#Bales2023FilmChallenge August 15: speak to the moon on #ChantAtTheMoonDay

In William A. O'Connor's Moonland (1926), a little boy and his dog are invited over by the #ManInTheMoon himself. The trip to the Moon is a big adventure for the drowsy duo and they meet peculiar flora, fauna and men, taken straight out of the Great Moon Hoax along the way ☞ https://write.underworld.fr/settima/moonland-1926

#SciFi #SilentFilm #film #cinema #CineMastodon @film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge August 16: the main character shows his real self on #NationalAuthenticityDay

Humph, doing this one without spoilers…

Joseph Losey's claustrophobic The Servant (1963), based on the novel by Robin Maugham with a screenplay by Harold #Pinter.

#JosephLosey #RobinMaugham #HaroldPinter #DirkBogarde #SarahMiles #WendyCraig #JamesFox #film #cinema #CineMastodon @film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge August 17: neighbours/neighbors on #NeighborNight

Norman McLaren's short #AntiWar live action #animation (aka #pixilation) Neighbours (1952), ft #GrantMunro & #JeanPaulLadouceur. The technique was groundbreaking; even the soundtrack was painted directly onto the film stock!

You can watch this #ShortFilm on the NFB's website https://www.nfb.ca/film/neighbours_voisins/

#NormanMcLaren #film #cinema #CineMastodon @film @art_film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge August 18: a blind pick for #SerendipityDay

#EsterKrumbachová's feminist farce Vražda ing. Čerta [The Murder of Mr. Devil] (1970) is a delight of many flavours. Ona (Jiřina Bohdalová) is already 40 and wants a man. She remembers one from her youth, the handsome, slim, and very cultured Mr Devil (the great Vladimír Menšík), and knows that the one way to a man's heart is through the stomach ☞ https://write.underworld.fr/settima/vrazda-ing

#CzechNewWave #food #film #cinema #CineMastodon @film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge August 19: #potatoes eaten on #NationalPotatoDay

Jeanne Dielman (#DelphineSeyrig) routinely prepares meals, cleans the house, mothers her teenage son (#JanDecorte in his salad days), and sees clients in #ChantalAkerman's Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975). Until something breaks and her carefully nurtured practices slowly unravel ☞ https://write.underworld.fr/settima/jeanne-dielman-23-quai-du-commerce-1080-bruxelles-1975

#SlowCinema #film #cinema #CineMastodon @film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge August 20: a medical transporter on the #InternationalDayOfMedicalTransporters

The boss' girlfriend falls for an ambulance driver, derailing her man's gang's carefully planned narcotics heist in William J. Hole Jr.'s #noir Hell Bound (1957) ☞ https://write.underworld.fr/settima/hell-bound-1957

#WilliamJHoleJr #JohnRussell #JuneBlair #StuartWhitman #drugs #USA #crime #FilmNoir #1950s #film #cinema #CineMastodon @film

> Do you want to work? What a nightmarish idea.

#Bales2023FilmChallenge August 21: freebie: someone is #sleep​ing (March 17 redux)

#NikosPanayotopoulos' The Idlers of the Fertile Valley (1978) is a slow satire, wordlessly adddressing Greek #class struggle. We spend long hours in the company of a father and his sons. The four of them – rich, bourgeois – have inherited a country villa and the plan is to do nothing for the next 7 years ☞ https://write.underworld.fr/settima/oi-tempeledes-tes-euphores-koiladas-1978

#film #cinema #CineMastodon @film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge August 22: #folklore on #FolkloreDay

On May 1 an ancient procession goes around #Padstow, #Cornwall. How ancient, no one really knows. Locals may describe it as a pagan fertility rite but even their generational memory draws a blank and no living soul can put an age on it. #AlanLomax's Oss Oss Wee Oss (1953) is probably the best known visual documentation of the #ObbyOss festival ☞ https://write.underworld.fr/settima/oss-oss-wee-oss-1953

#film #cinema #documentary #paganism #CineMastodon @film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge August 24: eat a waffle on #NationalWaffleDay

The city of #Liège in #Belgium's Walloon region is grey. The air seems forever stained by the heavy mining that for years made its inhabitants rich and sick. Here lives Rosetta (Jean-Pierre and Luc #Dardenne, 1999) (#ÉmilieDequenne), a young woman trying to keep herself and her alcoholic mother above water with a measly job at a waffle stand > https://write.underworld.fr/settima/rosetta-1999

#film #cinema #CineMastodon @film #waffles

#Bales2023FilmChallenge August 25: someone wears another person's clothes on #NationalSecondhandWardrobeDay

