Vulcano [Volcano] (William Dieterle, 1950)
Apr
23
1949
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A letter from Pietro, dated April 23, 1949 DP: Arturo Gallea.
Vulcano [Volcano] (William Dieterle, 1950)
Dec
2
sisters
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Sisters Maria (Geraldine Brooks) and Maddalena (Anna Magnani) Natoli. Lobbycard for the US market. DP: Arturo Gallea.
Sisters, for one of the OPs' sister's birthday.
Expelled prostitute Maddalena returns to her home island Vulcano (Salina in disguise) and moves in with her sister Maria. A handsome fisherman becomes first Maria's, then Maddalena's catch.
A revenge film à la lettre, but not as you may think. Anna Magnani was cast as the lead for her lover Rossellini's Stromboli (Terra di Dio) (1950), and – after him having set eyes on Ingrid Bergman – was ditched in the latter's favour. While Rossellini fawned over the blonde, Magnani shot “her” film on a neighbouring volcanic island, blowing her former beau's efforts out of the water.
“Nobody shoves dirty money in my mouth.”
The Naked Kiss (Samuel Fuller, 1964)
Jul
4
1961
A desk calendar reading July 4, 1961, with dirty, crumpled dollar bills thrown on top of it. DP: Stanley Cortez.
– Candy
“In this film, by showing certain basic aspects of a city, a way of life is put on trial… the last gasps of a society so lost in its escapism that it sickens you and makes you sympathetic to a revolutionary solution.”
À propos de Nice – point de vue documenté [À propos de Nice] (Boris Kaufman + Jean Vigo, 1930)
Jan
1
New Year's Day
Exuberant prostitutes, Jean Vigo (5th from the left), and some who appear to be men in drag, dance on a landing with confetti all around them. In the moving footage they can be seen high-kicking with increased vulgarity, the camera posed below them. DP: Boris Kaufman.
Confetti for New Year's Day.
– Jean Vigo in his manifesto Vers un cinéma social
狼やくざ 殺しは俺がやる [Ōkami yakuza: Koroshi wa ore ga yaru / Yakuza Wolf: I Perform Murder / The Lone Assassin] (Ryūichi Takamori, 1972)
Jul
13
lollipops
One of the gang members, immaculately dressed in all-black and small like a child, walks along a seedy street holding an oversized rainbow lollipop. DP: Yoshio Nakajima.
“One grilled cheese, two slices of toast, two coffees. One pepper steak no chili and a plate of spaghetti and meatballs. Two glasses of milk. One plate of spare ribs. A chicken in a basket with three cups of honey. One lean smoked meat sandwich with pickles and mustard. One two-cream coffee and two club sandwiches. Two clubs.”
Françoise Durocher, Waitress (André Brassard, 1972)
May
21
lunch break
Waitress Françoise Durocher, this may be Luce Guilbeault, on her lunch break. DP: Thomas Vámos.
– Françoise Durocher
“We seem to hear the winds of reform whistling down the chimney. Whereas the low hussy frolics off to buy her supper. Where do you keep your canned tamales, partner?”
Rain (Lewis Milestone, 1932)
May
13
canned tamales
Sadie Thompson (Joan Crawford) looking for canned tamales in the pantry of the island's only convenience store. DP: Oliver T. Marsh.
– Sadie Thompson
Colloque de chiens (Raúl Ruiz, 1977)
“Nobody knows why Monique, the cold and dry voiced whore, bears in her eyes the sadness and tiredness of her past.”
Filmed during an actors' strike, Raúl Ruiz's Colloque de chiens consists for the most part of still photographs with mixed in stolen moving footage of unsuspecting bystanders and stray dogs. Told in fotonovela format, we follow the pitiful account of Monique, who as a young girl, learns that her mother is not who she thinks she is. Rejected, she throws herself into a life of vice until she meets Henri, a handsome young television repairman. Together they buy a small café, and are happy for once. But the cyclical nature of life determines her faith.
Raúl Ruiz's work is, like Henri's modus operandi, determined by maps and patterns. Even in the short comically melodramatic breathe of Colloque de chiens, the map has been laid out for Ruiz's later, much more complex narrative.
Colloque opens in a barren landscape. There are the skeletal towers of a nearby city, and the endless barks of abandoned dogs. Obscured by tall reeds, a blown-up photograph of a young man. The face, soft and familiar, a distant memory.
#Bales2023FilmChallenge #RaúlRuiz #SilkeHumel #EvaSimonet #RobertDarmel #JorgeArriagada #DenisLenoir #PatriceMorere #drama #crime #melodrama #ShortFilm #photography #animals #gender #prostitution #France #1970s ★★★★☆
“And what's this? I saw it in a movie once.”
Le notti di Cabiria [Nights of Cabiria] (Federico Fellini, 1957)
Jul
18
National Caviar Day
Cabiria (Giulietta Masina) about to experience an unforgettable meal of lobster and caviar. She's holding the lobster up by its antennae with a mix of bewilderment and amusement on her face. Her frumpy outfit looks completely out of place in Lazzari's (Amedeo Nazzari) fancy apartment. DP: Aldo Tonti.
Maria “Cabiria“ Ceccarelli (Giulietta Masina), a prostitute looking for happiness, meets famous movie star Alberto Lazzari (handsomely moustachioed Amedeo Nazzari). In his plush mansion, he treats her to an opulent – if not bewildering to Cabiria – meal of lobster and caviar.
– Cabiria
Co-written by #Pasolini, #Fellini's Le notti di Cabiria is a love letter to hope, life, #Rome, and of course his Giulietta.
刺青 [Irezumi] (Yasuzō Masumura, 1966)
Jul
17
National Tattoo Day
Seikichi tattooing (the correct term for the act-of is tebori) the 絡新婦 / じょろうぐも [jorōgumo, litt. “entangling bride”] on Otsuya's back. DP: Kazuo Miyagawa.
Otsuya's (Ayako Wakao) is forced into #prostitution and marked with a large spider tattoo. As the figure slowly takes shape under horishi Seikichi's skilled hands, Otsuya too transforms.