settima

theatre

Лісова пісня. Мавка [Lisova pisnya. Mavka / A Story of the Forest: Mavka] (Yuri Ilyenko, 1981)

Jun

7

National Trails Day

Лісова пісня. Мавка (1981)

Mavka (Lyudmila Efimenko) and the Spirit of the Forest (Boris Khmelnitskiy). DP: Yuri Ilyenko.

A movie that takes place in nature for National Trails Day (USA)

 

Mavka, a forest nymph, falls in love with mortal Lukash, who in his turn is punished by the Spirit of the Forest for marrying another mortal instead. Curse upon curse, Lukash is turned into a wolf, and Mavka into a weeping willow.

 

The colours, mood and impact of the four seasons on mortal and sprite alike is there, not only made visible by Ilyenko's ethereal, spiralling camera, but somewhere blooming deep inside us, observing.

El gran calavera [The Great Madcap] (Luis Buñuel, 1949)

May

31

El gran calavera (1949)

Lobbycard. DP: Ezequiel Carrasco.

Jesus Christus Erlöser [Jesus Christ Saviour] (Peter Geyer, 1971/2008)

May

29

Ascension Day

Jesus Christus Erlöser (1971/2008)

Kinski speaking to (presumably) journalists as part of promoting his Jesus tour (via)

The birth, life, death or teachings of Jesus on Ascension Day

“Ich bin nicht der offizielle Kirchenjesus, ich bin nicht euer Superstar.”

– Klaus Kinski

It is November 20. The Jesus Christus Erlöser tour brings Klaus Kinski to Berlin's Deutschlandhalle. His monologue, spoken from Jesus the revolutionary's perspective, brings out the hecklers. It's 1971, the post-68 generation is not satisfied with words. It wants to debate, dissect, and devour their Saviour.

The Trial of the Catonsville Nine (Gordon Davidson, 1972)

May

17

1968

The Trial of the Catonsville Nine (1972)

Director Gordon Davidson and the defense attorney (David Spielberg) on set. DP: Haskell Wexler.

Летят журавли [Letyat zhuravli / The Cranes Are Flying] (Mikhail Kalatozov, 1957)

May

8

VE Day

Летят журавли (1957)

A young woman standing in what was a room in a building, looks out over the ruins of a city. A broken lampshade and a grandfather's clock whisper of other times. DP: Sergey Urusevskiy.

A non-battlefield war movie on VE Day. It had to be a Soviet film, on this date. Thank you, Russia.

“Time will pass. Towns and villages will be rebuilt. Our wounds will heal. But our fierce hatred of war will never diminish.”

– Stepan

When the cranes fly over Moscow, a young couple learns about the war. Now separated, one day, when it is over, if, they'll reunite

 

The hand-held cinematography, groundbreaking at the time, came from former war cameraman Sergey Urusevskiy.

Bell Book and Candle (Richard Quine, 1958)

Mar

12

Bell Book and Candle (1958)

Gillian Holroyd (Kim Novak) and her Siamese, Pyewacket. DP: James Wong Howe.

“I sit in the subway sometimes, on buses, or the movies, and I look at the people next to me and I think… 'What would you say if I told you I was a witch?'”

– Queenie

Little Malcolm and His Struggle Against the Eunuchs (Stuart Cooper, 1974)

Scrawdyke

2

Little Malcolm and His Struggle Against the Eunuchs (1974)

Malcolm Scrawdyke (John Hurt), disgruntled art student. DP: John Alcott.

“So, this month becomes the month of Scrawdyke.”

– Malcolm Scrawdyke

Die bitteren Tränen der Petra von Kant [The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant] (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1972)

Jan

31

freebie: high fashion

Die bitteren Tränen der Petra von Kant (1972)

Fashion designer Petra von Kant (Margit Carstensen) – pouting in her emerald-green dress – is kneeled on a large, sheepskin carpet in front of a huge Baroque painting (Nicolas Poussin's Midas und Bacchus, ca. 1624). In front of her a small bottle of gin and a phone. DP: Michael Ballhaus.

A freebie for someone's birthday, with bonus points for high fashion. Petra von Kant is a fashion designer who, during a particularly icy birthday party, tells the world that her new lover is a woman. Then, one day, said lover returns home to her husband.

– You have a good figure. You could use it to your advantage. Get in touch with me some time. – I'd love to.

With its exuberant costumes and set design, a Greek chorus of mannequins, and Sirk-ish larger- than-life melodrama, Fassbinder's Die bitteren Tränen der Petra von Kant delves deep into the absurdities of love and fancy.

Libahunt [Лесная легенда / Werewolf] (Leida Laius, 1968)

Jan

13

soup

Libahunt (1968)

A dinner table shown from above. Several people, we mainly see their hands and wooden spoons, eat from a hand-carved bowl. DP: Algimantas Mockus.

Libahunt [Лесная легенда / Werewolf] (Leida Laius, 1968)

Jan

13

wolf moon

Libahunt (1968)

Tiina (Ene Rämmeld) walking through the forest. DP: Algimantas Mockus.

Wolves for Wolf Moon, the first full moon after Yule.

 

In Livonia, which covers modern day Estonia, the 17th century was when the werewolf trials reigned.

“Better to be with wolves in the forest, than with people like you!”

Tiina, a young liberated woman taken in by a family of farmers after her mother was put on trial for witchcraft, is accused of hunting with the wolves as a werewolf by her half-sister with whom she shares a lover.