ART & Thoughts
Cinema
Playtime (1967) directed by Jacques Tati
Playtime is structured in six sequences, linked by two characters who repeatedly encounter one another in the course of a day: Barbara, a young American tourist visiting Paris with a group composed primarily of middle-aged American women, and Monsieur Hulot, a befuddled Frenchman lost in the new modernity of Paris. The sequences are as … Continue reading
Reinfried Marass chasing Mrs. Columbo driving her Peugeot 403
From the archives: The Great Escape – French Rivera 1962 Madame De Papillon: Paparazzi chasing Mrs. Columbo driving her hubby’s Peugeot 403 Cabriolet on ‘Boulevard de la Croisette’ while she was joining the Cannes Film Festival in 1962. It was the very first time Mrs. Columbo was captured on film. Crédits: Car: Peugeot 403 Convertible nicknamed … Continue reading
Ugetsu, Tales of a Pale and Mysterious Moon … Kenji Mitzogushi
Ugetsu or Ugetsu Monogatari is a 1953 black-and-white Japanese film directed by Kenji Mizoguchi and based on stories in Ueda Akinari’s book of the same name. It is a ghost story and an example of the jidaigeki (period drama) genre. Set inAzuchi–Momoyama period Japan, it stars Masayuki Mori and Machiko Kyō. It is one of Mizoguchi’s most celebrated films, regarded by critics as a masterwork of Japanese cinema and a definitive piece during Japan’s … Continue reading
Zouzou (1934) Film – Josephine Baker and Jean Gabin
As children, Zouzou (Josephine Baker) and Jean are paired in a traveling circus as twins: she’s dark, he’s light. After they’ve grown, he treats her as if she were his sister, but she’s in love with him. In Paris, he’s a music hall electrician, she’s a laundress who delivers clean underwear to the hall. … Continue reading
I crave your mouth, your voice, your hair – Pablo Neruda
J’ai faim de tes cheveux, de ta voix, de ta bouche, sans manger je vais par les rues, et je me tais, sans le soutien du pain, et dès l’aube hors de moi je cherche dans le jour la bruit d’eau de tes pas. Je suis affamé de ton rire de cascade, et de tes … Continue reading
Alain Resnais: Acclaimed French Filmmaker, Is Dead
Alain Resnais (3 June 1922 – 1 March 2014) was a French film director whose career extended over more than six decades. After training as a film editor in the mid-1940s, he went on to direct a number of short films which included Night and Fog (1955), an influential documentary about the Nazi concentration camps Filmography Resnais’ career spanned nine … Continue reading
That Most Important Thing: Love – Andrzej Żuławski
L’important c’est d’aimer, sorti en 1975 est un film du réalisateur polonais Andrzej Żuławski, coproduction franco-italo-allemande, avec entre autres Romy Schneider, Fabio Testi et Jacques Dutronc dans les rôles principaux ; Klaus Kinski, Claude Dauphin et Roger Blin Depuis longtemps, Nadine Chevalier (Romy Schneider) s’est faite une raison et a remisé ses rêves d’actrice. C’est sur le plateau d’un film horrifico-pornographique dont elle est la triste vedette que Servais Mont (Fabio Testi) la … Continue reading
L’écume des jours – Boris Vian
-Chloé, vos lèvres sont douces. Vous avez un teint de fruit. Vos yeux voient comme il faut voir et votre corps me fait chaud… Des billes de verre roulaient dans la rue et des enfants venaient derrière. -Il me faudra des mois, des mois, pour que je me rassasie des baisers à vous donner. Il faudra … Continue reading
The Invisible Woman: The Story of Nelly Ternan and Charles Dickens
The Invisible Woman She is the shadowy figure in Dickens’s life, the woman who shared the last thirteen years before his early death. His biographers tried to erase her, their letters to each other were burned, but still the story of Charles Dickens and Ellen Ternan could not be obliterated from history. Ellen Lawless Ternan … Continue reading
The crazy Quilt – John Korty (1966)
“Henry indulged Lorabelle in some of her fantasies, ignored others — and gradually realized that what she wanted most was the impossible: a declaration of love.” CRAZY-QUILT, THE (1966) Synopsis: An idealist (Ina Mena) attempts to cure her husband (Tom Rosqui) of his cynical realism, with little success. Review: When one thinks of the great … Continue reading
Venus in Furs – Leopold von Sacher Masoch / Lou Reed and more
“Beautiful, free, serene, and happy human beings, such as the Greeks were, are only possible when it is permitted to have slaves who will perform the prosaic tasks of every day for them and above all else labor for them.” “Of course,” she replied playfully, “an Olympian divinity, such as I am, requires a whole army of … Continue reading
Masahiro Shinoda – Japanese New Wave / Film
Masahiro Shinoda (篠田 正浩 Shinoda Masahiro, 1931) is a Japanese film director, originally associated with the Shochiku Studio, who came to prominence as part of the Japanese New Wave in the 1960s. Masahiro Shinoda is one of the most prominent filmmakers of the Japanese New Wave, along with Nagisa Oshima and Shohei Imamura. While Oshima’s films were often a venue for political provocation and … Continue reading
“Soy Cuba” Mikhail Kalatozov – A Reinfried Marass (re) view
When a great photographer ( Reinfried Marass), talks to you about a film and images you feel immediately very curious. Reinfried sent me his point of view (precious to me) about “Soy Cuba” : November 2, 2013 ” Soy Cuba .. this is a MUST see .. I’m Cuba one of the very best photographed … Continue reading
Love in the Afternoon
Love in the Afternoon is a cleverly packaged romantic comedy with all the pretty trappings of Paris. High society soirees, elegant costumes, dashing men and attractive women. Add a dollop of the most witty repartee, dexterously contrived hilarious situations and intelligent humour and you have Love in the Afternoon. This is a celebration of magical Paris, … Continue reading
Andrei Tarkovsky
Andrei Tarkovsky (1932-1986) firmly positioned himself as the finest Soviet director of the post-War period. But his influence extended well beyond the Soviet Union. The Cahiers du cinéma consistently ranked his films on their top ten annual lists. Ingmar Bergman went so far as to say, “Tarkovsky for me is the greatest [director], the one who invented a … Continue reading
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