En quelques mots

The Pendulum, The Pit And Hope (Kyvadlo, jáma a nadeje)
Jan Švankmajer, Czechoslovakia, 1983, 15 min
Adapted from Edgar Allan Poe’s The Pit and the Pendulum

Illustration for Edgar Allan Poe’s story The Pit and the Pendulum by Harry Clarke (1889-1931), first printed in 1919.

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Autres films de Jan Švankmajer publiés précédemment : The Ossuary (1970) ici et The Fall of the House of Usher (1982) ici.

Altered States
Ken Russell, USA, 1980, 102 min
Audio excerpts from Voile D’Orphée by Pierre Henry

‘A Harvard scientist conducts experiments on himself with a hallucinatory drug and an isolation chamber that may be causing him to regress genetically.’ – IMDb

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On le met en relation avec le Cerveau Mystique (2006) d’Isabelle Raynauld (on en parlait ici), les Witches’ Cradles (2009) du Center for Tactical Magic (ici), la Hofmann’s Potion (2002) de Connie Littlefield (ici) et la pochette du groupe Godflesh pour l’album ‘Streetcleaner‘ (1989) :

Eraserhead
David Lynch, USA, 1977, 89 min

‘Eraserhead is my most spiritual movie. No one understands when I say that, but it is.’ He went on to write about the difficulties he was having making sense of the way the film was “growing” and didn’t know ‘the thing that just pulled it all together.’ He then reveals it was the Bible that provided the solution:

‘So I got out my Bible and I started reading. And one day, I read a sentence. And I closed the Bible, because that was it; that was it. And then I saw the thing as a whole. And it fulfilled this vision for me, 100 percent.’ – WIKI

La villa Santo Sospir
Jean Cocteau, France, 1952, 35 min

‘A 35-minute color film by Cocteau entitled “La Villa Santo Sospir.” Shot in 1952, this is an “amateur film” done in 16mm, a sort of home movie in which Cocteau takes the viewer on a tour of a friend’s villa on the French coast (a major location used in Testament of Orpheus). The house itself is heavily decorated, mostly by Cocteau (and a bit by Picasso), and we are given an extensive tour of the artwork. Cocteau also shows us several dozen paintings as well. Most cover mythological themes, of course. He also proudly shows paintings by Edouard Dermithe and Jean Marais and plays around his own home in Villefranche. This informal little project once again shows the joy Cocteau takes in creating art, in addition to showing a side of his work (his paintings and drawings) that his films often overshadow.’

The Fall of the House of Usher
Jan Švankmajer, Czechoslovakia, 1982, 15 min

‘In this animated version of Edgar Allan Poe’s story, a traveler arrives at the Usher mansion to find that the sibling inhabitants are living under a mysterious family curse: The brother’s senses have become painfully acute, while his sister has become nearly catatonic. As the visitor’s stay at the mansion continues, the effects of the curse reach their terrifying climax, and he must choose between his concern for his hosts’ safety, and his own.’ – IMDb

Remembering Arthur
Martin Lavut, Canada, 2006, 89 min 54 s

In this feature length documentary, filmmaker Arthur Lipsett’s close friend Martin Lavut documents the influence of the eccentric Oscar-nominated film genius. The world of cinema tragically lost Lipsett in 1986 when the Montreal-born artist committed suicide 2 weeks before his 50th birthday. This feature documentary celebrates the life and legacy of one of Canada’s greatest creative minds, who began his filmmaking career at the NFB.

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On avait déjà publié 21-87 (1964) ici et Free Fall (1964) – d’abord ici, ensuite ici - et on se permet d’insister avec les deux suivants :

A Trip Down Memory Lane
Arthur Lipsett, Canada, 1965, 12 min 40 s

From Arthur Lipsett (Very Nice, Very Nice and 21-87), another incisive short film that looks at human might, majesty and mayhem. Compiled from some peculiar newsreel items of the last 50 years, the filmmaker calls this a time capsule yet his arrangement of pictures makes it almost explosive. There are hundreds of items, once front-page stuff, but all wryly grotesque when seen in this reshuffle of the past.

Very Nice, Very Nice
Arthur Lipsett, Canada, 1961, 6 min 59 s

Arthur Lipsett’s first film is an avant-garde blend of photography and sound. It looks behind the business-as-usual face we put on life and shows anxieties we want to forget. It is made of dozens of pictures that seem familiar, with fragments of speech heard in passing and, between times, a voice saying, “Very nice, very nice.” It was was critically acclaimed and plays frequently in festivals and film schools around the world.

Our Lady of the Sphere
Larry Jordan, USA, 1969-1972, 10 min

‘A 10 minute colour collage of rococo imagery juxtaposed with symbols and images from antiquity to the space age. The film draws its theme from the Tibetan Book of the Dead.’

Synchromie
Norman McLaren, 1971, 7 min 33 s

Court métrage d’animation présentant des jeux de couleurs, de formes et de sons. En guise de musique, Norman McLaren a dessiné des sons synthétiques et il les a photographiés sur la bande sonore en conservant un parallélisme absolu entre le son et l’image. Synchromie est un film de « son animé » dans le vrai sens du terme.

