settima

sports

Sombre (Philippe Grandrieux, 1998)

Jun

3

World Bicycle Day

Sombre (1998)

Cycling fans along the route. DPs: Philippe Grandrieux & Sabine Lancelin.

A film scene with a bike for World Bicycle Day

 

Jean (Marc Barbé) follows the route of the Tour de France. He sees women, picks them up, takes them out. Claire, infatuated with him, is taken in by his darkness. At night, the cyclists continue the course.

跑道終點 [Pao dao zhong dian / The End of the Track] (Tun-Fei Mou, 1970)

Jun

2

Dennis Haysbert – 1954

跑道終點 (1970)

Hsiao-Tung and Yung-shen at the track. DP: Chung-Hsin Chen.

A [favourite]* fictional athlete for Dennis Haysbert's birthday (1954).

 

Close friends Hsiao-Tung and Yung-shen spend their time together, wandering about, eating dumplings, and training for athletics. Until one of them pushes too hard, leaving the other alone in his grief.

 

* this month's Bales' Challenge is marred with “favourites”, something I don't believe in. Instead, I stick to great cinema and will squeeze in a few LGBT-themed films for Pride Month.

Két félidő a pokolban [Two Half-Times in Hell] (Zoltán Fábri, 1961)

Apr

20

Két félidő a pokolban (1961)

A sour looking player with a flood of Nazis coming towards him. DP: Ferenc Szécsényi.

悲愁物語 [Hishu monogatari / A Tale of Sorrow and Sadness] (Seijun Suzuki, 1977)

Apr

13

1997 Masters Tournament

悲愁物語 (1977)

Reiko, looking fabulous, dropped down next to a sand-filled bunker. DP: Masaru Mori.

Golf (or a tiger) in honour of Tiger Woods' 1997 Masters Tournament victory.

 

Reiko (Yoko Shiraki), a professional model – is groomed into playing the circuit by the editor of a golfing fashion magazine. The rookie's unexpected success draws in all sorts of fans, including the obsessive.

女篮五号 [Nü lan wu hao / Woman Basketball Player No. 5] (Jin Xie, 1957)

Apr

7

March Madness

女篮五号 (1957)

Tense moments during the match. DPs: Shaofen Huang & Xilin Shen.

Basketball: the final day of March Madness

 

Klincz [Clinch] (Piotr Andrejew, 1979)

Apr

5

Chicago

Klincz (1979)

One of the boxers goes down (via). DPs: Jacek Mierosławski & Zbigniew Wichłacz.

Set in Chicago (or pizza) for National Deep Dish Pizza Day, USA.

 

A Polish factory worker hopes to find a better life when he picks up boxing. Initially unsuccessful. he finds himself in Chicago, facing an amateur boxer below his ranking.

Die große Ekstase des Bildschnitzers Steiner [The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner] (Werner Herzog, 1974)

Jan

25

Chamonix 1924 Winter Olympics

Die große Ekstase des Bildschnitzers Steiner (1974)

Live footage of Steiner preparing for his flight. DP: Jörg Schmidt-Reitwein.

Winter sports in celebration of the Chamonix 1924 Winter Olympics.

“Ich sollte eigentlich ganz allein auf der Welt sein, ich, Steiner, und sonst kein anderes lebendes Wesen. Keine Sonne, keine Kultur, ich nackt auf einem hohen Fels, kein Sturm, kein Schnee, keine Straßen, keine Banken, kein Geld, keine Zeit und kein Atem. Ich würde dann jedenfalls keine Angst mehr haben.”

– Walter Steiner

In a film that is as much about Herzog as it is about Steiner, we follow the soft-spoken woodcarver in preparation of his definitive ski flight in Planica, Yugoslavia.

Strangers on a Train (Alfred Hitchcock, 1951)

May

16

doubles

Strangers on a Train (1951)

Guy Haines (Farley Granger) and Bruno Anthony (Robert Walker), two strangers on a train. DP: Robert Burks.

“I still think it would be wonderful to have a man love you so much he'd kill for you.”

剣 ​(小説) [Ken / The Sword] (Kenji Misumi, 1964)

Dec

29

Tick Tock Day

剣 (1964)

One of the kendōka kneeled on the floor in gruelling punishment faces a clock on the wall, while the other students continue their training. DP: Chikashi Makiura.

A clock face for Tick Tock Day, USA.

 

After World War II, the Japanese martial arts of #kendo was banished by the occupying forces in an attempt to “remove and exclude militaristic and ultra-nationalistic persons from life”. With that in mind, it makes complete sense that nationalist author and former kendo practitioner Yukio Mishima wrote a short story – Sword, originally published in literary magazine Shincho in 1963 – about the art.

– So what is your goal in life then?

– Satisfaction of the present. The sword, and nothing else.

Both the story and Kenji Misumi's 1964 film adaptation follow arrogant kendo student Jiro, played by sublime kabuki actor Raizō Ichikawa who also appears in an earlier Mishima adaptation, 炎上 [Enjō / The Temple of the Golden Pavilion / Conflagration] (1958).