#EdWood's Glen or Glenda is not only an utterly unique autobiographic docudrama but also a lovingly composed pamphlet in support of transvestism and transsexualism. It's also pretty unique when it comes to the art of filmmaking. However contagiously enthusiastic, Wood didn't have the skill, weight, or budget to make movies ☞ https://write.underworld.fr/8xjgb9dypr

#LGBT #film #cinema #CineMastodon @film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge August 26: a movie that goes the extra mile for #NationalSparkTheWorldDay

Like Rome, #Cleopatra (1963) wasn't built in a day. #JosephLMankiewicz's epic studio breaker took six years to make and, despite it being the highest-grossing film of 1963, didn't break even until 1973. Was it a #flop? A classic flop but a flop nevertheless? 𓃦 https://write.underworld.fr/settima/cleopatra-1963

#ElizabethTaylor #RichardBurton #RexHarrison #film #cinema #CineMastodon @film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge August 27: eating #soup on #CrabSoupDay

#ZbigniewRybczyński's autobiographical #animation Zupa [Soup] (1975) follows an unnamed couple's faltering monotonous relationship. Produced by the groundbreaking #SeMaForStudios in #Łódź, the dramatic story is told through colourised, analogue still #photography, and electronic music and sound effects created by PRES's #EugeniuszRudnik ☞ https://write.underworld.fr/settima/zupa-1975

#film #cinema #Poland #CineMastodon @film @art_film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge August 28: someone listens to the #radio on #RadioCommercialsDay

R… ne répond plus (1981) is Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne's exploration of the airwaves. Some is clearly political. Pirates channel their comrade cats & witches with important messages unheard of in the mainstream media. Others broadcast in languages on the verge of extinction in a world that – forty years ago – was rapidly homogenizing. ☞ https://write.underworld.fr/settima/r-ne-repond-plus-1981

#documentary #film #cinema #CineMastodon @film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge August 29: a lemon for #NationalLemonJuiceDay

#GeorgeBlair's The Hypnotic Eye (1960) utilises what's called the #MovieGimmick. You too may laugh at that folly, that parlour trick. But who says #hypnotism isn't real? Who says you never went to see a hypnotism show…? ☞ https://write.underworld.fr/settima/the-hypnotic-eye-1960

#film #cinema #CineMastodon @film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge Aug 30: grief on #NationalGriefAwarenessDay

Nyatta is not ready to have Jizō take away his big sister Nyāko to the land of the dead. They set off to retrieve her soul.

Adult #anime ねこぢる草 [Cat Soup] (#TatsuoSatô, 2001) is based on works by #Nekojiru whose crudely drawn cats caused a ripple in #Japan's underground #manga circuit (=‐ω‐=) https://write.underworld.fr/settima/nekodirucao-2001

#animation #film #CineMastodon @film @art_film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge August 31: someone ODs on #InternationalOverdoseAwarenessDay

28 is no age to die, regardless if your name is Susan Superstar or #EdieSedgwick. But it happened, right during the wrap-up of filming Ciao Manhattan (#JohnPalmer & #DavidWeisman, 1972). Edie was gone, just like that, snuffed like so many of the other #Warhol #Superstars ☞ https://write.underworld.fr/settima/ciao-manhattan-1972

#film #cinema #CineMastodon @film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge September 1: hotel employees on #NationalHotelEmployeeDay

#FrancisMankiewicz uneasy Le temps d'une chasse (1972) starts at dawn when two friends pick up their buddy for a hunting trip in remote #Québec. With a trunk full of Dutch courage and a mouthful of boasting, they find themselves in a hotel instead of the expected cabin. The hotel's short days and long drunk nights command its own attractions and regrets > https://write.underworld.fr/settima/le-temps-dune-chasse-1972

#film #cinema #CineMastodon @film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge September 2: a football stadium on #NationalTailgatingDay

Cremaster 1 (#MatthewBarney, 1996), the second of a 5-part cycle (94—02), is set at the Bronco Stadium in #Boise, #Idaho. We find ourselves quietly poised in an airship high above the field. In it an ethereal woman (#MartiDomination) arranges grapes into patterns. Below on luminous blue AstroTurf, the chorus line follows the same figures ☞ https://write.underworld.fr/settima/cremaster-1-1996

#film #cinema #CineMastodon @film @art_film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge September 3: the main character goes to the cinema on #NationalCinemaDay

When you're young, 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. > https://write.underworld.fr/settima/el-espiritu-de-la-colmena-1973

