Well, I'll just put in a pretty little picture of Der Führer and his prime documentarist Leni Riefenstahl in order to at least have a brief relation to film in this post. Or just to express my dissatisfaction with our (Sweden's) current right-wing government. Cheap humor, I know, but it at least makes me smile a little.
Things start to look interesting in Sweden because of the upcoming election this autumn, and sitting here on my balcony with a cigarette in my mouth and my netbook makes me feel a bit like Spider Jerusalem in the Transmetropolitan comics.
But what does this post have to do with classic cinema, and why do I lately suck at updating my blog? I have no answer to either question. Is it interesting to answer? No. In this post I turn to people like me who seldom read the news, but preferring to have someone else reading them for you and updating you on anything of interest. (I have to fight the demons, you know.) News about Iceland's volcanoes and Tiger Woods' indecencies tend to reach me anyway, whether I like it or not.
Now about Sweden. We currently have a lot of stupid people ruling our country (not surprisingly, of course), but in the light of an upcoming election some really ridiculous things are said. The most hysterical thing lately was our Minister of Justice Beatrice Ask's suggestion of sending pink envelopes to people suspected of buying sex. Whether they are guilty or not is obviously of no importance: just shun those bastards.
There were of course a lot of debates about this in the media: "What would happen if, for instance, the suspects daughter finds the envelope, crushing their family?" "If the suspect is innocent, couldn't public humiliation like that destroy his/her life?" Still, Beatrice Ask took a hell of a lot of time before reluctantly taking the suggestion back. It just feels so good that our Minister of Justice truly understands the concept of "being innocent until otherwise is proven".
"CLEANTERNET"
Now to the subject of today. I found this hilarious video today, that at first is not apparently a joke. It is aimed at a Swedish right-wing politician by the name of Cecilia Malmström, who in the name of being a European Commissioner for Home Affairs "proposed a directive ordering the access blocking of child pornography on the Internet" (Wikipedia). In other words: She wants to censor the Internet.
Well, I couldn't counter that preposterous thought better than the following video does. You can watch it with better resolution and without Swedish subtitles on the website, cleanternet.org, but if you're lazy you can just push the play button here and now. This is just wonderful.
The creator is a design student by the name of Alexander Lehmann (his blog, in English). He accepts donations in order to release it in several languages.
I just hope that SÄPO won't barge in on me for writing this post.
Update: I just wrote about how proud I was of Lehmann being Swedish, but I just realized that he was German. Damn it. Well well - same shit, no difference. Right?
This episode is a special one, considering it was shot in France and had little to do with the actual Twilight Zone series. It was released in 1962 as La rivière du hibou ("Owl River"), ran for 28 minutes and was based on a story by Ambrose Bierce. I actually came to watch this episode on YouTube after searching in vain for an earlier film adaption by Charles Vidor called simply The Bridge (1929). Although I didn't find what I was looking for, I instead found this fascinating little piece of film.
It's the Civil War era and a man is about to be hanged from Owl Creek Bridge for attempting to sabotage the railroads. This information is delivered by a warning sign and the images of the film themselves - apart from the Twilight Zone narrator and some commands by the firing squad there is no dialog at all.
The man's tie is removed and a noose is tightened around his neck. The executioners tap their heels together in some strange army rituals. The man closes his eyes and recalls his wife and children playing in the garden to the sound of a clock ticking. The ticking escalates, and suddenly we cut back to the soldiers taking his pocket watch as a last little detail before letting the man fall to his cruel fate.
Who could anticipate that the rope would break, giving the man a chance to escape? This is beautifully captured through slow-motion, under-water shooting and cutting back and forth between close-ups and long shots. When the man reaches the surface a sweet song about being a free man and loving the nature starts to play. Utopian close-ups of leaves and spider webs are interrupted as the music starts to slow down to a growling, menacing sounding noise. The man suddenly realizes that the firing squad stands ready to finish their work with gunpowder. An intense exchange of more and more extreme close-ups of the horrified man, so close to freedom, and the firing squad preparing their guns follows.
Then what happens? I will tease you with screenshots from the first 10 minutes of the film, and then leave you to spend 25 minutes on YouTube to enjoy. This short masterpiece is something I won't allow you not to watch, so here is the link again. Now - recall the story and watch the screen caps!
Oh, and C. K. Dexter Haven: Here is a YouTube link for the animated communist propaganda short Black and White (1932). I recommend that you download a neat little program called DVDVideoSoft - Free YouTube Download (here) and save it! And Paul Robeson rocks.
The man is hanged, but the rope breaks. When the man instinctively has reached the surface he has a minor revelation of having survived. The beauty of the vital nature is however interrupted by the realization of still being in danger of his life.
What an evil stare. For Pete's sake, just watch it already!
Lolita's back! At least for today. You know the story, right? I got caught up in a role playing game on the Nintendo DS, and I can't write any blog posts if demons are attacking me all the time. I have to defend Tokyo from the fire demon, and therefore I have to spend a lot of time leveling up. I'm sure you understand.
Yesterday in school was quite interesting. The morning started with the British postal service and ended with the assassination of Martin Luther King, John F. Kennedy and his brother Bob. Oh, and some soldiers on fire in "Nam". I believe the subject for the day was documentary/experimental films, but I must say that murdered people almost made my newly finished take away coffee end up on the seat in front of me.
