settima

thriller

Nóz w wodzie [Knife in the Water] (Roman Polanski, 1962)

Apr

23

tomato soup

Nóz w wodzie (1962)

The couple – Jolanta Umecka as Krystyna and Leon Niemczyk as Andrzej – enjoy their little lunch for two of wine and canned soup while the young man (Zygmunt Malanowicz) mopes on the ship's bow. DP: Jerzy Lipman.

“I forgot the cucumbers.”

– Krystyna

The Naked City (Jules Dassin, 1948)

Feb

10

Popsicles

The Naked City (1948)

A New York precinct. Across the street an ice cream vendor. Several kids are standing around the man's cart while one of them – a chunky monkey – leans against the nearest fire hydrant. A scruffy man in fedora walks past holding a Popsicle. DP: William H. Daniels; still photographers: Bert Anderson & Arthur “Weegee” Fellig.

“Another day, another ball of fire rising in the summer sky. The city is quiet now, but it will soon be pounding with activity. This time yesterday, Jean Dexter was just another pretty girl, but now she's the marmalade on 10,000 pieces of toast.”

– narrator

High Sierra (Raoul Walsh, 1940)

Jan

19

High Sierra (1940)

Roy Earle (Bogart) pensively smoking an after-meal cigarette while Marie Garson (Lupino) looks on. DP: Tony Gaudio.

“Roy, this is the land of milk and honey for the health racket. Every woman in California thinks she's either too fat or too thin or too something.”

– 'Doc' Banton

Invasión [Invasion] (Hugo Santiago, 1969)

Dec

27

maté

Invasión (1969)

Don Porfirio (Juan Carlos Paz) pours water from a small kettle into a maté. DP: Ricardo Aronovich.

Nasser Asphalt [Wet Asphalt] (Frank Wisbar, 1958)

Dec

20

National Greg Day

Nasser Asphalt (1958)

Greg Bachmann (Horst Buchholz) walking the rainy streets of Berlin. The scene is a direct reference to Dennis Stock's 1955 portrait of James Dean. DP: Helmuth Ashley.

Someone named Greg for National Greg Day (USA)

“Sie können sich einen anderen Beruf aussuchen. Sie sind ein toter Mann.”

Si muero antes de despertar [If I Should Die Before I Wake] (Carlos Hugo Christensen, 1952)

Dec

19

National Hard Candy Day

Si muero antes de despertar (1952)

Lucio (Néstor Zavarce) and his new friend sharing one of her fancy 10¢ lollipop​s. DP: Pablo Tabernero.

Eating hard candy on National Hard Candy Day (USA)

 

Lucio is the class clown, a ne'er-do-well relying on his police-dad's rank and classmates' homework. One of these classmates, a smart little girl, promises him fancy lollipops in exchange for protection. And she has a secret for him too, about the origin of the candy, and the nice man giving her those and other nice things. Under oath, she tells Lucio everything and then promptly disappears. With his friend gone, killed as he later finds out, and an oath weighing on his heart, what can Lucio do when another girl goes missing?

“Only a child can kill the monster.”

– narrator

Cornell Woolrich's haunting tales of childhood lost leaped from Ireland to Argentina. With some similarities with Fritz Lang's M (1931), this fairy-tale feels more oppressive; due to the helplessness of a boy's power in an adult world and his understanding of grown-up responsibilities. A restored version in wider circulation is long overdue.

Laura (Otto Preminger + Rouben Mamoulian, 1944)

Dec

11

Laura (1944)

Laura Hunt (Gene Tierney) interrupts arsine newspaper columnist Waldo Lydecker (a delicious Clifton Webb) with her designs during his lunch. DPs: Joseph LaShelle & Lucien Ballard.

“I don't use a pen. I write with a goose quill dipped in venom.”

– Waldo Lydecker

3615 code Père Noël [Deadly Games / Dial Code Santa Claus] (René Manzor, 1989)

Dec

4

Santa's List Day

3615 code Père Noël (1989)

A man in a grey overcoat and yellow scarf at a public Minitel terminal. On the display the code 3615 and an 8-bit illustration of Santa Claus carrying his bag with presents. The sack holds a smaller Minitel device with the text PERE NOEL. DP: Michel Gaffier.

A letter to Santa on Santa's List Day (USA)

 

Aah France… Land of old wine, old cheese, old art, and Internet access in the early 80s. Prestige project of Président Giscard, France was determined to take a technological leap. Any French man, woman and child could borrow a Minitel – a PC-like videotex device – from the national telecommunications services. For those without landline there were numerous public terminals throughout the land. The machine gave the people access to a phonebook (convenient!), the news (smart!), same-day delivery shopping(!) and sexting (ooh la la!). All these services were accessible via a code starting with 3615 followed by a string of letters. Dial 3615 ULLA to text with a sexy lady – some telecom employee pretending to be one – and 3615 PERE NOEL for Santa Claus. The real one, of course.

 

9 year old whizkid Thomas (Alain Lalanne aka Alain Musy) is dead set on proving that Santa is real and not some weirdo looking for a gullible kid to play with. A trap is set, and the boy waits.

“You know Mum, I don't have to write to Santa anymore. There's an easier way, through Minitel.”

– Thomas

3615 code Père Noël is definitely not your cutesy little Christmas romp. The violence is not cartoonish, the bandit is more Manson than moist. The boy's disillusionment in the adults around him is a perfect mirror of “Santa's” lonely attempts to communicate and be accepted. However, Thomas' mom didn't lie about one thing; that seeing Santa on Christmas Eve turns you into an ogre. Or an adult, as the grownups call it.

Si muero antes de despertar [If I Should Die Before I Wake] (Carlos Hugo Christensen, 1952)

Nov

28

soup

Si muero antes de despertar (1952)

Lucio (Néstor Zavarce) having dinner with his mother (Blanca del Prado) and strict father. DP: Pablo Tabernero.

Lonesome (Pál Fejős, 1928)

Nov

20

A Beautiful Day

Lonesome (1928)

Our lovebirds holding out on the Human Roulette, one of the many dizzying Steeplechase attractions of Coney Island. DP: Gilbert Warrenton.

Two hopelessly lonely hearts meet each other at Coney Island, spending the most wonderful day in each other's company. Pál Fejős' joyful Lonesome was made just when motion pictures became talkies, and new and more modern novelties were expected by the audience. Fejős delivers, with sound and musical inserts, and the occasional – almost shocking – burst of colour.

– Nice day, isn't it? – Yes, isn't it! – It's swell. It's perfect.

With light touches of Murnau's groundbreaking Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927) and Jean Vigo's more experimental À propos de Nice (1930), Lonesome depicts the exuberance of youth with an optimism soon to be lost to the vices of history.