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

#VíctorErice #film #cinema #CineMastodon @film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge September 4: a mouthgard for #MouthguardDay

Foreman, Ali, all of them in William Klein's Muhammad Ali, the Greatest [aka Float Like a Butterfly, Sting Like a Bee] (1974)

#WilliamKlein #MuhammadAli #CassiusClay #GeorgeForeman #MalcolmX #MobutuSeseSeko #sports #politics #documentary #boxing #France #1970s #film #cinema #photography #CineMastodon @film ★★★★½

#Bales2023FilmChallenge September 5: a jury for #JuryRightsDay

“Just you wait, it won't be long, The man in black will soon be here, With his cleaver's blade so true, He'll make mincemeat out of you!”

The jury's out for Hans Beckert (Peter Lorre) in Fritz Lang's M – Eine Stadt sucht einen Mörder (1931)

#film #cinema #CineMastodon @film #FritzLang #TheaVonHarbou #EgonJacobsohn #PeterLorre #FilmNoir #SerialKillers #crime #drama #thriller #Germany #1930s

An interesting and completely unplanned overlap with today's #FilmDuJour, Robert Hossein's menacing Le vampire de Düsseldorf (1965). Both are based on real-life serial killer Peter Kürten's doings (plus in M's case, Fritz Haarman and Carl Großmann). #FritzLang met Kürten as part of his research, and cast 25 real criminals as extras for his #film.

#cinemastodon

#Bales2023FilmChallenge September 6: freebie: lipstick (July 29 redux)

Set in 1950s #Calcutta, #SatyajitRay's মহানগর [Mahanagar / The Big City] (1963) is a story of emancipation in a changing society. Arati (#MadhaviMukherjee) is a housewife from a traditionalist family, who – in order to support her relatives' lavish demands – goes out to work as a door-to-door saleswoman. Slowly, she discovers her independence.

#film #cinema #CineMastodon @film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge September 7: deli meat for #NationalSalamiDay

#ArnoldLaven's The Monster That Challenged the World (1957) is one of the earliest, if not thé earliest, example of this peculiar movie and television trope: the coroner's lunchbreak. Having some cold cuts over some cold cuts never gets old. Or appetising.

#TimHolt #AudreyDalton #HansConried #monsters #SciFi #horror #film #cinema #CineMastodon @film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge September 8: pardoned on #PardonDay

#AbbasKiarostami's Close-Up (1990) is a visual narrative illustrating a crime. A cinephile pretends to be a filmmaker and slowly extorts a family into believing to star in the director's next film. An article about the case intrigued director Kiarostami so much that he decided to film the court case against Sabzian, and ask the accused, Makhmalbaf and the Ahankhah family to reenact some of the events.

#film #cinema #CineMastodon @film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge September 9: speaking German on #GermanLanguageDay

Bruno Stroszek (#BrunoS.), Eva (#EvaMattes) and Scheitz (#ClemensScheitz) decide to leave dreary #Berlin behind and move to #Wisconsin where the latter's nephew lives. A new life, with dreams of music and animal magnetism, awaits them there. As so oft with #Herzog, the story behind #Stroszek (1977) is as engrossing as the resulting film ☞ https://write.underworld.fr/settima/stroszek-1977

#WernerHerzog #film #cinema #CineMastodon @film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge September 10: the pet dies on #NationalPetMemorialDay

Bandiera and Rabbino, two young bumpkins, find that their pet sheep has been butchered by their father in Sergio Citti's Ostia (1970). Years later, the two share their lives with a beautiful blonde who they found believing to be dead.

#SergioCitti #PierPaoloPasolini #LaurentTerzieff #FrancoCitti #AnitaSanders #drama #animals #Italy #1970s #film #cinema #CineMastodon @film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge September 11: boss and employee

Mr R (#KurtRaab) is a hardworking, almost invisible man. He laughs along with his coworkers' stale jokes. He neatly completes his tasks and politely nods when the boss berates him. He smokes too much and is told to cut it down. His son fails at school and Mrs R. wishes nicer furniture and a skiing holiday, when Mr R.'s promoted.