Now, let me introduce you to British GPO informative films, American avant-garde and Cuban anti-USA satire!
Do you want to become a hero? Start delivering letters to the British countryside! Really, this little piece of educational/information film leaves one feeling that the most honorable men in the world work for the GPO (General Post Office).
Night Mail is generally known as the most famous of the GPO educational films made in the United Kingdom. And oh, is it British! 'Ello, mate!
The subject for the film might seem pretty uninteresting, but through Soviet montage movement inspired editing, Night Mail cleverly delivers an amusing behind-the-scene look at the British postal system of the 1930's. Although some interior scenes are obviously filmed in studios and the actors have clear instructions to move rhythmically, the cast consists only of real postal workers.
The earlier mentioned rhythm of this short film makes me think about music videos. But of course, the one thing Night Mail can be called famous for is the W. H. Auden poem "This is the Night Mail" that is read over rapid cuts toward the end of the film. Quite the climax, if I may use that word in this context. If you don't intend to spend all of 25 minutes on this (bad, bad person), at least watch that poem (1930's rap!):
Just look at that. How is the human race supposed to survive among smoking chimneys, indifferent crowds and sad children playing in the dirty streets? Hear the music of the doomsday, watch the sun hide behind black industrial clouds.
Even though the introductory text of this film clearly states that this is a documentary, I am not certain. Of course, the footage is probably not manipulated in itself. But a lot can happen when a scissor gets to go wild on the film strips, different soundtracks are added to different kinds of pictures and material not supporting ones opinions end up in the trash bin. Considering that, The City might be some kind of documentary after all.
In short, this film promotes small neighborhoods and fair weather, and condemns big, filthy cities with miserable children. That one thing not necessarily equals the other is never taken into consideration. Of course. I must say that I actually thought that the city children looked quite happy and normal, even though the filming crew most certainly tried to find the most awful city suburb available.
All in all, this "documentary" made me laugh out loud. Of course, some person with a large stick up his/her ass exclaimed a dramatic "Sssssshhhhhh!" to my merry reaction, but pretty soon the rest of the audience couldn't help laughing too.
Well, this is interesting. Meshes of the Afternoon is an avant-garde film written and co-directed by American-Ukraine Maya Deren, who also acts in the film together with her husband, co-director and co-actor Alexander Hammid.
The film explores dreams, unconsciousness and female sexuality (yes, in the prude American 1940's!). To me this is like a film adaption of a regular nightmare - everyday things that change meaning or form, the repeating of seemingly the same actions, while some details change, disappear, re-appear or remain in duplicates. It's strange and beautiful.
This Maya Deren work is often mentioned as the most important and influential experimental film of the 20th century. Deren believed that film should be more than just a recording of reality, but rather an artistic medium. She was strongly influenced by French filmmaker and film theorist Germaine Dulac, of who's work I can recommend the following YouTube clip. Danses Espagnoles (1928) is a beautiful experimental film, and comparing it to Meshes of the Afternoon makes Deren's source of inspiration apparent.
Meshes of the Afternoon was filmed entirely silent, and that was how I saw it. With no sound at all the dreamlike quality of the film becomes inconveniently real. But the soundtrack on the YouTube clip works very well too, so give it a watch.
The beautiful Maya Deren. (Picture not from the film.)
The last short film on the list brought tears to my eyes. Lo and behold! A political experimental documentary dealing with the assassination of not only John F. Kennedy in 1963, but also of Martin Luther King in April and Bob Kennedy in June the year of the film's release. That's pretty quick.
Includes doomsday music by Carl Orff and jazzy tunes by Nina Simone.
Pretty much everything in these mere 18 minutes is quite ambiguous, starting with the title. Now, what could "LBJ" stand for? One explanation is of course Lyndon B. Johnson, who's face shows up between the several traumatic events the film deals with (obviously Álvarez wanted to point towards his involvement in the happenings). By first thought about the title was not however the most obvious, but rather the initials of the victims: Luther King, Bob Kennedy and Jack Kennedy. Probably Álvarez had thought about both options.
Now to the film itself. This is not a narrated documentary of any sort, but rather an ambiguous (yes, that word is very suiting in this context) scrapbook of images from the murders, Lyndon Johnson, the "I Have a Dream" speech and the Vietnam war. About those tears in my eyes: they appeared when a short film clip from Vietnam was shown depicting a man covered in flames, falling to the ground. Not very nice at all.
The part that amazed me most when talking about editing is the "I Have a Dream" part. We see pictures of Martin Luther King giving the speech (from which the tiniest extract gives me goosebumps), and every time he exclaims "I have a dream!" we cut to a firing squad shooting in his direction. Knowing what happened to him, and how fresh his assassination was when LBJ came, you have to get emotional in one way or the other.
It's hard to describe LBJ, you just have to see it. And do. I have no doubts about Castro being glad to let this film be produced, but now that years have healed most of the wounds relating to the topic - see LBJ if you get the chance. It's overwhelming, but liberating in a strange way.
I include the first eight minutes below: you might have to wait until about 2:35 before you understand what the hell I have been writing about. This was pretty cool to see in a movie theater!
Things start to look interesting in Sweden because of the upcoming election this autumn, and sitting here on my balcony with a cigarette in my mouth and my netbook makes me feel a bit like Spider Jerusalem in the Transmetropolitan comics.
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