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The Hypothesis of the Stolen Painting - 1979
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Film
- Hits: 155
This, another on the list of "Movies no-one has ever seen but you must if you'd consider yourself cinema-literate".
Which of course I bought into, being a fan of the obscure and esoteric.
The premise, an art collector has a selection of 7 paintings of Tableaux that he interprets for the camera/audience, via live recreation of each of the tableaux and his subsequent interpretations.
In style, a black-and-white forerunner of Peter Greenaway. The sets, styles, music, filming - I'm pretty sure this made an impression on him.
In substance - the paintings the collector has amassed - ludicrous, appalling recreations of what we are assured are art masterpieces. Even in black and white these appear to be 3rd rate studies by an artist of little talent and an impoverished imagination. That is not addressed, and I would think should be taken as a "clue". The collector shows us the painting, and then analyzes it for us, then on to the next painting - and each painting, somehow, is joined or thematically linked to the next. Until we arrive at the third or fourth which has been stolen, but the collector nevertheless attempts to reconstruct it's content and link it to the others.
It is a fine example of the "unreliable narrator" - how someone with a great deal of knowledge upon various subjects can tie them together in ways that - while they may impress the uneducated viewer - in themselves possess no greater value (or insight) than the paintings do on their own. The progenitor of every conspiracy theory. A curiosity, for sure, and some interesting ideas, but niche in the extreme and not entirely relevant. Yet another film I can strike up a conversation at the bar with..."You should see"...ending with "Well, maybe you shouldn't but it's only an hour long...".
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyQf4am7VOA
I'm waiting on the books I ordered, need a break from all of this European-Art-Haus, and, checking the tracking, I"m still 2-3-4 weeks away. And they're all on the same continent. Bloody hell. I'm seeing the value of Amazon...
Kelowna
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Blog
- Hits: 102
And so I've another scheduled trip to the dentist, only without a car and so a friend steps up, opportunity for her to visit her family, and we're off. Beautiful autumn colours, stop at a pub in Rock Creek for lunch.
The pub, far better on the inside than outside, lunch, the big "Fell off the back of a GFS Truck" feast, onion rings, chicken wings, cheese sticks, chicken fingers, spring rolls, celery/carrots, fries, gravy.
Fucking appalling. $40 for maybe $4 worth of food, chicken wings cut from chicks still in the eggs, fingers more aborted McNuggets, spring rolls without filling, Onion rings that forgot the onion, carrots/celery recycled since the beginning of time, I mean, this was the worst - and most expensive - iteration of the classic Kootenay Roadhouse Menu I've seen in my life. It's like GFS has a secret menu for even worse food that what they usually sell these places, somehow, if possible, they managed to sell them on the "D" menu, half the price of the "C" menu which is what most places buy and is easily ranked as "appalling".
What kills me is that while it's far too generic, commonplace, the menu virtually identical to every other restaurant for a couple of hundred miles, it doesn't have to be. You could - from scratch - make an amazing fried cheese. Or Chicken Wing. Or French Fry, or Chicken Finger or Spring Roll or - well, all of it, you just have to know how to cook and take 5 minutes to prep it. But I swear GFS unloads this shit directly into the deep fryer and - the results, well, you know, you know.
***
Onward to Kelowna, a couple of thrift shops, I pick up a few nice shirts, pair of pants, if you're into thrifting, Kelowna, it's the place to be. Any number of treasures, and I could have searched a lot longer, harder, only I was being done a favour and didn't care to impose further.
***
The Dentist, fine, the standard, and then home, a couple more thrift shops, if I'd had time I might have found some treasures, the quality of the post-consumer landfill there is great, far better than the Kootenays, only I was a little disinclined, the dentist, the impatience of my ride, and so I cut it short, but next year, new vehicle, and I'll be making the trip for sure...
Szürkület (Twilight) - György Fehér
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Film
- Hits: 166
Now, going through youTube recommended lists of "Films that you should see that nobody else has". A must-see list of undiscovered masterpieces. Sitting in a hotel in Kelowna, waiting for the dentist the next day, and so I watch.
The weather, cool, rainy, outside cloudy and grey, the drive - autumn colours and the immanence of winter, all made for the perfect viewing conditions.
***
This, a black and white film, filmed in 1990 but set (?? Maybe the 40's, 50's ??) - about a detective on the trail of a serial killer, pedophile who's' murdering children in rural Hungary. It's atmospheric as hell, long takes of the forest, autumn, when panned overhead the trees have their leaves, when filmed on the ground the trees are all bare.
The dialogue, sparse, the soundtrack - haunting and familiar - Kate Bush is listed on the credits, but - I've heard this music before, only where...
The plot, about how when evil, in human form, comes among us how ill prepared we are to recognize or deal with it. Phrases like “Sociopath” or “Pychopath” or “Narcissist” hide it, give it an air of psychological legitimacy…to what most of us must be unknowable and unimaginable. Claustrophobic, haunting, disquieting, a morally grey landscape in which it's always cold and raining, in which the detective is always searching, not only outwards but in himself, in which...well, a few things. That rare combination of a film that makes you think as well as feel (perhaps more the latter.) I'll note this is not a happy or cheerful film, so, perfectly paired for the weather but probably not for everyone.
Link: https://rarefilmm.com/2017/12/szurkulet-1990/
Note, this version is unrestored, so poor resolution and a crackle in the audio. If anything to me it lends it that air of veracity. There are other versions that have been cleaned up and restored, to me it made no difference.
Vampyres
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Dreams
- Hits: 432
Last night, restless, in and out of sleep, the same dream continuing of Vampyres, falling back into it after every waking. I have never been so lucky with a pleasant sex dream...
That I'm charged with protecting a lithe, attractive older blonde (40's ish?) from a Vampyre...it's hunting us, her, I know her, she's a close personal friend (that I've never met in real life, don't know, but in the dream)...a post-apocalyptic landscape, this Vampyre wants her to bear his child, continue the race...
We're hiding and tattooing crosses on one another with oblique lines through them, Byzantine, yet still he hunts us and his numbers are growing...
...a tower of earth, an excavator falling against it, nudging it, I'm on it, friend operating it, I'm telling her to be careful not to knock it over, the holes on either side drop into oblivions...
...or in a room, doors all sealed against the threat outside, only now, there's not one Vampyre, they are legion...
(wake, rinse, repeat)
Now, looking at a museum of vampyres, all of whom are sealed in dioramas visible only through little portholes and periscopes, look into one and you see the skeleton of a fetus, a beaver, any manner of creature, when you look through the next porthole it has changed it's aspect, now it's teeth have grown into golden fangs and it's staring at you with luminous eyes...
And we're trying to escape but their numbers are growing and I can see no end to this...
(disconcerting, puzzling, although I have some ideas...)
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