The film was made by the Japanese visual artist Satoshi Uemine, and DVD released in 2005. This silent, personal movie bears and reflects the traces of the re-encounter between the director and his girlfriend, who had been hospitalized because of her deteriorating mental condition. Almost all scenes were shot in Hokkaido, the north island of Japan. Although nothing dramatic happens here, Sizuka no Umi builds a series of beautiful images that are raw, honest, and passionate.Read More »
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“In 1944 Maya made a film at the Peggy Guggenheim Art of this Century Gallery with Marcel Duchamp called Witches Cradle. Deren used the camera, as she envisioned medieval witches and magicians did, to ‘defy’ time and space through the disappearance and reappearance of objects. Based on an article written by the Frenchman Charles Duits, colleague of Andre Breton and an extra in Ritual in Transfigured Time, Deren compared these medieval witches and magicians to the surrealists, and had a brief association with the movement. She resisted the label attached to her work and defended her position in scholarship and on tour for lecture/demonstrations.” (algonet.se)Read More »
The Brighton Beach—Coney Island boardwalk is a long, winding, ocean front walkway adjacent to the Atlantic Ocean. Photographed over a three year period, the landscape rendered reflects the seasonal changes, daily activities, and the filmmaker’s projected future.Read More »
As the woman he loved lay dying, the former suitor swore to protect the child of the other man, just killed in battle. The baby grown to womanhood, the man’s love for the mother was felt again, but a stranger claimed the girl’s love. So the man with his trust left for the far Northwestern country and joined in the government wars against the Indians. There again he met the life which he had sworn to protect. How well he succeeded, the returning young husband could most appreciate, after one of the most deadly massacres and Indian battles of the period.Read More »
A young woman’s peaceful existence is shattered when she is abducted by the crew of a boat of smugglers, who then also turn against their captain.Read More »
At the mining-camp of Golden Creek, the little orphan girl of the late proprietor of Golden Creek Inn is the pet of all the miners. Her father had long been their great friend and adviser, and hence his little daughter always commanded their greatest respect. She becomes greatly infatuated with Dandy Jack, who is considered by all as her sweetheart. Jack decides to leave the camp for other diggings, and the little one is almost heartbroken. As he is leaving, he meets Bob, his old chum, who has just arrived at the camp. Their greeting shows clearly the value of that little word “friends.” Later on, Bob comes to the Inn and falls deeply in love with the little orphan, who has realized by this time that her feeling for Jack was infatuation rather than love. Hence she and Bob are engaged to be married. Shortly before the day set for the wedding, Jack returns and is twitted by the boys about the apparently fickle girl, whereupon he wagers that he can win her back, not knowing, of course, who the successful suitor is. The outcome is a revelation to all.Read More »
A wagon train heading west across the great desert runs out of water, and is attacked by Indians. One man — their last hope — is sent out to find water.Read More »
Buster Keaton backed into feature filmmaking with this 1923 effort, which essentially consists of three two-reelers (Keaton’s accustomed format) edited together. The structure is a vague parody of D.W. Griffith’s Intolerance, with Buster fighting to win his woman from a stronger rival in the Stone Age, the Roman Empire, and modern times. It’s good but not great Keaton: the gags are chiefly basic slapstick, with little of the surrealistic refinement and visual sophistication he brought to his later features.Read More »
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Another amazing circus film gets an Alloy Orchestra score. Until its recent restoration by Lobster Films in France, Gallery of Monsters was virtually unknown and unseen. Despite the film’s title, it’s not a horror film. It’s an exciting and sometimes tender love story that follows the lives of circus folk, and particularly the loving relationship of Riquet and his wife, Ralda. The “monsters,” as the intertitles explain, are the evil circus owner and the lion tamer, whose unwanted advances are refused by the beautiful dancer, Ralda. The cast of characters are the staples of a circus side show – a giant, a little person, a bearded lady, a woman with only half a body, and others – who are sympathetically depicted as a supportive family, and come to the aid of the couple. Excellent cinematography, surreal costumes, and a terrifying lion attack bring this intriguing story to life.Read More »