settima

spain

Figures in a Landscape (Joseph Losey, 1970)

Jul

17

Figures in a Landscape (1970)

MacConnachie (Robert Shaw, standing and peering upwards) and Ansell (Malcolm McDowell, squatting and facing away) in a barren landscape. Both have their hands tied behind their back. DPs: Henri Alekan, Peter Suschitzky & Guy Tabary.

“I'll tell you what though, Mac. There'll be no more games from now on.”

– Ansell

L'uomo più velenoso del cobra [The Man More Venomous Than the Cobra / Human Cobras] (Bitto Albertini, 1971)

May

19

L'uomo più velenoso del cobra (1971)

Leslie (Erika Blanc) and Tony Garden (George Ardisson). DP: Emilio Foriscot.

“For a handful of coins!”

Goya 3 de mayo [Goya, May 3rd] (Carlos Saura, 2021)

May

3

1808

Goya 3 de mayo (2021)

Saura's reconstruction of Goya's anti-war painting El tres de mayo de 1808 en Madrid (1814). DP: Sergio De Uña.

El verdugo [The Executioner] (Luis García Berlanga, 1963)

Jan

31

stale bread

El verdugo (1963)

A closeup of man's hands crumbling bread over a small bowl placed next to a newspaper with keys on top of it. The man has a wool blanket over his shoulders. DP: Tonino Delli Colli.

“Father, we just ate!”

Beatriz (Gonzalo Suárez, 1976)

Oct

5

soup

Beatriz (1976)

Basilisa (Nadiuska) holds up a terrine for Juan (Óscar Martín), who scoops the soup into his bowl. The bowl is the top of three the small boy has towering in front of him. DP: Carlos Suárez.

La caza [The Hunt] (Carlos Saura, 1966)

Sep

23

International Rabbit Day

La caza (1966)

One of the hunters, seen from the back, aims for a wild rabbit. When you look closely you can see the animal leap just out of frame. DP: Luis Cuadrado.

El espíritu de la colmena [The Spirit of the Beehive] (Víctor Erice, 1973)

Sep

3

National Cinema Day

El espíritu de la colmena (1973)

Ana (Ana Torrent) watching James Whale's Frankenstein (1931). DP: Luis Cuadrado.

One day, in a quiet village, a traveling movie theatre appears. The proprietor has no words for the miracle he brings in on the reels. When it's finally time, and the whole town is crammed into the crumbling impromptu playhouse, and the lights are dimmed, a word of warning. This is the story of Dr. #Frankenstein, it starts.

“Just close your eyes and call him… It's me, Ana… It's me Ana…”

– Teresa

The old folk in the audience remember their first brush with cinema, and life, and death. For sisters Ana (Ana Torrent) and Isabel (Isabel Tellería) it may be their first, and it may as well be real. The creature, Isabel assures her younger sister, is not dead. He's a spirit and you can call for him.

 

When you're little, everything is a miracle. Milagros is the name the maid answers too. And so does the landscape, the mushrooms, the heart, and the magic of cinema.

El espíritu de la colmena [The Spirit of the Beehive] (Víctor Erice, 1973)

Aug

30

mushrooms

El espíritu de la colmena (1973)

Little Ana (Ana Torrent) all but disappearing behind a for her almost too large ceramic bowl. DP: Luis Cuadrado.

It's August 30, #Frankenstein​day.

“If you're not sure a mushroom's good, don't pick it. Because if it's bad, and you eat it, it's your last mushroom and your last everything too.”

More (Barbet Schroeder, 1969)

Aug

22

Munchies

More (1969)

Druggies Estelle (Mimsy Farmer) and Stefan (Klaus Grünberg) eating straight from a jar of honey and picking crumbs out of a loaf of bread. There's Coca-Cola product placement and half-eaten foods everywhere. DP: Néstor Almendros.

– You know what's really awful?

– No, tell me.

– Getting hooked. It's the end. But, if you only take one shot every once in awhile. Its no different than an occasional drink or cigarette.

Peppermint Frappé (Carlos Saura, 1967)

Jun

30

Drive Your Corvette To Work Day

Peppermint Frappé (1967)

Producer Elías Querejeta (far left) and others pushing Geraldine Chaplin character Elena's Chevrolet Corvette C1. Behind the wheel actor José Luis López Vázquez (Julián). DP: Luis Cuadrado.

A chance encounter with a blonde drummer during the Holy Week in the village of Calanda leaves a deep impression on Julián (José Luis López Vázquez). When years later he reunites with his childhood friend Pablo, he finds that Pablo is married to bubbly cosmopolitan Elena (Geraldine Chaplin), the spitting image of the elusive drummer. Infatuated he tries to court her, but Elena sees nothing in the drab radiologist. Julián then turns his attention to his shy assistant Ana (also Chaplin) and grooms her into becoming the two unattainable women.

“Things last as long as they last.”

– Pablo

Saura's Peppermint Frappé takes #Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958) – indeed the peppermint green of the drink is an homage – with a twist of #Buñuel and serves it over an anti-#Franco​ist tale of self-doubting machismo obsessing over The Other. Even Elena's car, American instead of a much more obvious European model, dismisses fascist Spain's perceived superiority. Indeed the Generalisimo drove a Cadillac.