguirre, the Wrath of God] (Werner Herzog, 1972)
Jun
20
World Productivity Day
Don Lope de Aguirre (Kinski), his eyes focussed. DP: Thomas Mauch.
“I am the great traitor. There must be no other. Anyone who even thinks about deserting this mission will be cut up into 198 pieces. Those pieces will be stamped on until what is left can be used only to paint walls. Whoever takes one grain of corn or one drop of water… more than his ration, will be locked up for 155 years. If I, Aguirre, want the birds to drop dead from the trees… then the birds will drop dead from the trees. I am the wrath of God. The earth I pass will see me and tremble. But whoever follows me and the river, will win untold riches. But whoever deserts…””
– Don Lope de Aguirre
Conquistador Don Lope de Aguirre drives his men deep into the Peruvian jungle, to El Dorado
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Jesus Christus Erlöser [Jesus Christ Saviour] (Peter Geyer, 1971/2008)
May
29
Ascension Day
The birth, life, death or teachings of Jesus on Ascension Day
“Ich bin nicht der offizielle Kirchenjesus, ich bin nicht euer Superstar.”
– Klaus Kinski
It is November 20. The Jesus Christus Erlöser tour brings Klaus Kinski to Berlin's Deutschlandhalle. His monologue, spoken from Jesus the revolutionary's perspective, brings out the hecklers. It's 1971, the post-68 generation is not satisfied with words. It wants to debate, dissect, and devour their Saviour.
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Il grande silenzio [The Great Silence] (Sergio Corbucci, 1968)
Aug
26
horse
A man in a heavy fur coat (Bruno Corazzari) is eating at a small table when Silenzio (Jean-Louis Trintignant) enters the small establishment. Outside the landscape is covered in snow. DP: Silvano Ippoliti.
– What do you want?
– We just want that horse of yours.
– You want my horse, there's an awful lot of ya. What are you gonna do with just one horse, anyhow?
– Eat it. We're gonna feed off that beast for at least a week.