settima

poetry

The Angelic Conversation (Derek Jarman, 1985)

Apr

23

William Shakespeare — 1564

The Angelic Conversation (1985)

Two men in tender embrace. DPs: Derek Jarman & James Mackay.

A Shakespearean play or quote for the Bard's (assumed) birthday (1564).

Sweet love, renew thy force; be it not said Thy edge should blunter be than appetite, Which but to-day by feeding is allay’d, To-morrow sharpen’d in his former might:

So, love, be thou; although to-day thou fill Thy hungry eyes even till they wink with fullness, To-morrow see again, and do not kill The spirit of love with a perpetual dulness.

Let this sad interim like the ocean be Which parts the shore, where two contracted new Come daily to the banks, that, when they see Return of love, more blest may be the view;

Or call it winter, which, being full of care, Makes summer’s welcome thrice more wish’d, more rare.

– William Shakespeare, sonnet 56 (Fair Youth)

Accompanied by Coil's brooding lust and Judi Dench's solemn recital of 14 of Shakespeare's sonnets, men cross dreamlike landscapes and dark desires.

նռան գույնը [Sayat Nova / The Color of Pomegranates] (Sergei Parajanov, 1969)

Jan

11

journeys

նռան գույնը (1969)

A nun holds up an embroidered cloth depicting a dead Christ surrounded by mourning saints. Next to her a monk in black, resembling poet Sayat-Nova. Screenshot via Screenmusings. DP: Suren Shakhbazyan.

Garnets for January. The garnet is supposed to protect the traveller on his journey, and is named after the pomegranate with which it shares its bloodred colour.

“We sought asylum for our love, but the road led us out to the land of the dead.”

նռան գույնը tells the story of a poet's spiritual journey. The poet, and poems the film is based on is ashough [lover, or travelling musician] Sayat-Nova (b. Harutyun Sayatyan).

Belle (André Delvaux, 1973)

Nov

28

Belle (1973)

Belle (Adriana Bogdan) in front of her cabin on the moors. DPs: Ghislain Cloquet & Charles Van Damme.

Wholly Communion (Peter Whitehead, 1966)

Jun

11

1965

Wholly Communion (1966)

Allen Ginsberg reciting in front of an enraptured audience at the Royal Albert Hall. DP: Peter Whitehead.

“Love! Love!”

– anonymous poet interrupting Harry Fainlight

Umut [Hope] (Yılmaz Güney & Şerif Gören, 1970)

Dec

30

National Resolution Planning Day

Umut (1970)

Hasan (Tuncel Kurtiz) and Cabbar (Yılmaz Güney) planning their next step sitting atop of the pit. DP: Kaya Ererez.

Discussing an elaborate plan on National Resolution Planning Day.
Cabbar (Yılmaz Güney), an impoverished, illiterate phaeton driver, loses his already half-dead horse when a rich man crashes into the cart. Now destitute and burdened with feeding his six children, wife and grandmother, Cabbar is offered several ways out. While winning the lottery is not in his stars, his friend Hasan's (Tuncel Kurtiz) and imam Hodja's (Osman Alyanak) wondrous plan to go out into the Kurdish wastelands to dig up an illusive treasure may be his only escape.

“I left forty lira at home, the family is hungry now.”

– Cabbar

Umut is Turkey's early venture into Neorealismo. Banned by the national board of censorship – the display of abject poverty, characters not observing morning prayer etc etc – the film was smuggled out off the country and into Cannes, where its screening urged the Turkish government to reconsider its decision. It's now seen as one of Turkey's most important cinematic masterpieces.

شكاوى الفلاح الفصيح [El-Fallâh el-fasîh / The Eloquent Peasant] (Chadi Abdel Salam, 1970)

Dec

23

National Farmers Day – India

El-Fallâh el-fasîh (1970)

The peasant (Ahmed Marei) in a stone temple, flanked by scribes. DP: Mustafa Imam.

Farmers for Kisan Divas [National Farmers Day], India.

 

4000 years ago, Egypt, Middle Kingdom. A peasant, leading his mules past a stream of water, is tricked. With his animals gone, he pleads to the Pharaoh to restore Maʽat, harmony.

“He's a peasant. Without looking into his situation, words are all he has.”

Chadi Abdel Salam is not only this film's director, but also a trained architect, later set and costume designer. His eye wordlessly speaks the passing of time in the smallest of details. The withering of ferns, desert sand staining linen, the Sun merging with skin. At once, the universal presence of the gods becomes visible.

Nostalghia [Nostalgia] (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1983)

Dec

10

Worldwide Candle Lighting Day

Nostalghia (1983)
Nostalghia (1983)

Hands shield something on stone steps. In the next shot, with the hands withdrawn, we see a small, lit candle. DP: Giuseppe Lanci.

“Feelings unspoken are unforgettable.”

– Andrei Gorchakov

Something's Got to Give (George Cukor, 1962)

Nov

10

Forget-Me-Not Day

Something's Got to Give (1962)

Marilyn on set during the infamous pool scene, four days days after singing Happy Birthday at JFK's birthday gala. DPs: Franz Planer & Leo Tover.

Everyone assumed that Ellen Arden, swept away during a yacht race, was gone. But there she is, years later, and very much alive.

“Fame will go by, and so long, I've had you, fame.”

– Marilyn Monroe, 1962

The story ends on August 4, 1962, almost two months after she was fired from the shoot. Marilyn Monroe was found dead in her home. She was 36 years old.

Maciste all'inferno [Maciste in Hell] (Guido Brignone, 1925)

Oct

17

sinners

Maciste all'inferno (1925)

A demon eating a poor sinner. Numerous scenes are directly taken from Gustave Doré's illustrations of Dante's Divina Commedia, chapter Inferno. DPs: Ubaldo Arata, Massimo Terzano & Segundo de Chomón.

Alphaville: Une étrange aventure de Lemmy Caution (Jean-Luc Godard, 1965)

Jul

16

petit déjeuner

Alphaville: Une étrange aventure de Lemmy Caution (1965)

In one of the very few daytime scenes, Natacha (Anna Karina) and Lemmy Caution (Eddie Constantine) share breakfast at a small table while awkwardly sitting on the armrests of two upholstered chairs. A large television is set up directly behind the table. DP: Raoul Coutard.

“Yes, I'm afraid of death… but for a humble secret agent that's a fact of life, like whisky. And I've drunk that all my life.”

– Lemmy Caution