settima

mystery

The Black Tower (John Smith, 1985—1987)

Aug

22

black

The Black Tower (1987)

The black tower, visible from behind a brick wall (via)..

Black: a building or structure*

“I first noticed it in Spring last year. […] It was from [my home] that I first saw it—its crest protruding over the roofs on the other side of the road. Surprised that I hadn’t noticed it before, I wondered what it was and then forgot about it for several weeks.”

– narrator

A man becomes aware of a formerly unnoticed black tower. Surely it's nothing, yet as the weeks pass, its looming presence takes over.

 

The black tower was a real structure, first noticed by filmmaker John Smith when he moved to East London. The building, actually the upper part of a hospital's water tower, was painted pitch black, and on sunny days appeared to be a cutout in the sky. By framing the shots in such a way that only part of the surroundings is visible, and editing them in a narrative framework, Smith creates a new context suggesting movement. This style of montage called creative geography, or artificial landscape, was developed by Lev Kuleshov and enables filmmakers to expand existing material and narrative into something that usually is only available to prose poetry.

 

Le Horla [The Horla] (Jean-Daniel Pollet, 1966)

Aug

19

violet

Le Horla (1966)

The narrator enters a violet-blue room via a lavender-purple corridor (via). DP: Jean-Jacques Rochut.

Violet: a building or structure *

“Is it the form of the clouds, or the tints of the sky, or the colours of the surrounding objects which are so changeable, which have troubled my thoughts as they passed before my eyes? Who can tell?”

– Guy de Maupassant, Le Horla, 1887 (via)

Objects and rooms have distinct colours ranging from the deepest blues and violets to a pale lavender, a muted silver and shocks of yellow. The usage of colour in Le Horla is striking throughout and reminds me of how Van Gogh's paintings became increasingly colourful as his madness enveloped him.

 

The Beast with Five Fingers (Robert Florey, 1946)

Aug

15

The Beast with Five Fingers (1946)

Hilary Cummins (Peter Lorre). DP: Wesley Anderson.

“Eight bones has the carpus, five the metacarpus, fourteen the phlanges, all in all, all in all, twenty-seven all in all. Abracadabra.”

– Donald Arlington

Vergogna, schifosi!… [Dirty Angels] (Mauro Severino, 1969)

Aug

4

Vergogna, schifosi!… (1969)

While the month is never explicitly stated, there's mention of August traffic jams.

“Matto, caldo, soldi, morto… girotondo…”

Les trois couronnes du matelot [Three Crowns of the Sailor] (Raúl Ruiz, 1983)

Jul

25

1958

Les trois couronnes du matelot (1983)

Prostitute María (Nadège Clair) sitting on her bed. The bed is covered in dolls. DP: Sacha Vierny.

“On the night of July 25, 1958 I killed Ladislaw Zukarevitch, antique dealer, my mentor, my master in the art of polishing diamonds, my tutor at Warsaw Theological School.”

– the student

野良犬 [Nora inu / Stray Dog] (Akira Kurosawa, 1949)

Jul

14

Nora inu (1949)

A sweaty man in uniform drinks from a water fountain like a dog (via). DP: Asakazu Nakai.

Someone enjoys a drink or beverage*

“On the bus, the air was so thick, he felt woozy. A wailing infant shook with tears and the woman beside him reeked with the stink of cheap perfume.”

– narrator

On a sweltering summer day, Detective's Murakami's Colt gets stolen on a crowded bus. He must delve deep into the sticky sweaty seedy underbelly of Tokyo to retrieve it.

 

Ansiktet [The Face / The Magician] (Ingmar Bergman, 1958)

Jul

14

Ansiktet (1958)

Granny Vogler (Naima Wifstrand) telling a sobbing Sara (Bibi Andersson) that yes, she may indeed be a witch. DP: Gunnar Fischer.

“I see what I see, and I know what I know. But nobody believes me.”

– Granny Vogler

La mort d'un bûcheron [The Death of a Lumberjack] (Gilles Carle, 1973)

Jul

12

1920

La mort d'un bûcheron (1973)

Blanche Bellefeuille (Denise Filiatrault) in front of a wall covered in catholic knickknacks. Through a door, nightclub entrepreneur Armand St. Amour (Willie Lamothe) can be seen asleep, his beloved cowboy boots carefully placed next to his improvised bed. DP: René Verzier.

L'eclisse [The Eclipse] (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1962)

Jul

10

Mon

L'eclisse (1962)

Vittoria (Monica Vitti, bottom left) at the Borsa – the Rome Stock Exchange. A clock top-right indicates it's Monday, July 10, 12:31 pm.. DP: Gianni Di Venanzo.

“Everything's crashing here.”

– Vittoria's mother

La dame dans l'auto avec des lunettes et un fusil [The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun] (Anatole Litvak, 1970)

Jul

10

Vendredi

La dame dans l'auto avec des lunettes et un fusil (1970)

A man with a lot of swagger and rolled up blueprints is about to enter a room with a prominent Coca-Cola machine and a jazzy leather swivel chair on display. An electronic flip clock tells the time and date. It's 17:52. DP: Claude Renoir.