settima

satire

À propos de Nice – point de vue documenté [À propos de Nice] (Boris Kaufman + Jean Vigo, 1930)

Jan

1

New Year's Day

À propos de Nice - point de vue documenté (1930)

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.

“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.”

– Jean Vigo in his manifesto Vers un cinéma social

儀式 [Gishiki / The Ceremony] (Nagisa Ōshima, 1971)

Jan

1

儀式 (1971)

A boy in school uniform has his ear pressed against the ground. DP: Tōichirō Narushima.

Touche pas à la femme blanche [Don't Touch the White Woman!] (Marco Ferreri, 1974)

Nov

23

potato chips

Touche pas à la femme blanche (1974)

Two white Frenchmen – in a University of Columbia and a CIA sweatshirt respectively – comment on the “period piece” they're in. CIA man (Paolo Villaggio) stuffs his face with potato chips. DP: Étienne Becker.

“Whoever dies for the country hasn't lived in vain. I, on the contrary, will live for the country because I'm not that stupid.”

– George A. Custer

Divorzio all'italiana [Divorce Italian Style] (Pietro Germi, 1961)

Nov

9

Divorzio all'italiana (1961)

Ferdinando Cefalù (Mastroianni), all handsome and bored, at a table set with food and wine for one. DPs: Leonida Barboni & Carlo Di Palma.

Könnyű testi sértés [Tight Quarters] (György Szomjas, 1983)

Aug

19

nokedli

Könnyű testi sértés (1983)

Éva (Mariann Erdős) samples nokedli. DP: Ferenc Grunwalsky.

Czułe miejsca [Tender Spots] (Piotr Andrejew, 1981)

Jul

7

ice cream

Czułe miejsca (1981)

Ewa (Hanna Dunowska) licks melting ice cream with Janek (Michał Juszczakiewicz) looking on. DPs: Jerzy Zieliński & Ryszard Lenczewski.

Ace in the Hole (Billy Wilder, 1951)

Jul

1

steak

Ace in the Hole (1951)

A man dissects his steak with knife and fork at a round table with an oilcloth cover. Prominently in the centre of the table is an square cardboard box with air-holes punched in the lid. It's open and houses a small, live rattlesnake. DP: Charles Lang.

“I can handle big news and little news. And if there's no news, I'll go out and bite a dog.”

– Charles Tatum

I fidanzati [The Fiancés] (Ermanno Olmi, 1963)

Feb

29

leftovers

I fidanzati (1963)

Giovanni (Carlo Cabrini) in a restaurant. It's near closing time. Cooks scape the pans. DP: Lamberto Caimi.

“If an old man can't even have a glass of wine, what's left to live for?”

Falfúró [Wall Driller] (György Szomjas, 1986)

Feb

17

Falfúró (1986)

Peeping through a window we see a woman at a gas stove, stirring something in a low enamel pan. She appears to speak to a large man with a big moustache who's standing close to her. DP: Ferenc Grunwalsky.

The Kentucky Fried Movie (John Landis, 1977)

Feb

9

popcorn

The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977)

A white guy munches popcorn in a seemingly empty movie theatre while an usher, standing right behind him, lights a cigarette. DP: Stephen M. Katz.

“The popcorn you are eating has been pissed in. Film at eleven.”

– newscaster