Conférence d’Alexandro Jodorowsky du 29 mars 2011 au Monument national à Montréal P.Q. (on en parlait ici), organisée par l’Université de Foulosophie. Regarder.

How Wings Are Attached to the Backs of Angels
Craig Welch, Canada, 1996, 11 min 5 s

The main protagonist of this short, surreal film is a man obsessed with control. In an automated world drained of all emotion, he is tortured by vague longings.

The Phantom Carriage
Victor Sjöström, Sweden, 1921, 93 min
Soundtrack by KTL (Written & produced January-July MMVII)

‘The Phantom Carriage (Swedish: Körkarlen) is a 1921 Swedish romantic horror film, generally considered to be one of the central works in the history of Swedish cinema. Released on New Year’s Day, it was directed by and starred Victor Sjöström, alongside Hilda Borgström, Tore Svennberg and Astrid Holm. It is based on the novel Thy Soul Shall Bear Witness! (Körkarlen; 1912), by Nobel-prize winning Swedish author Selma Lagerlöf …

… The film is notable for its special effects, its advanced (for the time) narrative structure with flashbacks within flashbacks, and for having been a major influence on Ingmar Bergman.’ – WIKI

The Holy Mountain
Alejandro Jodorowsky, Mexico-USA, 1973, 114 min

‘The film is based on “Ascent of Mount Carmel” by St. John of the Cross and Mount Analogue by Rene Daumal, a student of G.I. Gurdjieff. In particular, much of Jodorowsky’s visually psychedelic story follows the metaphysical thrust of Mount Analogue such as the climb to the Alchemist, the assembly of individuals with specific skills, the discovery of the mountain that unites Heaven and Earth “that cannot not exist” and symbolic challenges along the mountain ascent. Daumal died before finishing his allegorical novel, and Jodorowsky’s improvised ending provides a clever way of completing the Work (symbolic and otherwise.)’ – WIKI

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Hommage à l’ensemble de l’oeuvre d’Alexandro Jodorowsky
Du 29 mars au 2 avril 2011 (Montréal)
Informations

La Santa Muerte
Eva Aridjis, Mexico & USA, 2007, 84 min

Trailer for the documentary Saint Death (La Santa Muerte), directed and produced by Eva Aridjis, narrated by Gael García Bernal, distributed by Seventh Art Releasing.

In Mexico there is a cult that is rapidly growing – the cult of Saint Death. This female grim reaper, considered a saint by followers but Satanic by the Catholic Church, is worshipped by people whose lives are filled with danger and/or violence – criminals, gang members, transvestites, sick people, drug addicts, and families living in rough neighborhoods. “La Santa Muerte” examines the origins of the cult and takes us on a tour of the altars, jails, and neighborhoods in Mexico where the saint’s most devoted followers can be found.

lasantamuertefilm.com

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March 7, 2011 on Al Jazeera English:

As Mexico’s drug-related violence continues, some are finding comfort in spirituality.

It is a mainly Catholic nation, but as Al Jazeera’s Franc Contreras reports from Mexico City, many are turning to religious figures rooted in Mexico’s indigenous past.

One alternative is the saint of death, also known as Santa Muerte.

Orphée
Jean Cocteau, France, 1950, 95 min

‘Set in contemporary Paris, the movie is a variation of the classic Greek myth of Orpheus. At the Café des Poètes, a brawl is staged by acolytes of the Princess (Casares) and the young poet Cègeste (Edouard Dermithe), a rival of Orpheus, is killed. Cègeste’s body is taken to the Princess’s car by her associates, and Orpheus (Marais) is asked to accompany them as a witness. They drive to a chateau (the landscape through the car windows are presented in negative) accompanied by abstract poetry on the radio. This takes the form of seemingly meaningless messages, like those broadcast to the French Resistance from London during the Occupation.

Orpheus becomes obsessed with Death (the Princess). Heurtebise (Périer), her chauffeur, entertains analogous unrequited love for Orpheus’s wife Eurydice (Marie Déa). They fall in love. Eurydice is killed by the Princess’s henchmen and Orpheus goes after her into the Underworld. Although they have become dangerously entangled, the Princess sends Orpheus back out of the Underworld, to carry on his life with Eurydice, but he cannot look at her or she will die. (This diverges from the common classical account found in the Roman versions of the myth by Ovid and Virgil, where Eurydice is lost forever.) They believe it to have been a dream, Eurydice is revealed to be alive, and expecting a child.’ – WIKI

Faut-il se couper l’oreille?
Jacques Giraldeau, Canada, 1970, 27 min 48 s

Téléfilm se questionnant sur les arts plastiques au Québec ainsi que sur le rôle de l’artiste dans la société actuelle. Peintres, sculpteurs, critiques d’art, directeurs de musées et de galeries, esthéticiens industriels reconnaissent qu’un fossé les sépare du peuple, mais croient qu’un jour, l’art pourra sortir de son isolement et envahir la place publique.