So why does Herr R run amok? ☞ https://write.underworld.fr/settima/warum-lauft-herr-r

#MichaelFengler #film #cinema #CineMastodon @film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge September 12: a police woman on #NationalPoliceWomanDay

Rei (#MikiSugimoto) is a member of the top secret Division Zero of the #Tokyo police department. Hired to investigate a high-profile kidnapping, she infiltrates the gang and kills them off with her signature blood-red handcuffs. #YukioNoda's Zero Woman: Red Handcuffs (1974) is the first of no less than 9 instalments and based on #TōruShinohara's #manga O課の女 ⛓️ https://write.underworld.fr/settima/0ke-nonu-chi-ishou-ding-1974

#PinkuEiga #film #CineMastodon

#Bales2023FilmChallenge September 13: Uncle Sam for #UncleSamDay

Even before a single note had come out of Mick's mouth, someone had punched him in the head. By the time #TheRollingStones open their set, the #HellsAngels are far into their $500 beer bounty, and the audience far out of their mind. Meredith Hunter, high on drugs, had brought a gun. And the Angels did what they were ordered to: stop anyone from getting close ☞ https://write.underworld.fr/settima/gimme-shelter-1970

#film #cinema #CineMastodon @film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge November 4: children behave like adults on #NationalEasyBakeOvenDay

While #JaimeHumbertoHermosillo Matinée (1977) has elements of a typical 70s #ComingOfAge movie, the more fascinating element is the role reversal of the two children and the robbers. As the kids are forced to grow up, fast, the criminals live out their childhood fantasy of never having to listen to anyone ever again. And bicker over comics ☞ https://write.underworld.fr/settima/matinee-1977

#Mexico #cinemastodon #film @film

- Come, this party is for hard-working people!

#Bales2023FilmChallenge November 5: light a #bonfire for #BonfireNight

It started, #Estonia​ns will tell you, 4000 years ago when #Kaali appeared. Ever since, come rain or shine, come socialism or capitalism, the people gather and light #bonfires in its remembrance ☞ https://write.underworld.fr/settima/jaanipaev-1978

This is #AndresSööt magical Jaanipäev (1978)

#documentary #film #cinema #CineMastodon @film #jaaniõhtu #MidSummer

#Bales2023FilmChallenge November 6: play basketball on #PlayBasketballDay

Within the boundaries of #SharonLockhart's static camera, girls from Goshogaoka junior high school practice #basketball. In six uninterrupted 10 minute scenes we see them warm up and train several typical moves. With the camera set in one position, some of the action happens off-screen, resulting in unrehearsed synchronised choreography. This is *Goshogaoka* [*御所ケ丘*] (1998) ☞ https://write.underworld.fr/settima/goshogaoka-1998

#film @art_film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge November 7: someone drinks red wine on #InternationalMerlotDay

Seconds (#JohnFrankenheimer, 1966)

At a bacchanalia, #RockHudson's Antiochus Wilson finally strips down his hesitancy and realises he has a second chance at life, as a member of the new generation. To the Queen of #wine! To Bacchus! To Pan!

https://write.underworld.fr/settima/seconds-1966 #film #cinema #CineMastodon @film #DavidEly #RockHudson #JamesWongHowe #Scifi

- More shoes, more boots, more garlic.

#Bales2023FilmChallenge November 8: someone #cooking something special for #CookSomethingBoldDay

After boiling for five hours in a concoction of #garlic, #herbs, and stock, the shoe was ready to eat and #Herzog could keep his promise to fellow director Errol Morris. This is Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe (1980).

#film #cinemastodon #LesBlank #WernerHerzog #ErrolMorris #ShortFilm #USA #food #documentary #1980s ★★★★½

#Bales2023FilmChallenge November 9: chaos breaks out on #ChaosNeverDiesDay

Matka Joanna od Aniolów (#JerzyKawalerowicz, 1961) takes place four years after the tragic events at #Loudun. Mother superior, the titular Mother Joan of the Angels, is still possessed by the Devil & has slowly pulled in the other #nuns. A priest, the fourth, is send over to exorcise the demons who at this point have possessed all but one sister. Chaos ensues. https://write.underworld.fr/settima/matka-joanna-od-aniolow-1961

#film #cinema #CineMastodon @film

- Fame will go by, and so long, I've had you, fame.

#Bales2023FilmChallenge: November 10: a diseased actor on #ForgetMeNotDay

Everyone assumed that Ellen, swept away during a yacht race, was gone. But there she is, years later, and very much alive. Marilyn wasn't that fortunate. On August 4, 1962, 2 months after she was fired from Something's Got to Give (#GeorgeCukor, 1962), Monroe was found dead in her home. She was only 36 years old.

#MarilynMonroe #film @film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge November 11: origami for #WorldOrigamiDay

Ceremonial #origami, known as girei or #origata can be seen hanging from the altar in this scene from #NagisaŌshima's 儀式 [Gishiki / The Ceremony] (1971).

#Shinto #Shintō #神道 #Japan #1970s #cinema #CineMastodon @film